The Olympics Vs. the NFL

The Olympics have become such a joke. I've always watched them because they show sports that you can't normally see (still waiting for hot oil wrestling though). Yet, the whole atmosphere sucks due the little fact that I've mentioned before - putting the games in China was stupid. And this is from a guy who hasn't bought into the "Olympic Spirit" myth in years. I already assume there is a high level of doping. I know money is the main driving force as big money Olympic sponsors want access to a billion screaming Chinamen. I know it will be overtly political no matter how many people say the Games are above it. And as much as I hate to agree with Gregg Doyel, I'm in complete agreement that some American will probably get screwed. Still, I still can't get over giving the Olympics to a country that seems to think having them is a good excuse to round up anyone who might think about protesting (or engaging in an innocuous exercise based religion) while at the same time thinking the prestige from their hosting duties will make others forget their bitter repression and arming of genocidal African dictators.

But it's not just the political and religious repression that makes me think it's dumb to let China host the Olympics. There's also the athletic part to it. To begin with, China controls every aspect of their athletes' lives which seems like that "governmental interference" that the International Olympic Committee so opposes. Also, one of the biggest scandals for the Olympics involves performance enhancing drugs. Guess which country is the place to go for your steroid supplies? As Doyel pointed out, the U.S. (and pretty much every other country) has had problems with steroid abusing athletes, but the U.S. government actually led the way for our cleanup. The way Chinese athletes get busted, it's pretty obvious that the government there not only sanctions the use, but they probably encourage it. By encourage, I mean forcibly inject it. And I don't think it's stopped. I think the WaPo writers missed a major point in their article about China's desire to win the most gold medals. Sure, I'll be sorely disappointed if China wins the most golds through their domination of badminton and ping pong. If we're going to include family reunion games, how about adding Lawn Darts to the 2012 Olympics? But the point the writers missed is that China will be sending a large contingent of "barely known" athletes. Why are they barely known? Probably skipped international competitions. Why would they do that? So, they can dope while training and not worry about drug tests.

There was a bit of controversy when the U.S. Olympic team said they would be bringing their own meat for their athletes because of concerns of stuff the Chinese inject into their's. Hell, I think the U.S. is stupid not to bring all their food with them. I wouldn't put it past China to spike the food with something to cause a failed drug test. Which is a whole nother problem as the IOC really didn't seem to care about athlete health and safety. How great an idea was it to put the Olympics in a country with unreliable food supply and in a city with some of the worst air quality in the world?

The biggest travesty is no matter what happens, the IOC takes the side of China. Censor the press? Go ahead. Deny open access that was previously promised? No concern. Crack down on human rights' activists, democracy organizers and people who had their ancestral home taken away? Pardon me while I stick my head in the sand. Deny a visa to a former Olympic gold medalist? Well, Joey Cheek was a winter Olympic athlete so he doesn't need to be here anyway. Smog so thick that it's a physical presence? Agree with the Chinese government that it's only mist (obviously water molecules in China are gray and have burnt cinders in them), and besides, it's not that bad for you. Sure, it's just mist. No big deal. As I said, it's obvious that the health and safety of the athletes was the primary concern of the IOC when they picked Beijing.

I've mentioned before about the hypocrisy where Iraq has been banned from the Olympics due to what the IOC considered excessive government interference which they never did when Uday Hussein was the head of the Iraqi Olympic committee and used torture as motivation. And as I pointed out above, why isn't it considered excessive government interference when China basically owns their athletes? Or how about this little nugget? For the second straight Olympics, an Iranian athlete has withdrawn from an event rather than face an Israeli (Iran says it's done in protest; I think they don't want to lose to a Jew). That doesn't seem to be in the spirit of the Olympics. After doing it in 2004, why was Iran allowed back into the Olympics? Things like this is why I think the Olympics are run by a bunch of jackasses. That's why I will watch some events, but I'll still spend more time watching preseason football.

