Vancouver 2010, Eh!

It's been a great past two weeks for fans of winter and winter sports.  In New York we've seen record snowfalls and world was treated to the 2010 Winter Olympics from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  As a New York who enjoys and embraces seasons [Editor's note: that was a cheap shot at a certain San Diego friend] I prefer the Winter Games over the Summer Games.

Since I have this bad habit of typing to no end, I will dedicate a later post to discuss my thoughts on what should constitute a sport.  Here are some of my observations from these games in no particular order:

[Obligatory Disclaimer: all observations were made prior to watching the closing ceremonies]

1)  It took awhile but I finally learned curling.  Not that I want to watch people throw rocks down an ice surface for three hours, but at least I can explain it to someone in under 90 seconds.

2) A Double McTwist 1260 is not an item on the McDonalds Dollar Menu nor a character on Grey's Anatomy, rather two flips while doing 3.5 twists (rotations).  Thank you Shaun White.

3)  Two-man luge continues to make me uncomfortable.

4)  Favorite Olympic name:  Torah Bright (Australian snowboarder)

5)  Do the Olympians have any say on what they wear?  I plan to purchase a Ryan Callahan USA hockey jersey (image on right).  I'm still undecided about the USA snowboarders "uniform" (with the fake jeans) but what were those Norwegian curlers (curlists?) thinking.  Still undecided about the USA snowboarders and I'm not going to discuss the outfits worn by the figure skaters.

6)  I can do without the NHL and the all-star festivities for the two-week Olympic tournament.  I just hope someday soon the women's tournament can be competitive.  Watching the USA and Canada dominate the women of the world is just painful. 

7)  The Russians continue to be sore losers.  After a male Russian figure skater lost to an American, he took a shot at the victorious skater's lack of performing a quadruple thingy, and called his performance something more fitting to ice dancing (another winter Olympic event).  My take:  Is there a difference between figure skating and ice dancing anyway?

8)  And finally, the Olympic games will always be remembered for the tragedies and negatives of the games and less so for all the great moments.  Vancouver will be probably be remembered for its glitches and tragedies rather than its amazing stories.  More on this here.  All non-believers should do a quick search of the Summer Games in Atlanta in1996 or the Winter Games in Munich in 1972.

Eight observations in honor of Apollo Ohno's total career Olympic medals.  Congrats to all those who competed in Vancouver and I'll see you all in Sochi, Russia in 2014!

First Rant of 2010

I have this great idea for a television show....

Let's take this massive cast--I don't know, around 50 or so--and fly them across an ocean to some coastal location.  Then, out of nowhere, something happens.  Maybe it's a flock of birds, maybe mechanical error, maybe snakes, maybe zombies, but the plane goes down.  It's a full plane, but miraculously, and without the aid of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, those 50 (more or less) survive.  Sounds exciting so far!  Could be the coolest reality show EVER.

But wait, this is not some new reality show.  The show will drag on but the cast will slowly dwindle to a small core of characters.  Over time there will be flashbacks, future scenes, and alternate realities.  Still interested?

It gets better.  Each episode will leave you asking lots of questions with the ultimate goal of keeping viewers coming back for answers.  Now here's where it gets tricky.  While the show will answer one or two of your many questions, it will also leave you with about a half a dozen more questions.

So now I'll ask you...does this sound like something you might be interested in?

The show I so eloquently described is "Lost," which premiered for its sixth and final season last night on ABC.  DISCLAIMER: [Editor's note:  that's legal-speak for "here comes a lame excuse to explain some condition of ignorance"] I have not seen a single episode of the show and my knowledge is based on TV promos, tweets, and Facebook statuses.

Why do people watch this?  I get that everyone has different tastes but why do people OBSESS over this show?  Yesterday, about 15 "friends" changed their status to something lost related (including one who posted a countdown every hour), plus a handful of tweets.  Today, more posts and tweets, most of whom were confused.  [Editor's note: my law school training gave me the deductive skills to understand "What just happened" to mean confusion.] 

C'mon people!  This is only a television show.  Television is supposed to be simple.  It's an activity for entertainment purposes.  It's not supposed to make you think, wonder, suppose, question, or any other feeling/emotion other than relaxation.  Okay, I watch Jeopardy sometimes  because I do like to think while watching TV every so often.  Television's role is to entertain, like a sporting event, or numb the brain, a la Jersey Shore.   It's an escape! 

It you want frustration and confusion, allow me to introduce you to a new medium of entertainment.  It's called reality.  It also comes in a generic form, life.