Blue, Yellow, Black, Green, Red

I am not a huge sports fan. I prefer to play than watch. I used to be on a team which made it a natural step to watch the games as well. I was into basketball and baseball but strikes, scandals, and continuous loses ruined the sports for me. Every once in a while I do take in a game, well part of a game, ok fine, I just check the scores.

But, like with many people, the Olympics are mesmerizing. I will sit for hours and watch sports that I have never even feigned an interest in. Especially with the Winter Games with sports like Bobsleigh (I always thought it was ‘bobsled’), skeleton, and curling. I mean really? I don’t know if it’s because I get into the festivities or a sudden surge of patriotism. Especially this year with the games in Vancouver and the fact that Canada is actually winning is just compounding on the effect.

In past Games Canada has gone in gung ho about being great at whichever sport. The media would hype athletes and the athlete would believe it. Then everyone would be disappointed in the final out come. It is not expected that every sport would be won but the predictions would be devastatingly inaccurate. The competitor would be shocked at their lame performance as the media tries to cover their bases.

With the 2 previous Olympiads in Canada, Montreal Summer 1976 and Calgary Winter 1988, the national team did horribly. In Montreal the performances were sad and only garnered 11 medals, no gold. And they had the worst record for any home team in Calgary with only 5 medals, no gold.

But this time around, even with the CTV push on “I Believe”, expectations were kept at a reasonable level and the team is doing very well. Most promotions for the games were about supporting the athletes and they will perform. And that seems to have worked. Many of the athletes that were expected to win have won with a few exceptions; I’m looking at you Patrick Chan (I don’t even like figure skating). Some have even done better than expected like with the Women’s Bobsleigh teams winning gold and silver in the sport.

Canada currently sits forth in the overall medal standings with 15 medals, 7 of those gold, but there is still a lot of the games left to go. Men’s and women’s teams in curling (yes I have been watching that too and no I still don’t really get it) are in a good positions to win gold. The women’s figure skating is on tonight. Joannie Rochette, despite her grief, did incredibly well in her short program on Tuesday and is currently placed in third. If she keeps up her performance level she will medal. And tonight there is also the Women’s Hockey final. The team has had very little real competition. But tonight facing the US team should be a nail biter. The Men’s hockey team still has a couple of games to go. They have to beat Slovakia tomorrow to make it to the gold medal game on Sunday.

So let’s hope that the rest of the games are as exciting as they have been and Canada keeps winning. Until Sunday I will be glued to the television watching sports I know nothing about for the most part.

Tra