If I Ruled the Olympics

Tags

editorial, Olympics, opinion, Sports

Let’s assume.

Since the very title is a presumption, it seems right and logical that we do.

So bear with me.

Let’s assume some things:

1. The Olympics as in “ancient” games were a serious quest to determine the best of athleticism.
2. That athletes from say Thrace or Carthage stood an equal chance as those of Athens and Sparta.
3. That judging was fair.

Okay, so perhaps we are not so sure of those things, but the ideals are what we are after here, and those are certainly the ideals of Olympic competition, along with brotherhood, the international symbol for ma and apple pie, and the general touting of human excellence, there having  been no Nobel’s or Oscar’s or Pulitzer’s at that time.

So of course we realize that all has gone terribly wrong in the ensuing millennia.

Today the Games are a nationalistic entertainment extravaganza wherein somehow one country is judged better than another by virtue of how it schemes to “help” its athletes win while still not getting caught for cheating. All kinds of political points are scored, lost, won, and wasted in the pursuit. Of increasing concern is the degree to which polluters, human rights violators, and countries unable to feed their own masses somehow manage to sweep, cover-up, board-up, or wall-off, these embarrassments  while “hosting” these circuses.

Everyone waits with bated breath, (whatever that actually means) to see what Vlad Putin and his “nipples on display” ego has in store for gays and other dissidents once all the lovely people have gone and Russia returns to its cold, stark realities. We politely have looked the other way “for the sake of the athletes” and most of us will sanctimoniously report that his “opening and closing” paled in comparison with Beijing’s and even London’s.

Meanwhile a half-dozen impoverished countries will bid for the right to use dwindling resources to build venues which often go unused once the games are over, while poverty haunts the senses within blocks of these palaces of extreme waste.

So if I were handling things, this is what I’d do:

1. Select permanent sites for both winter and summer games. The choice would be weather/sea level appropriate, but would attempt to locate in smaller, poorer countries if possible. They would receive “rent” on the space and a bit of the profits in return for their lease of the land.
2. The permanent facilities would be funded by say a 25-year average of all countries athlete count to the respective games. Meaning that countries like the US, Russia, Britain, and so forth would pay the greatest share. All countries would contribute to the maintenance of a security force both during and between games and to reasonable maintenance of the venues.
3. There would be no flag carrying and no flag raising at events or at medal presentations. Athletes would not wear uniforms defining them as representing countries but rather as Olympians. Every country will undoubtedly keep their viewers firmly educated in these matters without the formal Olympic committee being involved.
4. All athletes will use the SAME equipment. We are here to determine the best athlete not which country developed the best racing suit/bike/sled/goggles/skis/javelin. Developers of equipment will submit their designs and research to the committee who will maintain experts in all these matters who will choose the best for usage in the next games.
5. All athletes will have access to venues six months before the opening to practice on the track/field/course if they wish. A small fee for housing will be paid and for food. The rest is free.
6. For sports that are not subject to objective standards for “judging”, i.e., a stopwatch and verifiable goals, i.e., proper completion of the circuit, other rules will apply:

                   a. If you want to be a “sport” no bowing  is allowed. Conclude your effort and wave to the audience and depart.

                   b. Everyone will complete the same exact “routine”.

                   c. Athletes will wear appropriate clothing and not appear to be characters in a story.

                   d. Standards will be developed for each “part” of a routine, and graded on a scale of (1)completed satisfactorily (2)

                       completed but not cleanly so (3) partially completed (4) failed to complete.

                    e. If all parts are completed “satisfactorily” 1-3 additional points may be given for “extreme merit”.

                    f. No points will be given for “style”.

                   g. All judges will be publicly known, and are required  to turn in signed voting sheets which are also public.

                   h. No judge can participate who has a family/business associate/or other close relationship with a coach or other intimately

                        connected person to the athlete.

 

No doubt there are  a hundred things wrong with what I have devised. But seriously this stuff is getting to be a joke and something must be done.

And is it time to devise a definition of eligibility? Are we going to have professionals or amateurs or some of each? Since we cannot stop the corruption of countries paying and supporting athletes to give them a hand up, we need to figure this out too. I have no salient opinion on this at this time. It’s fraught with landmines I fear.

On to MARCH MADNESS!

