Monday, February 17, 2014

I Could Never Twizzle (and Other Olympic Confessions)

Last night my twitter feed was buzzing with talk of twizzles. Why? Well, here's my short analysis, USA is dying for a favorite to come through and win with gold. With less-than-ideal performances from many of our favorites, no gold in speed skating, hockey being played in the morning, and Bob Costas being potentially abducted by the Russians for the purpose of cloning (just kidding, he had an eye infection), the loyal US Olympic fans are craving a story that is going to play out the way it should. That brings us to ice dancing. For one night we were glued to our televisions watching the drama of ice dancing unfold as we awaited the world record setting performance of Davis and White. That brings me to twizzles. What is a twizzle you might wonder, I have no idea. It is some sort of synchronized spinning skating move. As much as I joined in on the joking about twizzles, the truth is, I could never twizzle. If I didn't break one of my ankles I would fall on my face and probably break something else. So as I sit and watch some live ice dancing... that's right, all the drama of twizzles, LIVE... I figured I should confess to some of my other Olympic guilty pleasures and things I wish I could do.

  • Along with not being able to twizzle, I could never do any of the figure skating! I couldn't survive in those outfits, I'd freeze!!! As a girl I loved ice skating. My mom and I would sit and watch Olympic figure skating every night if we could. I had my favorites, of course, including Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Kurt Browning (Canadian, I know), and of course Scott Hamilton doing commentary. I dreamed of gliding across the ice and spinning, twisting, and jumping. Truth is, I'm just happy to go ice skating and not fall. 
  • I could never do speed skating. As much as I loved roller blading as a kid, and probably thought I was really fast, the idea of short track speed skating scares me. I just see them falling and getting sliced by one of those crazy blades. Also, I would get dizzy. Oh, and let's not forget the relays... all that craziness in the bump exchange area and whatnot! As for long track, I think I'd get confused, end up in the wrong lane, and I could never actually skate that far that fast. 
  • The biathlon is another event that I think I would get confused doing. Not to mention the physical stamina of those athletes. I started running last year, mostly doing 5ks but I did do a half marathon and I thought I was going to die. I can't imagine doing a 5k, but stopping to crouch down and shoot 5 tiny targets in the middle of my running, let alone being on skis! 
  • I would love to try curling. I just think the physics of the game is so fascinating. How to get the velocity, friction, and trajectory just perfect seems awesome! 
  • I wish I could snowboard. Every time I watch a snowboarding event I wish I could snowboard.
  • I LOVE SNOW!!! Ok, so this isn't really a confession because most people know this about me. When I watch the Olympics the thing I am most jealous of is that they get to spend so much time in the snow. 
Keep it real my friends,

HP