Olympic Afterglow

During the last couple of weeks I found myself in a number of long meetings, and not just Monday through Friday, but on the weekends as well. I'm not complaining, mind you, just describing this last chunk of time.

Yessir, those winter Olympics can eat up a lot of time, what with NBC using a fistful of channels to bring all the delayed action to us. Oh, there were a few things live, but you had to be on the ball to figure that out. But I digress.

Every four years, there is an opportunity to see young athletes at the top of their particular game, and accompanying those performances are stories which are so good, so touching, that i just plop a large box of Kleenex next to my chair and get ready to weep.

This year, a luger from the Republic of Georgie died on the track at Whistler Mountain. It was a terrible tragedy - casting a deep shadow on the judgement and competence of the Canadian engineering. Kleenex.

Joannie Rochette's mother died of a heart attack days before her figure skating competition, but her daughter decided to compete, and was she a wonder, earning the bronze medal with performances of great beauty, skill, and emotion. More Kleenex.

In that same competition, the young Korean skater Yu-Na-KIm took our collective breath away with an incomparable perforance in the long program. She had wonderful lines, enormous grace, and she swept away all her ebullient, enthusiastic, and far less graceful competitiors. It was a night to remember. Kleenex again, just for the beauty of it all.

On the men's side, Evan Lysacek defeated his Russian competition by his careful competence, clear understanding of the judging rules, and a sense of caring which put him ahead of Evgeny Plushenko. Fists in the air but no Kleenex.

The story of the American bobsled driver whose vision had been so poor, he was legally blind and drove by instinct soon came to the fore. Recent daring eye surgery had given him near perfect sight, and in three runs, he took home the gold. The art and science of medicine, plus a patient's courage, made for a very happy ending. Kleenex during the playing of the national anthem at the award ceremony.

But the hockey, both men's and women's games, was a source of considerable delight. Both USA teams ultimately lost to Canada in championship matches, but the games were as intense, competitive, creative, and exhausting as any I've ever seen. Too involved for Kleenex until the end of two men's games against Canada and the women's final contest.

I'm learning about the half-pipe and am amazed by the athleticism of the competitors, and curling is beginning to intrigue me more than ever before, but now I have four years to wait before I can re-evaluate my interest. But speaking of curling, if there is a better play-by-play person for a sport than John Duguid, I don't know who it would be. He treats the audience with respect and understands the game thoroughly so that you feel that you understand what the participants are thinking before making every strategic decision. And Mike Emrick did a terrific job with the hockey play-by-play, but often I felt as though as was sitting under an enthusiastic and endless cascade of words, words, words.

So now Vancouver and Canada begin to recover from what must be the greatest national hangover in decades. I'll bet they don't regret the celebration one damn bit.