The Olympic Mystique Has Faded

for me anyway

[lawman]

I remember when I used to be glued to the TV set during the Olympics. Couldn't wait to see how many medals Mark Spitz would win. Marveled at the diving perfection of Greg Louganis. Amazed at Franz Klammer blasting down the side of a mountain. Stunned at Olga Korbut's uneven parallel bars routine. Anticipated Sugar Ray Leonard smacking somebody.

Now it's like, meh. If an intersting event is on while I'm surfing the channels, I'll watch it.

Has something happened to me in my old age or has the Olympics star faded?

[stever]

Yeah, you're getting old, lawman (as are we all).

As already remarked elsewhere, you have an internet "marketer" claiming a gold in the freestyle skiing (bumps). Then in the women's section you have Renaissance woman Kari Traa (she skis like a dream, she skydives for a hobby, she runs her own internet fashion company, she loves beer, and she's better-looking than most mere mortals) winning a silver in her last Olympic appearance.

Add to that Slovakia beating favoured Russia and tiny Latvia drawing with the USA in the ice-hockey last night and how can you go wrong?

[Liane]

Lawman ... that's a really good question, but I can assure you, you are not alone. I was very involved in competitive (amateur) sport for 12 years of my life as a kid and young adult. I practiced 6 hours a day, 6 days a week most of that time but even I am disinterested nowadays.

Maybe it is age ... but I can't even be bothered watching my own sport anymore! Considering I moved on to coaching for many years after retirement ... that's saying a lot!

I don't really know what it is, but there doesn't seem to be as much pride in country surrounding the Olympics anymore. It isn't as "special" as it once was to make the team and there doesn't even seem to be as much interest in the Olympics as there is in the World Series or the Super Bowl from a fan point of view!

Its a pity really. I think part of it is that they now allow professionals in many of the sports and that just doesn't do it for me.

[topr8]

>>has the Olympics star faded?

yes!

saturation of sport on tv,
end of the cold war,
drugs/cheating,
professionals now taking part overtly [always were some covertly]

[skipfactor]

-too many commercials
-taped sports suck!

[digitalghost]

I still enjoy the sports in which victory is decided in no uncertain terms. Get to the finish line fastest, score more points, (where points are decided by such things as goals) or, jump higher, farther etc. Sports like figure skating, where much seems to be decided by politics or opinion tend to leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I still watch, but I read a book while events I don't care for are aired. Tomorrow night I'm sure I'll watch Numb3rs instead of whatever Olympic contest is being shown. So yeah, for me the Olympics have lost a bit of their luster but to be fair, sports in general seem to have lost their luster.

Pro sports seem to be filled with as many thugs as sportsmen. I boxed for 6 years and followed the sport religiously, until contestants on parole were allowed to compete.

I do like to watch the Olympics and cheer for the underdogs though, when they can be found and I love to see the favorites upset.

[LifeinAsia]

I also agree with the doping/cheating and professinal athlete issues.

Other beefs:
- commentators who drone on and on about things no one cares about: note to commentators- we tuned in to watch the athletes, NOT you!
- too many commercials (not too much of a problem with Tivo)
- too much commercialization: how long until we have an official Olympic toilet paper, condoms, and mothwash?

[menton]

My lack of interest is due to the amount of drugs in sports today. I just can't take it seriously anymore although I wish I could.

Unfortunately the underdog is the athlete who isn't on performance enhancing drugs...

[PhraSEOlogy]

I get bored watching now because there are no jaw dropping performances like there used to be.

Olga Korbut - simply facinating to watch.
Franz Klammer - maniac on skis.
Mark Spitz - the king of olympic bling.

I guess they also had charisma!

Ask me to name some recent outstanding athletes and I can only think of "the flying tomato" but cant remember his name.

[lgn1]

The Canadian Women demolish's Italy and Russia in Hockey, and then you have Don Cherry whinning about how we should had taken it easy on them. Maybe leave a goalee and a couple defensewomen, and have the rest of the team go for drinks, and maybe we can keep the win down to five or six points goal differential.

Come on Don, its the Olympics, not pee-wee hockey. The losing team will get over it.

[Pfui]

At the risk of sounding overly patriotic...

The Olympics lost a noticeable amount of luster for me when I could no longer tell the athletes' countries by their clothes. I'm not sure when color trumped country -- perhaps the last Summer Olympics?

Anyway, all I know is that I miss the feeling of pride I had from watching any member of 'my team' compete wearing our flag, our colors, in any category. Now, unless an announcer tells me or a text graphic shows me which position belongs to which country (or the athlete is super-hyped, a la Bodie by Nike), I don't have a clue who's under which helmet.

And at the risk of sounding overly sentimental (or 'prematurely' old:) ...

I like Bob Costas but I miss the legendary Jim McKay [en.wikipedia.org] days, back when the Olympics were synonymous with ABC. Heck, I even miss those heart-tugging "Up Close & Personal" spots. (But regardless of colors or country, I still love seeing tears on the medal stand:)

[ska_demon]

Maybe they should come up with some different Winter Sports:

Mixed Snowball Fight.
Individual Snowman Build.
Best bruise/breakage from slipping on the ice.
Team Frostbite Championship.
Yellow Snow Art. (sorry)
4x4 Highway Ice Racing.

You get the idea. I would watch it.

Ska

[garyr_h]

For me the Olympics just seem a little too edited and it's also hard to not hear who won before it actually comes on NBC.

They will cut away from an event and go to another, then come back to an event only to pick up where it left off, or, they edit out a lot of the runs. They play run 1, then go... 'they all failed on run 2, so let's skip ahead to run 3'... well thanks! I would rather have watched them fail myself.

