Ah, good sportmanship...that's nice to see

dcb's picture
Submitted by dcb on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 11:59am. ::

Every time the Olympics are held (winter or summer), I'm excited to watch whatever I can of the events. I am awed by the athleticism and dedication of these athletes to push themselves to become the best in the world. I believe that these games are important because they bring the world together for a unified cause, even if just for a few weeks, and they show that we can be a global community who support the common ideals of hard work, dedication, sportsmanship and civic pride.

Of course, after a few days or so into the competition, I realize that I'm at heart a sentimentalist and idealist, and the beliefs I have about the importance of good sportsmanship, unity and a global community coming together are actually a bunch of crap, and the athletes or the coaches are actually a bunch of whiny babies. It seems like every day when I get on the internets, all I see are articles about who's mad at whom, who's thrown their medals in the garbage or at others, and who's questioning the validity of one team or another.

I give you the following articles, just from the past 24 hours:
Blake Rips Foe After Olympics Tennis Loss

The Olympics' Age Old Problem

Wrestling Deals with New Allegations of Corruption

Considering these have come from only the past 24 hours, and I'm not watching the coverage online all that closely, this is quite a bit of bitching. And these are just the headlines showing up on Yahoo. I can't only imagine what I'd find if I went digging. I guess the answer to the age-old question of 'can't we all just get along' is 'no'.

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The worse is how every day I
morganbatchava's picture
Submitted by morganbatchava on Fri, 08/15/2008 - 4:07pm.

The worse is how every day I heard something new about how horrible the Chinese government is. First its CGI fireworks, then its lipsynching children, subduing protesters, limiting the press.

Half of this I think is just bs, and while I'm sure it's all true, I'd be surprised if it's at all original.

I'm also frustrated with all the political mumbo jumbo. One of my friends said she didn't want to watch the Olympics because of the human rights issues with China. I highly doubt watching the Olympics in Beijing is supporting the Chinese government. Or the Iranian swimmer who was forced by his country to pull out of the race because he would be competing with an Israeli.

However, I try not to think about all that. When it comes down to it, all the competitive nonsense is just business as usual, no better no worse (I'm sure the individuals on each team are just as competitive with each other), and at least it's nations coming together to be competitive in a world forum.

Sometimes it feels good to get back at France by swiping Gold right out from their fingers at the last second.


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Go team
Reggie's picture
Submitted by Reggie on Sat, 08/16/2008 - 9:50am.

I'm waiting to buy my Olympic medal on Ebay. Time is money.

NBC/CNBC programming sux (I refuse to devote precious computer time to Olympic viewing).

So far, I've seen way too many:
1. Aggressive animals dancing while punching headgear. But not enough KO's or blood with the cartoon- sized gloves.
2. Aggressive animals performing "Women's" fast pitch softball. While the athletes and apparel are FAR LESS "distracting" than, say, female beach volleyball players (mentioning the young female gymnasties would be wrong), I'm still not moved by a sport that I can watch any day of the week at the park next door.

The recent summer games between Russia & Georgia are kinda cute eh? Bad timing tho, up against the Olympics in all time- slots...


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