 

I’m Sooooo Behind

Tags

gay rights, GOP lies, Mitt Romney, Obama, Olympics, Penn State, Sally Ride, small business

Yes I am. I get up at 6 a.m. and can’t seem to ever get a chance to sit down until near noon. And then I am POOPED. For a while at least. Let me see, what did we do this week? Well, I walked my requisite 14 miles. I water aerobic’d for two hours.  I bought a couple of lamps. We got our window treatments installed and we love them. The Contrarian bought his own car and has it all titled and licensed. I went to the farmer’s market and bought a lot of veggies and made a kick-ass Gazpacho for dinner–to be featured soon at “What’s on the Stove.” Oh, and I am watching the Olympics. Phew.

Speaking of which—

Willard is busy making a butt-hole of himself in London. Technically, I think he has left already–helped no doubt by the shaft shoved up his bunghole by the British people.

Things are bad when people say you are worse than Sarah Palin. No class, no personality, no charm, no sincerity. That about sums up what they think of him.

On now to Jerusalem where he gets to meet his “old friend” Bibi, who we understand gave an interview saying he would agree that he and Romney “knew each other” sort of. Not quite the glowing palsy-walsy that Romney alluded to in his claims to “call Bibi” and offer his “help” on a regular basis.

Plenty of Republicans are wondering just why this trip was undertaken. Word we here is that Willard is fond of over-ruling his advisers somewhat regularly. I guess that is working for him, as he sees it.

Speakin’ of which.

Oh would it ever be nice to have an Olympic games free of controversy, such as the ages of the girls competing in gymnastics, doping controversies, and especially the daily totals of which country leads in the medal count.

Why would any one care? Isn’t it about excellence and the individual or team?

And let’s forget the pros who suddenly become amateurs in order to attain another notch in their celebrity memory book. While I adore tennis, I have no interest in watching pros play other players of lesser ability just for the sake of recognizing a sport. Which has always been my beef with basketball and ice hockey etc.

I’m not sure how you feel about it, but I for one think Penn St. got exactly what it deserved. Certainly the students there don’t deserve this, but apparently the only way to convince their “adult supervisors” how to behave, is to punish everyone.

I believe Paterno got what he deserved too, although he is not here to accept his punishment. Amazing how someone is willing to give up what would otherwise be a stellar life history all in the name of protecting the good ‘ol boys, and the football program. It ended up doing neither, and ruined many a reputation at the same time.

I guess what burns me up about all his business, is that quite frankly the MSM has again fallen down on the job. This hatchet job of selective editing to make it appear that the President said something very different from what he actually said should be called what it is–blatant lying.

And Fox was worse yet by “re-editing” it to show you exactly what the President said, and then again, making it what it was not.

Why can’t they just show the footage as given and juxtapose that with Willard’s lie? I mean are those the facts or not? Just the facts. It’s all I ask.

We were sad to hear of the passing of Sally Ride.

As a woman, we recognize that she blazed a new trail and gave home and dreams to millions of young girls. As a young girl myself, a dozen of more interesting professions were off-limits to me. Because of women like Ms. Ride, that is no longer true.

I recognize that given the propensity for huge numbers of companies to be sympathetic to Republican goals, that it is not always easy to boycott them to make your voice heard.

But this one seems a no brainer. After all, there are plenty of other chicken fast food places.

And while the extreme right screeches that it is an outrage for Starbucks and Amazon to donate money to causes that are “leftist” they screech just as loudly that the left has no business punishing a company for exercising its free speech rights. Well, arguably it’s all wrong since the employees may well not agree with management, but if it’s good for one side, surely it must be for the other.

I’ve never seen a chick-fil-A establishment frankly, but I surely wouldn’t eat at one either. There is KFC, Popeye’s and Church’s just for starters.

I dunno about you, but it’s a happy day for me. I hope it is for you too!

Related articles

• Romney’s Sally Ride Tweet Draws Fiery Response From LGBT Advocates (huffingtonpost.com)
• Romneyshambles (ourfriendsinthewest.wordpress.com)
• Romney Has Imploded (boomantribune.com)
• David Cameron hits back at Mitt Romney over London 2012 doubts (guardian.co.uk)
• Netanyahu: Romney Lying About Their Friendship (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Selling Out Sarah Palin (americanthinker.com)

You Neandertal!