I don't get MSNBC, but I do get CNBC, USA and NBC (of course), but it doesn't play live on any channels I get. The only thing live they show (and this is only half the time), is hockey. Hockey is great and all, Olympic hockey especially, I would just rather watch the Olympics live as much as possible.

If the match isn't tied I would like the choice to change over to another channel and see what's going on in say... Curling or Skeleton, then change back.

The choice is gone, we are forced to watch what they want us to watch and nothing more. Not exciting for me at all...

[jatar_k]

I think you're all nuts

I wait every 4 years for olympic hockey, awesome stuff, women's and men's

watched some skeleton, skiing, speed skating, curling and a couple other things, I love it

the shine only dulls if you let it ;)

[Essex_boy]

nah it was always crap

[lawman]

This thread seems to reflect the overall lack of enthusiasm for the Games. :(

[Rugles]

I do not remember seeing this before:

Medal Count#
1 Norway 1 6 6 13
2 Germany 5 4 2 11
3 Russia 5 2 4 11
4 Canada 2 4 5 11
5 United States 6 3 1 10

Canada in front of the US in an Olympic medal count, after a whole week.

Could it be part of your problem Lawman?

[jatar_k]

that doesn't even count our 1 guaranteed in women's hockey ;)

[lawman]

Could it be part of your problem Lawman?

I'd call it something I noticed, something I can't explain, but I don't think of it as a problem. If you hadn't posted the medal count I wouldn't have known.

I wish ski jumping would appear while I channel surf. I love watching those lunatics fly. I assume that's still an olympic event. Must come on after my bedtime.

BTW, you knew that Olga and Franz did not represent the USA, right?

[stever]

Actually, I think many of the above comments reflect a dissatisfaction with sports TV coverage in the USA (which unless it has changed in the last decade I can fully appreciate).

On the other hand, on the German and Austrian channels that I've watched it on there is almost unbroken live coverage with intelligent commentary from experts in the most obscure sports - and, apart from the notable and perhaps understandable nationalism of the alpine skiing commentary, it tends to be remarkably even-handed.

[Broadway]

>>>Medal Count#
1 Norway 1 6 6 13
2 Germany 5 4 2 11
3 Russia 5 2 4 11
4 Canada 2 4 5 11
5 United States 6 3 1 10
<<<

I know my comment isn't accurate but... aren't all of these olypians just trained in the US and use US technology (sports equipment, training equipment, facilities). Yes I know, this statement would be truer of the summer olympics with their track and field and swimming events. But my point is, it's money that wins the olympics, it doesn't have anything to do with being from a particular country.

Beyond that, NBC is the king network when it comes to over hyping an event. The olypics din't have a chance at being interesting. If the underdog isn't from the USA you never hear about them or get to see the course of events that led to their triumph. If the winner can't be directly tied to a future commercial endorsement here in the USA they are a non-event.

[Hawkgirl]

> I assume that's still an olympic event

See, that's why I've lost the excitement. They're adding new sports and I'm just not sure what is and isn't an Olympic sport anymore.

Snowboarding half-pipe? Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't like the idea of adding new sports to the *Olympics*. Stick with the biathlon (ski 'n shoot!) or bobsled ... the good old fashioned sports.

[stever]

>>> I know my comment isn't accurate but... aren't all of these olypians just trained in the US and use US technology (sports equipment, training equipment, facilities).

Errr, the answer - for zero points - is "no".

[larryhatch]

I lost all interest in sports in high school.
I was into music in a private (Catholic) school which virtually deified its athletes.

I've never understood this. Any cat can outrun a human, rats even.
Any squirrel can climb faster, most birds can fly, and I need not go on.

Mystique? Maybe for those suffering what I call 'arrested development',
i.e. mentalities frozen in their teen years, forever slaves to fads and advertisements.

What sets the human race apart is its intelligence (with huge and notable exceptions)
and it is there that the greatest, most notable and longest lasting achievements are made.

I've met some athletes, the real ones impressed me.
But 'mystique'? How can something fade, when it never existed?

[pmac]

>>>the shine only dulls if you let it ;)

Yeah, I have been glued to the TV. Its reality tv at its finest.

First intermission and the Swiss are beating Canada 1-0 in mens hockey. pfffft.

[Rugles]

>>>BTW, you knew that Olga and Franz did not represent the USA, right?

Oh ya. I liked them too. I do like the ski jumping as well, I think that is later next week.

Why the US networks do not show the games live is beyond me. They have done that for years. People who live in Canadian border towns tune into the CBC because of the superior and live coverage.

I would never watch a sporting event when I already knew the outcome. How anti-climatic is that?

The most exciting events I have watched so far is the short track speed skating. That is a blast to watch because the favorite never seems to win and there is lots of bumping and crashing.

[Rugles]

>>aren't all of these olypians just trained in the US and use US technology (sports equipment, training equipment, facilities).

Ah, no.

You think Canadians need to go to the States to find a hockey rink or a mountain? Or the Europeans cant find a good place to ski in the Alps?

jeez

[larryhatch]

I think the Belgians make the best brick chololate.
Not those tiny over-priced little bits mind you, I'm talking half kile bricks of solid heaven.

Send one of those down the ski slopes and I might get interested in the Winter Olympics.
I might even cheer.

Send down another skier and, well, zzzzzz(snort)zzzzzz

[larryhatch]

I meant to say chocolate of course, too late to edit.
Aat one time there were stores in California selling half kilo bricks of
cholocate for under 5 dollars US. Amazing. -LH

[jecasc]

"aren't all of these olypians just trained in the US and use US technology (sports equipment, training equipment, facilities)."

In winter sports no. For example those clap skates that are now state of the art were developed in the Netherlands.

Bobsleighs and luge have been dominated by the German teams in the last few years who have the best material.

(The german woman won all three olympic luge medals.)