Winter Olympics

So, Britain's finally won a medal in the Winter Olympics.

Woo hoo.

Yeah, I don't care. I'm not even watching. The Winter Olympics is, in my opinion, the pointless bastard half-cousin to the Summer Olympics, which is pointless enough itself. At least with the Summer Olympics we can have the entertainment of watching the latest western Superman with his corporate sponsors and his billion-dollar training regime get whipped by some Kenyan who trains by running around his village for hours every day and who's country's total contribution was a kit and a 'plane fare.

The Winter Olympics are a rich country's sport. Poor countries can't afford to build the ski slopes and bobsled runs necessary to train and can't afford the equipment needed to compete, so you rarely get to see the crushing defeat of 6 Million Dollar Man at the hands of 6.99 Man.

Not only that, but - with the exception of the odd crash - the events are dull as can be.

The same loss of respect that came from the Summer Olympics allowing beach volleyball, came for the Winter Olympics in the snowboarding competitions. And there's so many of them, all of which involve some variation of going down a hill on an ironing board. All of which are completely boring.

Oh, and the Yanks are, to borrow a phrase I've never liked, mad for it. It's amazing. It's being hashed and rehashed on TV 24 hours a day. They're making a big deal about how this year's Team USA has more world champions than any previous team. Whether that's any previous US team or any team from any country is not clear, but it's being bandied about like crazy. Check this, there are twelve pages of US competitors. Three pages of British competitors, too. It makes me wonder what could happen if the money spent to send these teams to Italy were instead channeled into, say, cancer research.

Hell, I wish them, and the GBR team well, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Roll on June.