Written for us by Ryan Quinn, an out former cross country skier in Utah. Check it out.

Props to Ryan Quinn for putting out a great article. It was funny and informative and all around a great read. Some things I noticed though....

I agree with Quinn in that NBC's coverage is sub-par at best. Few events, if any, will actually be live. They'll all be live to tape and aired during prime time. Here in Canada, the CBC broadcasts virtually EVERYTHING live. From my own experiances and from what I've heard from many Americans, you can't even compare the coverage from NBC and CBC.

One reason I think why some people wouldn't want to come out of the closet heading into the Olympics, is that it becomes a distraction. If an athlete came out and let's say this person had a great chance of winning a medal, you'd see a media overload. Believe me, it would happen.

As for my thoughts on your sport breakdown...

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-Sports: Alpine Skiing*, Biathlon*, Cross-Country Skiing*, Figure Skating*, Ice Hockey*, Nordic Combined, Short Track, Speed Skating*

-Sports, I guess: Bobsleigh*, Freestyle Skiing (moguls), Ski Jumping, Snowboarding (slalom events)

-Competitive winter activities: Curling*, Luge

-“Competitive winter activities” and “sports, I guess” that belong in the X Games: Freestyle Skiing (Aerials), Skeleton, Snowboarding (half pipe)

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How you can say Curling is not a sport is beyond me. Go ahead and crack out the Canadian jokes if you want, but Curling is really competitive! I'm not a big Curling fan but I certainly watch for the National Championships and of course the Olympics. You talk about your criteria for being a real sport...

-It has to be athletic.
I urge you to play it once and you'll see it's athletic. All that sweeping and rock throwing takes hard work. There was a time that male curlers were usually overweight but now they have personal trainers and psychologists to help with the mental aspect of the game.

-It has to be competitive (i.e. popular enough to attract a wide field of talent).
Canada alone has so many curlers it's not even funny. But you look over in Sweden and Norway where the sport is HUGE as well. What about Scotland, the birthplace of the sport? This SPORT is certainly competitive.

-It has to have a real history in several countries.
Canada, Scotland, Sweden and Norway...enough said.

-A reasonable portion of the population must have adequate access to the sport
Head down to your local curling rink, rent some ice time and you can go ahead and play it.

Bobsleigh is a "sport" I'd put into the Competitive Winter Activity.

No out gay athletes? Well, technically yes, but anyone who has read any interviews with Johnny Weir knows that he's gay.

He is gay, isn't he?

Has there been an interview where he's said he's gay or boyfriends were mentioned? There's still a difference between being pretty openly, even obviously, gay and being officially out.

A quibble on the hockey portion of the article:

These are all older players; they're past their prime and/or hurt (except Kariya); Lemieux has now retired due to his health problems. Belfour isn't anywhere near one of the top 3 goalies.

I don't know. I do know he's not publicly gay, which is the criteria we use. If he is gay, he could be out to some people but until he states it publicly somewhere, there are zero out jocks in Torino.

I envy anyone who gets to watch the Olympics on CBC. I don't know whether the fans in Canada are more sophisticated or whether the power of the dollar in the US is so much greater that it becomes the main focus and must be pandered to by the network, but CBC's coverage of the Olympic Games is infinately superior to NBC's. I had the fortune of watching the 2004 Summer Olympics on CBC while in Canada--it was a revelation! If you're up in Canada, enjoy the next two weeks. And keep the rest of us in your thoughts. We'll be suffering.

In response to other comments posted above...

I wouldn't expect or reccommend that an athlete come out in the week leading up to the Olympics, which likely amounts to the biggest event in his/her career. But what about any of the other 47 months in between Games? What are you waiting for?

I'm a little alarmed by the robust defense of the competitve winter activity known as Curling. Beyond the posts on this board I've already received emails criticizing my unjust classification of the event. My hesitation to call Curling a sport is not at all a joke on Canada. In fact, I truly respect Curling's history--it's been around since the first Winter Games--its hotly contested Olympic trials (in every participating country besides the USA), and the skill and strategy that makes the matches truly exciting. I sat through many Curling matches four years ago and I intend to again over the next few weeks.

BUT, sliding the stones and sweeping the ice is not hard work, and the curling "athletes" are not physical specimens by athletic standards. Also, people in the US don't have the access to the sport that would make it as competitive as it could be, at least outside of Minnesota. I've never known anyone on a local curling club and I've never been presented with the opportunity to be introduced to the game as a participant.

But I concede I may not have granted full justice to Curling in the article, so let's try a new classification. We'll call Curling a "VERY competitive winter activity with a rich history."

In any case, I'll be rooting for Team Minnesota (I mean, Team USA) in Torino. And I'll try to get a pick-up game going this weekend at the local rink :-)

One final note on Johnny Weir. I think he is on the verge of coming out. I'll even go so far as to predict that he'll come out shortly after the Games, if not after the current skating season at the latest.

I would agree with you about the Canadian coverage. All of my Spokane tv stations go way up into Alberta, just ask Marc, all the way to Edmonton I think, on cable, but we get not even one Canadian tv network down here. Not fair!!! C'mon Comcast, give us one Canadian station please. I know they get them over in the Bellingham area, and maybe even on Seattle cable, I think. :mad:

Ryan thanks for the response to this forum, I really wasn't expecting you to even look at it! I really don't think that just because a sport isn't available all over the U-S means it shouldn't be classified a sport. Again, you look at many other countries in the world and it's being played.

Honestly, until you've tried playing the sport of curling you can't say that it isn't a sport.

I think Jeff Butle will eventually come out of the closet though I'm thinking he'll wait a bit.

One more thing...I was born and raised in Edmonton...lived there till I was 19...and yes we had access to Spokane and Seattle channels...it was annoying too cuz we had to see Seahawks games all the time LOL.