Hopped up on olympic spirit August 11, 2008
Yeah, try biking like 52 miles or running a marathon in that poop air.
But besides the shortcomings of the Chinese government and on a more serious note, I’m a big fan of the Olympics. It’s got to be one of the best moments to watch in all sports. You know, the moment when an Olympic athlete wins the gold medal, truly living their dream and realizing that all their hard work training day after day has finally paid off. They get to stand up tall on the podium and listen to their national anthem play into every corner of the room.
The Olympics show us the best of what sports can be: people competing for their countries, for the pride of their nations. Too often the virtue of competition gets lost in today’s professional sports. Sure, professional athletes are usually playing to win, but too often you see an athlete “hold out” or not give it 100% because of a contract issue…because of the dollar signs.
It’s the same with college sports. Have you ever noticed how some NBA basketball players loaf it up and down the court, sometimes walking? In college, every player runs up and down the court. They know that if they don’t, their coach will bench them. In professional sports, a coach is almost powerless over their players, as the backbone of their team’s revenue model is winning – with winning comes advertising dollars, TV deals and increased ticket sales. So what’s a coach going to do? Bench his/her best players? They have no choice but to keep them out there.
The Olympics, like world cup soccer and other sports, showcase the best athletes in the world playing with no money on the line (besides some advertising and endorsements for the athletes themselves) – and when there is no money in the way, you get a chance to really see the true colors of the world’s best athletes. These are truly the best moments in sports.
Poop air! I love the Onion!
Here are two reasons not to buy the olympic hot air.
If you want to see human dispair reliably, look to the silver metalists. The difference between gold and silver is stupidly small. We lavish rewards on trival differences. 8/100ths of a second difference after 4 guys swim? Might as well roll pairs dice and give the gold to the first person to roll double sixes.
Welcome to the state sponsored hunt for the freak olympic specialist. China will win this game this year, and probably the next three Summer Olympics. Germany is thinking of starting up their old East German system again, disappointed at their metal count. The US has down well while the Russian and East German systems crumbled. India has yet to do so, might be too democratic-chaotic-poor. Expect a lot more stories of someone plucked from nowhere and put in a state sponsored program at age 6, doing nothing but their sport from then on. Great stories all of them.
You can’t tell me that the little 67 pound gymnast from China is 16….and what about all the U.S. citizens who were sent home because they were overheard talking about Tibet? All politics and “poop” air aside,the Games are pretty amazing. All that discipline and hard work should be held in high esteem, no matter who is hosting. And weren’t the opening ceremonies awesome? Only a country with a billion plus people could pull that off-