Hong Rico

Some friends and I watched the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics on the TV above the bar.

As the Hong Kong team took its turn during the parade of nations bit, we had some questions.

"Isn't Hong Kong part of China now? How come they have their own team?"

"Well, they used to be part of Britain, right? And didn't they have their own team then?"

"Where the heck can you ski in Hong Kong?"

It seemed strange to us. Here was this island with its own flag, its own Olympic team — yet it wasn't quite its own country. We chalked this up to the colonial and imperial attitudes of Britain and China.

Then the Puerto Rican team marched in. Hmmm.

Anyway, Alexander Barnes Dryer has a useful "explainer" up on Slate on "Why Puerto Rico has its own team."

I like Slate's "explainer" series. It's helpful in a "why, yes, I was wondering about that" kind of way.

I just wish explainer took requests, because the one I'd like to read is "Why Slate's publishers still think Mickey Kaus is interesting."