My Hometown

My favorite part of the Winter Olympics is how so many American competitors come from these small New England towns. In the first few days, natives of Norwich, Vt., Franconia, N.H., and Sugarloaf, Me., all won medals! As a friend noted, some of them are skiiers from wealthy families who moved to nice ski towns to train full time, so it's not as though they all hail from a quaint hamlet where their neighbors cheer them on from the town common. Nonetheless, it's still pretty neat to think of how Norwich, along the Connecticut River, can count moguls gold medalist Hannah Kearney among its 3,800 residents. Maybe the Board of Selectmen will give her a shout-out at their meeting Wednesday. And the downhill skiier Bode Miller is definitely from Franconia, as best evidenced by his infamous comment four years ago that he once skiied drunk.

The Winter Olympics aren't as thrillingly elemental as the Summer ones are. Especially with the addition of the snowboard, the games are less about the fundamental awe, power and agility of the body, and more about high-risk maneuvers, but they're still always neat to watch.

Thanks to Whiskeytown for providing the post's title.