Olympics and my Boycott
Just thought I'd post about the Olympics and my boycott. It is going pretty good so far. I turn the station when it comes on and turn the sports page til I find baseball or football etc. There are two things that intrest me about the games, one is Phelps and his 8 golds and the tennis final, that will be hard to miss but I will get over it.
Prophet 22
Prophet 22
Comments
I was hoping for a more Kristy-esque rant about why the Olympics suck... so I'll start mine!
Why I hate the Olympics.
By Mark Breaton
There are basically three reasons why I hate the Olympics: the fallout from the games, the ethics of the games, and the games or events themselves.
Fallout: The games dominate every form of media for the duration of the events. Thankfully for me, I spend very little time watching television and such, so it doesn't affect me much, however, I cannot help but be exposed to the over-abundance of sudden patriotism and pride. However, I also shake my head when, during the intervening three years, there is very little support and loyalty to these athletes as they often have to spend a significant amount of their own savings for their chance to represent Canada.
Ethics: Speaking of representing Canada, and the economics of Olympic athletes, I feel that the games are horribly mismanaged. Years ago, Canada rejoiced with its dominance in the 100m sprint when Donovan Bailey won the gold medal, this year, a 50 year old former gold medalist represented Canada in fencing (though she was eliminated earlier this week). These are just two examples of probably my biggest annoyance of the games - neither of these two athletes are actually from Canada. Donovan Bailey is in fact Jamaican born, and the 50 year old former gold medalist? She actually won the gold for China - her home country. Now, they have both received citizenship, and I have no problems with immigration, however, IMO, you should represent your home country. Otherwise, certain countries will consistently perform well at the games, not because of funding of the programming, or because of innate skill, or even sheer population numbers, but because of money. Why would someone train their whole life to represent Uzbekistan, where if you win a gold medal you can return to your home country a hero, when you can represent the USA, return a hero, and then get the Nike endorsement deal, do the talk show circuit, and probably end up on a reality television show for millions of dollars?
The Event: Now, here's the argument I'll likely catch the most hell for. Many of the events in the Olympics are not definitive regarding winners. If I were to compete in basketball, sprints, weightlifting, kayaking, or swimming, I could definitively say I either won or lost: I scored more points, I lifted more weight, or my time was shorter than everyone else's. These events I have no issues with. However, as the games have progressed, we have added events such as synchronized swimming, diving, synchronized diving, trampolining, ballroom dancing, and other such sports where the "scoring" is based upon a panel of judges. This is not, IMO a definitive scoring system. One has only to look at the last winter Olympics where there was a hubbub over the pairs figure skating event, and a French judge basically screwed the Canadian team out of the gold by rating the other (Russian?) team higher. IIRC, the Canadians objected, and were awarded a gold medal too. That's right.... "too". So now, we have TWO 1st place gold medalists (okay, two pairs). As an aside, as long as these "sports" are recognized as Olympic caliber, and I apologize to those that have heard this rant, I will suggest another "sport" that should be allowed - professional wrestling.
Scoring in figure skating is based on several criteria such as skills, transitions, execution, choreography, and interpretation. These skills are given essentially a grade, and the highest overall grade wins. Well, you could easily find the equivalent categories in a standard professional wrestling match, and score it much the same. So, barring the other requirements for Olympic recognition such as the need for internationally recognized competitions and what not (one of the reasons why there is no female skiing long jump where there IS a men's event), from a technical standpoint, a pro-wrestling match could be graded and scored just like figure skating / diving / gymnastics / etc etc.
Okay... asbestos suit on... flame away
Mark
cosign the preceeding post and blame it's thrust entirely for my apathy.
Well as time goes on, everyone is going to be from everywhere anyway, so don't get sucked into this stupid medal counts published in papers and just appreciate the worlds best athletes competing.
I counter you with Boxing, where they got rid of the judges opinion* and went to a very technical points based system that results in boxers scoring a point and then running away from their opponent for four rounds. Watch olympic boxing sometime. It's horrible.
* They introduced a points system where if a punch meets the requirements for a point (not deflected, white part of glove makes contact with opponent yadda yadda) they press a button for the fighter. If majority presses the button within the second (or whatever) then the fighter is scored with a point.
I say the problem is that the international organizations that regulate thier sports don't do a good enough job of reviews/disipline/removal of mediocre/bad judges. Also, because there's still this concept of nationality the fairest and best judge in the world can't be used if his countryman is competing. So you then get stuck with 2nd and 3rd rate judging for gold medals. They screw up, make an international scene and tarnish the reputation of their sports.
What I like is seeing sports and games that I don’t normally get to see. CBC coverage is horrible in that they seem to cater to the middle age female audience showing more gymnastics and figure skating than I would like. They also seem to show more bios and replays instead of showing actual events but I can’t do much about that.
I can get over the fiercely pro-American commentary and watch the US coverage because they show a wider variety. I’ve seen water polo, road race, fencing, volleyball (both men’s indoor and the bikini chicks) just to name a few. I’ll watch pretty much anything.
I just enjoy watching the best in the world. I don’t care who wins (except for hockey in the winter).
I'm a competitive guy, and I have NO problem watching the best in the world competing, but I can't help but notice Quimby every sport you listed that you've seen is a "definitive" one - they have absolute scores / winners. I find little satisfaction in judicial assignment of winners - hell, I don't even like when UFC fights go to a decision.
Mark
Anyone have an explanation as to why? Is it just because the pros would likely not pass up the tour money to compete?
Used to be an Olympic sport but at the time only 2 countries participated, Canada and the USA. It didn't generate enough interest at teh time ( I think 1920?? Not sure). However, it IS being reconsidered for the 2016 games. I think it will do very well this time, and would be great for the sport internationally.
Mark,
I have also seen gymnastics and diving too (because that's all that was on).
Sorry to cut my list short.
Last night I my jukebox songs got shut off because of Men's Gymnastics.
I politely
Fuck the Olympics.
Hint : Stay out of gay bars when mens gymnastics are on the tube.
This deserves a lot of love!! I LOL!!
Well the games themselves have problems, it is not them that I am boycotting per say, it is the fact that China was given these games in the first place. I have stated my position before and I will state it again, I still have images in my had of tanks smashing into the square, crushing vehicles and innocent people with their tank. People who want a choice. The freedom to choose, free thought. The Chinese government backed down on so many promises made to the to the Olympic committee.
Prophet 22