Borderless Olympics.

It's the only way to watch. And there's a lot to watch.

Do you believe in miracles?

Nah. Not anymore.

Whatever nationalistic pride the Olympics ever roused inside of me is long, long gone. And in this moment, there’s a lot more embarrassment than pride. But it’s also the perfect time, in this moment of particularly American madness, to remember that it’s the athletes, not the countries.

I try to keep that front of mind watching the Olympics. And I love watching the Olympics. Even back in not-so-distant day, when it was almost required that one hate watching the Olympics (recorded, not live? — that sucks!; time-delays in the age of the internet ruin everything!; It’s a boring commercial!) I was always on board.

Always.

It’s no different now, even though I had to pony up for Peacock (yet again) to get the full Olympic experience. For me, the experience is always worth it — despite the real world intruding (yet again) in numerous ways, the overriding emotion is that I love watching athletes from around the world compete, knowing they’ve trained for four years for something that’s often over in the blink of an eye.

If it’s not your day, it’s really not your day.

But for anyone who watches, you already know it’s way more than that. Being there competing matters. Just getting the chance, the experience, matters. Being close matters. Bronze matters. Silver matters.

Those stories never get old. At least for me. And not to be too pro-modernity, but I do like being able to watch events by clicking through the app on my TV screen, sorting by event, drilling down to highlights or pre-event feature stories if I want, all without commercials.

And also watch whatever is live, on multiple options within the app. There’s a convenience that makes watching the very “obscure” sports more easy to digest.

Again, no complaints, even if there are elements to complain about. I take the holistic approach to borderless viewing and find plenty of enjoyable moments. I can’t imagine not watching.

Which is really saying something if you watched the opening ceremonies of the Milan-Cortina Games. That was some really long Italian interpretive dancing of questionable logic or meaning as a through-line. Ooof.

And yet, did I not laugh and laugh, the laughter building as the eyebrow-raising production went on and on? Yes, I did. I did laugh. It was glorious in its badness Italian-artistic-interpretive-conception.

So, let’s get to the early-days of these Olympic Moments.

• Before the Lindsey Vonn accident on Sunday, which dominated much of the coverage unless you really took a deep dive, there was, of course, the Opening Ceremonies that came before it on Friday.

• By this time everyone must know that the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter and Summer Olympics — grand events, all — have a very long history of being incomprehensible to most Americans, even with the “helpful” aid of commentators extrapolating out the metaphors and meaning.

• Even if you love ALL performing arts — maybe particularly if you do — then one of your dark secrets is that some of it can be a little much. You don’t want anyone to catch your eyes rolling, of course, and sometimes it makes you feel, what’s the word, a little republican, in the moment, but I know you’re acutely aware that some of the interpretive elements, the dancing and choreography and miming and, particularly in this Italian version, the great mixture of it all into a fruit bowl of vague intent, can be a little ridiculous.

• It’s fine to think that, privately. I’ll bring it out in the light of day for you:

• What was all that, then?

• It all worked out — up in Portland (Portland!) we even had a long, good laugh about it. I could probably write another 1,000 words on the Opening Ceremonies alone, so I’m just going to move on, instead.

• Going way back to when David Letterman (and his mom) made Curling really cool at the Olympics (by poking lots of good natured fun at it), curling has become must-see TV, if for nothing else than it’s the only sport I can think of where you could actually read a book at the same time as you watched and not miss much curling or sweeping and still follow closely along with your book.

• Translation: Curling is amazing.

• I found myself getting very Zen watching curling as it rained outside, fog and gray enveloping the view from the 13th floor. It was grand.

• I will watch almost any event. Sometimes, the more obscure it is to me, like Biathlon or Ski Mountaineering, the more interesting it is.

• That said, I have distinct favorites: Short Track Speed Skating, Snowboard Cross, Speed Skating Team Pursuit, Alpine Skiing, Ski Cross, pretty much any snowboarding event and, being inclusive here, pretty much any skiing event (although, you know, not all of it, just because there’s a lot of it).

• In fairness, I probably made the list above because I was trying to delay admitting that I’m not a big Figure Skating fan. I know, the great bulk of people are, but I am not, in the spirit of transparency.

• But I’ll watch it. I watched a bunch of it on Sunday. I also watched and quite enjoyed Women’s Hockey (including the near entirety of Sweden-France).

• All of the ski endurance events are bonkers, as a non-skier, so of course I love them. If years of watching has allowed me to glean anything from these events, it’s this: The person who almost dies but doesn’t often wins.

• I don’t even mind qualifying events. Those used to drive me crazy because I just wanted to get to the medal round. Now I’m all grown up and I’ll watch some Skeleton qualifying. You know it.

• But those listed in my faves category are there for a reason. The adrenaline rush of Speed Skating (particularly Short Track — aka Demolition Derby on razor sharp blades) and Alpine Skiing both vibe with my interest in F1 racing, no doubt. Snowboard Cross literally needs no explanation as to why it was instantly legendary as an Olympic event upon its introduction.

• Downhill skiing, particularly in this Italian location (god, the views), on a notorious mountain, conjure up my earliest memories of being riveted to the screen. As a non-skier, it was always, and remains, completely insane to me. Ultra-high speeds, big air, precipitous drops, right angles, the blur of a human rocket going down a mountain side with no brakes. Of course I will watch that all of my life.

• Vonn’s accident, of course, underscores the dangers of the sport. That she was even skiing with a torn ACL is madness. And heroic. The whole sport is badass — you don’t need to blow out a knee, get helicoptered off a mountain and then come back a week later to do it again. But she did. I’m glad she’s safe.

• How great is it to be Snoop Dogg? His job is to just be Snoop Dogg. You can superimpose him onto/into anything and he just sort of nails it. He’s a natural at being Snoop Dogg. He understands the assignment. Be you. I don’t mind him at the Olympics at all.

• Back to the Opening Ceremonies and the fact that for the first time the event was split into two locations: Raise your hands if you thought the athletes in the distant village locations were having the best time and those in the main stadium were kind of lost and small by comparison? It was possible that there was drinking in the villages.

• In order, my Top 3 favorite Opening Ceremony outfits by country: 1) Mongolia. 2). France. French Style! 3). Italy.

Mongolia, France, Italy. Nice fits.

• Does anyone all of a sudden want to be in the Italian Alps?

I will keep watching and I will overlook when it all gets too much (focusing on one athlete at the expense of others) and I will keep digging through the Peacock app until I find all the obscure sport highlights I can find. We’re still early on in this Winter Olympics, so I’ll check back in again later.