Things which make you go "hmm" about the Winter Olympics

You know you've been watching too much of the Winter Olympics when you can gin up the attached list of questions:

- What does the second person in the two-man bobsled do, other than help push off? If they are the "brake man," how do they know when to brake since they're hunched down the whole way?

- Is there really any difference between the luge and the skeleton?

- Doesn't curling kinda remind you of that shuffleboard game you find in bars?

- What is up with those USA uniforms that just have stars on them? (They look like pajamas...)

- What do you really think they talk about in the kiss-and-cry box at the ice skating rink after a performer, or pair, has skated?

- Who came up with the idea to put four skiers out on a winding course and have them ski against each other? It's sorta like skiing meets stock car racing...

- Likewise, does short track speed skating remind you of roller derby?

- Why are select competitors, in skating, called "medal contenders?" It basically indicates that there is no Cinderella story in ice skating, a la the NCAA Tournament, because if you're not dubbed a "contender," you can't win.

- Is there an American analog to Canada losing against the USA in Mens Hockey on Sunday night? Is it like the Super Bowl champ New Orleans Saints losing to Manchester United in American football?

- Does Dick Button age? The guy is the Dick Clark of U.S. figure skating broadcasting.

- Speaking of aging, is it just me or does Bob Costas look like he's perpetually 24 years old?

- What kid suddenly decides one day to be a speed skater? I'm not denigrating the sport--I just wonder when that moment of wonderment occurs in a young lad's or lass' life.

- Is there some rule for male skaters that says "thou shall wear frilly shirts?"

- Ice dancing = sport? Really!?

- And, finally, on the sport of skating...in every other major sport there have been radical improvements in footwear equipment over time. But, in skating, the skaters are still wearing the same, leather boot skates which have been worn for years and years. Why is that?

Don't worry--these questions aren't keeping me up at night but they do make you go "hmm."