Not So Olympic
Here is the medal count as of this writing, with the nations’ populations included:
Norway 26 (5 million)
Germany 18 (83 million)
Netherlands 13 (17 million)
Canada 16 (36 million)
US 10 (325 million)
We have over twice as many people here as all of those leaders put together. I realize that the Norwegians are born on skis and, according to the intellectual Katie Couric, the Dutch skate to work and the movies. Yet we do have some decent mountains in the US and we spend a fortune on facilities, training, medical support, and so forth. Yet we are rather pathetic competing here. Can our gymnastic team vault down the slopes?
In fact, the entire Olympic endeavor is bland (with Bob Costas mysteriously missing). The stands are empty and the Koreans are forced to manufacture people as well as snow. TV viewership is down. NBC’s coverage is amateurish and prolix. US commentary is reduced to “back stories” of people finishing in 6th place or so. And they seem absolutely shocked that there are gay professional ice skaters. Who could have figured that??
I know this is an unpopular sentiment, but the Olympics are currently quite boring. Part of it is the setting and lack of crowds, part of it is the obtuse and esoteric nature of some of the winter competitions. (There’s a large difference between skeleton and luge? And watching people ski and shoot at targets is intriguing?) Part of it is the over-hyped American effort which is falling flat into the snow drifts.
There’s snow on the ground here and watching Bentley grab air in the backyard catching a Frisbee beats the hell out of some snowboarder balancing on rails or skiing backwards. And don’t get me started on curling….
