Poll: Are you watching the Olympics?

Are you watching the Winter Olympics? What events do you like? What do you think of the TV coverage? I watched for about 6 hours yesterday so I guess you can say I'm watching. I might be reading at teh same time or on the phone but I'm watching. I like the speed events; skiing, luge, bobsled, skeleton, speed skating. I never liked the idea of the artistic events; figure skating, ice dancing, freestyle skiing. I always felt they weren't sports. You might as well have a battle of the bands. The winner is so subjective. They ususally don't cover my favorite event, short course speed skating. That's where it is an actual race with all the skaters on the ice at the same time.

I'm watching�a bit, but not conciously. I watched for two hours yesterday at the laundromat.

Figure skating is a sport, but not in the 'head-to-head competition' or 'game with ball' sense. Anyone who can do a�double axel is an athlete, and deserves to be recognized as such. The same applies to a multitude of figure skating maneuvers.

Look at the field events in the Summer games. Discus, javelin, shotput... they're not really exciting, but they're still sports.

Figure skating can't be compared to the field events where there is an objective criterion for winning. it is much more like a dance contest or the academy awards.

In the ancient olympics they had artistic contests too. I'd feel better about including figure skating if there was also a song contest and that is where it was lumped. Yes the skaters are great athletes, right up there with ballet dancers. I don't consider going to the ballet going to a sporting event either.

The comparison to field events was more for myself. I went through�a phase where I thought that sports were team events involving a ball, no exceptions. It excludes golf and bowling, but those are just games anyway. :-)

I'm not denying that figure skating is an artistic event (although I'd probably stop short of calling ballet dancers athletes). Ballet isn't a sport, it's a performance. Figure skating, even without a quantitative judging system, is a competition.

The 'what is sport' question is subjective. If you're going solely on the ability to measure a winner in either distance or time, than the hot-dog-eating-contest is a sport. If you add a physical trial to it (and eating that many hot dogs is a physical trial, but not in the way I'm trying to illustrate), then pulling-buses-with-your-teeth is a sport.

You're one of those people that wouldn't call Marching Band a sport, aren't you?

Of course it's a sport. Last man standing wins!

I prefer the winter olympics to the summer ones.� Yestaday Richard and I watched the cross country sking, luge and the 12 1/2 lap (5000 meter?) speed skating...then�at �the bar last night we watched downhill jumping and some of the pairs skating. Like Gordon i like the racing events more so then the figure skating (tho i was very saddened to hear the Kwan dropped out today do to injury :-(� .� And you can bet that WHEN team Canada gets to the hockey finals again we're going to be up in TO to watch it ^_^

I always rooted for Michelle Kwan but this year I was sort of glad she dropped out as she was put in there with a special waver. Now local girl Emily Hughs who lives not that far from me gets to compete.

Emily Hughes seriously keeps reminding me of Willow. (not even necessarily alyson hannigan...but willow.)

And in snowboarding...shaun white is so very much many of the guys at my high school. :)

I don't see the Willow in her.

Emily Hughes seriously keeps reminding me of Willow

Yes! I definatly see Willow in her.