I’m really trying hard to figure out ski jumping. There are some obvious parts. Jump far, land well—walk away with a medal. There are various heats, and you have to continue to qualify to continue moving on. But I don’t really understand yet how the judge’s scoring works. And even the qualifying is a bit confusing.

As I’ve reported earlier, American ski jumpers do not have a lot of financial support. One reason is because it’s simply not very popular here in the United States. But I’m trying to figure out why that is, and I think one reason is because most viewers are nor unlike me. They just don’t necessarily get it. And it’s hard to enjoy what you just don’t understand.

Figure skating moves on to ice dancing today. Torino silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto hope to upgrade that medal to gold, but they have stiff competition in fellow Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White who won the national championship in January. Traditionally, ice dancing has not been an American strong suit. Will this year change that?

Skeleton awards medals today in the men’s and women’s individual competition. Noelle Pikus-Pace, currently in fifth, is in decent position to compete for a medal. Teammate Katie Uhlaender is slightly farther back in ninth place. A couple of the American men also stand a chance to reach the podium. Zach Lund is currently in eight place. Eric Bernotas and John Daly are in 14th and 18th place at the beginning of today’s runs.

Curling has been a pretty big disappointment for the Americans this year. The men need to go undefeated to reach the podium. Today’s challenge? France. The women are looking for their first win as they face Russia.

Ski jumping continues today with the qualifying round for the 125m hill event. The U.S. has a very young team and is not favored to end the 86 year drought since they last medaled in ski jumping. Two time Olympian Anders Johnson is only 20. His teammates, Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette, are making their first trips to the Olympics. You have to really feel for these young guys. They essentially pay their own way to the Olympics. I’ll be writing more about this in the coming week.

Women’s cross country pursuit races today. America has never won a medal in women’s cross-country skiing, and that probably won’t change today. Americans Liz Stephen and Morgan Arritola make their Olympic debut here.