I watched a decent amount of Olympic coverage. My viewing time was limited to whatever NBC chose to air. But from what I saw, I have made up my mind that the Olympics have turned into a bunch of freaks competing in silly activities. Granted, many of the events have some merit, but many need to be removed from the Olympics because all they do is bring down the perceived prestige. For example, it is one thing for a person to walk away with a gold medal in something like the 100m dash. But then someone else has a gold medal for dancing in a pool? Really? These 2 events are worth the same amount? I don’t think so.
Therefore, I propose the removal of certain events from the Olympic Games. I am not sure I have specific criteria, but certain things just seem out of place. Where I have a good reason I have listed it.
Some events already have World Competitions in place
Soccer – Is the World Cup not sufficient to determine which country has the best soccer team?
Tennis – Every Grand Slam event is a competition between countries and they have the “Davis Cup” that pits countries against one another.
Basketball – Seriously, it is just a joke and a stroke for our ego. Like we don’t know that we have the best basketball players.
A fun thing to do but I doubt it is worthy to be an Olympic event
Kayaking, Sand Volleyball, Table Tennis
If we are going to include these events then I suggest we also include Chess, Scrabble, 4-Square, Ultimate Frisbee, Lawn Darts (Jarts) and Horseshoes.
Miscellaneous Out of place events
Synchronized Diving – Greg Louganis is no longer the gayest thing in diving (sorry, couldn’t pass it up).
Synchronized Swimming – As “beautiful” as some say it is, the event is still lame.
15 different rowing events
Trampoline – Seriously? Do I need to defend this choice?
Rhythmic Gymnastics – Glorified hula hoping should not get a gold medal.
You are welcome to disagree with me and add to the list as this is by no means comprehensive. There are plenty of awful events in the Olympics. In the end, I believe the experience would be more worthwhile if they dispensed with these silly exhibitions.
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7 comments:
I'd love to see them eliminate everything that is determined by judges scoring. I think it's silly that someone can win eight medals by doing only one thing (like a swim sprint, for instance). And I'd like to see the medal tally that matters: Nike v. Adidas.
I actually have several points of contention.
Your points about soccer and tennis already having international competition are well taken, but basketball does not have this. Not country vs. country, anyway, and since basketball is quickly becoming a global game with vastly improved competition, it should stay. Stroking our egos? Really? Where were you when we lost to Argentina in Athens? And even though we dominated in Beijing, we still only won the gold medal game by 11.
I also think Sand Volleyball should not be eliminated. I wound up watching quite a lot of that, and you cannot compare the athleticism involved to chess and lawn darts. I know your comment was tongue-in-cheek, but seriously.
Everything else you mentioned I'm ok with, but there's another thing to remember. Just because rowing and rhythmic gymnastics seem like a joke to the USA, doesn't mean they don't belong. The IOC selects sports that have broad universal appeal among all participating countries, so there just may be some things that are revered and enjoyed in other countries, and America just doesn't care or (gasp) isn't that good at them.
Tom - points well taken, but you are still not completely correct. My point about basketball is that we have the best players, hands down. Sure we lost in Athens but that was not because of talent. Also, I never have understood how the Basketball team gets away with having professionals while the other events must be amateurs. Do you know why that is?
I get that certain events have broader global appeal, but worthy of a medal event? It destroys the prestige in my mind.
As a side, did you see the outfits for the Australian women's basketball team in the gold medal match. The WNBA should take notice and they might get more viewership if the players looked like that.
Amateurs? Every basketball team I saw had NBA players on it. The hockey teams have pros. Tennis is all pros. Figure skaters go on tour for pay. The marthoner runners compete for cash all over the world. I'm pretty sure the track guys do too. It's been estimated that Phelp's achievements will net him over a $100m. What do you mean by 'amateurs'?
had i known that the olympics were going to create this sort of response, i might have watched more.
as for basketball, there is a world championship, run by FIBA.
except from wikipedia:
FIBA is a world basketball tournament for men's national teams held quadrennially by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
the olympics need to get rid of soccer (or overhaul), basketball and tennis for sure.
i would have to check on hockey.
as we all know, the only reason these events are in there is MONEY.
Hockey utilizes professional players. As for baseball, the obvious answer is that the Games take place in the middle of MLB's season. The NHL takes a season break to allow their players to participate in the Olympics, but the MLB does not. I was talking to someone about this the other day and I can think of 2 possible reasons for this:
1) Taking 2 weeks off, plus probably a 3rd for travel and jet lag healing, would push your World Series into late November. Depending on the host cities of the championship teams, this means the Fall Classic could easily be played in snow and freezing temperatures.
2) For those contending teams, who have a shot to go deep into the playoffs, adding 30-40 innings of work to your primary starting pitchers would really screw your championship chances. Their best pitcher would undoubtedly be selected to represent their countries in the Games. For perspective, a WORKHORSE pitcher in the major leagues will throw 200 innings in a season. Add another 15% to that, or maybe 20-25% for a more delicate pitcher, and their effectiveness in November will be about shot.
BTW, at least partially because of MLB's refusal to suspend the season during the Games, baseball is now removed from the Olympics. They do still have the WBC, World Baseball Classic, held every four years during the offseason. The new baseball equivalent of FIBA or the World Cup.
Shannon - I know the Americans are not the only ones who do this and Basketball is not the only sport. However, when you turn "pro" or go on tour showing off your wares I was always under the impression that you are ineligible to compete in the Olympics. So all of that "Ice Wars" crap does not feature any up and coming potential Olympic stars, only the ones who have won medals and are past their primes.
As I said, it is my understanding that the Olympics are an amateur exhibition, yet there are obvious exceptions to the rule (the big 3) and I want to know why.
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