There is something in the air these days — the 2006 Winter Olympics are now upon us.

Ah, the Olympics, where the world’s greatest athletes have a stage to officially showcase their athletic skills to the rest of planet earth.

They have ice hockey, speed skating, snowboarding and curling. Curling? What the heck is that?

Curling is basically a game in which competitors slide a stone down a sheet of ice with a bull’s-eye on it. After the stone is released, players sweep the ice in order to help move the stone where they want.

After the stone crosses the tee, opposing players sweep to get it out of play.

Until the 2002 Winter Olympics, the only curling of which I was aware was the exhausting one performed by A.C. Slater in the men’s locker room of Bayside High in TV’s Saved by the Bell.

It does not seem to me that a gold medal, the highest of athletic honors, should be given for the winner of an event that requires no athletic ability.

Plus, at first glance it is just weird looking.

I’m sure the first time people saw basketball being played it wouldn’t have looked normal to them.

But curling?

It looks like somebody from Antarctica was jealous of senior citizens playing shuffleboard, but they lacked the warmer weather required to play, so the compromise was curling.

It is possible that I am just ignorant to the athletic prowess required to play curling, but in preparation for this article, I read more than most humans have read or should read about curling.

Thus, I feel justified in my opinion.