Not sure why, but I am REALLY into the Olympics this year.
Maybe it’s because it is in London, relatively close to us in the world both
culturally (they speak English) and
timewise (it’s not always tomorrow or
yesterday there; or, as legendary rocker Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull once
famously sang, “It was a new day yesterday, but by God it’s an old day now’’).
Anyway, the wall-to-wall coverage on all networks NBC allows
us to watch the so-called “minor” sports (side
note: New York sports talk radio considers it all “minor” sports and never
ceases to poke fun and mock these Games; they referred to judo athletes today
as “fat women in bathrobes.” Nice.). Sure, I love watching the swimming and
we’re counting the hours for track events; by the way, enough of the beach
volleyball already!
But what I really get into are the sports you rarely see on
TV: Team handball, which is on right now, and God do I love this sport ... it's high school gym class coming to life all over again!;
archery, how cool; badminton, the quintessential backyard BBQ “sport.” Ah,
badminton. Apparently, the shuttlecock stalwarts have caused quite a stir by
intentionally throwing preliminary round games. I did not see this, but I heard
about it on the radio when I was driving around.
After further evaluation and reading up on this (check out Sam Borden’s excellent viewpoint in the New York Times), my take is: So? What’s
the big deal? The goal is to win a medal, not a preliminary round. How many
times have we seen a runner in a preliminary heat coast to a qualifying spot,
looking both ways and jogging in? Was that runner “giving his/her all”? Of
course not! Nor should he/she. The goal is to win the final round. The medal
round. Whatever it’s called in the respective sport. So please spare the righteous
indignation about the sandbagging badminton players, who were ultimately kicked
out of the Olympics.
In the meantime, watching team handball reminds me of when I
covered the Empire State Games years ago for the Poughkeepsie Journal. I always
went out of my way to check out sports like team handball, judo, weightlifting,
archery, skeet shooting and pistol shooting. You’ll find some of the most colorful
characters at these usually off-the-beaten path venues. Are they athletes in
the purest sense? It’s debatable, but who cares?
Only a few days till track starts. Can’t wait …
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