The Father on the Olympics: Confused but hopeful.

The best word to describe the Winter Olympics so far is puzzling. There's a distracting lack of snow in Vancouver (it's cloudy, balmy and drizzly at most of the venues). The Opening Ceremonies were held indoors (indoors?) and came off as a little "Lord of the Dance" for me. The event coverage is pretty much real time, unlike China, Turin, etc. I kind of got used to the 8-hour delay somehow. (I know, it's me.) And there was that horrible death of the Georgian luger before the Games even got started.

That said, I'm thinking things will get better. That's because I'm an Olympics junkie and an incurable optimist. This combo allows me to ignore stupid stuff like what Johnny Wier's wearing under his fur and lets me focus on giddy Polish ski jumpers with broken teeth and mangled English. That's entertaining. To me, there's nothing cooler or more exciting in all of sports than to see these amazing athletes from around the world converge on an actual "global village" for 2 weeks to compete, share meals, hang out ... hook up? Good or bad, I'll take it all in by TV, radio, computer, newspaper or 2-way radio if I have to. Here are a few random thoughts on the Games so far:

• Opening Ceremonies: They started off a little rocky with some awkward lingering shots of the VIP section (watching obscure dignitaries take their seats is not compelling TV)... too much commentator commentary (we have eyes, you know)... some cringy lip synch moments by performers. But all in all, things settled down and got better with the spectacle of the parade of nations, special effects, etc.
• TV Coverage: Too many commercials and, again, too much talking by the announcers. They feel the need to fill every second of air time with talk. NBC, if you're reading this, just point the cameras at the short track skaters and we'll figure out the rest.
• Worst TV moment so far: NBC's decision to replay over and over the horrific crash and death of the young luger from Georgia. This was live, on national TV, prime time... no one needed to see this. Especially his friends and family watching at home. And my kids didn't need to see it, either.
• Favorite moment so far: The end of the Nordic combined event. First U.S. medal ever. Those guys are studs.
• Most annoying trend: Portraying certain athletes as "bad boys," "rebels" and "free spirits" because of soul patches or pink streaks in hair or tattoos or fur coats or some other empty fashion statement.
• Favorite athlete despite the hype: The Flying Tomato. A little biased, but you just can't keep a good Ginger down.
• Least favorite athlete: Johnny Weir. See above. This guy's super annoying.
• Favorite event: Short track speed skating. Just a nerve-wrackingly high-speed, dangerous and unpredictable event. It ain't over til it's over.
• Second favorite event: Curling. The training, the conditioning, the sweeping! OK, it's just fun to watch, like shuffleboard.
• Least favorite event: It was going to be Moguls, but after watching that Kearney girl, I have to say it rocks.
• Best-looking country: I have to go with France from what I saw during Opening Ceremonies.
• Best Opening Ceremony uniforms: Hands down, Bermuda. Did you see the shorts?
• Medal Count predictions in order: U.S., Canada, China, Austria, Germany.

OK, those are my thoughts on the Olympics so far and I hope you got something out of it. What did Milkshake Boy have to say?