I won’t be watching the Olympics, and I want to talk about why.
My brother and I often reminisce about our favorite summer…1984. We make a George Orwell joke and talk about how that summer seemed to last forever. There were so many memories we crammed into that summer that there are too many to mention. One particular memory that sticks out is going to McDonald's after swimming lessons to get something to eat for free. McDonald's legendary miscalculation on Team USA's performance during the 1984 Summer Olympics is quite often parodied. My favorite is obviously this gem.
Those were the first summer Olympics of my cognizant lifetime, with the USA boycotting the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. I loved watching them. The details are a little fuzzy, but I think we just got cable that summer with a whopping 30 channels. Regardless, only ESPN was a sports outlet in competition with the big 3 broadcast networks. This was pretty much your only chance to see Olympic sports outside of some sporadic coverage on ABC's Wild World of Sports. I recall watching pretty much anything I could: boxing, swimming, gymnastics, diving, track and field, etc. What I don't remember is watching was any team sports. To begin with, I think there were only a handful, and I already watched plenty of team sports anyway. In my view, the Olympics were great and the new and unfamiliar sports were the draw for me. For me the appeal of the Olympics was never about the familiar team sports: Basketball, Baseball and Soccer.
As I have gotten older, I have become less and less interested in the Olympics. One reason is pretty banal…you can view “Olympic” sports fairly easily now either on TV or online. The second reason is the one that I want to talk about here: The Olympics are bad. Quite often the Olympics are an economic disaster for the host city at best, and a human rights disaster at worst. I would be shocked if this is news to anyone reading this. I feel like there are many more reasons the Olympics are bad, but those two are good enough to turn me off.
Here is the part where I know the ice is getting pretty thin, but I am going to plow forward regardless. I think the World Cup is a bad idea in its current setup with FIFA as its governing body. ANY INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION THAT REQUIRES BUILDING NEW FACILITIES IS A TERRIBLE IDEA. I truly believe the World Cup should only be ever held in like 5 or 6 counties…those that wouldn't have to build a single stadium.. We as a global community of Football fans have got to come to grips with this. I think the Euros this year were a great example of using existing stadiums, although not quite exclusively. The Puskás Aréna in Budapest was built for the Euros, but replaced the older national stadium. There is no good reason to hold the World Cup in any country that doesn't have the existing infrastructure. Does anybody think Qatar is going to make it out of the group stage? Reports say that 6500 migrant workers have already died in preparation for the Qatar World Cup.
I think American fans of Women's sports are in a peculiar position when it comes to the Olympics. I cannot imagine any Men's Basketball or Baseball fan saying their favorite team is the US National Team. However, I can definitely imagine the Women's National teams for Basketball, Softball and Soccer being someone’s favorite team. Who I am I to deprive someone the opportunity to cheer on their favorite team? If one of those teams is your favorite then by all means watch. I just think the Olympics is the wrong place for those competitions. If the infrastructure doesn't exist to host those events, why spend millions of dollars? Women's sports in this country have been so historically undervalued that we are just beginning to close the gap. The Olympics have often been the best place to display female athletes. I just hope that one day soon people will put more value in specific competitions for sports like swimming, gymnastics and others, so that host cities like Tokyo don't have to spend a small fortune on building venues that are destined to sit empty after the Olympics are over. Make the World Championships for each sport THE event and forget the Olympics.
I know this opinion is wildly unpopular. Many fans of Women's soccer became fans of the USWNT first, and still consider them “Their Team". They will watch their favorite team in the Olympics, and very possibly see them win another gold medal. The NWSL has historically gotten an attendance boost after international success. Racing could very well benefit. That would be good in the short term and possibly good in the long term.
I guess my real point is that it's time to move on. The Olympics are a relic and are dying a slow death, but way too slowly. We need to pull the plug. Many more people's lives will be impacted both positively and negatively by the Olympics. I am completely aware of the positive aspects of the Olympics. They really can change lives for gifted athletes and aid the dreams of the people who watch. The thing that gnaws at me is that the negative effects tend to disproportionately impact the poor. I for one will not be tuning in. There has to be a better way to promote the beautiful game and we need to face the ugly truth. I don't believe this post will change anyone's mind, but I would feel dishonest by staying silent on this issue. Sorry for the downer post. Back to regularly scheduled optimism tomorrow.
