luge, bobsleigh, skeleton... you're cut

I've had just about the craziest month and a bit I can remember. It's like non-stop.

I went onto here today to write something and realized I had a couple rants that I failed to publish during the recent madness. So I apologize for the tardiness and now-irrelevance of this rant, but what the fuck...

(Funny to look back in hindsight less than once month later and realize how quickly we move on from the Olympics and how I couldn't tell you the names of the gold medalists in bobsleigh. I bet you couldn't either. Don't go google it either.)

From the vaults (written Feb. 19, 2010):

Let's go back. Waaaaaaay back. Back when I was slinging muck in Iqaluit. At that time, I was speaking with some Frozen Grapes at length about Olympic events that needed to go. Hammer toss, you were there. Skeet shooting, I remember seeing you hovering around. I think water polo even made an appearance.

Anyhow, after having a couple beers with a new friend of mine following work, and surveilling the ubiquitously ubiquitous Olympic coverage, I am ready to add bobsleigh, luge and skeleton to that list.

Now don't immediately get up in arms about this, I'm going to rationally explain how I came to this decision.

As a disclaimer, I'm not discounting the abilities that these athletes have in these pseudo-sports. Bobsleigh, luge and skeleton Olympians are the best in the world at the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. There is no doubt about that. But my big beef is that I'm sure there are better potential lugers out there somewhere and the real reason these guys are competing for medals is because only one percent of one percent of one percent of people have ever even thought about giving the luge a try, and maybe one percent of one percent of those people have actually given it a shot. Are you telling me that these bobleighers and lugists could seriously beat Lebron James or Usain Bolt or Alex Ovechkin if they were given a luge and a couple hours? I think not. These people are Olympians by default. They were failed basketball or hockey or track stars, so they wound up doing bobsleigh and luge and skeleton.

Again, I'm not taking anything away from these people. I saw that Georgian dude get killed and I watched skeletoner(?) after skeletoner get the shit kicked out of them on that course. Really, that sport takes balls and a few loose screws. But it brings to light a problem I have with the winter Olympics in general - namely, the athletes there are the best in the world at what they do, but only due to monetary or climatic factors. The truest and greatest athletes are probably not competing. In the summer Olympics, the fastest runners and swimmers face off against each other. It doesn't matter where you grow up, if you are a fast runner, you are a fast runner and you are going to move up through the ranks.

It's not like that with skiing or hockey. How many people are immediately eliminated from ever being an Olympic skier, based on where they grew up or how much money their family had. Maybe some kid growing up in the Prairies was born with all the innate gifts it takes to be a superstar skier, but they lived thousands of miles from any sort of incline they could ride down on skis? Or what about the poor kid in a city who has the required strength and skill to be a hockey player, but can't afford the pricey gear and registration? Who really knows who the best lugist is? What do you need to be a luger? Explosive speed and balance? The best short distance sprinter/acrobat could be skateboarding somewhere in Canada right now, or could be sitting on an apartment step in Jamaica. Who knows?

So that's why I watch these things and find them entertaining for a while, but I'm not 100 percent sold we're seeing the best of the best...