The Olympics are well underway, and I can’t wait to sit back and watch all of my favorite events.

BEN BUSSARD

Whether it’s gymnastics or basketball or swimming, the athletic performances will be awesome.

Nothing is more exciting than the 100-meter dash and the team relays in swimming.

Wait. It’s the Winter Olympics?

Even better.

The Winter Olympics are much more compelling to this sports fan, and I’ll tell you why.

The Games take place from mid to late February, one of the worst dead periods for sports fans. Football has ended, it’s the middle of the basketball calendar and the start of the baseball season is a month out.

The Winter Olympics serve as the perfect remedy to the cold and dreary sporting landscape and are an ideal buffer between the conclusion of the Super Bowl and the start of March Madness.

The athletic prowess of the Winter Games and the variance of events is reason to watch the action unfold amongst the wintry weather in Vancouver.

Here’s a list of some of the Summer Olympic sports (hang onto your britches): archery, sailing, water polo, badminton, fencing, judo, handball, shooting, taekwondo and table tennis.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to huddle around the big screen with my boys to watch that Malaysia-Indonesia badminton matchup. Now that’s non-stop, competitive action.

Unlike the Summer Olympics, the Winter Games offer some of the most unique viewing opportunities in all of sports.

Where else can you see a 200-pound man sled down an icy track, lying face-down on a three-foot long piece of fiberglass while approaching speeds of close to 90 mph?

Nowhere.

How often do you see an 110-pound man soar distances of nearly 800 feet, strapped to a pair of surfboard-size skis?

Never.

Have you ever seen a man ski 12 miles with a small bore rifle on his back, stopping periodically to shoot at targets up to 160 feet away?

I sure haven’t. Except when watching this year’s Olympic biathlon — which may be the Winter Games’ most unique event.

These are just a few of the events we can immerse ourselves in over the next few weeks as the Winter Olympics unfold in Vancouver.

If the sheer intrigue of the Winter Games doesn’t inspire you to tune in, at least check out the bobsledding competition next week. Former Bulldog track and field star Andras Haklits will suit up for the Croatian bobsled team, and will attempt to sled his way onto the Olympic podium.

Haklits — a three-time NCAA Champion hammer thrower while at Georgia — competed in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Bulldog to compete in both the Summer and Winter Games.

And does anyone remember the name of the only other former Bulldog to compete in the Winter Olympics?

I’ll give you a hint: he won the 1982 Heisman Trophy.

Herschel Walker competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France for the two-man U.S. bobsled team that finished in seventh place.

If the single greatest athlete in Bulldog history can schedule some time for the Winter Olympics, shouldn’t we all?

— Ben Bussard is a sports writer for The Red & Black