When I was five my father took me to the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, probably one of the track and field events. I remember with pleasure the pageantry and the big open spaces and the crowds. The games themselves were boring. (A lot like the Dodgers games he took me to, actually.) Basically, give me a good Worlds Fair over the Olympics any day.
![[Comments]](/nb//themes/Default/comments.png "6 comments")
(6) Wed Aug 06 2008 09:33 Leonard's Unpopular Opinions:
You know what's really boring? The Olympics. They combine the paint-drying excitement of athletic competition with the Long Tail of sports that aren't popular enough to have a big between-Olympics fanbase. The most interesting thing about them is the corruption and politics.
- Comments:
Posted by Evan at Wed Aug 06 2008 10:29
Pretty salty! I think you need a rocking chair, cane, and glass of buttermilk to go with these opinions.
Posted by Nick Moffitt at Wed Aug 06 2008 11:10
It wasn't until I was well into my adult life that I realized that I actually enjoyed *playing* various sports so long as people didn't get full of themselves and forget that it was just a game. It is just that *watching* sports has to be about the dullest way I can think of to spend three hours aside from standing through a dreary Lenten church service that's entirely in New Teastament Greek. My parents only occasionally dragged me to the former, but insistently dragged me to the latter.
Posted by anonymous at Wed Aug 06 2008 13:48
here here!
Posted by Paul Collins at Thu Aug 07 2008 07:02
And I'll wager these Olympics won't even have any jetpacks.
Posted by Rothul at Thu Aug 07 2008 12:00
I concur, with the exception of Winter Olympic Short-track race-skating, the greatest event of all time, featuring on more than one occasion, the Australian guy winning because the Korean crashed into the American three feet from the finish line.
Posted by Jarno Virtanen at Thu Aug 07 2008 15:51
You're missing that sports isn't about the design of the game and the display of the skill. Sports is drama and a battle of status. The game and the skill required are just tools for the story that is told by the competitors. It's true that some games are better for this job and probably the reason why certain games are so much more popular. But when you start to watch some obscure and mundane Olympic sports and if the commentator knows his job, you'll soon get hooked. Not because you get interested in the particular game, but because you hooked by the story the competitors are telling.
