All of a sudden it dawned on me that I have become caught up in the Olympics. I think it hit sometime during the past few days when I realized that Sunday it's all over and life at the paper gets slightly easier without Nordic Combined results to worry about.

I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Games from a viewing standpoint. In the summertime, the weather's nice and you want to be outside at all hours of the day. In February, you generally have cold, windy days, unless you live in New Jersey in 2002, the Year of the Drought, and it's 65 and sunny on Feb. 21. But the Winter Games are more intersting to watch, I think, because they consist of more sports during which the average viewer turns to anyone and says, "Hell, I could do that." Push a bobsled? Easy. Sweep the ice in front of the rock? No problem. Ski fast and straight? Got it.

And yet, the Winter Olympics are full of sports I'd never watch were it not for the added drama of Olympic Glory in the balance. To me, the biathlon was more interesting than either the NBA or NHL all-star games. The ski jumping provided more excitement than two random college basketball teams. When Olympic gold medals -- not just any gold medals -- are at stake, the events appear more glamorous.

While there are millions of people around America who will watch figure skating on a Saturday night in November, I only care when those five interlocking rings appear on the wall of the rink in the background. With printing problems forcing our deadlines last night to be an hour earlier, we had the 11 p.m.-midnight block free to watch NBC. With Sarah Hughes' spectacular long program, the possibility of an American sweep energized the entire newsroom. When Sasha Cohen stumbled and then Michelle Kwan followed suit, the competition got a lot more interesting. In a fit of national rooting pride, we tried to jinx and "Noonan!" Irina Slutskaya to fall on each jump and then started having fun with the headline possibilities: "Slut's performance golden!" It didn't help that the announcers and NBC's graphics led us to believe there was no way Hughes could win and we weren't sure how Kwan could be in first, with Hughes second, and end up third, with Hughes first. But that's figure skating scoring for you.

I won't watch the exhibition skate tonight, but I'll be as interested in the final events as I have been of those up to now. I've turned on MSNBC at 1 p.m. every day and kept the coverage on in the background of whatever else I'm doing with my day. I've seen some exciting curling matches, some impressive cross-country performances, some breathtaking bobsled runs. I haven't watched an entire medal ceremony and I've missed all the musical performances -- including the one I really wanted to see, the Barenaked Ladies' -- but I've enjoyed these Olympics. The views of the Wasatch Mountains and snowy Utah have been breathtaking. Scenic shots are half the reason I watched the 2000 Sydney Summer Games, and geography has played a part in my enjoyment of this installment. I prefer the live action to NBC's contrived "time-warp" as Sports Illustrated called it. Only one event in Sydney -- the men's basketball gold medal game -- was shown live. Roughly 25 percent of Salt Lake coverage has been in real time. I'd prefer to watch an Olympic baseball game live at 3 a.m. than avoid all news outlets until the taped coverage comes on to see the gold-medal victory. I like how I can watch the men's hockey semifinal live at work tonight rather than avoid the news wires so as not to spoil the suspense. Yet NBC will do it again on Sunday: The 3 p.m. men's hockey gold medal game, the last event of the Games, will be aired live, yet NBC will show skiing that night in their prime-time finale. Why? Who knows?

So as we enter the final weekend of competition, I'll be sure to enjoy Apolo Anton Ohno's final two races and await his re-emergence in Italy in 2006, when he'll be a seasoned veteran at 23. But when the Closing Ceremonies begin Sunday night, I'll lament the Games' conclusion for just one night, because there is more excitement just around the corner.

Spring training has begun and baseball season starts in five weeks.