now, i've read the hype about the "home-snow" advantage and that this is the best winter olympic team the US has ever fielded. i dig the olympic games. i wish there was a way to enjoy them without the official sponsors, the "up close and personal" interviews and NOW, the athletes themselves have become smug media-whores. that apolo ohno needs a swift kick in the nuts.

but, every day i still wanna know who leads the pack in the medal count. currently , it's norway with 5, followed by the good ol' U S of A in a close second with 3.

why do i care about this? no idea. the concept of an olympic team is an interesting fiction as competition isn't actually between nations but individuals ostensibly representing those nations. the fate of slalom skiers from country A has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the chances of country A's participant winning the luge. the important part is individual achievement. yeah, we do it for our country but guess who is taking home the gold? there is no "team" medal for the country that wins the most, and yet we keep track and i wanna know.

maybe it is simply that the medal count is the only thing left of the olympics that has not be editorialized, sentimentalized, fetishized. nah, it's probably just an outgrowth of my obsession with numbers, like swatch internet time, area codes and british chart placings. besides, i'm sure that THIS YEAR the networks of nbc will find some way to turn a medal count placing into a rousing affirmation of our way of life.

at least, 2004 should shift the focus back to the spirit of the olympics themselves, when they return to their birthplace: athens, greece. but it's the figure skating, the luge, the bobsled, the speed skating, the hockey that i crave, so i guess i'll have to wait until Torino. here's to the Games of the 20th Winter Olympiad in 2006! Salt Lake is already dead to me.