Now that the biggest weekend in Detroit sports history is past us and all the Super Bowl hoopla dying down, we get to focus in on the next big sporting event in February, the Olympics!

Wait, you didn’t realize the Olympics were coming! Don’t worry, most of us didn’t either. Once I found out that the games were in Italy; I began to moan and groan at the fact that all of the results will be on the internet before NBC shows the event, due to the seven hour time difference between the States and Italy. Nobody likes it when NBC shows the event, and you blurt out who already won the event, and where the Americans place in that particular event.

Believe me, like most things in this world; the Olympics don’t really get my blood flowing, but I would like to consider myself a casual observer. And now it will vie for my attention for the next two weeks; mostly due to the fact that the NFL is over, and it’s a tossup between arena football and the Olympics.

But as I started to watch it on the first weekend, somewhere in between doing my taxes and wondering how many days until winter is over, I noticed a few things:

• They are referring to Torino (or Turin; depending on if you want the English or Italian version of the name) as the “Detroit of Italy”’, because Torino is the birthplace of Italian carmaker Fiat. Please, if Torino was really Detroit, every Olympic broadcaster would be complaining about the weather and accommodations, and furthering stereotypes about the city. I haven’t heard any of that yet…
• Why is it that for three days; when I turn on my television; all I see is the same sport? The sport in question: women’s hockey. I will refrain from any further comments, and save myself the gender war that would ensue afterwards.
• 19-year-old snowboarder/ skateboarder Shaun White is already a millionaire; and is now winning Olympic gold medals. And this kid passed a drug test? Look at him - he looks baked every time I see him in a picture. He must have had someone take his urine test for him.
• Speaking of snowboarding: the Americans winning snowboarding medals at the Winter Games is like the U.S. winning gold in basketball at the Summer games. It’s just a given, except for the last Summer games, when the basketball team took bronze and puzzled basketball fans everywhere. Winning at things like this is like you discussing your invention, while you watch as others try to perfect it better than you, but can’t.
• U.S. skier Bode Miller won the World Cup of Skiing championship last year; but could only place fifth in the first of his five races. I would have checked him with a breathalyzer after his run. Let’s see if he really skis when he is drunk…
• Michelle Kwan dropped out of the figure skating competition after whining her way onto the team for the games; and then fell in practice numerous times. This girl is like Ron Artest. Lots of potential, never any follow through and fails to live up to expectations. Ban her from the games for life!

And the other events will have dozens of Europeans that I will never hear about again after the games end. Will I remember who won the Super G slalom in a month? Hell, I can’t even remember what I did last night, let alone who won that race.

The Torino games are all about the thrill of victory, but right now for the U.S., it seems to be more about the agony of defeat. Hopefully in the next week and a half, the Americans get their crap together. If not, I will have to watch the Canadian network CBC to see some winners.

And I don’t want to have to do that…