I am general sports fan, I love seeing live football, watch the grand prix and test matches have been to the odd 20:20 and even place the odd bet from time to time oh and I really love the Olympics (both of them).

One odd thing about this winter games is amongst the gripes of the media and unfriendly time slots for watching live events I developed a new love for American sportsmen and woman and even started to enjoy snowboarding.

American sport gets a lot of abuse, flack and I can see why their sports stars can be annoying, over blown, airbrushed, emotive, vain, seemingly pampered, over paid etc. Shaun White the snowboarder being the epitome of this. But there does seem to be some essential joy in what they do. This clip of Shaun White is full of showboating and I’m sure will raise some people’s hackles but the assurance of his run and the needlessness of out doing himself when he’d already won is admirable and the whole thing put a smile on my face. Much better this than the successful but reserved Chinese or the glad to 13th plucky Brits. Professional sport for all the jumbled muddled Olympians ideals is entertainment after all.

Oh and snowboarding has won me over in general, the boardcross especially is way more exciting and watchable than the endless time trails of most other snowy sports. The men’s finals was won by the merest of margins and the gladiatorial jostling and place changing of the heats makes the outcome uncertain which surely is partly what sports fans want.

So once again god bless American !