In starting this post, I’m reminded of the famous line spoken by the skunk Flower in the classic Disney film “Bambi”: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
Well, true enough, Flower, but on day 2, I am already sick of the Olympics, the revolting pseudo-nationalism of it, the inevitable boring stories about illicit drug use, the hypocritical claim to amateurism, the continuing tales of corruption by some official or other. No doubt an inflammatory judging controvery will raise its ugly head before the thing is over.
It occurred to me – finally – that the stars of the Olympics are those same jock jerks that were slavishly permitted to torture the rest of us in school because we weren’t dumb enough or hot enough or boola-boola enough to fit in with their little group.
Yuccckkk.
Athletic ability, like any other talent, needs hard work to develop, no question about it, and I can respect the discipline and endurance that’s gone into placing among the top 3 in the world, or the top 100 for that matter.
But this country’s emphasis on the physical, whether it’s athletic ability or good looks, has been rammed down our throats far too long – particularly since its ugly twin, anti-intellectualism, is now threatening the US’s position as a leader in scientific, technical and medical research.
I’ve always felt that it was inappropriate for public schools in particular to put so much emphasis on sports. Especially since most of the funding goes to competitive team sports, from which the great majority of students are excluded. It’s wrong, and it’s helped to degrade the physical fitness of two, possibly three, generations of Americans.
The overblown salaries of professional athletes, the ridiculous premise that atheletic skill is the best road to upward mobility for minorities, the continued silly debates about whether women can play “rough” games like football – all of these color my opinion of sports generally.
All in all, I’ll be glad when the Olympics goes away, and thank goodness that the awful business only happens once ever four years. Until, of course, the Winter Olympics raises its ugly head.