What Summer Olympics sports should move to the Winter?

Are you enjoying the Olympics so far? The die-hard fans have been watching NBC all week, plus their sister channels, live streams on their computers, tablets and phones while discussing it all on social media. The Rio Games are full of a variety of events that it is so hard to keep up with it all.

Of course, there is so much going on during the Summer Games that a lot gets lost amidst the glow over Michael Phelps, Lilly King, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, Simone Manuel, the hoops teams and the other great athletes in Rio. There are so many athletes and events that you just can't watch it all. The Summer Olympics is just so big that they have a tough time finding ways to add sports that people wish to include. What should we do?

How about moving some to the Winter Olympics?

I know, I know. The Winter Olympic charter states that events in those games are for sports played in snow or ice. Olympic charters can be amended (remember the one about only amateur athletes?) so this is a roadblock that can be dealt with. Of course outdoor events like track and field, rowing, and the like wouldn't be moved to a cold climate and neither would the epic summer sports like basketball or swimming. But there are several events that could be moved to the Winter Games that would add a bit of flavor to those Games, bring exposure to Summer sports that are buried in the enormity of it and include nations in the Winter Olympics that normally wouldn't be there.

Plus there is an issue of venues. Usually the Winter Games are placed in a cozy wintry town nestled in some mountainous region that only needs a few venues since it is the smaller event. Well, Beijing will be hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming the first city to host the Summer and Winter Games and largest city ever to hold the Winter Games. Possibly bigger cities will be looked at more for hosting the Games or those winter towns who are somewhat close to cities who have venues to host indoor events. Think Vancouver or Salt Lake City.

There will be 102 medal events at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There are 306 medal events in the current Rio Games. So why not move some over? Will this happen? Probably never, but it would be nice if it did.

VOLLEYBALL

My first move may be my most controversial. Obviously, most of my picks will be indoor events where weather and temperature isn't an issue. Volleyball makes the most sense. It is a very popular game around the world and even Americans love watching it. It is also a team event, and there aren't too many of those in the Winter Games (hockey is arguably the most popular). Plus, with beach volleyball being so popular in the Summer Games, why not move the indoor volleyball to the Winter and split those two events up?

Also, it helps with my effort to get a more diverse group nations into the Winter Games (for example, Brazil is a power and countries like Egypt, Cuba, Argentina, Iran and Mexico are competing in Rio). Even if it does move the sport into the middle of professional leagues around the world, hockey has solved that problem.

BOXING

Here is another time honored Summer Games tradition that could benefit from a move. Boxing was such an elite event at the Summer Games. Guys like Cassius Clay, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, Ray Mercer, Meldrick Taylor and other famously became sensations due to their exploits in the Olympics. Lately, boxing as an Olympic sport (or sport in general) hasn't gotten the love it once had. Maybe an event like this that is more mainstream than skiing or ice skating would get more eyes during the Winter event.

WEIGHTLIFTING

The best part of weightlifting is you can do that anywhere. You don't need a huge arena and it is one of those events that is intriguing just because it brings out one of our needs to find out who is the strongest man or woman. For all of us who have spent some time in a gym (or with a gym membership tag attached to our key chain) that become amazed just how powerful these athletes are.

Every four years I find myself glued to this event, even if I could care less about the nations involved. Moving this event to February when a lot of people have started their workouts after the holidays and their New Year's resolutions would be nice. My only reservation is that weightlifting was one of the sports in the first Games of the modern Olympics back in 1896, making the incongruity with the Winter Games a little more pronounced.

HANDBALL

To me, handball is one of the most underrated sports in the Summer Games. It really is fun to watch and rather easy to pick up the rules when you see it only during the Olympic cycle. It, again, gets buried under the massive schedule of the Summer Games and is kind of a redundant event in the Games. Plus the USA isn't particularly good at it, so it suffers from being uninteresting to the States. Handball is kind of a cross between water polo, soccer, basketball and field hockey. All those more popular events are already in the Summer Games. Why not move handball to the Winter?

JUDO

Again, a nice event that can be held indoors ... plus a discipline that carries 14 medal events. It could also move Taekwondo from the Summer Games as well and include karate into the mix. Over 100 nations have someone participating in a judo event in Rio.

BADMINTON

Sure, a lesser sport here and one that is associated in America to backyard cookouts, but it is popular in Asia, indoors, and stunning to watch at this level. For those of us who grab a racket and think we are pretty good, watch these teams just go after it. Well, if you can find it.

TABLE TENNIS

See: Badminton

SQUASH

Wait, this isn't an Olympic sport! No, but it has applied to be but passed over. If the Winter Games started to allow indoor events in, then squash would have a chance and would fit right in. Plus this would open up other events (like skateboarding or roller blade racing) some room in the summer.

Yes, it seems as if we are just moving indoor events over to the Winter Games but it does have some merit. Taking some events away from an already crowded Summer program and placing them during the Winter Games makes sense. Again, it should bring more eyes, a different set of eyes and possibly make those Games a much more lucrative undertaking for the IOC and host cities.