Yes, I think Ice Dancing is a sport and other Olympics overload

I didn't sleep well last night. I had many dreams, at least a few of which were clearly inspired by Curling. This is not a usual state of affairs. Most of my life slides by uninfluenced by Curling, and I'm okay with that. So I'm beginning to think I'm getting Olympics overload.

Another sign that I've overindulged is that I've developed very strong opinions on whether or not Ice Dancing is a sport. You hear these kinds of arguments around various sports-like activities, like golf, complete with hair-splitting arguments over what differentiates a sport from a mere game, or in the case of ice dancing, an exhibition. The thing you really don't get on TV is how incredibly strenuous ice dancing is, I guess because there's no jumping. It's anaerobic. That's not unusual in sports in and of itself. A 200 meter dash is anaerobic too, that's why you see people panting afterwards. But a 200 meter dash lasts 20 seconds and a Free Dance program lasts 4 1/2 minutes. That's a long time to be feeling oxygen deprived and doing complex choreographed movements.

You may object and say that you get just as out of breath doing the StairClimber, to which I would reply that that may be true but using a StairClimber is a stupid activity, because people don't like climbing stairs even when they need to. So why would you pretend to climb stairs? I never got that. But count me convinced of Ice Dancing's sportness.

I also noticed last night that when I watch the skiers that I'm on the couch leaning into the turns. I was doing that during the halfpipe too. If I catch myself doing it with the bobsled too then I am turning the TV off.