It’s time for the Winter Games, baby!

I know, I know – it feels like the Summer Olympics took place just yesterday. Probably because, at least in terms of standard Olympiad timelines, it did. We just had some global athletic goodness just a few short months ago, thanks to the shifting of the 2020 Games to last year.

Are some people going to complain about Olympics fatigue? Of course they are! There are people who will complain about anything!

Not me, though. I am here for another installment of the Winter Olympics. Give me a collection of people standing/lying on various bits of wood and hurtling down hills or chutes of what have you. Maybe they go fast. Maybe they do tricks. Maybe they go fast AND do tricks. Doesn’t matter to me – I want it all.

Now, as a general sports enthusiast, I’m probably more familiar with the Olympics than most. I’d consider myself fairly knowledgeable compared to the average person. That does not mean, however, that I am in any way qualified to make any sort of prediction regarding outcomes. Just because I know what skeleton is and most of the basic rules of curling doesn’t mean I’m capable of telling you anything about who is going to win any of these events.

And so I figured I’d follow in the footsteps of last summer’s Summer Olympics preview and just share an assortment of thoughts about the various and sundry sporting events that will be unfolding in China over the next couple of weeks. We had some fun last time, so I figured why not run it back? Or skate it back, at any rate.

I’ll also be including some folks with Maine connections who have been or will be involved with the Games. You’ll likely be unsurprised to hear that the Pine Tree State has generated a few more Winter Olympians than Summer. Oh, and there are some elite facilities here in the state for events like cross-country skiing and biathlon, in case you didn’t know. Check out the Nordic Heritage Center and/or the Fort Kent Outdoor Center to find out more.

So sit back and get ready for some fun facts, Winter Olympics-style.

Ready or not, the Summer Olympics are finally coming!

Still branded as the 2020 Games, the 29th installment of the summer athletic spectacle is set to begin this weekend in Tokyo after being postponed from last year due to the circumstances of the pandemic. As to whether or not the Games SHOULD be going forward, well … that’s a complicated question. But, from where we sit as I write this introduction, mere days before the opening ceremonies, it certainly seems that they are going forward.

Now, as someone who is a fairly well-informed general sports fan, I possess a certain degree of Olympic awareness – more than most, I’d wager. However, that awareness is hardly enough for me to be able to give you any sort of reasoned analysis about the Games. I certainly won’t be able to give you an accurate prediction with regard to who might medal.

So I thought instead, why not share a collection of fun tidbits and trivia about assorted Olympic sports as a way to look forward to the next couple of weeks of athletic excellence? There’s stuff here from the distant and not-so-distant past, as well as some talk about what’s happening this time around.

I also dug around and found a few Maine connections to the Summer Games – there aren’t quite as many as we find in the Winter edition, for obvious reasons, but you might be surprised at some of the fun connections to the Pine Tree State.

And really, while this is the culmination of a lifetime for these competitors, for us – the people at home – the fun is what it’s all about.

I love the Olympics.

There’s something so captivating about watching someone at the peak of their performance do what it is that they do best. This notion of being recognized as the literal best in the world at something – fascinating.

And that’s what the Olympics do. They celebrate the glory of athletic achievement (as well as nationalistic jingoism and bureaucratic graft, but still).

There’s more to the Olympics than the winners, however. For every famous gold medalist’s face gracing a Wheaties box, there are scores of stories of those who were just as excellent, yet now linter in obscurity. Not to mention those who, for whatever reason, never quite reached the same iconic pinnacle. And just like anything that has been around for more than a century (or centuries, if you start counting from its Greek origins), a lot has changed – both good and bad.

These are the sorts of stories that you’ll find in Jeremy Fuchs’s new book “Total Olympics: Every Obscure, Hilarious, Dramatic and Inspiring Tale Worth Knowing” (Workman Publishing, $22.95). Yes, you’ll get stories of the giants of various eras – Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Mary Lou Retton, Michael Phelps – but you’ll also be reminded of (or learn for the first time) names of exceptional athletes with less longstanding cultural resonance.

In addition, Fuchs has brought forward numerous tales of Olympic history, digging into some of the behind-the-scenes chicanery that came with hosting the event and revisiting some of the wild and weird competitions that were once part of the proceedings.

It’s a compact and fun trip through the history of the Games, a catch-all of trivia, biographical sketches and fascinating forgotten moments. Anyone with affection for the Olympics will find plenty to enjoy in these pages.

