I don't know if I would be able to sustain the interest over the long term, but during the Olympics I am totally into hockey.
For a long time I've wanted to read some kind of study on the use of rhetoric by commentators on international sporting events to frame a narrative of American superiority even when there isn't a Phelps to scoop up all the medals because it drives me up the wall. I think my favorite is that the Americans are always presented as having agency in developing their talent, but their international rivals are just descibed as being youthful or strong or something. Some of the commentators seem to have this nervous tick where they can't manage to say anything complimentary about anyone without also drawing a comparison with an American, like it's written into their contracts or something. (To be fair, they use similar rhetoric to build other narratives, like youth v. experience, that don't necessarily have any basis in reality, like Michelle Kwan v. Tara Lipinski in 1998.)
Halfpipe was amaaaaaaazing. Shaun White is practically playing a different sport from everyone else, he's so good.
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For a long time I've wanted to read some kind of study on the use of rhetoric by commentators on international sporting events to frame a narrative of American superiority even when there isn't a Phelps to scoop up all the medals because it drives me up the wall. I think my favorite is that the Americans are always presented as having agency in developing their talent, but their international rivals are just descibed as being youthful or strong or something. Some of the commentators seem to have this nervous tick where they can't manage to say anything complimentary about anyone without also drawing a comparison with an American, like it's written into their contracts or something. (To be fair, they use similar rhetoric to build other narratives, like youth v. experience, that don't necessarily have any basis in reality, like Michelle Kwan v. Tara Lipinski in 1998.)
Halfpipe was amaaaaaaazing. Shaun White is practically playing a different sport from everyone else, he's so good.