August 11, 2008

I Love the Olympics


I've always loved the Olympics, but this year I think I might be even more addicted to them. There are several things I love:

One, I think it's incredible that these really random obscure bizarre sports get their brief moment in the spotlight. These people have been spending their whole lives preparing for this moment even though most people haven't ever even heard of the sport (handball? pentathlon?). And they get their chance to be a celebrity and an inspiration and give it their all. And that brings me to...

Two, I've always been so drawn to people of passion. I don't know that it matters that much what the passion even is, I just love people of passion. In high school I was drawn to people passionate about theatre, I married a man who is passionate about kayaking (I don't get it); I just think passion is so important. It's a breath of life and energy and focus and determination that is just really attractive to me. And one thing's for sure - these Olympic atheletes have lots of passion.

Three, I love competition. The stakes are never higher than the Olympics and the raw competition just makes my heart sing. I love the tension and the pressure and the great look of victory. It's a great ideal.

Four, I love how swept up in the emotion of it everyone gets. Just as much as I'm drawn to competetion, I'm also drawn into the emotion of it. I know that Nike and Visa are toying with me with their inspiring heavy-handed commercials and I know that NBC is reeling me in with their human interest angles on every athlete, but I don't care. I love it. I love to hear these people's stories and hear the powerful music and see the close ups of sweat and tears. It's even better than a chick flick.

So, I'm revelling in the Olympics this week. I'm not even trying to turn the TV off or pretend like I'm not going to watch every chance I can get. After all, it'll be another four years before I can watch synchronized diving again.

-cdh


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