Gold-Medal TV

Well, the numbers are in, and the Winter Olympics aren't exactly winning in terms of ratings. It's not a huge surprise: most of the events are slightly foreign and the dominant athletes aren't usually from the US. Still, even if you don't know what skeleton is or that Finnish ski-jumper Janne Ahnonen has yet to win an individual medal despite dominating the sport for years, there are still plenty of reasons to tune in. In terms of entertainment, the speeds are fast (exhibit a: luge), the events dangerous (exhibit b: short-track), and the surfaces are generally frozen, meaning the crashes are all the more frequent and spectacular (exhibit c: any falls on the downhill skiing courses).

Yeah, figure skating may be the glamour event of the games, but I'll take skiing over it any day. Last weekend there were enough dramatic rulings, inspirational performances, crazy personalities, speed demons, and crashes to satisfy anybody, and that was just in one cross country race.

But there's another reason besides sheer excitement to pay attention. If the hype around Bode Miller has proven anything, it's that the media likes to turn the athletes of Olympic sports into heroes only when the opening ceremonies are near, not when they actually might deserve the attention. (Last year, Miller's overall victory in the World Cup went relatively unnoticed compared to how monumental the achievement was.) The Olympics may not necessarily showcase these athletes at their best, but at least it showcases them for a brief and dramatic two weeks. On the U.S. men's figure skating team, we're still mourning the fifth place finish of self-proclaimed princess (just don't call him diva) Johnny Weir, though the less outspoken Evan Lysacek saved the U.S. from shame with a nearly perfect long program. As big as anyone gets in the games, it's simply a matter of time before they start slipping out of public view again. So, to put it bluntly: catch them while you can.