There is no fury like followers of obscure sports when they think you are making fun of them. So it is certain that I'll be offending someone when I say that if I ever see another moment of biathlon on television again it will be too much. The world of sports is wide, weird, and frequently boring, and it seems all of it is on Russian television.

In the West, sports broadcasting is a ruthless commercial activity. Every minute is forced to justify itself in the fierce market of audience attention spans, and it is no surprise that as a result it focuses on the big-money, high glamour team sports. Granted, you could always find pro bowling, truck-pulls, and strongman competitions on at weird weekend hours on the nether regions of your cable

system, and the Olympics are nothing if not a weeks-long orgy of obscure sports most people only want to see every four years at most. But spectator sports are an enter­tainment business, and no amount of earnest passion can alter brute audience share reality.

So I am perfectly confused by sports television in Russia - especially on the state "Sport" channel - which often feels like eccentric and wholesome educational programming. This winter, biathlon has come to represent how aggravating this can be. Seems each time I've flicked past the sports channels there were biathletes trudging along, firing their rifles, and going about their business. I don't mean to pick on biathlon per se, it is fine as a sport, and clearly requires great skill and conditioning. But the run of tournaments from the world championships, the European championships and the World Cup meets around Europe seem to have given it an outsized stature on national television.

Is it really this popular? I guess watching biathlon is better than just watching plain nordic skiing - and better than just watching target shooting for that matter. But neither strikes me as something worth sitting around watching on television. It's like watching other people exercise.

But don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy learning about the esoteric world of sports. Also over this winter, I got to learn about bandy - that's "hockey with a ball," for the uninitiated. The World Championships were held here in Moscow in February, and as I watched some of the games, all I could think to myself was about how this looked like the most fun in the world.

And really, you can learn to like anything, especially when the competitive element is added. In college, I took a trip to Montreal for a few days. It was the weekend of the national curling championships, and every bar in the city had its tv  set tuned to the matches. After a few beers, in the company of some new friends -  and once we'd figured out the rules - watching New Brunswick battle Manitoba in what is basically shuffleboard on ice could get surprisingly exciting.

So I appreciate the way Russian sports media have made such an effort to present sports that are strange to my American eyes. I'm glad for how much of the rugby World Cup I got to see, and to learn what top flight men's volleyball and team handball look like.

But on the other hand, you shouldn't carry the as­sumption that sports derive their value from being watched too far. My wife hates sports - not necessarily playing them, just the idea that I could spend a few hours on a weekend just wat­ching adults play games on television. So life in my family can be a bit of a running debate, and I appreciate her points. And I appreciate that it would be impossible to justify watching everything, and that I need to pick my arguments. I'm not going to waste them on speed skating and synchronized swimming.

I understand telekanal "Sport" has to make an effort - "No day without sport" is their motto, after all, and that's a lot of time to fill. And I applaud people who dedicate their time and effort to make the world of sport as rich and varied as it is. But do they need to be on television?

I'd borrow a line from the chief propagators of the overheated Cult of Sport and say, "Just Do It." Let's forget about the idea of the purity of athletic competition and achievement and remember what spectator sports are really all about: sitting around and watching millionaire celebrities chase a ball around for a few hours.

By Christopher Marcisz