Are the Turin games worth watching?

POINT: Something for everyone

Step into your skis; grab your earmuffs. Get ready, world, for you are about to embark on an around-the-clock blitz of winter sports action that comes every four years.

The Winter Olympics is an amazing collection of all things fast and cold. What person can resist the temptation of watching athletes either strapping various things on their feet or lying on a variety of sleds and saying, “Hey, let’s go as fast as we can down the most ridiculous hill/slope/ice chute we can find!”

The Olympics has something for everyone. There is skiing for those from the old country and snowboarding for us from the new country. Austria may have their skiing champions, but the United States has freestyle snowboarders like Shaun White and Danny Kass who land 720s in the half pipe on a regular basis. Besides, downhill skier Bode Miller has a chance to blow the European competition away at higher levels than he blows into a breathalyzer.

There is ice hockey for those rough-and-tumble types who get to watch their favorite NHL players like Peter Forsberg of the Philadelphia Flyers play for Sweden and Michael Modano of the Dallas Stars play for theUnited States.

There is figure skating for the sweet and sensitive who can enjoy the finesse and dexterity of 21-year-old Sasha Cohen or skating veteran Michelle Kwan. Guys can enjoy ice skating too. Just watch the intensity of speedskater Apolo Ohno fly around the track.

The skeleton is an event anyone who enjoyed sledding in their backyard when they were young can embrace. Of course when you were younger you weren’t traveling face down at ridiculous speeds on tracks of pure ice. There is bobsledding and luge for race fans craving speed and curling for those who love above all else, rocks and brooms.

When to watch:

Television coverage begins with Opening Ceremony
8:00 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 10
on NBC (WWBT-TV 12 Richmond)

You know Virginia Delegate John S. Reid, R-Henrico, and gun enthusiasts alike will enjoy the biathlon, an event that combines the challenge and skill of cross-country skiing with the joys of shooting guns.

Best of all, the Olympics has something every American can enjoy: A chance to cheer on their fellow countrymen as they compete against the best on Earth for the world’s highest honor in athletics.

COUNTERPOINT: I’d rather be hibernating

Do you believe in miracles?

That’s what it will take to get me to watch more than a few hours of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

The fortnight is filled with events I do not enjoy and do not understand.

The only reason I have heard of Michelle Kwan is because the seven-time U.S. figure skating champion has choked away her gold-medal chances in the past few Olympics.

The reason U.S. skier Bode Miller stands out among Olympic athletes is because he admits to sometimes heading down the side of a mountain with the help of liquid courage.

I will confess that watching skiing can be entertaining, but only if somebody ends up going airborne with their arms and legs flailing around then slamming into a tree.

That is like watching a NASCAR race simply for the wrecks or watching President George W. Bush attempt to give a speech. You’re not a true fan, just somebody who enjoys watching other peoples’ pain.

By the numbers:

17 days of events (Feb. 10-26)
84 titles at stake
416 hours of coverage available in the U.S.

The aerial skiing competition is cool at first, watching people twist and turn while jumping 20 feet into the air, but after three participants its just different people trying the same tricks. And the same can be said for snowboarding.

I also despise sports that involve judging. It turns into an art show where beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That is not sport. Sport is scoring more points than the opponent.

What’s so interesting about the bobsled competition? One member drives, one member brakes and the other two just push the sled to get it going. Then they all jump in when it gains momentum. It’s similar to my uncle Frank’s old Volkswagen Beetle.

I may watch the ice hockey tournament though, because it’s the best players in the world representing their native countries.

My favorite player is Washington phenom Alexander Ovechkin. But he wont’ be playing for the U.S.

So one of the few Olympians I am a fan of is not even competing for the country I am rooting for.

At least I’ll get a chance to catch up on some schoolwork since there will be nothing on TV.