Maurice Burns
A-Team Member
In spite of being less exciting than its summer counterpart, the 2014 Winter Olympics have been fairly entertaining. As we all know, they're being held in Sochi, Russia, which is probably the last place the athletes would've liked them to be, and that includes the Russian ones.
Ever since I saw Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, I've been afraid of Russia and thought it was one of the worst places imagineable, and after witnessing the country put my favorite announcer Bob Costas out with the worst pink eye I've seen to date, nothing's changed.
With that being said, Sochi has provided some solid moments thus far. Before American treasure Bob Costas was sidelined, we got the pleasure of hearing him casually say "Pussy Riot" on national broadcast television as result of the Russian snowboarders wearing attire that promote the protest punk band known by that name. Also, the events in Sochi have provided us a number of hysterical pictures of Olympic ice skaters. While what they do is incredibly elegant in the graceful, the faces they make while doing them are so strange and uncomfortable that one can't help but laughing.
In terms of winter sporting events, I have to admit I'm not a fan of many, but there is one event that brings me such joy, and that event is curling. If I could start all over, I would've dropped out of school and began a life-long journey to be the best curler that ever lived because that sport is the coolest. While the sport has struggled to be taken seriously and is seen as being a joke because the curling athletes don't necessarily need to be in tip-top shape, I wholeheartedly disagree. It takes much practice and skill and is essentially and giant game of shuffleboard on ice. If that's not awesome, then quite frankly I don't know what awesome is. If you want to see what I'm talking about, check the times online and check out our women's team as they have the best chance of medaling.
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Benny Dorris
A-Team Member
I hate to say I haven't been following the Winter Olympics this year. It makes me feel less patriotic, and I love America, so that's hard to admit. Apart from a fleeting Buzzfeed article read between classes, I really don't know much of what's going on.
The Summer Olympics are probably easier for college students to watch, since they take place during the summer when we might have a little more down time. Two years ago, I watched the opening of the London Olympics from a friend's house in Columbia, Mo., and followed the rest of the games once I got home from work.
I love the Olympics. They're steeped in such rich history and tradition, and there are few other sporting events where the victor can legitimately claim to be the best in the world. The Olympics staff also does a good job of telling the stories of many of the athletes, making it not only an athletic event, but also a dramatic story that plays out before us in real time.
The Olympic games are also a bit of a rarity. Even though the Summer and Winter Olympics rotate every two years, it will still be four years before we see another Winter Games. Because we can't just turn on the TV anytime and watch the Olympics, we should be sure to take advantage of it when we can. And I guess I should be sure to listen to my own advice next time around.
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Madison Boemecke
A-team Member
I'm not a big fan of watching sports, just the typical Super Bowl Sunday once a year. The Winter Olympics in Sochi, however, has been surprisingly interesting to me. With all the controversy in Sochi, it is almost hard to miss all of the articles and backfire this Olympics has had so far. Being untalented, I find pretty much any Olympic sporting event impressive. Figure skating is definitely one of my favorites this year. I've recently read an article on Cosmopolitan on how strict figure skating apparel is and the consequences of not following the rules.
Because most outfits are hand-made, there are nit-picky rules that are put into place in order to avoid wardrobe malfunctions during performances. One rule is that the front of the costume cannot be more than 50 percent nude. I can agree with this rule, nobody wants to see excessive nudity on the ice. Another rule is you can have up to 100,000 crystals on your dress. That's a lot of crystals! It takes up to 40 hours to apply all of them. Wearing jewelry or accessories in the rink is also banned but hardly ever enforced, which is why you will can see most skaters competing with earrings or even necklaces.
Breaking these rules can cost skaters deductions on their scores.You would think the judges would be more concerned with the techniques, tricks and overall performance. Obviously that is not the case in the 2014 Winter Olympics this year.
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Jen Gradl
A-Team Member
I admit, I haven't been watching the Olympics this year. Part of this is because I don't have cable, but the other part is, I just don't really care.
I know, I know, that sounds horrible. Those athletes train their whole lives to be a part of the Olympics and I fully acknowledge that. I think it would be incredible to have that kind of talent and maybe a part of me is super jealous. But that's beside the point.
I think my favorite thing about the Olympics so far is all of the articles and tweets from journalists who are currently in Sochi and are reporting the conditions they are living in.
Their hotels don't have running water, doors, light bulbs and a whole bunch of other crazy things. The pictures they are posting to the Internet are hilarious and a little sad. It makes me No. 1 never want to go to Russia, No. 2 ask myself what the heck is going on over there.
I mean, the people of that city knew the Olympics were coming and that there would be a huge increase in people and tourism but yet they can't get their hotels and city together? What are they doing over there?
I also saw a picture where there was a pile of dead dogs just thrown in the street. Seriously? How sad is that.
I just don't understand what is going on, but I am kind of amused at how the journalists and athletes are taking their situations in stride and with humor. It makes for some interesting articles to read at night when I'm avoiding homework.
I think this is the Olympics that a lot of people will talk about -- maybe not for the best reasons, but still.
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Alex Frisby
A-Team Member
A couple weekends ago I went home to spend a little time with my family. Most nights at my house we sit around the living room and watch TV together. The Olympics had just started so of course that was what we were set on. My dad kept making fun of me because I was acting like I had never watched them before. When I started thinking about it I realized I hadn't really watched them that much. I know that I didn't watch them the last time they were on, and I just really felt uninformed when it came to the Olympics. So I just kept watching.
Ski jumping was the sport my mom and I enjoyed watching the most that night. Not necessarily because of the actual sport, but because of the announcers. I know that they're supposed to be the experts and know all about the sport, but seriously the jumps looked the same. They were all skiing at a very unsafe speed down a huge slope and flinging their bodies off the cliff onto the next slope. How different can a jump look? Apparently extremely different since someone was the gold medalist, but to the untrained eye the jumps are all the same except some are slightly farther than others.
Another part of the Olympics that caught my attention was the amount of work and dedication the athletes put into their sport. It is their life for years and years. Watching some of the athlete's reactions when they didn't score as highly as they would have liked was devastating. Their entire life's work could be ripped away instantly because another athlete's score was 1/100 of a second faster. I really can't imagine what that would feel like. I have major respect for all of the Olympic athletes, but to be honest I'm glad I'm not one of them!
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opinionNov. 15, 2023
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