OLYMPIC JUNKIES

We vividly recall all the old time Olympians – Jonny Mosley, Dan Jansen, Scott Hamilton, Apolo Anton Ohno – who are now the color commentators for the current Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Many current athletes competing for the U.S.A. are familiar names – Julia Mancuso, Shani Davis, Bode Miller, Shaun White, Gracie Gold – on & on it goes.

My family loves the Olympics! When either the Summer or Winter Olympics come around, there is a two week period that finds us glued to the TV, trying to avoid hearing results all day in order to be surprised by the evening telecast. My son, Darrin, & I are the worst. We stay up late every night texting each other when something great (or lousy) happens.

Every four years we are suddenly enthralled with slopestyle snowboarding, speed skating, biathalon, mogul skiing, figure skating, luge, bobsledding & of course, curling! Last Olympics Darrin looked up the rules for curling & once we knew the basics along with the object of the game, it became almost mesmerizing to watch the players send the “rock” down the lane as their teammates furiously sweep the ice to change its speed.

My daughter-in-law, Allison, has dubbed us “Olympic Junkies” – a perfect description of the affliction that takes hold of us every other year. It’s appropriate, too, because when the closing ceremonies are over, there really is a sort of physical withdrawal that takes place inside us when there are no longer hours of competition in obscure sports to fill our days & evenings.

From the time Darrin was a teenager (he will be 38 next month – yikes!), we have shared 2 – 3 hour fast food lunches together. We are never at a loss for words & I am convinced that we could solve all the world’s problems if people would only listen to us! Now, that he is a husband & father our lunches have become less frequent. BUT yesterday he invited me to lunch at McDonalds “to talk Olympics” – don’t have to ask me twice, I’ll be there with bells on!

For two hours we analyzed present performances & events, rehashed some of the older Olympic moments & reminisced about Darrin’s aspirations of winter sports competition over Chicken McNuggets (with Sweet Chili & Habanero Ranch dipping sauce made specially for the Winter Games). I do believe we have started a new tradition for mother & son.

When Darrin was really young our family was inspired to try ice skating after watching the figure skating at Lake Placid in 1980. Our four year old announced that he was “going to do a sit spin” like he saw the skaters perform on TV. Alas, there were no sit spins of any consequence but we did have fun!

We took up cross-country skiing after seeing it in the Winter Games. Of course, we started off trying to go really fast like the Olympians, but soon learned to slow down & enjoy the scenery. Over the years Darrin has wanted to be a short-track speed skater, a slider (luge) & just four years ago was tempted to take up curling when he learned there is a curling club in San Jose.

When he was 16, Darrin tried out for the U.S. Junior Luge Team on their recruiting trip to California. They had sleds with wheels & used closed freeway on ramps for the tryouts. He was invited to Lake Placid for a month of training to see if he was good enough to compete. Unfortunately, it was during the school year & at our expense. Plus he was taking flying lessons & ultimately chose to continue that pursuit instead.

On vacation in Calgary a few years later, we stopped for a tour of the Olympic Park. One of the “attractions” was to slide down the last third of the Olympic luge track on a real luge sled. Of course, we all tried it! Darrin & his dad did it twice each where as I settled for one attempt. The instructions were to simply relax & the sled will do the work. Yeah, right – as I went up one side of the ice trench then way up the other side, my brain kicked in saying, “You had better relax, girl, or you’re going to be upside down in no time.” Well, I’ll be damned if I didn’t relax & amazingly, the ride smoothed out.

We reached speeds of 25 – 30 MPH which seemed pretty damn fast to me. I can’t imagine going 80 MPH on your back down a hill when 30 MPH felt like flying! It was an experience of a lifetime for us Olympic wannabes. Maybe a bobsled ride is next on the horizon.