Surfing might join ballroom dancing as an Olympic sport

Matt: Has surfing ever been or will it be an Olympic sport? — mhfractal@aol.com

Funny you should ask, mhfractal. Just this past April the International Olympic Committee gave provisional recognition to a spate of sports, one of which was surfing. All that means is the International Surfing Association has two years to organize a plan for surfing to be a demonstration sport at some future games, after which the IOC will ponder awhile and give ’em a thumbs up or thumbs down. (Wonder what the gnarly dudes will do when the summer games are held in Bulgaria or Pakistan or Buffalo.) Officially, an Olympic sport must be played in at least 75 countries on five continents, but if potential TV revenues are big enough, the pragmatic IOC will be lenient. They gave surfing the provisional okay along with bowling, golf, squash, water skiing, trampolining, and — hold on to your jocks — ballroom dancing. (Insert your joke here.)