Looking back at the downfall of sports as we knew it, it becomes very clear whey ‘Reality TV’ is so popular now – it’s the next level of quasi-real-time shenanigans for the masses.

I think you missed your true calling. Weren’t you supposed to be a syndicated newspaper columnist?

I agree with you for the most part, and my commentary over the next two weeks on the Olympics will include political opinion and observations.
But I would like to note that the Olympics, as commercialized as they are, also represent the best of humanity.

I can’t remember which event it was, but Bob Costas yesterday interviewed Georgian and Russian medalists who competed against each other in the same event. They hugged on the medal stand and made the political statement “If our countries could put aside their differences and embrace the Olympic dream of peace, there would be no more war.”

I think that’s admirable, inspiring, and hopeful.

Olympic athletes don’t want war. For the most part, their motives are pure–very few gold medalists, on balance, will sign multi-million dollar endorsement contracts, especially those in the more obscure sports like fencing.

The Olympic ideal remains an ideal. In Ancient Greece, all the warring states declared an Olympic truce so that Sparta and Athens could compete on the field of sport, not the field of battle. Yes, there will always be bragging rights, yes, there will always be political overtones, yes, national pride will always be at stake. But that’s not the fault of the athletes, that’s the fault of our governments.

Last night, in the Men’s 400 Freestyle Relay, however, I was whooping and hollering just like anyone else. The French team declared they would crush the US Team. Eric Lezak out-touched the French anchor in world-record setting time. That’s a kind of achievement and payback that the Olympics are famous for, and I while watching that race, I had no problem jumping in and participating with all the other US flag-waving hordes.

Cheers!