Olympic athletes are perfect storms of obsessive disorder and genetic abnormalities. These deviants are entertaining and politically useful, so corporations and governments enable their obsessions. Athletes are aesthetically pleasing: not just when they’re performing or undressing, the emotional rollercoaster of their lives is beautiful*.

I enjoy the Olympics, but to be honest I don’t really care about the individual athletes; I don’t find their performances nor their lives aesthetically pleasing. I like knowing about the sports: statistics, standings, judging, history and all other trivia. What I find most entertaining about the Olympics is all the stuff that goes on around the athletics.

The Tyee has been writing up both sport and non-sport highlights for every day of the Games. They’re quite balanced considering The Tyee’s lefty cred. Given that CTV and other mainstream media aren’t covering the protests and the Cultural Olympiad, I think this is a must-read for everyone who wants to know what’s happening in Vancouver.

* Am I confusing virtue with aesthetics here? Discuss.