Post-Olympics Hangover

The long-track speed skating team pursuit races were fun to watch.

An affliction that happens every two years has entered my house. It’ll stay for a day or two or three before vanishing . . . not to appear again until the summer of 2012.

The Winter Games ended yesterday. And now I’m suffering from post-Olympics hangover. There’s so much I’m going to miss now that television and our lives are back to regular programming.

The USA men sweep. Wish my guys would learn from this!

I won’t be staying up late anymore to catch the curling action on CNBC.

It looks like a big bullseye, but curlers call it the “house.”

And I really do love watching curling! It’s the perfect sport. It goes on forever, so you can nap during it and really not miss much. Plus you can multitask while it’s on (I’m partial to surfing the web on my MacBook) and barely miss a curl. Its glacier-like pace reminds me of a soap opera. And curling even has time outs!

Brave Canadian Joannie Rochette skates.

I’ll miss being moved to tears by NBC’s coverage. Whose heart didn’t break hearing the news that Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette’s mother had died shortly after arriving in Vancouver? Her daughter skated brilliantly in her memory.

Gander, Newfoundland, welcomed international passengers on September 11, 2001.

Last Saturday as the events were winding down, NBC broadcast an amazing documentary by the incomparable Tom Brokaw about Gander, a small town in Newfoundland. The city opened its arms and hearts to international passengers who were diverted from U.S. airspace on September 11, 2001. That heart- warming piece wrung my tear ducts out to dry!

USA’s four-man bobsled is upside-down on the track.

My emotions switched from tears to fears, as I watched the bobsledders hurtle down the track at 95 miles per hour. Some flipped over. Others won medals.

USA’s Ashley Caldwell is about to go airborne in women’s aerial skiing.

And how about freestyle skiing’s aerialists?

Caldwell sails upside down through the air with the greatest of ease.

Certifiably crazy! But so thrilling to watch . . . from the comfort of my chair in my family room.

Women "hand off" by pushing in the short-track speed skating team relay. It's like roller derby!

I’ll miss the thrills and spills of short-track speed skating, especially when the USA’s Apolo Ohno is involved.

One of the colder cameraperson jobs at the Winter Olympics

But I bet that this person won’t miss the chills of the short track. How would you like to be on your knees with a camera on your shoulder videoing speed skating for hours? I think I’d rather try the aerials!

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir enthusiastically sing to “O Canada” after their gold-medal performance.

One thing that I won’t miss is wondering why virtually none of the American gold medalists sang when the national anthem was played at the medal ceremony. It seemed like winners from every other country were at least mouthing the words. But not us. It made me really appreciate when Canadians won the gold—the loud singing from the crowd gave me goosebumps!

Disappointed goalie Ryan Miller after Canada beat the USA for gold in ice hockey.

Finally, I’ll miss the wonderful highs and bittersweet lows that are the hallmark of every Olympics. The final contest of the Winter Games—the men’s ice hockey final—was a bittersweet moment for Team USA, which wasn’t expected to contend for a medal. It was a thrilling contest, but it did seem fitting that Canada, the purported birthplace of the sport, persevered to win the gold. The image and sounds of the victorious players and their homeland fans lustily singing “O Canada” will stay with me until the Summer Games is about to start.

Oh, and I pronounced “about” as “aboot” . . . in honor of the magnificent job that Vancouver did in presenting the 2010 Winter Olympics. Bravo!