Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Thoughts regarding the Winter Olympics: The most amazing thing about this is that I actually have any thought about the Winter Olympics. There are not many sports in the Winter Olympics that I enjoy watching. Most of the sports seem to be praciticed by crazy people. Who was the first guy who jumped off a mountain on a ski? Who was the first guy who dug up a winding trench so that he can go down it and called it luge? And who was the first guy who wanted to be the second man in the 2-man luge? There is a guy on the Canadian curling team that is 54 years old! Sorry, but I have no respect for a sport in which a 54 years old man can be world class. Even speed skating which seems like a tough sport doesn't look so impressive now that in-line skaters like Derek Parra and Chad Hedrick can come in and become champions in a short time.

Having made fun of the Winter Olympics, I now would like to compliment about some of the people I saw on television and read about over the 2 weeks. Joey Cheek deserved to be the flag carrier at the closing ceremony. His contribution to the charity Right To Play will be remembered long after these games. Don't forget Johann Olav Kloss the Norwegian speedskater who started the charity and thus is a mentor to Cheek. Speaking of Norweigians, the cross-country ski coach who handed the Canadian skier a pole after her pole broke should be considered for sportsman of the year. His gesture cost his team a medal but he shrugged it off as the right thing to do. I was impressed with Toby Dawson, the mogul skier who won a bronze medal. I was more impressed by his mother who had adopted him from Korea. Parents like her who adopt children and love them like their own are special people.

Three people who need to grow up: Bode Miller, Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis.

One person who surprisingly has grown up: Apollo Anton Ono who still looks cool but is a much better speaker than 4 years ago and showed good sportsmanship and lots of heart after a poor start in this Olympic.

One more person I have to comment on is Lindsey Jacobellis. Jacobellis lost a gold medal when she showboated at the end of her race and fell. This was a rather childish behavior. However, I will give her credit because she is only 20 years old and her action afterward was impressive. Twenty year olds do stupid things (well, even old people like me do stupid things). But she was able to speak in front of the media afterwards and handled herself well. If this happened to me when I was 20 years old, I would have been so distraught I wouldn't have been able to speak to anyone. So if this is the stupidest thing she will do in her life, Jacobellis will have a very good life.