Winter Olympics and Febrero Loco

Winter Olympics It's only been a few days since the Winter Olympics in Sochi began and I'm very much into them. At this time, given that I'm not very familiar with winter sports, I can't remember names of athletes or even the name of most of the sports, but the whole event has been much fun to watch. I like sports in general but I have a little trouble following those that have judges who give the marks (gymnastics, diving, and a bunch of winter sports) because I find their results have a tendency to be less fair and more unpredictable than those based on achieving concrete goals. Granted, I can't come up with a sport that does not have some kind of controversy attached to it (chess?... is chess even a sport?), but the fact that a group of judges defines the winner of a competition is difficult for me to embrace. Nevertheless, the whole environment of the Games, the fact that many nations participate, and the ensembles that the TV stations carefully deliver make me want to cry at least once a day. As people say: "my faith in humanity is restored". It's just that we are the same kind (and kin) and we can create so many beautiful moments... Anyway, I'll keep an eye on hockey, curling, and races involving skis and skates... My only favourite participants are Scotland in curling (yes, Scotland... Team GB is really Scotland) and Canada in hockey. Febrero Loco I grew up referring to the erratic weather at the beginning of the year with the saying: "febrero loco, y marzo otro poco", which means: February is crazy, and March a little bit too. Kind of making a reference to the saying and to the fast-approaching basketball NCAA tournament called "March madness" I want to state a few comments about the regular season so far. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a bit disappointed with the Demon Deacons' performance in the ACC. They were doing so well at home, until they faced Syracuse... I probably was a bit naïve to think that the Deacons would beat the 'Cuse, but I just had some hope. Then, next game was also lost against... Georgia Tech! Really?! Hopefully tonight they win against the Wolfpack in Raleigh; I would like to see the Deacons playing in the NIT. I've been supporting Arizona because there's a bit of a personal link with the Wildcats, hopefully they keep winning to the end of the season and beyond. To wrap up, I want to comment on the push that Marcus Smart from Oklahoma State gave to a Texas Tech fan in Lubbock. First, I'm not here to judge anybody, but to talk about actions. That said, I definitely understand how a fan can get too excited to direct words of endearment or humiliation to a player. Sport is full of passion, that which makes you cry and the other which makes you furious; however, at the end of the day we are all accountable for our actions unless something is not working properly in our nervous system. I do believe that verbal violence is not as dangerous as physical violence, although at the end of the day both damage the inflictor and the victim. Finally, we have the responsibility to respond to foreign stimuli according to our personal values, even when at first it might seem impossible. Even though it happens regularly in contact sports, we can't condone violence neither in the fields nor in the stands. It just makes the sports less of a means to enrich the body and the spirit and more of a spectacle based on greed for power and money. We see violence in sports sometimes because we lack civic education but most of the times because we can't be truthful to our personal values. The latter is a very common problem in society. It's otherwise called not thinking twice before doing or saying something... What do you think?