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2010 winter olympics, amateur, attack, bagel, beach, canada, city, compete, country, crazy, dinner, doping, excitement, field, financially, history, honor, infringements, interesting, italy, logo, medal, michael phelps, money, monster, nail-biter, olympics, playing, professional, professionally, pros, safety, slogan, sport, television, tennis, terrorist, town, track, TV, vancouver, venue, volleyball, woman
There is much to talk about with the Olympics. I just watched a tremendous nail-biter with the Women’s Beach Vollyball, Canada vs Italy. It is fun and I am ready for the next phase of sports with track and field, etc.
My son and I were having dinner tonight watching the Olympics, my wife was out for the evening. Upcoming tennis matches were being announced and my comment was, “but why are the pros playing?” After exchanging a few comments back and forth, my son stated something like, because nobody would watch, it would not be interesting.
There was a time when, if you had accepted money for playing professionally, you could not compete in the Olympics. Have we come to the point where we can’t be interested in amateur sports and activities.
One must wonder how long the Olympics can survive. It has become a monster of a professional event. There are huge costs to the host country both financially and with regards to safety, namely from a terrorist attack. It seems crazy to hear of the various infringements on logo and slogan usage. Take the small bagel shop that hung five bagel rings to look link the Olympic logo.Then there are those who try to cheat, such as with doping.
Yet, there are always the amazing moments, like watching history being made with Michael Phelps winning more medals than anyone in Olympic history. If there are any two plus weeks with so many ups and downs, I am hard pressed to think of any. After experiencing the honor of living in a host city, Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, I know how crazy the city can become. On television, we see the events, yet there is usually just as much, if not more, activity and excitement away from the venues around town.
But, I can’t help thinking what true amateur Olympics might be like in this day and age. Why are the Olympics the way they are today. What are your thoughts?
