August 8, 2012

(WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS AN OLD-PEOPLE RANT) Are you enjoying the Olympics? Me, neither. There are many things going against the Summer Olympics this year, many things that one hopes are a one-time thing. Most obvious, these are the 2020 Olympics, and this is 2021. The games were postponed because of the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. The Olympic organizers, along with everyone, had hoped things would be back to normal by the summer of 2021, which they aren’t. Just as the hype was cranking up this spring, the host country experienced a serious uptick in Covid-19 infections. In one of those compromises that have become so familiar, it was decided the games would be held, but there would be no spectators. Let’s be real: what are spectator sports without spectators? That is not to criticize the wisdom of organizers. I’m just saying it is one thing that takes away from the quadrennial “spectacle.” And the host country is Japan. This is a more familiar problem. Whenever games are held in places like Asia or Australia, it is problematic for us on the other side of the world, particularly for NBC, which paid handsomely for broadcast rights. Most events we see on television occurred 12 hours ago. How do you hold the public’s suspense for 12 hours in this day and time? Which brings us to the Internet. There is so much competing entertainment and information and cat-related content out there that no one feels forced to watch track and field or swimming, especially when they can hardly avoid knowing what happened already. On top of it all, do we really want to watch professional golfers and basketball players and football (soccer) players compete for the jollies of adding an Olympic medal to their trophy case? This all adds up to, Things just ain’t what they used to be!