Olympic Thoughts

My buddy Bitner recently posted a very strong commentary on sports v. athletic events. (Check it out at http://bitnersthoughts.blogspot.com/2008/08/sport-or-athletic-event.html) The short version is that if it's a competition whose winner is determined by judges, it's not a sport. If it's a competition determined by goals scored or the best time, then it's a sport. Pretty good breakdown, though NASCAR and to a lesser extent horse racing will always be up for debate.

To take the conversation on Olympic events in a slightly different direction, I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person in America who can't stand Olympic television coverage. I hate that we're so saturated with coverage of gymnastics in the summer and figure skating in the winter. I'm obviously in the minority since if the ratings weren't there, the networks wouldn't cover them. Then again, I'm not so crazy about reality TV in general and American Idol in particular, so I'm obviously in the minority on a lot of things TV.

For all of the reasons Bitner mentioned about how politically charged, subjective, and just generally unsatisfying the process of winning and losing is in those types of events, I don't enjoy watching them. Now, I'm not saying that we should cut to live coverage of the entire marathon event. But you can't tell me that watching someone hurl themselves over a 20 foot standard using a flimsy fiberglass pole isn't cool to see. Or that there's something oddly fascinating about Olympic-level table tennis. And who ever gets to see fencing?

I mentioned it with the pole vault, but I think that Track and Field generally is sorely underrated viewing. The very motto of the Olympics, "Citius, Altius, Fortius," is arguably best manifested in the Track and Field events and embodies some of the traits that Americans most look to in their heroes, particularly their athletic ones. We're all about "faster, higher, stronger," in America. It's what helped us cover our eyes from the steroid era in sports for so long.

That there is room in the Games for gymnastics, figure skating, diving, or what have you is not what the point I'm trying to make. There is. They are athletes performing at the highest level and why not let them? Besides, what would our lives be like if we hadn't all experienced the gut-busting unintentional comedy of hearing Michael Hamm talk for the first time in the 2004 games and sound exactly like Kerri Strug?

I just can't figure out why we're not equally interested in athletes (pure athletes, mind you, since the traditional name for Track and Field is "Athleticism) competing in other events, especially when those events are so cool.

For drama, you can't beat a 4 x 400m relay. For freakish all-around athleticism you can't beat the decathlon. And for strength, you can't beat the hammer throw (I mean come on, the guy spins around while swinging a 15 lb. bowling ball attached to a steel chain over his head and hucks it as far as he can!). What's more, though, you have the history of the games wrapped up in these events. I for one would like to see more of them, and if that means that I don't get to see quite as many gymnasts or divers, so be it.