Olympic Overload Rant
I just turned on the TV to find my 5th curling match in two days blaring on my favorite station. I know nothing about curling and I do not want to learn. But I have found that I have learned one thing I did not know at the start of the last week. Curling is boring. I mean I suppose if you get the inside scoop on how to get stones to turn left or right, then maybe it is interesting. One commentator said yesterday that all the network coverage is a curling participants dream come true. Well I have a dream that is that I can watch TV and not see curling.
Ok I am being hard on curling and I do not mean to be. After all it is not the fault of curling that it is on every time I turn on the TV. The programing must be satisfying a need or contractual arrangement to broadcast the lesser events to provide exposure. But it is more than curling I am upset about. Yesterday I tried to watch women’s super-combined alpine skiing. I love downhill racing and it is the one Olympic sport that I really enjoy. An American woman had a terrific downhill run (I missed the part I really enjoy) so I wanted to see her finish her run on the second day in slalom. I missed it of course; instead I saw her do the run at about 11:00 PM eastern. It lasted 3 minutes and I had spent all day watching curling to see her make this run and I happened to catch it while I was switching channels. Pure luck nothing more or less.
So what else was on TV? Well my dog demanded we watch the dog show last evening. Ok it was my wife and my dog. So we turned it on and spent 3 hours watching seemingly subjective judges making their classifications. This dog is better than that, and the announcer an expert said over and over, all of these dogs are perfect, so it is just a matter of which perfect dog is better. Grr. Tonight we will get to see the sporting group, a favorite at my house since we have a sporting dog. She admires the various breeds and cheers for the American cocker spaniel that never wins, but sometimes comes in forth. She is thrilled with 4th I cannot blame her, I mean seeing a perfect cocker spaniel gives her hope that the perfect dog will win that classification and then be further judged on the grand stage against all the other group champions. In short, it is way too subjective and no doubt it is mostly based on who the breeder, owner, handler really is that determines the winner. For one I know it will never be Samantha so why my cocker spaniel wants to watch is beyond me.
Now last evening I did see a feature on a diabetic long distance skier who wears a pump and a CGM. The interviewer suggested that he may not be medically cleared to compete. It seems that at two points in his career he had a low on the course and had to be taken to the hospital. This was prior to using the CGM. He explained he was much more controlled with the CGM and he was just excited to show once again that diabetics can do cross country skiing. It was interesting and I have to admit I liked the feature until someone mentioned that insulin is a banned substance. So he had gone through an appeal process and got a medical exception to use the drug. Now why in the world is insulin a banned drug is beyond me. Who in the world wants to put something in their body to create low blood sugar for a competitive advantage? If insulin gives a competitive advantage, I must be some sort of a superman. I have been putting it in for 39 years so I must be able to run, lift, ski, breath, have muscle mass or more energy than anyone. Unfortunately I am not, don’t, wont, can’t do those things so making it a banned substance is likely not necessary.
So as I watch TV today I am going to check out how to enter my pup (a non-registered dog) in a dog show because she is pretty smart. She picks her TV shows, I think even the most hardened judge would have to admit that a dog who can read the TV guide, and demand that she get to watch the dog show is deserving of some kind of award. After all her eye lashes have a wonderful curl and if I have learned anything it is that getting the perfect curl is very important. Or maybe I am confusing my competitions? No doubt it will work itself out.
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