I love the Olympics, but not tonight

Saturday night in Canada is sacred. As if corporate executives at CBC were trying to compromise between Saturday- and Sunday-Sabbath observers, Canada's weekly ritual starts at 6:00 p.m. every Saturday night. But the sacredness of Saturday night has nothing to do with organized religion, per se. Saturday night is sacred because it's Hockey Night in Canada.

Every week it follows roughly the same format. Games start around 6:00, with either Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal playing because they're 2 hours ahead. Then a second game follows after the first, featuring one of the three western teams- Edmonton, Calgary, or Vancouver. Besides the games, which are entertaining in their own right, Canadians tune in to hear a wildly-attired Don Cherry interrupt Ron MacLean and shout his opinion about a variety of topics, some hockey-related ("only sissy Euros wear visors"), some not ("any Canadian who doesn't want to carry the flag for Canada in the Olympic opening ceremonies should be ashamed of himself").

So tonight I sat down with a drink and a half-bag of Doritos to enjoy the full HNIC experience. I caught the tail end of the Rangers-Leafs game, but to my horror, as soon as that game was over, they switched to Torino to Olympic coverage. To add insult to injury, figure skating is on. Next to curling (yes, I realize I could lose my citizenship for this), figure skating is my least favorite Olympic sport. Any benefit I derive from seeing pretty girls in short skirts is nullified by having to watch pretty boys in tight pants. So while I hope that our Canadian skaters do well, I'll just have to read about it in the paper tomorrow morning.