Just a few more days to the Olympics games from Beijing. With so much going on elsewhere along with a very intense political season that already appears to be in overdrive with months of electioneering to come, it is a bit difficult to start up the excitement.

But after the opening ceremonies on Friday, I will probably make the family television orphans for the next two weeks as I will spend as much time as possible in watching the games. Probably will move the computer into the kitchen so that I can keep up with the various stats and developments surrounding the games as I flip from channel to channel catching the action whether taped or live.

The schedule will be an onerous one, no doubt, to follow. Three thousand hours to be broadcasted at all times of the day. Obviously, I can not watch it all nor would I want to. One of the things to appreciate about the Winter Games is that the size of the event is just a quarter of it so you can keep up with most of it. Not so with the Summer Games. Just too many events squeezed into just two weeks.

Some of the sports will get little broadcast time because of their lack of popularity here in the United States and frankly I agree with that mostly. I can not get too excited about badminton, handball and other sports favored by countries that make it their specialty. For me, four sports interest me the most: swimming, rowing/canoeing, track (less so the field sports), and cycling. I guess the common thread among these sports is the speed element. I will watch gymnastics and team sports like volleyball but with less intent. Of course, whenever there is a Canadian involved, my interest will definitely increase.

So the athletes are now arriving and the Olympic Torch nears Beijing. The games of the Olympiad are about to begin.