The Winter Olympics in Turin leave me cold; it appears that the same can be said for other many other Americans and apparently for most Chinese and Australians as well. When I was a kid and went to the movies, figure skating champ Sonja Henie was rewarded for her Olympian accomplishments with leading parts in heavy Hollywood dramas. To see the petite blond compete with fellow Scandinavian vixen Ingrid Bergman for the attention of leading men was well…cool – and her in skates yet. Today TV ratings pale from the days of Torvill and Deane and spunky Dorothy Hamill and her pet camel. Times change, the best Dorothy could do for her supper was push arthritis pain killers.
From Sonja to Dorothy to the attempt to break a knee in Boston and on to the pouting of a pair of Italian ice dancers and further to two American speed skaters glowering at each other for alleged slights; how did the big show get so very low? From the ancient Greeks running naked toward olive crown glory to Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s brilliant recreation, we’ve come on games dominated by over privileged white kids flashing sponsored snow boards for free commercials on NBC.
The winter games are actually better examples of what’s wrong with the movement then their summer counterparts. The summer sports of running faster, jumping higher, and hoisting more clearly involve the world while ice dancing, mogul skiing, snow boarding, and the alpine events reek of money and privilege, not that summer equestrian events don’t. You’re not going to try to tell me that those medal winners in trick skiing could actually hold off kids from the ghetto if they were really given an even chance to compete?
And of course they don’t compete head to head in most sports. “She’s only two hundredths of a second behind at the second check point, but she took on too much air at the fourth rise. I think all is lost.” Deathless prose, eh?
Despite the snarling between speed skaters, nobody’s doing this for God and country anymore. Adolph Hitler made the games a test of Aryan supremacy, and for decades those commie pigs drugged and doped their way to medals while our darling innocent little free market capitalists toiled only for red, white and blue. The Nazis spent a fortune and the commies several of them to show that their bulked up super heroes were more than a match for any decadent Golden boys and girls from California. But we had corporate sponsors just as determined to demonstrate the benefits of money for breakfast. And we won!
George Bush should take it on as personal challenge to turn the Olympics into a contest between freedom lovers and al Qaeda. As Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan et al turned the battle of world hegemony from one of atomic bombs to toe loops, so it is the George to tame Osama and to see if we can handle his troops in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The real problem lies with the Gipper. Reagan is given credit for ending the Cold War by outspending the commies on Ace support bandages. In so doing he undermined the Olympics. It’s up to Bush to restore the games; he’s certainly showed that he can outspend even old Ron. Take it on, Mr. President!
Blog on!
Wild Bill
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