Winter wonders

Why the Olympics are worth watching

I'm not a real skier. Oh, I've been skiing a bunch of times, probably will go again, but I never have learned that little knack of moving your feet at the same time, swish and swoosh, negotiating the moguls, making gravity work for you instead of against you. Jean Claude Killy, I'm not.

I have friends who head straight for those black diamond trails, the hard trails with the names straight from video games or heavy metal rock, names like "Killer Ravine" or "Megadeath" or "Devil's Graveyard." I usually stay with something like "Snow White Path" or "Lullaby Lane." Alberto Tomba, I'm not.

On the occasions when I've been coerced to go to the harder trails, my time has been split between feelings of great terror and great relief. This is skiing: "I'm in control, I'm in control ... uh-oh, I'm out of control, out of control ... in control ... out ... in ... whoa, baby." Ten-year-olds have helped me back to my feet. Franz Klammer, I'm not.

For the next few weeks, the modern day Killys and Tombas and Klammers -- the big American hope is Bode Miller -- will work their magic in Salt Lake City. I will watch with requisite awe.

This will not be a universal feeling. A lot of people in our country like to laugh at the Winter Olympics and its collection of daredevil sports as a freak show more than an athletic event, sort of a weird gathering of jugglers and fire-eaters and bobsledders. The idea is that these are sports that not many of us participate in, or participate badly in, so they're not worth the time.

I say that's exactly why they're worth the time. We can marvel at what we're not.

Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

 

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