Plus, the NFL has more drama right now thanks to Brett Favre. I've always been a fan, but he really looked bad in that whole situation that led to him being traded to the New York Jets. To begin with, I don't believe anything he says anymore. He's trying to float the idea that he wanted to come back to play for the Packers, but those bastards didn't want him so that's why he wanted to play elsewhere. I think if you look through the timeline, it's pretty obvious that he was trying to get out from early on. We know that he tried to unretire around the draft and then changed his mind again. Then the LA Times reported in early April that Favre's agent was shopping him to other teams. So, it wasn't a case of Favre wanting only to return to Green Bay, and then asking for his release because they had moved on. When he did an interview with ass-kissing Greta Van Susteran, he trashed the GM. That's the type of behavior that comes from someone trying to lose their job. Try it with your boss. So, I truly believe that he has wanted out of Green Bay and into Minnesota since the end of the season.

So, why would Favre want out considering that Green Bay lost in overtime of the NFC Championship game? I think the interview trashing of the GM wasn't just to get released. There definitely is a dislike between Favre and Ted Thompson who apparently doesn't idolize Favre above all others. I think Favre's ego thinks he's the main reason they got there, and that he can do it with another team. Why Minnesota? They have a good defense already. A good offensive line in place. They also have Adrian Peterson who, barring a sophomore slump, could be the second best running back in the NFL. I'm not sure how Peterson ran so well due to the incredibly bad quarterback play the Vikings got. Tavaris Jackson stinks. If Minnesota got a quality quarterback, they would have to be consider strong Super Bowl contenders. Plus, Favre looked like garbage in his last two games in really cold weather (loss at Chicago; NFC championship game in Green Bay). He would probably like playing late season games in a dome.

That's why it's my belief that the Packers played hardball with Favre. They weren't going to trade him to an NFC North team nor were they going to release him so he could sign with division rival Minnesota. They really weren't interested in playing him because his waffling every year somehow made them question his commitment to them. And they have to look to the future. Aaron Rodgers is a free agent in after 2009. Keep him on the bench for another two years and who knows what you have when Favre does retire for good then (or in October). Is Rodgers as good as Favre? Nobody knows. Highly unlikely that he'll have a career as good as Favre. I doubt he'll be as good this year as Favre was last year. However, he could be as good this year as Favre was the two years before that. With our short attention spans, too many people forget that 2005 and 2006 were horrible years for Favre (11 more INTs than TDs). Green Bay had to decide whether last year was the aberration or the previous two. When you're dealing with a soon-to-be 39 year old quarterback, that's a bet you might think twice about.

I thought it was cute how so many people said Green Bay should just release Favre so he could play where he wanted if they didn't want to start him. I guess the argument was that if you think he's not good enough to start for you, why would you worry about him helping another team. That's a load of BS right there. Favre could be the fifth worst starting quarterback in the NFL and still be an upgrade over Jackson in Minnesota. Teams are not going to trade value to a division rival. Kurt Warner wants to start and is ten times better than any quarterback on San Francisco's roster. There is no way Arizona trades him to the 49ers. So, it's not in the Packers interest to make Minnesota better when they don't have to. So, they pretty much shafted Favre by sending him to the Jets.

And they did shaft him. They traded him to the last place he wanted to go. While the Jets got a lot of free agent pickups in the offseason, they stank last year. A Super Bowl isn't a serious option there. Making the playoffs might be a stretch. But at that point, Favre was painted into a corner since he pontificated so much about how he just wanted to play football, and it didn't matter where (and it still wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't retire again after some more thought on this). So, he was shafted. He jacked them around so much that I can't help but think the Packer's management were happy that the Jets made the best offer. Favre screwed up their plans, their draft strategies and tried to make them look like a bunch of asses.

You know what? I don't blame them at all. Like I said, I was always a Favre fan, but I lost a lot of respect for him throughout the whole episode. It wasn't just because he appeared untrustworthy. I expect that in all the negotiations between teams and players. It was that he came off as petty and egotistical. His whining about Thompson during the Van Susteran interview was embarrassing. Favre's beef was that Thompson didn't sign players Favre wanted or hire the coach Favre wanted (that little admission probably didn't put present coach Mike McCarthy in his corner). Golly gee. I can't believe a General Manager would put the long term interests of the entire organization's above those of a player who has been ready to retire for the past four years. Sorry, Brett. I've always said the NFL is bigger than any player and that includes you.

Still, it's nice to see Youtube is getting more mileage out of the Hitler rant from Downfall. One of these days, I'm going to watch this scene with the actual subtitles.