I know it's uncool to say this, it goes against the jaded image I've spent so much time cultivating, but I have to admit it anyway.

I love the Olympics.

I especially like it when it's somewhere far away and it's on at all sort of odd hours.

I hear people all the time whine about the Olympics and how they won't watch it. Well, at the gym, on the elliptical, would you rather have The View on or sports?

Sure, there's no football and the baseball team isn't exactly the best and there's no football and the basketball team is a punchline.

I'm fine with that. I'm fine with watching team handball and swimming and track and field.

No, that stuff isn't something I want to watch every day or every weekend, but I do like to see something different every couple of years, and every four is just about right.

Yes, NBC is over the top with its blurry camera shots and its silly jingoism, and I'd much rather see the CBC's coverage which focuses a tad more on actual sports and less on the countries, but for the most part it's still sport and competition. I love sport and competition, whether it's table tennis or flatwater canoe.

I've been to a couple of Olympic volleyball matches at Stegeman Coliseum, baseball games at ol Fulton County Stadium and the 1996 gold medal men's soccer game at Sanford Stadium and loved every minute of it. (I will admit, I didn't love every minute of covering the 1996 rhythmic gymnastics National Championships, that got old, but I was paid.)

So, for the next two weeks, I'll be happy to sit back and watch sports. If you're too cool for that, good for you, but I'll be too busy to hear about it. I've got some fencing to watch.