By Brittany Burke

Last week the 2010 Winter Olympics finally began. I have been counting down for months for these games to commence. However, this is not the case with other students. This is quite surprising.

Two summers ago the world witnessed history as Michael Phelps cemented himself as the greatest Olympian of all time. Leading up to the games there were TV advertisements, magazine covers, interviews and countless news coverage. Basically, there was build up. Everyone I know watched Phelps swim to victory and, for the most part, can tell you what they were doing when he beat Cseh in the 200-meter butterfly, or when Jason Lezak helped keep Phelps’ hopes alive by out touching Alain Bernard in the 4×100 meter relay; I certainly can. But it is a different feeling when it comes to the Winter Olympics.

Instead of reading front page articles about who’s number one in the medal count or Shaun White claiming his second gold in men’s snowboarding half pipe, I open the paper to see in bold print that more people tuned in to watch “American Idol” than the Olympic Games. I log on to my Facebook to see in the news feed that the majority of my friends from the university don’t really care about the Olympics and all I can do is shake my head. Why don’t more people care?

Why are we so willing to show our support and pride for our country during the summer and not the winter? People should care about Apolo Anton Ohno becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time just as much as they cared about Phelps.

The fact that the wannabe singers of “American Idol” can pull more viewers than the men and women playing in honor of our country saddens me. My father can still tell me where he was the night the 1980 men’s Olympic Ice Hockey team beat the Soviet Union, we need to find that level of excitement in our generation.

While the Saints were able to lift an entire city’s spirits by winning the 2010 Super Bowl, it is disheartening to know that more excitement came out of an annual event than something that only comes around every four years. We can watch football players compete every Sunday beginning in August, which I do, but for most part the Olympic athletes are only given a chance to show their country their abilities on a large scale during these games.

I admit, it is harder to watch the winter games than it is the summer. During the winter we have classes, homework and other activities which place television last on our long laundry list of things to do, but we should make the exception for something as monumental such as these.

For 16 days every four years the country is brought together to root for the men and women who represent what we stand for. Despite all the bad in the world, people from all over can come together in one place to spread a small light of hope; however brief. The least we can do is support them.

I don’t believe that the solution to this problem lies with the media, the solution lies within us as U.S. citizens. It is up to us to show support for these athletes, even if it means tearing our attention away from the snide and tired remarks of Simon Cowell.