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My thoughts: When I was a kid, seeing Olympic-level athletes (or any high-level athlete) was a Big Deal, even in the news. Now, we’re surrounded by news; we can learn intimate details of their private lives. Familiarity breeds ennui. The Olympics aren’t for talented amateurs anymore. They probably never were, except in the beginning, now now we realize this. Everyone is aware of the commercialization surrounding every aspect of it. At worst, I t’s a scam on a global basis. At best, it’s just another commercial enterprise slowly being stripped of any national pride. The Olympics are expensive. The first thought is how much they cost now, not whether we’ll win anything. What is the return on the Olympics? A ton of debt, mainly, and unused venues, slowly rotting, rarely to be re-used. Going places is expensive. Cheaper than it used to be, for sure, but it still eats a ton of expense that few people have access to. So, we can watch them on video, but it’s easier to just get the highlights than absorb the whole event, since there’s less time availability. But there are other things to be done so we can just plan to get the highlights later. Finally: it’s sports and I have other amusement available. Sports don’t matter like they used to. I, personally, don’t make connections with people thru discussion of sporting events. So, the Olympics are something that a bunch of people are involved in that has no connection to me. |