Got disgusted with the Olympics a bit early this year and decided to
go right into Halloween. Is it just me or have the Olympics lost their
spirit in the past ten years?
I guess it all started going awry for me after they started
admitting professional athletes. I think it was summed up
unintentionally, but pretty well, by Venus Williams after winning the
gold medal in women’s singles tennis. "How does it feel to win a gold
medal?" She was asked.
"I never really much thought about it. I guess… I um.. it feels pretty good. I’m just so happy."
She tried to recover but the truth was there. Of course the slip is that she really hadn’t
thought about the Olympics. For her, the basketball dream team, and the
professional cyclists this was just another world class meet, not
something for which they had sacrificed, suffered, and struggled. The
struggle was before, when they were working to go professional and make
a career there, gain fame and fortune. Now after they are on top, we
say, hey why don’t you come out and win a gold medal for your country.
Maybe it’s ratings, maybe it’s national pride, win at all costs, whip
the world so to speak, but there just isn’t the personal passion that I
remember as a kid and teenager. Now it’s just one more notch on the
belt. Hrrmmpfff, *shrug* just another big meet.
I never get to see wrestling, probably one of the oldest and noblest
sports in Olympic history, naw, nobody’s ever heard of this kid from
Iowa. Oh wait, he beat the Russian… okay let’s show that match. Bah!!
I want to see amateur athletes struggling, fighting, and happy with
winning a bronze. Where was the decathlon coverage? Where was
wrestling, shot put, discus, javelin, swimming? These sports were
covered only marginally… perhaps there weren’t enough famous American
athletes there. Oh well, I guess, I’ll stop complaining. In the
meantime I’ll sit back and enjoy the newest most fantastic-liscous
sport we could have ever dreamed up… synchronized diving. AHHHHH, now
we’re getting somewhere.