Musings of the XXVIII Olympiad
For whatever reason, the summer Olympic Games simply don’t get my attention the same way the winter Games do. I’m impressed by the abiliities and dedication of the athletes, but skiing, speed skating, and bobsledding seem more fascinating to watch than swimming or track and field. But, as Liz had the Games on, various thoughts came to mind…
- Why is it still styled the International Olympic Movement? Seems pretty established to me.
- Reading some of the lofty language of the Olympic Charter, I have to laugh somewhat bitterly. First off, while I can admire the idealism somewhat, it just seems to me that expecting people to reach sociopolitical epiphany through something as arcane as a sporting event (hmm, are you listening, Free Software zealots?) is naive. Second, to continue espousing such notions despite the pervasive commercialism of the Games (not to mention recent corruption scandals at the IOC) and rampant nationalism reeks of hypocrisy.
- Wow! Look, "women’s" gymnastics actually has a couple of actual, adults competing (at least one each from the U.S. and Russia). The contrast between these two and the skinny 14-year-olds around them is striking.
- Gymnastics and diving annoy me for the same reason as does figure skating: after all the skills these wonderful athletes display, the results are highly subjective.
- Baseball and football announcers say plenty of inane things during their broadcasts, but I think swimming announcers have them beat. C’mon, really, the events aren’t that complicated: swim down and back, first one to finish wins. No expert commentary required.
- Fox overdid the drama during last year’s baseball playoffs, and the Super Bowl pre-game is always over the top, but NBC seems to be going even further in trying to stir up unnecessary intrigue and drama with the personal vignettes. At least the Super Bowl hype essentially ends at kickoff; we’ve still got nearly two weeks left of Bob Costas introducing yet another story to add drama (or just fill airtime?).