Olympic Fever

Just after sunrise. 2/26/2021 (dwm)

  You may have noticed the Olympics are underway, the 24th Winter Games, held in cold, but mostly snow-free Beijing China.

  Putting the politics of the international event aside for a moment, it is nice to press pause on life to appreciate the precision and endurance of competitors in Biathlon.

  As part of my regular work-out, I run a couple miles, if at any point I had to stop, take aim, and deliver a birds-eye, I would miss the mark by a mile. 

  Speed skaters, figure skaters, and ski jumpers practice for years for their Olympic moment.  That moment probably won't result in a medal or riches, it simply fulfills a lifelong dream.  

  Curling is popular locally and throughout the upper Midwest (four from Wisconsin are at the games), but that doesn't mean I know or understand the game.  The attraction is that it may be the only event I'd qualify for physically.

Football, basketball, and baseball are my primary interests when it comes to sports.  I'll give credit to the old show on ABC while I was growing up, ABC's Wide World of Sports, for showing me other games people play.  It's where I saw rodeo for the first time; demolition derby; and more than a dozen Olympic sports.

The stories behind the athlete capture our interest, then the drama of competition draws us in to care about the results of luge and slope-style skiing when we wouldn't give them the time of day for the next three and a half years.

Olympic politics is never far from view.  This year the focus is on the rocky relationship between the USA and its primary Olympic rivals, Russia and China.  

One hopes the athletic competition is a sufficient, because it's unlikely anyone comes out a winner on an actual battlefield.