NEWS BLOG (WSAU) Vancouver looks like a great city. And the Winter Olympics looked like a feast for the eyes. And like most people, I recognize the personal fulfillment that the athletes experience at their moments of golden triumph. And all of that is fun to watch on tv.

But I had a hard time getting into these games. I find it difficult to have a cheering interest in sports that I don’t follow… and I can’t suddenly turn on my emotions when I watch downhill skiing, bobsledding, or figure skating once every four years.

That’s why NBC produces those athlete profiles. They want to hook people like me, as if my emotions will be turned on or off after "meeting" an athlete who's about to compete. If I’m still not emotionally invested, maybe patriotism and a cheering for the red-white-and-blue will get my juices flowing. In hockey, it did. In Nordic skiing, and most of the other sports, it didn’t.

I follow the NFL season from August to January. Even after the Packers are eliminated, I still have an opinion and an interest in who wins the Super Bowl. Part of it is I know good football when I see it. I don’t know good ski jumping or good ice dancing. And I don't want to invest the time to learn about triple-axels or the art of passing in short-track speed skating.

Still it seemed like a successful Olympics. TV ratings were high. There was a lot of talk about the games. Aside from the tragic practice-run crash on the luge track, there wasn’t any big scandal to upstage the competition. We can all take a deep breath until two years from now, when we’re supposed to care about beach volleyball, shot-put throwing, and gymnastics.

Chris Conley
Operations Manager-Midwest Communications, Wausau
3.1.10