Tags

Einstein, foreign policy, general relativity, GOP'ers, Ground Zero, Iran, Israel, Media, Muslims, Neandertal, Olympics, paleontology, physics, Quayle, relgious freedom, teabaggers, terrorism, wingnuts

It used to be that to call someone a Neandertal, was to hurl a telling insult. You basically were saying, your kinda dumb, kinda out of touch with the world, and kinda doomed to extinction.

No more.

What I love most about science is it’s lack of certainty. Nothing is ever written in stone, but all is subject to the proviso of: “This is true, so far as we know now.”

For decades, perhaps longer, Neandertals were relegated to the failed category. A dead end hominid that couldn’t cut it in a modern world and died out.

Genetics and that wonderful world of genome testing has virtually proven evolution to be true, and at the same time, has re-written the human family tree. That’s why the field is so darned exciting.

Michael Shermer, science writer for Scientific American and Skeptic, explains how Neandertals are now re-categorized as homo sapiens neadertalensis, the sapiens being new. For indeed, they were not a dead end but in fact contribute to the genome that you and I today share. I have no idea why I am glad it is true, but I am.

It’s not so hot today, so far that is. I haven’t even heard a weather report. Not that that means anything if I did. They said we would be hot this week, but would have little actual rain. So far, in three days we’ve had at least three inches. So listening to them is wasting precious minutes of my day. I think mold is growing everywhere, and I’m thinking that weeds will be popping up through the floor any moment. This is SO tiresome.

I read this next one earlier today, but D-Cap explains it in his perfect style and wit. The Phyllis Schafly “son” has joined ma-ma in loolo land, now claiming that Einstein and general relativity is all bunk and just another of those liberal lies. Oh Lordy, Lordy, when will the teabaggin’ crazies combine to make up one good brain?

By the by. I LOVE Greek style yogurt. It is so fantastic that it doesn’t even compare to the regular type. Anybody know why the freakin’ stuff costs an arm and a leg? Is there some serious process that costs billions to create it like this? I would love to know.

William Lindsay has an interesting post at Bilgrimage about the tea party phenom as well as how the elites who have little to do with you and me control these conversations. Interesting take on Catholic conversation and gender domination. As many of us have said, we are the mere puppets in this charade of a national debate. We control no agenda, no topic.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so deathly sick of every politician, right or left who has the unmitigated gall to speak for me in that smarmy “The American people don’t like. . . .” Not a damn one of you has a clue what I don’t like or do. So speak for yourself, since you obviously only vote for yourself.

Big Think does a great article on Ground Zero and religious freedom. Lots of good links so you can continue learning. As I’ve said before, this situation has all the makings of tragedy in the making. In saner heads do not prevail. Be one of the sane ones. Make your opinion known by supporting Muslims in your community, writing letters to the editor, and speaking out clearly. The haters (who are always complaining they are being denied the right to their religion) cannot be allowed to win this one.

I included this one for fun. Ala Sharron Angle’s “I want you to ask the questions I want to answer so that the message we want out there is out there,” state Texan GOP’er, Debbie Riddle was taken aback when Anderson Cooper asked her to provide proof of her allegations. She alleges that terrorists were sending in sleeper pregnant women to give birth to American citizens who would in twenty or so years commit acts of terror. She got this info from FBI sources. She could not, of course, come up with any such sources and ended by accusing Cooper of grilling her, and that his network had not warned her to be prepared with actual answers. TOO FUNNY.

I swear, some day we are gonna find that this was all a monumental comedy hoax perpetrated by Candid Camera. I mean really, how do you grow up to adulthood with no brain? Yet if we listen to the Gopers, apparently dozens of them do.

We hear tell that Dan Quayle dubious VP under Bush numb nuts #1, and all around IQ misfit, has spawned a child called Ben who is carrying on the family dull tradition. Running for office he is calling Obama hands down the worst president in US history. This said with tongue in cheek no doubt. Coming from such illustrious parentage, one can but exclaim–Anyone for duck hunting? But he is running in Arizona, proof positive that the Continental US  is sagging southwest due to an excess of poop. A high colonic please!

