The Olympics Are Boring

Is anybody watching the Winter Olympics in Torino?

I might as well admit that I'm more interested in MLB spring training. Truth is, I've never felt drawn to the Winter Olympics. Outside of hockey, it's a boring set of events to me, comprised almost entirely of "sports" and competitions unfamiliar to a Southern California boy. But to be honest, even the summer Olympics aren't much of a draw to me anymore. The last time I was excited about watching the Olympics was way back in '92 when the Games were held in Barcelona.

What happened?

I think I'm a hardcore sports fan. I love watching the Big Three (football, basketball, and baseball) just like anyone other joe. I catch some hockey games or tennis matches. I'll even sit down to watch a round of golf or a game of soccer. But the Olympics bore me.

I need a real reason to watch. Don't argue for the purity of amateur sports or the brotherhood of friendly international competition. That doesn't cut it for me. That doesn't make me want to pick up the remote and check out what's going on in Torino. That doesn't make me curious about what will happen in Beijing in 2008.

You know what I think it is? What's really lacking is political intrigue and political context/subtext.

For me, the real drama of the Olympics lies in stories such as the elation of the Miracle on Ice that threw back the Iron Curtain and years of Cold War fears; the tragedy in the Munich Massacre that made Black September and all other terrorists a much more real danger to the world at large; the beauty in black-skinned Jesse Owens winning four gold medals and singlehandedly toppling Hitler's ideology of Aryan superiority; and the awe of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their black-gloved fists in salute of the fight for civil rights and black power.

After the latter display, then-IOC President Avery Brundage had indignantly said, "They violated one of the basic principles of the Olympic Games: that politics play no part whatsoever in them."

Was he joking? That's the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard about the Olympics! Politics is what the Games are all about! Unfortunately, all of the events I mentioned occurred over 25 years ago. In our ever-so-politically-correct new world, strong subplots such as these no longer exist. You can argue for the peacefulness in the betterment of our global state of affairs, but all I know is that the Olympic Games I loved are gone and replaced by something uneventful and uninspiring.