A Little More On The Olympics

Considering the fact that I'm up past 3 in the morning to watch the gold medal basketball game, should I still consider the Olympics a sham? Oh, Hell yeah. Mainly because NBC has pissed me off completely. I wasn't happy with their coverage to begin with. One of the summer events I really look forward to is men's indoor volleyball because it's about the only time I can see it. Earlier this week, I stay up to catch the semifinal match between the U.S. versus Russia. Local news cut out most of the first game. Okay, I blamed that on the worthless affiliate because any channel that thinks having Alan Cutler anchor it wouldn't have a clue how to run an operation. So, what happened earlier? The U.S. played Brazil in the gold medal match which started at midnight. Seems great because it would run until the gold medal basketball game. Which it did. Too bad NBC decided not to televise it. They're going to run a replay fifteen hours after it ended. So, what was on? Friggin' table tennis and mountain biking. Great job, NBC.

It's a good thing the U.S. won the gold medal in men's basketball or else ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan would swell to an unhealthy level since he insinuated that the U.S. would lose just about every game beginning with Greece (without actually predicting the loss).

Not to bag on local boy Tyson Gay who had a bad time in the Olympics as he failed to make the finals of the 100 meter and then was part of the fumbled baton on the 4X100 relay, but in hindsight, it probably would have been better if he'd stayed home. He was coming off a hamstring issue that kept him out of training. One part of that missed training was the relay where they get comfortable passing the baton.

Then there is the story that won't go away no matter how much the IOC wants it to - preteen gymnasts. A computer sleuth found a cache file of a list of gymnasts compiled by China's sports administration which showed them as being too young. So, the IOC demanded an investigation. The Chinese coach can't understand why anyone thinks they would lie. Just because they used underage gymnasts in the past. Just because they lied to the IOC about reforms for the Olympics. Just because every document or report that comes out shows the gymnasts are younger than they are supposed to be. The excuse before was that the media reports wouldn't have known the gymnasts ages. Even though as I pointed out before, the media and gymnast are both owned by the Chinese government. Now that government documents show the real age, the new story is that it was simply a paperwork error. Sure that's believable. This is a country where life is so regimented that they can ban having a second child (and enforce it). So, yeah, I can believe that all these paperwork errors kept occurring.

And I see where some people here are following right along. I've seen it argued that they provided passports. Sure, because fakes are next to impossible to find in China (that really is a $30 Armani suit for sale) even without the willful complicity of a government wanting to win the gold medal count. Do they really believe that the Chinese government won't provide other documentation (with wet ink) to prove otherwise? Hell, I wouldn't put it past them to "find" a photo of all the girls holding a 1993 newspaper. I've also seen the argument that it's just sour grapes because even if the gymnasts were underage, they were still the best (considering I saw a Chinese gymnast win bronze after falling on her face on the vault, that's a dubious assumption). Except, the countries following the rules could have left home good gymnast because they were too young. I guess I should give people like moron Jim Caple credit for at least admitting that the Chinese might have cheated before excusing it with the classic "everybody cheats." Sure, except in the U.S., cheaters like Marion Jones (funny, Caple doesn't mention her) can end up in jail at the hands of the government. In China, the government has a full role in the cheating.

So, will the IOC find anything? Possible, but it'll never see the light of day. No way they embarrass the host country. Sure, they'll strip an athlete of his medal for getting pissed about getting screwed, but no reason to look to closely at a big country. Let's look at the dumbass who runs the Olympics, Jacques Rogge. He's all up in arms about Usain Bolt showboating, but then says he's happy with the way China ran the Olympics. He feels they opened up China. Much the way they opened up Nazi Germany in 1936. Literally. Sure there may have been some glitches (some that didn't involve 12 year old slave gymnast). There's a report they shot some Tibetans (but don't worry, they closed off the territory so we don't have to concern ourselves with that). They set up some protest zones in the Olympic spirit, but denied every permit and basically used the process as a way to get the names of potential dissidents. Including some little old ladies sent to labor camps for reeducation. And the worst of all, they banned iTunes because it has some Tibetan freedom album on it. Yep, the Olympics have busted that country wide open. Rogge also said "people will understand China with all its challenges." What challenges? Too many dissidents, not enough labor camps? Not enough lead paint to keep industry humming along? Too many ugly girls that can sing well?

I also love how concerned he is over the instability in the Abkhazia region of Georgia which is 25 kilometers (I think that's about 328 miles) from the site of the 2012 Olympics, but he's not really that concerned because "the Russians have pledged total security." Which should be pretty easy to do since they are the main cause of the instability. Nice to see Rogge is blissfully unaware of what's going on in the world. He's also been quick to point out that the Olympics aren't about politics, but then when speaking of China's medal tally says "the world has to learn to live with a change of geopolitical nature." Which is it? Are the Games non-political even though countries use them to advance politics? And you gave them to a country that freely admitted that politics was their goal in them?

But it's nice of him to say that baseball might be back if Major League Baseball lets the pros play. I'm sure that will happen. I'm sure they'll either shut down for two weeks right as the pennant races are heating up or tell teams to lose their top players for two weeks just as the pennant race is heating up. This is why the Olympics are so stupid. Baseball is played all over Latin America and most of the Pacific Rim not to mention the United States. It's not an Olympic sport, but ping pong is even though half the competitors are Chinese playing for other countries. I don't even like baseball, but to not have that while you've got crap like synchronized diving, trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics and windsurfing is a friggin' joke.

Now, he doesn't mention softball which was dropped even though the best players show up. Word is that American dominance (until this year) was the reason. Doesn't seem to bother them with China and ping pong. I think they bring in these weird ass sports because Americans don't give two craps about and would make no effort to win. They have canoe. How can Americans compete in this sport? Americans don't know how to canoe without a cooler in the boat. And shooting? They use air guns. Is this high school? Send some deer out there and we'll find out who the best shots are.

As for the really boring sport of diving, I've got one word to spice it up - CANNONBALL.