Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Olympics

I have to admit, I've never been a huge fan of watching the Olympics, particularly not the winter ones. I don't know why -- maybe because I grew up in Florida and never saw, much less even played in, snow. But this year, something has changed!

At this moment I'm watching one of my new favorite sports -- Curling! Our men are playing Denmark at the moment and winning, so yay! I still don't understand the scoring, but I love what's involved in the game. Also, it's a sport you can participate in at any age, so that is appealing, too.

Last night I was thrilled to watch Lindsey Vonn, Shaun White, and Shani Davis win gold medals. I can't begin to imagine the amount of work and dedication these young people have put in to their respective sports. I don't have that kind of determination, unfortunately. How do you foster that in a person? Is it just ingrained?

I've played softball and bowled on teams, but I hated the competitiveness of others. Others put way more stock into the outcome of the game rather than just having fun. That ruined both and maybe all sports for me. At least team sports. I can see doing individual sports, but just not the team thing.

I don't even like to play board games because of competitiveness. Back in the 80s, when Trivial Pursuit first came out, I actually had a friend of mine's husband accuse me of memorizing all of the answers! Mind you, there are thousands of questions! If I "memorized" all of the answers, wouldn't that still count as if, as I had, learned the answers in school or in life? I'll never forget the shock I felt when my friend's husband made that statement...as if it meant I was cheating. I didn't cheat -- I didn't have to cheat. I really did know the answers and won't apologize for having a good memory.

Here's hoping you're also enjoying the games! Let me know which is your fave and why, if you're up for it. :)