Preparing for mid-winter exile

My exile has begun.

I roam the darkened hallways and empty rooms of the house, listening to the cheers in the distance, an outcast by choice.

Well, maybe that's a wee bit too melodramatic.

Let's just put it this way: The Winter Olympics have begun.

I'm not sure when my antipathy to the sled and slush fest started, but by now my curmudgeonly take on the winter games is legendary at our house.

That might not be much of a big deal, except for the fact that my wife is a huge fan.

Her enthusiasm for the winter games is as much of a mystery as my grumpiness about them.

Her only attempt at skiing - a weekend outing her freshman year in college - left her as a crumpled heap at the bottom of the bunny slope for beginners and put her on crutches for about six weeks.

But still, she's a fan. The weirder the sport, the better. (Don't get her started on the coolness of curling.)

Events at the winter games have always seemed to me to fall into two distinct categories: The death-defying hare-brained variety (luge, skeleton, wacky snowboard showboating) and the faintly ridiculous (ice dancing).

What's odd about all this is that we're usually in perfect synch when it comes to sports.

Baseball and football rank first and a close second at our house. Basketball's in third place, with the NBA generating virtually no interest.

The college game takes precedence, but even there - perhaps because there are so doggoned many games on television - we don't really focus on it until the NCAA tournament. During the regular season, we watch IU when we can stand the pain and root for Purdue when they're playing everyone except IU.

This time of year, however, is kind of a sports limbo. We're not ready to focus much on college hoops. The trucks full of equipment have left for spring training, but baseball's too far on the horizon. And Super Bowl disappointment is behind us.

Enter, the Winter Olympics.

Exit, yours truly.

The games will go on for a couple of weeks, and fortunately I have a couple of projects I've been working on.

I'm building a web site for our family and trying to learn the ins and outs of a couple new bits of software on the computer. I'm also reading a book about journalism on the Eastern Front in World War II.

So my evenings will be occupied while I hear cheers from the other room as curling competition reaches a fevered pitch.

In a show of loyalty and solidarity Friday night, I watched the show at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver. And I have to admit that it was pretty cool.

It helped that I'm a k.d. lang fan and love the song "Hallelujah" which was a high point.

But when it was over, I was ready for my fate.

My self-exile has begun.[[In-content Ad]]