Katie and I watched the Winter Olympics last night. Well, obviously not all of it since it's a 10-day or so event; we usually watch the "interesting" sports. Figure skating, short track (speed skating), downhill skiing, and, well, that's about it. Until yesterday.
I went to my weekly Civil Air Patrol meeting, got home in time to watch American Idol at 9, then switched it over to the Olympics to see some of the short track racing. Commercial came on, Katie and I were talking so we didn't turn the channel, then......*drum roll please*.....snowboarding came on. The Half Pipe. Those people are amazing!!!! This particular "race" was for the men's snowboarding; tonight is the ladies. I can't wait. To be honest, I had always turned my nose up at the idea of snowboarding being an actual Olympian Event. It always seemed kind of "renegade" to me...not "refined" Olympic material. Which seems rather strange to say about my opinion of it, since I'm prone to the "renegade" side of things anyway, but I'm not always much for change when it comes to iconic things like the Olympics. I have no idea how many years snowboarding has been an Olympic sport, but I'm so glad it is. We watched Shaun White win the Gold!!! This young man performed tricks, aerobatics, and went higher than anyone there. It was amazing.
I have also decided that snowboarding is something so irreverent, so "out there" bizarre, so undeniably amazing, and so unbelievably stupidly dangerous that it could only have been invented by America. We are not the sanest of people when it comes to our "fun". Skiing, ice skating, St Bernards...they were all products of necessity; of getting from point A to point B without benefit of modern transportation; of putting small barrels full of life-sustaining beverages (does whiskey count as that?) on a dog's collar so they can find the fallen skier/skater and rescue them.
Snowboarding....not so much. There is absolutely no sane reason one would strap both feet onto the same board, which is no bigger than the length of one's arm, while standing at the top of a very TALL mountain covered in snow/ice, then volunteer to attempt to stand upright while careening down the TALL mountain with both feet immobile on that board, all without the help of ski poles! Then, as if that's not enough, the brilliant Americans decide to add more "fun" to it by jumping off moguls (little mounds of snow?) halfway down. Once that was accomplished with relative ease, "we" then add flips, turns, and building things called "half pipes" so these crazy snowboarders can "run" up the sides of the "pipe" while flying so far up and off the side of it then turning in the air, coming back down to continue on the other side of the pipe to do it again!!!!!! And.....there's not even a cute little St Bernard dog around to run to their rescue with the collar-barrel of Gatorade, etc!! Nope, when these snowboarders fall, they get back up and start all over again!! And they smile while they do it!! Only an American would develop this sport.
Even the outfits are slightly "irreverent"; it's not the sleek, aerodynamic suits of the down hill ski racers; the tight-fitting same-as-skin-to-shave-off-time outfits of the speed skaters, or even the "my outfit matches the music I'm skating to so I'll look cool and gain points for appearance" of the figure skaters. Nope. The dress code is so American; loose fitting pants, hoodies, jeans, comfortable jackets, bright-colored patterns, or bold statement patterns to say who they are as a person, comfy knit hats (under their helmets), etc. They truly look like they were having fun on their home-town mountains, heard there was an Olympic meet going on, and decided to drop by for the day just for fun. Very, very American.
It's fun to see people from all over the world now embracing this sport. Especially seeing the "staid" Asian countries dressing so American and having fun with such an American sport.
This sport is so American....there is so much fun on the faces of the people competing, and the competition itself is so good-natured; I can see all of them hanging out and having a party together regardless of who won, being happy for the ones with medals, yet giving encouragement and tips to the ones who didn't win. It's the American way.
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