Winter Olympics: Does Anyone Really Care?
I’ll come right out and say it; the Winter Olympics are stupid. Curling? Figure Skating? Luge? Who cares?
Oh yeah, we all do for about two weeks every four years. 51 billion dollars (that’s right billion, with a B) will be spent to send the United States team to Sochi. 51,000,000,000 dollars, that’s a whole lot of zeros. A great amount of that money is coming from Coke, along with many other donors.
It sounds crazy for companies to fund this much money but in reality it is well worth the publicity. They aren’t just getting the sponsorship at the actual Sochi games; they also get all of the qualifying events that lead up the Olympics.
Don’t get me wrong, I actual do enjoy certain events in the Winter Olympics. I love watching Snowboarding and a kid from Perfect North, Nick Goepper, is going to be in a freestyle skiing event. I plan to watch that event and am pretty excited about whatever craziness Shaun White plans on doing this year.
But apart from those events I have zero interest. The odds of me watching figure skating outside of the movie Blades of Glory are about zero. Bobsledding? Unless Jamaica has a team that I’m not aware of, count me out. And then there’s Curling…. I would rather watch Mr. Ruben’s 1987 vintage movie on the Renaissance.
Seriously, the fact that curling is even an Olympic sport makes me concerned about the human race.
I actually love the whole idea of the Olympics. As a patriotic American the idea of America asserting its dominance over the lesser countries of the world gets me pumped up. My intention is not to make fun of any of these athletes. The dedication and passion these people show to their respective sports is a quality I wish I had in my own life.
All I am trying to get at is that I find it kind of strange that someone would train their entire life for an event that is not all that different than sweeping a dirty floor. But none the less, I will be cheering for the old stars and stripes to take home as many medals as possible.
![Photo of Lee Lutz](https://elderhsquill.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/lutz96-300x200.jpg)
Opinion editor, writing enthusiast, and patriot.
Elder High School Class of 2014.
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