You don’t have to be a sports fan to carry a torch for these games

Unless it’s World Cup time, you don’t see a lot of sports in our house. Occasionally, if there’s nothing else on, we’ll pause for a half-an-hour on a boxing match, or have a Mexican futbol game on in the background while we’re cleaning, but no one in our household is much of a sports fan. I do own a Monarcas bracelet honoring the Morelia, Michoacan futbol team. But it’s for sentimental purposes, not sporty ones.

But during the Olympics, our television is often tuned into the games during the evening, and we find ourselves sucked into whatever sport happens to be appearing. Whether it’s relay swimming or women’s gymnastics, even for nonsporty folks like us, it’s positively addicting.

We don’t find ourselves automatically rooting for the home team (although we admit to a slight smirk of national pride when the American men’s team beat France in swimming the other night). We’re more fascinated with the entire process, with this group of athletes at their peak physical level, at the weird mix of national competition, and at the camaraderie that takes place during the games.

Admittedly, there’s a lot we don’t know about each event, which is probably why we’re so easily fascinated by it. For instance, exactly how did pirouetting on a 4-inch-wide balance beam become a sport? We’re pretty sure that we could barely walk in a straight line forward on the thing (let along somersault backwards on it), but the sport still baffles us. I actually found myself holding my breath until each athlete had completed the dismount.

The other night, while I was at the gym, I watched the American women compete against Cuba in beach volleyball. Without watching it, one could make the erroneous assumption that it’s just an eye-candy sport, an excuse for men to watch athletic young women in bikinis jump around in the sand. But anyone who spends more than a few minutes watching the game realizes the incredible athleticism, teamwork and energy necessary to perform at this level. It’s completely riveting.

So riveting that I kept involuntarily making loud groans and exclamations when the Americans either lost or gained a point, probably making fellow gym goers believe I had lost my mental faculties. I can’t help it. When I watch the Olympics, something takes over, and I have to verbally react to the game I’m watching.

I didn’t get to finish watching the volleyball match because I had to leave the treadmill and head for the weights. So Wednesday morning, I decided to make sure that the U.S. had won. I clicked on the sports page on CNN, and quickly realized that the site was overtly aimed at straight men. The only women who appeared on the page, aside from a small mug shot of Natalie Coughlin in the pool, were models wearing swimsuits. The ads all were for treatment of erectile dysfunction. I had to dig to find the beach volleyball scores at all. The Olympics may be for everyone, but sports coverage remains a boys-only club.

Whatever events are on tonight, I’ll probably tune in and cheer, regardless of who wins or who is favored. I may not know the ins and outs of the events I’m watching, but that’s part of the magic of the Olympics; it’s accessible at many levels.

Theresa Hogue can be reached at theresa.hogue@lee.net or 758-9526.