While the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, it seems competition actually started yesterday, with the opening round of a couple of events, including the always adrenaline inducing Curling. The Winter Games, which over the last few reiterations have experienced minor problems, such as the “let’s not talk politics” aspect of the last three go-arounds in Russia, South Korea and China, and Mother Nature’s obvious preference for the Summer Games, demonstrated by the ever increasing lack of snow and ice, two of the key elements that really define The Winter Games. Throw in the fact that the hosts for the Winter Games are usually six to 12 hours ahead of the United States, which means avoiding social media and other sources of current events for the fortnight and you begin to understand why a lot of people have announced their intention to pass on viewing the games. I believe however they are all making a mistake, because when it comes to viewing, there are very few sporting events, Olympic and otherwise, that can hold a candle to the Winter Games.

Now granted the Summer Games have more athletes, from more countries ,competing in more events, probably most importantly to most, is that the summer events are predominately athletic contests that most people grew up playing. Running, swimming, diving, bicycling, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball—It’s basically summer camp on steroids, and thanks to an inordinate amount of testing, steroids in this case is merely intended as a metaphor.

The Winter Games, on the other hand, have three kinds of events: those which many people can’t do, those that most would never want to do, and of course those which no one in their right minds should even think of doing. As opposed to the Summer Games where the worst that can happen is an athlete pulling a hamstring and having to sit down, almost every event in the Winter Games can lead to death or dismemberment. Even the most benign event, the biathlon involves a few hundred competitors—most of them speaking different languages—running miles through the forest in the height of winter with rifles. What could possibly go wrong? Thankfully this year, probably at the request of Ukrainian team, Russian marksmen, excuse me, cross-country skiers, will not be participating, so we’ve literarily dodged that bullet.

Skiing is another interesting sport as many people ski recreationally, but do any of them believe their experience would be enriched if it included hairpin turns at 95 miles an hour? There is also a relatively new category of skiing and snowboarding, that have recently joined the Games, and are euphemistically referred to as “Big Air”, in which athletes launch themselves off highly pitched ramps, performing multiple flips and spins in the air, before regaining some form of contact with the ground. Here’s something to ponder: at the Summer Games there is no event that has a helicopter standing by in case a competitor has to be medevac’d to a hospital for life saving treatment, while at the Winter Games, airborne search and rescue teams have priority seating.

The more events that a viewer embraces, the better the Winter Games becomes. At the Summer Games, people run around on a track. For comparison, those tuning into the Winter Games, will have a chance to catch some Speed Skating, where instead of watching a handful of runners, who may occasional bump in into each other, they’ll get the chance to see competitors, with sharp blades on their feet, lose their edges in the corners, taking out their rivals, as they slide off of the ice at great speed,.

While this alone would be more frightening then almost anything at the Summer Games, it’s one of the more relatively tame events as far as winter sports go, as there is another recent additions called Mass Start Speed Skating, which is pretty much exactly as it sounds. 24 competitors start in one big group and make 16 trips around the ice oval, and just for good measure, there are four sections, including one at the end, in which the race suddenly becomes a sprint, with extra points given to the three fastest skaters in that section. Think NASCAR on ice.

In the summer, we’re offered rhythmic gymnastics, in which we get to watch a group of people twirling ribbons. In the winter, we’re treated to pairs skating in which two skaters are required to do rapid spins while in close proximity to each other, each with a leg, which once again has a sharp blade affixed to the end then, extended outward. Picture a human Cuisinart.

For people who like the speed of downhill skiing but want to see the teamwork of Figure Skating, there is the bobsled. In this competition, there are teams of two or four people in each sled, sailing down a narrow, twisting, and banked ice run at 90 miles per hour, often finishing the race upside down and sometimes even flying off the track completely. Not to be outdone, there is the luge. I picture the origin of this sport happening when a group of daredevils came upon a bobsled run, and one said, “Bet I could slide down the run, feet first, lying on my back so I can’t see where I’m going, and I try to steer with my feet.” “I like it,” responded another, “but what if you do that with Günter riding on your stomach? We’ll call it the two-man luge.”

Finally, at the Summer Games, very few sports require the participant to wear a helmet, while at the Winter Games almost everyone has to. Nuff said, though while we’re on the topic of clothing, at the Summer Games, athletes wear shorts, bathing suits, and in the case of women’s beach volleyball, bikinis. At the Winter Games however, everyone’s in Lycra/Spandex bodysuits. Obviously each style provides its own esthetic value for the viewing the audience, but at the risk revealing too much personal information, or my browser history, let’s just say, I enjoy the Winter Games.

It’s not surprising that if you asked anyone old enough to remember “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” and asked about the opening title sequence, they all tell you about the ski jumper careening off the ramp, but they would be hard pressed to recall any other part of that intro. And that’s the essence of the Winter Olympics. While the Summer Games are viewed haphazardly, with attention mostly focused mostly on those moments when Simone Biles or Katie Ledecky were going for a Gold, the Winter Games viewing is the equivalent of that awful crash you slow down to look at, as you are drive by. You know you shouldn’t, and you hope everyone’s okay, but deep inside you really want to see something horrific. Buckle up, and enjoy the games.