Bodacious Boomer

Olympic fever is everywhere. If you turn on “regular” TV, AKA non-cable, you can’t get away from it even if you want to. Now, here in Texas it isn’t as big as it is up north where ice hockey is almost a religion. We do have a hockey team in Houston. However, it’s kinda the unloved stepchild of pro sports, attendance wise. The Houston Aeros, average attendance is just over 5,000 people per game, not quite a third of the average crowd for a Houston Rockets game (16,000+).

When I was little I wanted to be an ice skater; but there was only one rink, far, far away from my house. So instead I learned to roller skate and in fact, became quite good. I’d roller skate after school every day. Remember shoes with hard soles and skate keys?  My 10th birthday party was at Tradewinds roller rink. My mom gave me a short black velvet skating skirt lined with red satin. It had a little hat to match. I was all that; or sure thought I was that day anyway. Rambling again, sorry. (Where’d I put that Ritalin?)

Anyway, I watch most of the winter Olympics and have the utmost respect for the athletes who have given up so much to be good enough just to participate, much less win; so many hours spent in the rink practicing before school, so many hours in the gym, so many parties not attended; not to mention the chance of serious injury or even death. I’ve ice skated, and I’ve skiied to mixed reviews.  (My trip would’ve gone better, had I been better prepared.) I just couldn’t believe that you’d really need upper body strength to ski. I just never thought about what it took to get up after a fall, or in my case, a lot of falls. What can I say? I was young and dumb.

The brings me to the subject de jour. I really hope that I don’t alienate my Canadian readers who I’m depending on to answer this question- what’s up with curling? To me, it looks likes even someone who has a rock solid relationship with their Laz-y-boy while snacking on Cheetos and sipping a Coke could be good at curling if they just have the “touch”. Is it too late for me? Is spending a lot of time in the gym like the skiers do to build up their endurance necessary to be a good curler? I’m certain that the serious curlers do train for many hours to get to the top of their game. But is there ever any real danger involved? Are there curling accidents? I’m ignorant about the sport, I’ll admit.  However I think even the curling fans would agree that watching a match doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat like say, watching the downhill.

While reading about curling today, I came upon this clip from the Letterman show. Curling was the subject of one of his “Top Ten” lists. Those who aren’t curling fans will probably like it.