Passion lives here.

I love the Olympics.

Which may surprise you, knowing that you couldn't pay me to sit through the Super Bowl or any other sports event.

I watch the Olympics for two reasons, both of which are, I guess, pretty stereotypical. I watch for the figure skating, and I watch for the boys.

But there's a third reason -- one that may even surpass everyone's favorite studly skier, Jeremy Bloom here. And that is: I love watching people do what they do. No matter what it is, I love seeing people do the one thing that cancels out the whole rest of the world, the thing they know backward and forward and could do in their sleep, the thing they get up in the morning for, the thing they were made to do.

It can happen when an artist picks up a pencil or when a writer sits down at a typewriter. It happens when a speed-skater steps onto the rink -- you can tell that nothing exists for them besides the ice and their skates. These aren't professional athletes, like the ones who play football or baseball or basketball -- they're not doing a job. They're doing what they do. They're unknown for the most part; in interviews they come across as naive. They're just regular people who see skiing/skating/snowboarding as no less vital than breathing or eating. And some of them, well, some of them are pretty darn hot. But that's just a perk.