Winter Olympics Day Six

I love curling, and I loved it before everybody started saying it was “cool.” A little before, anyway. It’s icy shuffleboard with young, attractive people.
Skeleton and luge: If I had known at age ten that these were sports, I would have had a very different childhood, is all I’ve got to say. I lived for that.
No medal I guess, but Matt Savoie’s free skate tonight was as enjoyable to watch as any I’ve seen. All three American singles men (4th, 5th, 7th tonight) are really beautiful, interesting skaters.
Ok, half-pipe is a stupid, stupid sport, but it’s not boring, exactly. Boring – no, NOT curling – is the even newer “snowboard cross.” No detectable skill or strategy, even while reports of skill and strategy are pounded into my ear by totally stoked commentators. I’m currently watching the quarterfinals, where the two riders who don’t fall down advance. Ditto semis.
If the US ends poorly in the medal chase, I think they should add a biathlon of saucer sledding and snow ball fighting (to improve a bit on Felix Gillette’s suggestion), and I’ll go back into training.
Tomorrow I head up to Mammoth for some winter olympics of my own, hopefully two days of skating at the Tamarack x-c ski area and one day of telemarking.