Speaking of empty skulls,  I saw an interview with the guy who played piano for years at the WH. He was at Blair House when the Numb nuts #1 returned with the clan following his inauguration. Piano player said he recognized most of the Bushie family members, even the weird one who sat alone in the corner. Any guess who that might be?’

A very long, but very thorough article at Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg on Iran, Israel, and US foreign policy. A long haul, but then you come here to learn where to go to be informed right?

And just for fun, here’s a little post about how the British are gearing up to make nice with all the Olympic visitors come 2012. How to talk to foreigners! Enjoy! (Read the comments!)

Lil Bits of Rancor or Not 8/15/08

Tags

abortion, Archaeology, Barack Obama, cake, Desserts, Election 2008, Greece, History, Iowa, Jesus, Jim Leach, John McCain, lobbyists, Media, mental illness, Military, Olympics, Sports, Women's issues

We all know a bit about how athletes train for the Olympics. A huge number of disciplines are now involved, nutrition, sports health, computer technology, and tons more. What was it like back at the beginning? How did athletes train when they actually competed at Athens? Ancient/Classical History Blog brings you a piece from the stoic Epictetus on was was involved. A fascinating look at the differences.

If you are looking for an elegant dessert, and who isn’t, I mean really? You best stop over at Baking Delights and try this Instant Gourmet: Walnut Genoise with Coffee Infused Ganache. Wow a mouthful, err by figuratively and actually. It is simply heavenly with both coffee and chocolate and whipped cream. Oh help my pounding heart I think I am going to drool all over the keys. You must see the photograph of it made! And most importantly, it’s not very difficult to make.

Lordy Lordy, McCain has lost his freaking mind. Seems our befuddled old guy may be in cahoots with bad boy Ralph Reed in Georgia.Reed was a partner of Abramoff, the K Street naughty, if you remember. Ralphie boy lost his bid for lt. governor when all the poopy hit the fan over that. He is scourged quite badly in the new book by Thomas Frank, which was featured on Bill Moyers Journala few weeks ago. Ralph may well be headed for jail before all is said and done. It seems that he is sending out invites for a McCain fundraiser. We are unsure, at this moment whether Johnny intends to attend. If so, Johnboy better look out. If I hear more, I’ll let you know. This source is from Capitol Hill Blue and I’m not very comfortable with them yet as sources.

Garrison Keillor is always funny, or at least chuckle amusing, but he hit the perfect tone today in his essay, “It’s an Amazing Country.”  He rather hits McCain right between the eyes. It’s a chutzpah claim that surely hits home. I mean really, McCain the multimillionaire, son of privilege all his life, calling the black kid raised by a single mom the elitist? Well, as he says, American, she can be an amazing place to live. Don’t miss it.!

A great little piece at AlterNetyou should take a look at. Summing up a host of non-issues and falsified ones, Allan Uthman, runs down the ten most idiotic issues in this campaign so far. Most, but not all have been mentioned on this blog a time or two.  This gives a nice packaged run down of some of the worst offenders, and the real truth behind the lies and innuendo. That they seem to all pretty much fall on one side is, well a given isn’t it? It’s a good read, and actually provides a bit of real good information, expecially on Senator Phil Gramm, the guy you recall who said we were a country of whiners. Look of more of his questionable ethics and economics should, God forbid, McCain win the white house.

A couple of purely Iowan concerns. First Wesley Clark is backing Becky Greenwald in her attempt to unseat Tom Latham in the 4th District. Clark contends Greenwald has shown a strong commitment to veterans while Latham has voted to cut billions in various Veterans programs in order to support tax cuts for the wealthy. Of more general interest, our own Jim Leach, Republican unseated by Loebsack in 2006, is endorsing Obama for President. Leach, all around good guy was felled in the general “throw em out” election of 2006. This unfortunately does happen when people are so thoroughly disgusted with a party. The good goes with the bad. Leach was definitely a good guy, never fitting into Gingrich’s gang, and paying the price with low-interest committee assignments. Good for Leach!

