Ever since NBC's ad started vomiting the Winter Olympics all over every show last week, I started to wonder - what is it I don't like about the Winter Olympics? Because truthfully, every few years when the Winter Olympics roll up on the world scene I think "Tanya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, ice skating, first grade" and then I change the channel. I am simply not interested in the winter sports; additionally, many of them look highly dangerous (the luge!) and I'm a bit of a nervous nelly when it comes to physical exertion. I walked the gym as often as possible in high school rather than try my hand at kickball. Not only do several of the winter sports terrify me, but simply put, they are not the Summer Olympics. The Summer Olympics capture my heart like no other sporting event. I suppose the Summer Olympics hold a soft spot in my heart because during the 1996 Atlanta Games my mom taught me how to write a report when I loyally followed the Maginificent Seven Dream Team that was the American women gymnasts. I adored them. I wanted to be one of them, nevermind that I was clumisly working my way through the gymnastics levels at the local Y and already too tall. Now, I watch mesmerized by gymnastics, synchronized diving and swimming. Also, my love of the Summer Olympics and indifference towards the Winter Olympics directly correlate with their timing in the television season. In the winter, all my tv friends visit with new stories each week, while in the summer I've grown tired of retreading the same ground - I'm hungry for new material, like the human interest angle on that Ukranian marathon runner. In the winter, I desire another new episode of "30 Rock" to delight me on a cold and dreary night, rather than the men's short skating program. I am not charmed by the Winter Olympics, merely annoyed by it.
- KER
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