Monday, August 16, 2004

• So the Olympics have started from Athens...but do any of us really care?  Aside from the World Cup in soccer and the casual fans that will watch a trial or two of gymnastics or swimming throughout the terribly long course of games NBC insists on subjecting us to, I'd say no.  ...Emphatically.  A lot of Americans out there are probably going to say they would disagree with that statement.  But let me lay out a couple of things for those people. 

  First of all, let's say everything goes our way and the USA ends up with more gold medals than any other country.  How many segments of any given Olympic event do you think even the above average fan is going to have actually sat down and watched?  Maybe a dozen.  And that's out of how many??  Let's see...the Olympics go on for about six weeks, that's about fourty days.  NBC is airing complete coverage with the exception of local news twice a day.  That's 22 hours of coverage times about forty days...so we're talking...around 900 hours of Olympic coverage of which the above average sports afficianado is going to watch 12 hours of.  And I'd argue I'm being generous on that.  And that's with us winning...which we're really not.  Almost a week into it we are tied with Australia for second place in gold medal winnings, China being the first place country. 

  Which brings me to my second point.  How many people do you think are going to keep watching if we aren't winning?  Take me for instance.  Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm the most die-hard Dallas-area sports fan out there.  I can't get enough Cowboys, Stars, Mavericks, and Rangers.  But once we're halfway through the season or so and my team can't seem to beat even the worst of teams, I can't sit there and watch that.  And I'm hardcore.  So when the USA starts not even placing in sancronized swimming or the 400m relay, or espeically in futbol, you'd better believe Americans will have had their fill of the Olympic trials by then. 

  All this isn't to say that the Olympics are pointless and banal, but rather to say that they are terribly overrated.  When it comes down to it, is anyone really going to remember in 2008 that China had the most gold medals in 2004...the last time the Olympics took place?  It's nice to have them every once in a while, but I'd argue that it's not nearly as exciting as I think most people would try to make it out to be.  And by the way, I haven't even touched upon the most boring five hours in television...the Opening Ceremony.  Who the hell's great idea was it to have every freakin' country in the world carry a lit stick around a quarter-mile track while the whole world sits and watches?  I mean, that's not even entertaining, or in the least bit enthralling conceptually, much less in actual execution. 

  Anyways, if I had things my way, the Winter Olympics would be every two years, because hockey is that cool, and the summer Olympics would only consist of a six-week-long World Cup in soccer.  But I suppose I'll be forced to settle for the Olympic Trials being held in New York in 2012...

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