Media Matters reports that the presidential debates will be hosted by NO Foxy NEWsless heads this time around. Good news! And there is some reason to suspect that the blogging community may have influenced that decision. Bloggerdom has vilified of course Fox as a shameless purveyor of Republican talking points. This is of course true. Anyhow, the moderators chosen this time around are: Jim Lehrer and Gwen Ifill from PBS and Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer from NBC and CBS. A reasonably good array I would say, especially the first two, but Brokaw is acceptable in my book as well. The post has a long discourse on how the group was chosen, and the efforts of the bloggers to block Fox out.

McCain always touts his solidarity with the military. Apparently nobody has asked the military. By a rate of 6 to 1, Obama is out raising him among overseas personnel. Ron Paul who has suspended his campaign, has out done him by 4 to 1. The only group even close to be in his camp are the Marines. Even the Navy goes for Obama.

On the humorous side, we can all remember how vociferously McCain attacked Bush for invading Iraq? Right? Oh. Well, apparently the Great Old man had an Alzheimer’s moment. He has recently said of Russia’s invasion of Georgia: “In the 21st Century, nations don’t invade other nations.”Guess the old guy forgot his chest thumping endorsement of the invasion of Iraq, and well Afghanistan? Oops. Doh, stupid history!

Among the way out there cadre of anti-abortion advocates (the one’s who like to do graphics to shock people), it has long been the contention that women who have abortions suffer to a greater degree from subsequent mental issues. Not so,according to the APA. Women who have early term abortions as opposed to women who deliver a pregnancy suffer no greater incidence of mental health problems.

Betcha didn’t know that Jesus played cricket did ya? Well, if you want to learn more, stop by Rogueclassicism and find out. A very old Armenian “infancy gospel” seems to suggest that Jesus played such a game in his youth. Interesting stuff, though I’m sure hardly definitive. But certainly water cooler stuff!

It seems prudent to stop by Angry African and catch next weeks news. It’s always special and tailored just for you. I just wish some of it actually turned out to be true. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Then the African madman could be prescient and we could all ask him questions and he would make oodles of dough answering. Okay, get in on the ground floor and become his manager just in case it happens. Hey, if you invested in Microsoft way back when, you’d be really really rich today. So, I am giving you sound advice!

Whose Olympics Are These?

Tags

Olympics, Sunday Editorial

If you were like tens of millions of others Friday, you watched the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. You were certainly not disappointed. The architecture, the fireworks, the unbelievable precision of the thousands of artists who participated, all went on to leave one breathless with wonder. Again and again, the Contrarian and I oohed and aahed at the precision drummers, the boxes that created pictures and rolling waves, the light dancers, and more,all done in seeming non-stop perfect order. Had it not been for the truly interminable calling of the countries that went on without end, it would have been a perfect evening of viewing.

As the countries paraded out into the main arena and around, the commentators looked for things to say. As regards some, it became, “I wonder how the audience will receive ________ country.” And, well it got me to thinking.

These are the games of the 29th Olympiad in case you forgot. And tack on the proviso of their being in the modern era. But, most don’t know the number, they are simply the Beijing Olympics. That is how we have defined Olympics for years now, as long as I can remember: the Athens, the Mexico City, Sarajevo, Munich, as if they were the possessory offering of a single city.

We all vaguely know that the Olympics started in Greece, and that they were a collection of athletes gathered to test themselves and each other in the arts of various “sports.” They are first recorded in 776 B.C. and were celebrated until 393 A.D. Interest in a revival started in 1833, and there was a modern Olympics in 1859. An Olympic committee was organized in 1894. The Winter games began in 1924. Oddly, the  reason for their cessation in 393 A.D. was Christianity, for they were condemned as a pagan festival. For low those hundreds of years training actually took place in more simple accommodations than those pictured above:

And it seems that with each Olympics, the hoopla and extravaganza has gotten nothing but bigger. And that, it seems to me, is something of a problem.

It is said, as the Contrarian reminded me, that there was nothing very egalitarian in their renewing in the mid eighteen hundreds. They were designed as “amateur” not as you might expect, so that high paid professionals would not dominate. No. Not at all. Most of the sports were considered sports that the common person could not afford to engage in unless he did so for a living. So the amateur status was required to keep the field clear of the working stiff. It was the playground of the rich mostly, those who had the leisure time to ride fancy trained horses, and create steeplechase arenas; time to practice the otherwise useless pursuits of shot put and javelin throwing.

