Explain why I think the Olympic Games are ridiculous?
To start with, the idea that the Olympics are about sportsmanship amuses me, considering the origins of the games. The Olympics were originally a display of the skills of the warriors. A way for the districts, or provinces, or countries, or whatever to say \'Look what a bad idea it would be to invade us. See how good we are?\' without having to actually say it.
The modern games, to me, stopped being remotely interesting when they started caring more about who they could catch cheating with steroids, or blood doping, or whatever other performance enhancing methods they have, than about the spirit of competition.
Note, \'spirit of competition\', not \'sportsmanship\', not \'international brotherhood\'. This is, I think, and important distinction. One can be competetive, and be a lousy sportsman. Most really competetive people I know are, in fact, dumb-asses.
Yet, here in North America (I can\'t speak for other countries/continents), our athletes are also expected to be \'role models\'. Poor bastards. Particularly the men. \"We want you to exercise your ass off, generating an average of five times the testosterone a normal man generates, control the aggressive tendencies that generates, and keep smiling and being nice whenever some idiot shoves a camera in your face.\"
Then, too, there was the shift, decades back (when I really lost interest entirely), when the games stopped being about amateur athletes. If memory serves correctly (and it may not, because it\'s been a long time), it started with basketball, and NBA players going to the Olympics to sweep their games.
Now, I also have to grant that I don\'t watch professional sports, either. I think watching sports in general is a waste of time. I\'d rather play them. I don\'t understand the sports fanatic mentality.
I completely fail to understand why I should be pleased or disappointed if team A beats team B and gets into the play-offs. Similarly, with the Olympics, I fail to understand why I should be pleased if athlete A wins a gold or comes in dead last.
I don\'t feel that these are relevant things in my life. I appreciate and admire great athletes. Don\'t misunderstand me, here. It takes more effort than I can imagine to qualify for the Olympics, and kudos to them all for getting there. But I just can\'t help but feel that all the money they dump into the games could be spent on more useful things. Like education, or law enforcement.
Toronto was prepared, a few years back (8? 12? I forget) to spend millions of dollars on new stadiums just to host the games, after which it was possible that they\'d just stand there and not get any kind of regular use again. And this was being considered when our police force was screaming for funds, or fire department was screaming for new vehicles, and who knows what else? If we had the money to blow on stadiums and seating, then shouldn\'t it be used on something we KNOW we need, instead of a once-in-a-(insert era here) opportunity to host a bunch of sporting events?
Olympic fever? I\'ll pass, thanks.
