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The Ghost of Winter Games Past
November 18th, 2009
Don’t forget to head on over to vote for me today!
I’ve told you that my family’s Canadian, haven’t I? My mom was born in Laval, Montreal and my dad grew up in Brantford, Ontario. I grew up in a small suburb of Cleveland where the winters are cold and full of lake-effect snow. These two factors meant that I was an ice skater. (According to my mother, kids in Canada learned to ice skate before they could even walk.)
My dad was obsessed with ice hockey and was thrilled to take me to get my first pair of skates. Of course, I wanted sleek white figure skates and not those clunky ol’ black hockey skates. He didn’t mind. Skating was skating. He took me every chance we had. We skated on lumpy bumpy outdoor rinks and freshly Zambonied indoor rinks. I practiced my turns and skating backwards and my Katarina Witt spins. In my mind, I wore a sequined figure skating dress and was tossed about effortlessly by Brian Boitano.
In reality, I was as graceful as a drunk wildebeest.
Seriously, I was terrible. I could skate around the rink and manage a few wobbly spins, but I was far from “good.” But you know what? It didn’t matter. Not to me and not to my dad. We skated because we loved it, not because we were trying to impress anyone.
I still remember how we were glued to the TV during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. We were riveted by the Battle of the Brians and the Jamaican Bobsled team. I remember being fascinated by Curling. (I still am, btw. I mean, tea kettles and brooms? Really?) As I got older, watching the Olympics became less cool and so did skating. I no longer thought that spending a Saturday at the rink with my dad was fun. I would have much rather been at the mall with my friends looking for cute boys. However, I got even older and fell in love with the Winter Games all over again. The luge! The ski jumps! The bobsledding! What’s not to love, right?
And maybe one of these days I’ll figure out what the heck Curling is all about.
test Filed under Olympic Winter Games | Comments (8)8 Responses to “The Ghost of Winter Games Past”
I am such a “girl” when it comes to my Olympic favorites: I’m hugely devoted to figure skating (womens’ singles) (remember Tara Lapinski? ZOMG LOVED THAT YEAR) and gymnastics (well, in summer).
I’m so impressed with people that know more about the less widely acclaimed sports. Also: I think you would do a great job covering the Olympics! Can’t wait to see if you win!
Hee! A. and I are joining a curling league this winter!
LOVED watching figure skating when I was a kid. Then I actually went ice skating once and was STUNNED at how hard it is. I fell like half a million times.
This is so awesome. I cannot even skate around a rink once. Unless I’m clinging desperately to the wall the whole time.
Oh man, I am a terrible ice skater. Really bad. I love watching hockey though, as long as they fight occasionally.
Artemisia – O.M.G. You have GOT to explain it to me!
I do hope you are picked-because I seriously need that luge
I find curling fascinating as well. I only know about b/c of the Olympics and it looks totally my style. No sparkly spandex suits, you can apparently be unfit in order to compete. What’s not to love?