10 Great Things about the Olympics

There are so many great things about watching the Olympics. Here are ten.

#10 The Olympic theme music

We Olympic fiends are total suckers for the motivational feel-good Olympics music.

We love it. So does Phoebe Buffay.

#9 Learning stuff

You sit down to watch a few minutes of Snowboarding Slopestyle, having never really heard of it. Hours later you emerge an expert, able to discuss in detail the merits of each run.

#8 Being a fan

You suddenly remember people you haven't thought of in four years (Evan Lysacek! I forgot about him; he's awesome!)

Your old favourites are back &, thanks to emotionally told backstories, you quickly develop new favourites as well. Which leads to...

#7 Routing for the underdog

We love to route for the underdog, & the Olympics are chock full of "regular" kids, attempting great things.

We may have only heard of them five minutes ago, but oh man we really want them to win.

#6  Seeing bits of the world

Two weeks spent looking at epic views of mountains & beaches in Sochi, which I for one had never even heard of pre-Olympics.

#5 Bob Costas in his fortress of solitude

We just love Bob Costas, our epic American sportscaster. I've heard a rumour that he'll be back on tonight; apparently the whole dramatic eye infection situation is under control. We've missed you, Bob Costas.

#4 The inspirational ads

Like for example that P&G ad about moms. Sob! I've developed a pavlovian response at this point; I don't even need to be watching the ad, just hearing the music in the background makes me tear up.

#3 Marveling at the possibilities of humans

Just like watching a great sports movie, there are lots of life lessons to be discovered by watching Olympians, even when you're sat on your couch with your popcorn.

#2 Odd things can matter

Do you know what is awesome about the Olympics? Odd things can matter.

I love that someone can decide to do something seemingly inconsequential (like snowboard)... & can actually use it to make a difference.

#1 The whole world comes together.

Like, very nearly the whole world. How often does that happen really?

It's amazing that with all the craziness that goes down between countries & nationalities & groups & even just the fighting within families... at the Olympics so many people come together & agree to abide by the same set of arbitrary rules for a few weeks.

We compete together & hang out with a relative lack of animosity & I love that.

Go world.

10 Great Things About the Olympics picture: Snowboarding Sochi 2014