STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're going to keep this next story very short - and you're going to hear why. NPR's Robert Smith is at the Olympics, and something is driving him crazy.
ROBERT SMITH, BYLINE: When I go back to the hotel after a day of covering skiing, this is what I dream about.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS CLANGING AND CHEERING)
SMITH: The yelling, the cowbell, more cowbell.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL CLANGING)
SMITH: Oh, the cowbell. It is a European tradition to clang these things to cheer on a skier and after 14 days of the Olympics, I am begging you: Less cowbell.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T FEAR THE REAPER")
SMITH: Now, don't get me wrong - I appreciate a cowbell in a classic rock song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T FEAR THE REAPER")
SMITH: To quote the great Bruce Dickinson from the "Saturday Night Live" sketch...
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
SMITH: But the album version of "Don't Fear the Reaper" was five minutes and eight seconds long. The men's giant slalom competition lasted three and a half hours.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS CLANGING)
SMITH: OK. Maybe it is just me, because everyone else seems to like it. And it does make sense; you can't clap with mittens on. But for some reason, when you have a cowbell in your hand, it is like you can't hear it anymore.
After two hours, does the cowbell ever get old to you?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: No, but it probably gets really old to the people sitting in front of me.
SMITH: You've seen them turn around and give you a look like, is she going to ring the cowbell for all the...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Oh, I have got - a lot of those looks, yes.
SMITH: And it'd be OK if people just cowbelled for their own country. But no matter what flag you are skiing for, the cowbell tolls for thee.
YURIV FLESHNIGARD: I cheer for everyone.
SMITH: Yuriv Fleshnigard(ph) is from Norway. Her cowbell is international.
If somebody's skiing from Sweden, what does it sound like?
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL CLANGING)
SMITH: All right. If someone is skiing for Norway, what does it sound like?
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL CLANGING)
SMITH: Maybe it's because I'm trying to radio interviews here that I'm more sensitive. Maybe I'm a cowbell curmudgeon. The skiers don't mind. When the slalom racer from Zimbabwe, Luke Steyn, came down, most of the crowd had left. He finished 61st. And yet a few cowbells made him feel like a star.
LUKE STEYN: Even though like, my legs felt like concrete, I could still hear the crowd cheering for me, which is great.
SMITH: See, for some, just the right amount of cowbell. Robert Smith, NPR News, Sochi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
