Ole Pecoz was asked the other day.......

if I was gonna devote the next couple of weeks to watching those Olympic games from Beijing, in the Chinese empire? I was gonna let the question just lie there, but when pressed, gave this answer;

I confess that I have lost all interest in the Olympics, either as a sporting event or a quadrennial world fair media event. Time was when amateur athletes from around the world would meet to see who could run the fastest, the furthest, jump the highest, shoot the best. Professionals need not apply and team sports were at a minimum.

When I think of the Olympics I think of the Jim Thorpes..... here is a brief reminder for those of you who don't remember him --

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"At the tender age of 24, Thorpe sailed with the American Olympic team to Antwerp, Belgium for the 1912 Olympic Games. Remarkably, he trained aboard the ship on the journey across sea. He blew away the competition in both the pentathlon and the decathlon and set records that would stand for decades. King Gustav V presented Thorpe with his gold medals for both accomplishments. As stated in Bob Berontas' "Jim Thorpe, Sac and Fox Athlete": "Before Thorpe could walk away, the king grabbed his hand and uttered the sentence that was to follow for the rest of his life.’Sir,' he declared, 'you are the greatest athlete in the world,' Thorpe, never a man to stand on ceremony, answered simple and honestly, 'Thanks King.'"

Thorpe's glorious Olympic wins were jeopardized in 1913 when it came out that he played two semi-professional seasons of baseball. The Olympics Committee had strict rules about Olympians receiving monetary compensation for participating in professional athletics. Thorpe, who stated he played for the love of the game and not the money, was put under the microscope. Ultimately, it was decided that his baseball experience adversely affected his amateur status in the track and field events. His name was removed from the record books and his gold medals were taken away. "
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Later, it was decided that professional athletes could compete as long as they weren't competing in a sport in which they competed as an athlete. A baseball player could enter a swimming event, a footballer - the shot putt. That made some sense...

But now for example, when the members of our San Antonio Spurs team, all finish the season and then head to the Olympics to represent their home countries, France, Argentina, US, etc.... as basketball players -- I think the whole Olympic ethic is put in shadows. Do you reckon that Kobe Bryant is staying in the same style dorm facilities as the shot putter from Jamaica?

I think it started down the slippery slope when that slimy Spaniard, Marques Juan Antonio de Samaranch, former fascist lackey to Generalissimo Franco, was the Grand Poohpah, and was more worried about people addressing him as "Your Excellency" and whether anybody had grander quarters than he - and when money to support their lifestyles became the controlling factor --

It is now "what it is", a world wide spectacle of professional athletes being used to make money for themselves and others. I understand that NBC has sold their ad spots for a total of $1 Billion ($1,000,000,000) and they are just one network in one country!

Thanks - but no thanks. I'll watch something more intellectual ... like "America's Got Talent" or Million Dollar match game.......