But what has happened along the way? Less and less emphasis is placed on the truly amateur athlete anymore, though surely the superstars do still stand out as heroes. No, it’s all about medals and honor, and which country will take the most. What country will finally gain its first? And there must be something important to all this, for the competition for these goals seems to have surpassed the goals of the individual athletes.

Much attention is being given to China’s “home field” advantage. I have no idea how or why that should matter, but it does, and most assuredly it mattered to  the Greeks four years ago. Apparently it is also proven out by the medal tallies too. But worse, we see the efforts made by various countries to crack sports they have traditionally not done well in. Stealing coaches to learn the “secrets” of other teams from other countries. But more, it is the calculation of where, and to what athletes to give special emphasis to. Where can we “steal” a medal here and there, to up our total?

And let’s not forget the athletes and their “shopping” for a country, and countries who shop for athletes. I must have seen four NBA stars  all playing for countries they were born in, but no longer live in and may not even be citizens of any more. I saw one young man, who was born and raised in Michigan USA, but his grandfather, being a German was enough to give him some fake German citizenship sufficient for him to play for them. So we have kids who couldn’t make their country teams becoming “citizens” for the week of other nations who are willing to “buy” an athlete.

I shutter to think of the perks and such that athletes get in return for their services. I’m sure this happens across the board. Free tuition, free housing, spending money, and who knows what else must be provided no doubt. Our own Michael Phelps was fingered at eleven years of age to begin the long process that has led him to Olympic stardom. No taking a bit away from him, he is a phenomenal swimmer, but is there something wrong with this?

Chinese gymnasts tell quite plainly of the “pressure” placed upon them by the Chinese government to not just do well, not just do their best, but to win for the home team. One story had the unmistakable “Chinese Military” in actual presence at the training facility. What a chill that sent down my spine.  It is no matter of simple pride. As an gymnast makes a major mistake, one can see the pain etched on a coaches face, and wonder if his days are numbered in coaching should his team falter and not do as expected.

Years ago, East Germans and others were caught doping and well, er, being a bit less than female in the Olympic swimming competitions. Doping has been a problem in track and field, touching  America and other countries as well. More and more testing is done, more ways are devised to avoid being caught. And you wonder, is this all about the athletes? Is this what they desire?

Of course, it has been this way for many years. Everyone recalls or recalls reading at least about the ’36 games and Hitler’s plan to show off his Master Aryan race. That did not turn out so well, but no lessons were learned apparently. It’s still a race for each of the major powerhouses to “prove” themselves vis a vis other countries.

I’m not sure why it was about communism and democracy, but it was and in some ways still is. I’m not sure how an American winning means democracy is better, or the alternative. They think it is, whoever they are. Governments I suppose. I don’t know how political philosophies and forms of economic style got into all this at all. It seems to have little to do with greco-roman wrestling to my way of seeing things.

I am way impressed with the beauty of the architecture that China has put forth. The Bird’s Nest, and the swimming venue, as well as other places are gorgeous to say the least. They are art to be sure, and something that they have every right to be proud of. Why they think that, seeing it, I will forget what they are doing in Tibet or Sudan or that they still suppress dissent in their land, is well, beyond my comprehension.

I was happy that for the most part there was little booing at all when countries made their way into the arena and around the floor to take their places in the pantheon of nations. It should never be about the nations at all in my opinion. It is about the athlete.

It should be about the human, striving to achieve his or her best. Running faster, jumping higher, throwing farther, this is what I come to see and applaud. I surely cheer for Americans, but I, in the end, give way to praise for the winner, and the unlikely one is more satisfying sometimes than the one given all the accolades beforehand. It is about the kids, and some who are not so much kids anymore. It seems that it still is in the Paralympics. They don’t seem to have the heart to turn that into some circus of chest-thumping heads of state.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll continue to watch and root for Phelps and Torres, and that Shawn Johnson from Iowa. I’ll even cheer for the men’s basketball team, though I really don’t like the professional aspect to it all. But I will remember that these poor kids, most of whom won’t medal, are poorly served by their respective governments.  They are lost in the mayhem of who won gold, silver and bronze. But most of all it’s all about the totals. Which damned country won–as if any “country” jumped, ran, swam,  or rode, a thing. And it should be just about the athletes, and it’s not. It’s just what I was thinking about today.