London Grabs the Games

This morning it was announced that London beat out New York, Madrid, Moscow, and Paris to host the 2012 Olympics. The announcement came as a shock to experts who thought that Paris had the most attractive bid to host the event. As Britain celebrates with tea and scones, I have a few thoughts...

First, though it may sound unpatriotic or even sacrilegious to some, I am happy that New York was not chosen to host the Olympics. This is because, like the Republican convention held in the city last year, the games would have revolved around incessant references to September 11. I could see it now...the repetitive references of the spirit of New York overcoming terrorist attacks to host the world's biggest sporting event. Don't get me wrong, New York has a lot of spirit, but I don't think I'm the only American who thinks that it is time we resist the urge to bring up 9-11 every time New York is in the news. Further, the last thing the Olympics need is additional sentimentality, because if you're an Olympic athlete, you somehow automatically have a motivational sob story. I am referring to television's obsession with portraying every athlete as having overcome extreme adversity. Like the story of the Korean high diver whose grandmother died at age 89, or the bobsled captain who stubbed his toe when he was ten but managed to rehabilitate and see his team to Olympic victory.

Second, the venue selection reminds me that the Olympics are overrated. I don't think I have sat down and watched the Olympics since I was eleven. Part of it has to do with the fact that the majority of the coverage consists of the exaggerated sob stories mentioned above, and the other part is the fact that I don't care about the obscure sports that are played at the games. Every Olympics couch potatoes pretend to care about shotputting or gymnastics but let's be honest, these sports disappear into oblivion every four years for a reason, they suck. Baseball and basketball are enjoyable to watch, but just because it's the Olympics does not mean that I all of a sudden have the urge to watch people twirl ribbons while wearing uni-tards.

The gathering of nations across the world to compete in sport is a commendable idea, but it just doesn't do it for me. I think it's sufficient to have world champions decided in events like the World Series, the Super Bowl, and WWF's Wrestlemania.