What does it mean to be a sports hero? There are so many different arenas in which athletes can excel and become part of the story of their sport, whether we’re talking about professional championships or individual records or Olympic glory or some combination therein. Athletic prowess has been turning ordinary men and women into legends for centuries.

But while some heroes become ensconced, forever part of the story of their sport, others fade into the margins of history. No matter how highly celebrated and decorated in their day, they don’t maintain their spot in the popular imagination. But those athletes and their feats still matter, even if they’ve been forgotten … and their stories still deserve to be told.

Kevin Martin’s “The Irish Whales: Olympians of Old New York” (Rowman & Littlefield, $32) relates the tale of one such group of forgotten heroes. These men, a collection of Irish immigrants to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were athletic sensations during that stretch. As a group, these men thoroughly dominated the world of field events through the early days of the modern Olympics, becoming sensations on both sides of the Atlantic and bringing great pride to both their native country and their adopted homeland.

Through a meticulously detailed and researched exploration of these men, a new appreciation can be gained for these athletic marvels who, despite global fame in their day, ultimately faded into relative obscurity. Their greatness is undeniable; this book proves a worthwhile introduction to that greatness.

Every four years, the world watches as its greatest athletes compete on the global stage. Elite performers from all over converge on a single place in an effort to excel in the name of Olympic gold.

But what happens to these athletes after the cheering stops? Is the price paid to reach the pinnacle too high?

That’s the fundamental question behind “The Weight of Gold,” a new documentary from HBO Sports. In it, filmmaker Brett Rapkin speaks to a number of American Olympians – both Summer and Winter – about the toll their respective quests for excellence took on them. Even the most successful among them had their share of struggles … and for too many, the tale took a tragic turn.

The film – narrated by legendary swimmer Michael Phelps (a featured interviewee and an executive producer on the project as well) – brings together new interviews and archival footage to offer a look into the sacrifices these athletes make to reach the top and the aftermath through which they must navigate after the spotlight fades.

The world of elite competitive sports is a fascinating one, studded with stars and fantastic feats. We watch and we marvel and we revel in the incredible athleticism that plays out on the fields and in the arenas that make up the grandest stage. We LOVE sports.

But there’s another side to that love affair – a side that can be unpleasant, harmful and, sometimes, utterly horrifying.

“Athlete A” – a documentary by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, currently streaming on Netflix – tells a story that reveals just how dark the dark side of sports can get. It’s the story of the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal, in which team physician Dr. Larry Nassar took advantage of his position to abuse hundreds of girls over the course of decades – and in which the leadership of USA Gymnastics attempted to cover it all up. The film walks the viewer through the investigation, led by reporters at the Indianapolis Star, while also engaging with some of the first women to go public with their allegations of abuse.

Watching this film isn’t always easy – there are some gut-wrenching moments that will land hard no matter how much you already know of the story. But “Athlete A” is important filmmaking, a cinematic document of a story that forces us to take a long hard look in the mirror of our fandom. It’s a reminder that a win-at-all-costs mentality can be dangerous – because some costs are devastatingly, unconscionably high.

It's too easy to take potshots at this year's incarnation of the Olympics Games. The Zika, the air and water pollution, the body parts washing up on shore - the punchlines are there to be had for even the worst late-night staff writer. And I have long held the opinion that the Olympics are the longest running and most boring reality television series in the history.

Stephen Curry has withdrawn from consideration from the Olympics, leaving the U.S. basketball team without the NBA's MVP.

LONDON - The British capital is awash in Olympic ink tattoo ink, that is.

At Olympic venues around London, competitors flaunt marks of blood, sweat, tears and hopefully glory on toned arms, hips and torsos.

But tattoos of the iconic Olympic logo the five interlocked rings aren't just for the world's top athletes. Amateurs, performers at the opening ceremony and tourists as well have been inspired to get the Olympic spirit under their skin.

Dear Todd Parker,

I've been dating my girlfriend for almost two years and we've been living together for six months. Up until very recently, everything has been going as smooth as could be. We share a lot of interests and have a lot of mutual friends and have a lot of fun together.

This weekend, we sat down to watch the Olympics (neither one of us is really a sports fan, but we enjoy watching the stories play out). We spent all day lazing on the couch, eating take-out and not really doing much, when all of a sudden she turns to me and says 'Are you happy? Because I don't think I am.'