Fighting P.O.D. (Post-Olympic Doldrums)

There is a serious affliction affecting many British Columbians just now. In fact, it seems to be a national epidemic, maybe even a global crisis affecting far more people than H1N1 ever did.

It’s known as P.O.D — Post Olympic Doldrums or Post Olympic Disorder. The symptoms of P.O.D. of any kind are remarkably similar in most people: a tendency to sit in front of your TV, mournfully flipping through channels, hoping that, in some sort of a time warp, you will suddenly come upon an Olympic sport still in progress. Or at least being re-played.

Other symptoms include a reluctance to take off the flag attached to your car window (it makes it so easy to find in a parking lot!), searching the newspaper for post Games coverage, even though you know the Games are over, and deciding to keep that Canadian flag displayed in your living room window, even though you’ve never had one there before in your whole Canuck life.

A rare but rapidly spreading symptom known as post-Games souvenir hunting is also emerging — weary citizens suffering from tired feet and credit card overload hunting for that last cache of Olympic memorabilia. I’ve heard this particular symptom can be easily cured by the discovery of a 50% off sale (hint: gift shops at the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and the Toronto, yes, that’s Toronto, Airport still had a good selection as of a few days ago!)

I met a man hoarding three extra pairs of those now rare Olympic mittens, but his asking price of $20.00 (when I do already own a pair) seemed a trifle daring (even though I’ve heard outrageous prices are being asked for the humble mitts by those scoundrels who take advantage of the suffering hordes).

It’s true that the 2010 Paralympics got more TV and media coverage than ever before, but it still didn’t seem like nearly enough to many people (by now suffering from a full-blown addiction), but that’s probably a good thing. It bodes well for the future of the Paralympics and their sponsors and athletes. Leave’em wanting more.

But oh, how hard this was on the addicted public. Especially when we begin to realize that the Paralympics can be even more dramatic and moving than the Olympics themselves. Watching elite athletes who have not only trained for years to be at the top of their game(s!), but who have had to overcome serious physical handicaps to do so, is, to say the least, awe-inspiring, and extremely humbling.

The kids have the right idea…fight P.O.D. with P.D, that is, with Paralympic Delight! At one of the last sledge hockey games, when Italy and Sweden were fighting it out for seventh and eighth place, the roar in the UBC Arena just may have approximated the roars at the gold medal hockey game we all watched a week or two before.

At the UBC game, about three-quarters of the audience were school kids, and it was sometimes hard to believe the roof stayed on the building, given the level of foot-stomping cheering and non-stop energy going on. I couldn’t keep from laughing (a well-known symptom of Delight) and that, my friends, is perhaps the best antidote yet to P.O.D. These Games, Olympic and Paralympic, gave us an injection of unexpected joy.

Photo Credits

“Olympic Fever” Claire L. Evans @ flickr. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

“Wheelchair Curling Medal Round, 2010 Winter Paralympics, Vancouver” PopeJohn2 @ flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

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