The Olympics

Or the post I was thinking about this morning. Must of forgot with the pain and annoyance.

As I said, I didn't plan on watching the Olympics, but knew I would. SOF likes it more than I do, and I always get roped in. I enjoyed watching Phelps win his 8 medals, and have even enjoyed some of the gymnastics and beach volleyball.

SOF and I noted that this game did a little better job with the human interest stories. There weren't as many. Or maybe I just used the DVR better this time. I don't know. And the coverage was, for the most part, not bad.

Fewer stupid interviews. Fewer, but not zero, and one interviewer has to be the worst. The guy who interviews the track athletes on the field is just horrible. The other night, he grilled the American who was disqualified in the 200 and asked the dumbest questions imaginable. Hell, just interviewing a guy who went from Bronze medal to nothing was just dumb and heartless. And we were just watching the 4x100 relay where the Americans dropped the baton, and the same doofus asked Tyson Gay (who has had the worst Olympics--and not even counting when the American Family Association website filter had his name as "Tyson Homosexual.") what happened. He then asked him why his olympics had gone so badly, and I left the room when he asked, "Do you think part of what makes it so tough is that you were expected to win Gold in the 100 and 200?" Mr. Gay would have earned my respect for dropping that guy with a right hook.

And the commercial part of the games left me cold, as I thought it would. But it also just reinforced that the games are more commerce than athletics or good will. That became clear when I was watching the women's beach volleyball championship last night. One of the Chinese players kept adjusting her hat, and when she did, I noticed the little Nike Swoosh on the hat. Not sure there are different nations represented her as much as Corporate brands v. some real athletics.

But I watch, and part of it is that despite the waste of resources of these athletic ventures, and the stupidity of so many of the people (the gymanst's father who derides silver as some kind of failure) there is always a kernel of genuine drama and human connection that makes the games fun. During the last event final for the women, the Chinese gymnast gave the American gymnast a hug after her performance. Yeah, they all do these fake hugs and kisses, but this was one of those that spoke of something more than fake. It was a genuine connection between people.

Perhaps in the midst of a lot of stupidity and excess lay some actual human emotions and connections. Those aren't bad things.