I’m not much of a sports guy. I attended a Superbowl party this year, but it was one of only 3 sports events I’d watched in the past 12 months.
But I do enjoy me some Olympics. One of my favorite things about these 2014 Sochi Games?
Skeleton.
A relatively recent addition to the Olympics (apart from two early competitions some 50+ years ago), Skeleton is basically the luge, except you go down the track on your belly, face-first.
Awexome.
What’s even more awexome than the sport itself is the fact that they let the competitors customize their own helmets. This has led to some spectacular sights careening down an ice track.
I don’t want to step on anyone’s copyright toes (lame) by including images here on my website, but just click this link to do a Google Image Search for “Sochi Skeleton Helmets” — http://goo.gl/EaPzx9
You’ll be glad you did.
Whelp, I’m off to work now, and then this evening I’m off to Seattle to see Robb Benson and Nice Garçons! You should come to that, too! You’ll be glad you did.
In case you didn’t know, the Olympics are happening RIGHT NOW. I’m not a big sports person, but Carrie & I actually watch a bunch of the Olympics. I like them better than most sports because for the most part it isn’t about people with egos larger than their talents swaggering around and generally being douchebags.
But with some exceptions where pro sports people get to play (basketball, tennis), Olympic athletes are for the most part a different breed. They spend so much time developing their skillz that they don’t really have time to become douchebags. Or if they do their coaches smack them back into their places or just cut them completely.
And periodically something completely awexome happens during the Olympics. Like this, when Mexican gymnast Elsa Garcia Rodriguez Blancas did her qualifying floor routine to a medley of music from The Legend of Zelda:
She didn’t qualify (she was competing with two pretty badly injured hands), but it was quite something nonetheless.
There is much more information on this gamer gymnast over on Kotaku. It’s a good read about her history with both video games and gymnastics, written by her sister Laura.
