Why I love the Olympics

I seem to be in the minority with a lot of things.

I haven’t seen “The Dark Knight.” I haven’t seen “The Avengers,” hell, I never even saw “Avatar.” I’m a huge NBA backer, when everyone else seems to hate on it. I think LeBron gets way too over criticized (some criticism is right, but he gets way too much).

And I love the Summer Olympics.

What other competition out there lets me cheer for a discus thrower simply because he wears the Stars and Stripes? How about swimming competitions? Or the track and field? I wouldn’t watch any of those events except for one month every four years. Some people hate it for that reason, but that’s exactly why I love it! In today’s society we have to follow a sport 24/7 to fully understand it. We have to hear every detail of how Nash got his way to LA, every detail of how awful Joe Paterno was, (even though everyone loved him a year ago and he’s DEAD now.) We even have to hear how training camp is progressing for the NFL…even though the season doesn’t start for a month and a half. Why do I love the Olympics so much?

History

The Olympics started in ancient Greece and then were reborn in France in 1896. Since then they’ve been held every four years in different cities around the world. The Olympics can serve as a small window into what was going on in that time period. The controversial ending to the USSR-USA basketball in 1972, is remembered as another benchmark in the Cold War. The murders in Munich that same year show how high tensions were between Isreal and the Middle East. Jesse Owens Standing up to Hitler in 1936 showed the world that the idea of a Master Race was inherently flawed. On the court/field/track there are great performances like Mark Spitz winning a record 7 gold medals in one Olympics (which Michael Phelps later broke), the 1980 miracle on Ice where a bunch of US college kids beat the professional hockey legends that were the Soviet Union, and the 1992 Dream Team is considered the best collection of basketball players ever assembled on one team. There’s history everywhere you look in each Olympic Games, and it’s not hard to find.

Drama

If something is remembered historically, then most likely it was pretty dramatic, and the Olympics are full of that. I still contend that to this day, the 2008 gold medal basketball game between The USA and Spain is the best, most entertaining and well played game that I’ve ever seen. I was on the edge of my seat at 4 AM watching that game live just being dumbfounded by how many players were playing out of their minds. Who else remembers Michael Phelps’ win by a fingernail in the 200m Butterfly event? Or Usain Bolt setting world record after world record in sprinting while looking like he was merely jogging? As I mentioned earlier, we don’t see these people for four years at a time, and their legacy usually comes down to tenths of a second. There can’t be much bigger drama than that.

Patriotism

Come on, it’s fun to scream at a TV “Take that Croatia!” when LeBron scores on a great assist from Chris Paul because Kevin Love started a fast break with a rebound. It’s fun to check the Medal Counts every day and see USA plastered right at the top, and feeling a sense of pride. I like the fact that as soon as you turn on any competition, you know exactly who to root for regardless of who it is or what they’re doing. If they’ve got red, white and blue on, they’re my guy instantly. Anything that increases someone’s patriotism is great in my book.

I’ve been watching the Olympics ever since I can remember. The 1988 games in Seoul inspired me to try Gymnastics as a kid (well…we can’t say all decisions are good). The 1992 Dream Team was the first time I watched basketball intently. Every time the Olympics come around I’m watching as much of it as I can. There are some other people out there (Shaun, as you’ll find out tomorrow [Foreshadowing!!]) that don’t like the Olympics. I guess if you can’t get behind drama, history, fun and patriotism what can you get behind?