Sochi telethon

I love the Olympics. It's fun seeing lots of images of a place I've never been. I enjoy all the stories about how people got into their sport, raised money selling cookies to get there, had 7 knee surgeries in 2 years, etc. I even enjoy all the sports, to one degree or another. Watching someone do something they're *really* good at is neat, almost no matter what that thing is. I'm taping all the TV coverage and then zipping thru the boring parts on fast forward. So far I've logged about 60 hours of actual watching time. I'll actually be glad when it's all over so I can get back to my normal life.

I even watched about 3 hours of curling without picking up so much as a hint of what the rules were, how points were scored, whether a throw was good. Four years ago my husband and I watched a fair amount of it and were as in the dark afterwards as before. But it has quite a following, so there must be more to it than I was able to pick up.

I got a bit tired of the endless qualifying runs of snowboarding and freestyle skiing, but absolutely loved the Nordic skiing, especially the cross country men's relay. It was a long event but I was glued to the screen until Sweden zoomed across the line, kicking off his skies as he went so that he could hug his team mates in victory. Russia second (with Putin in attendance), and total surprise France in 3rd. Every time someone came across the line, they fell over like they'd been shot. One of the few sports I've seen where the finish line is littered with bodies.

But my favorite thing this year has been the figure skating announcing team of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. That's the best hiring move NBC has made in a long time. They're knowledgeable, funny, insightful, and well dressed. I've been following their Instagram feeds during the games and it's a hoot. And the outfits give me a chuckle.