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I don't like winter much. The cold weather, short days and long nights, constant fear of snowstorms – all of these don't really commend that season as something to be enjoyed. At best, I try to endure it. Every once in a while when mention this to some new person that I meet they would ask me something like "well, was it cold where you grew up?," or something to that effect. The ready-made answer that I would provide would point out the fact that my hometown was a host to Winter Olympics, which would somehow imply that I do know a thing or two about more about winter than most people. Or at least it would certify my bona-fides when it comes to having to endure cold weather growing up. Fortunately or unfortunately though, my stint in California definitely spoiled me for life, so I will never again think of winter as a natural state of affairs, something that not much can be done about. I am a big skeptic when it comes to all the tall-tales of global warming, but a really big part of me wishes that those tales would in fact be true.

My family and I were not all that into winter sports, and thought of the entire 1984 Olympic craze to be over the top, so in a typical contrarian fashion we set out to spend better part of the Olympics vacationing in Dubrovnik. Afterwards, however, winter sports became all the rage in Sarajevo, so my dear parents decided to invest in some ski equipment for us kids, so we can enjoy all the wonderful skiing venues that had now become available. It turned out that the only thing that I disliked more than winter was winter spent with these big things strapped to my feet, making me unable to move freely unless I was going straight down a hill. So the experiment with skiing turned out into a mild disaster, and I have not had any desire whatsoever to indulge in that pastime ever since.

After coming to the US I had discovered that outside of the Olympics proper there was absolutely no coverage of Olympic sports on TV. When it came to track and field, my biggest love, this was a disaster. But as far as winter Olympic sports were concerned, I couldn't have cared less. Winter Olympics themselves were not all that well covered on TV either, and for the most part I did not even notice this. The only exceptions were the 2002 and 2006 Olympics, and only because of Janica Kostelić, the greatest female winter Olympics athlete of all time. This feat is especially incredible considering that Croatia, while not exactly Jamaica is pretty much a winter sports backwater.

So yesterday was an opening ceremony for yet another winter Olympics, this time in Vancouver. I did not watch it although I hear the ceremony was pretty nice. Janica has retired from professional skiing, so even thought there are a few pretty good Croatian athletes, it is unlikely I'll watch any of the events. They will be yet another reminder that we have many more weeks of winter to get through.