Olympiad
I have one thing to say today and it is politically incorrect.
The subject is The Olympics.
I don't care about the local food or culture or customs or whether or not someone has a sister in the hospital or grew up in a hut with wolves.
I rush home each evening to watch beautiful young men and women doing extraordinary physical and mental things.
I watch them dive and swim and run and jump and twist and contort and lift their bodies in ways that defy gravity and common sense.
And I marvel at it all.
I don't care about their nationality. It is only of passing interest to me that a competitor comes from the Ukraine or Canada or China.
I wish them all well and cheer them on.
The TV and the radio and the newspapers are filled with drivel by entire nations of so-called journalists babbling about nothing. They are all so intense and so clever and so completely beside the point.
When they can run and jump and part the waves in record times, I will be interested in them too.
It's all about The Games, Stupid.
And it's beautiful.
6 comments:
Bravo David - so well said! Some of my friends are "boycotting" the games as it is hosted in China. What about all these incredible athletes that have worked so hard for many years? I know all about this as my son was a national athlete. They make so many personal sacrifices.
I am enjoying watching these young people stretch themselves beyond belief and it is beautiful! I am not sure how I will spend my time after the Games are over! Pam
Though I share your enthusiasm for the beauty of the sporting events (and do so completely!), I think it is horrible that China's officials placed such an emphasis on so-called beauty and thereby committed the fraud of the opening-night's singing fiasco. The actual singer should have been at centre stage. Lost on China's brass is the fact she too is adorable, even though that shouldn't be the deciding factor. That and the fake fireworks 'around Beijing' reveal a pathetic and shallow mindset. Surely, we can't endorse a longer the motto of: Higher, Faster, Stronger, Prettier and Brighter.
Singing or not, David, you get the gold. I know you'd never strip it away from a talented Chinese girl.
Bentley of Vancouver
While I am impressed with the athletic abilities, the poster above makes some good points - and I will add my disgust of China falsifying the ages of (some) of the female gymnasts. Some of those gals are closer to twelve than sixteen - and a great advantage it is in the "sport" of gymnastics. I remain too disheartened with China, as well as the yammering of Campbell to watch.... In my opinion they should not have been granted the games.
China has had a one child per family policy since the beginning of the eighties, and this may be the catalyst for their economic success. An example of Freakenomics.
More resources can be concentrated on fewer children and this is seen in their Olympics standings in gold medals.
I don't own a TV so I can't readily watch them. Though while I was at my friend's place in Seattle I got to watch a bit on a Hi-Def large screen TV. That was pretty amazing!
Interesting comment by Jonathan Kay on the phoniness of the Beijing Olympics.
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