Damn the Olympics!

There are so many things to dislike about the Olympics and so few to like - skeleton racing (completely insane), women's curling (the only watchable winter Olympic sport), that's about it. Some people like figure skating I guess. I've never understood the attraction. It's like stock car racing but instead of crashes, you get slips and the very occasional fall. And when it happens it's just sad. Those idiots spend their entire lives to get to that point and then lose because of a tiny slip. Watching it reminds me of watching Degrassi Junior High - the agonizing wait for someone to do something painfully embarrassing.

Plus there's a weird kind of pressure not to watch these games (which are on at 4 am anyway) because Putin is a homophobe. He's also a brutal dictator and a gangster so maybe people should be less concerned about the whole homophobe thing. It's like finding out a convicted murderer also beat his dog. Yes, it's reprehensible. Anyway, the homophobic laws have given me political cover to do something I was going to do anyway -pretend these Olympic games aren't happening.

I have to wonder how much the Olympics messes with the ratings numbers. Does men's sport style really cut into the audience for Grey's Anatomy? How many people are forced to decide between this week's episode of Elementary and the qualifying rounds for short-track speed skating? Thankfully, AMC and HBO don't give a fuck about the Olympics either so True Detective and The Walking Dead are both on this Sunday.

I had a friend whose sister got into the national ballet company. It was a huge achievement. My response was, "Good for her. She's the best at something no one gives a fuck about." There's a reason hockey is the only sport at the winter Olympics that is also a sport outside the Olympics. It's because pro hockey is an excuse for guys to get drunk with other guys. Have you ever heard about skeleton outside of the Olympics? And that's the craziest sport ever. I saw a video on Youtube of a guy climbing a 1500 ft wall in Mexico with no safety ropes. That's insane. Even he doesn't have balls big enough to slide down an ice track at 120 km/h face first. Still, it's a very weird thing to get excited about. "Canada wins the gold medal is skeleton!" Who cares? No one will remember that person's name in a week. And why would that be a (compulsory) source of national pride?

So I guess I should be thankful the Russians are a bunch of homophobes. All the noise about the anti-gay propaganda laws allows me to escape giving a shit about something I really don't give a shit about.