86 days to go...

To quote a not-so-famous athlete, "I am feeling very Olympic today."

(Bonus points to anyone who can name the movie and character.)

I had a random thought today about the Olympics. The Bejing summer games are 86 days away, which means...

It now time for everyone to pick the obscure sport you are going to follow, rain or shine, for 17 or so days late this summer. Now, don't get too worked up and anxious about it, you do have 86 days to decide, but the excitement is palpable. Isn't it?

Think about. Individuals, across the global, dedicate their entire lives to competing in sports that most of us consider backyard, once-or-twice-a-summer, activities. Take badminton for example. Grown men and women stand across from each other on a court, divided by a flimsy net, holding a three ounce "racket" in one hand and a "shuttle cock" in the other, posed and ready to send said shuttle cock hurling through the air at unimaginable speeds. By "unimaginable" I mean a somewhere between 8 mph and the rate at which a hippopotamus evades... well anything.

But you will watch.

Ninety-eight pound Chinese men will amaze you with their table tennis prowess. Three hundred, ninety-eight pound Germans will shock you with their inhuman strength as they lift weights the rest of the world has determined was better suited for fork lifts and other heavy machinery. And the US will laugh as other countries dare to challenge us to a game of basketball. At least, that's how it used to be.

But you will watch.

You'll watch because some of this stuff you won't see for another four years. That is unless you challenge your neighbors to an archery duel. By duel, I don't mean the walk ten paces, turn, and shoot variety. I think they use targets these days.

So the clock is ticking and before you know it the summer games will have come and gone. So you've been warned. Don't miss 'em. If you need me, I'll be memorizing the names of the Latvian taekwondo team members.