| | Home
The Daily Dose/August 9, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
TheThe Writer's Shack
The photo staff is on strike in support of a free Tibet and clean air for Beijing residents. They will return.
Notes from around the Human Experience...
GO WORLD! The Opening Ceremonies, somewhat unfortunately, got underway without any major protests. There's a lot to protest in Beijing, and it transcends Tibet and Internet censorship, cutting to the heart of what is now being passed off as the Olympic movement.
Kissing Your Sister: But its sort of like the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) here in America. The purpose of the BCS is to match the top two college football teams in its final rankings. You can whine about the system, or how the teams are selected, but those are just labor pains prior to birth. The bottom line is tee vee and the BCS schools have a cash-cow BCS Championship Game, the sole purpose of which is to make money for BCS schools and to provide consumers for their treasured sponsors to advertise to. That's it. It exists for no other reason.
Six In One, A Half Dozen In The Other: The Beijing Games are no different. Their sole purpose is to make money for the International Olympic Committee and its ilk, and, to provide a captive audience for its worldwide partners. Anyone who thinks Beijing was chosen for any other reason than to provide exclusive access to the burgeoning Chinese market for official Olympic sponsors is high. That is why they were selected. Don't kid yourself. The IOC did not, does not and will not care about how many journalists and writers China has jailed simply because they don't like what they write. The IOC cares about catering to those who pays its bills.
Great News! And the IOC and the Chinese are getting away with it. Sure, the Tibet smack down in March was unfortunate, and there were those messy protests during the Torch Relay, and those damn reporters from those free press countries whined about Internet censorship even though that had been cleared with the IOC, but memories are short. The world likes the Olympics, and, paced by the United States, now prefers to be entertained rather than obliged to think about matters of substance.
So, barring a complete surprise or a suicide mission by robed Tibetans flying gliders into the Water Cube, the Communists iron hands will more or less insure a safe, protest-free Games. The athletes will have to choke down Beijing air, but there will still be the memorable moments that are attendant with every Olympiad, even if athletes are coughing up their lungs on the medal stand.
What The Hell's Going On Here? We were reviewing the Olympic program here at the Writer's Shack recently, playing Divine Providence and deciding which sports we would keep or add, and which we would leave off if it were our choice. We decided to be guided by something Dad said every Olympiad. Dad was a man of few words, but the ones he did say were usually worth hearing.
His theory was any sport that required judging - as opposed to scoring actually goals or points - as the sole method of determining a winner really shouldn't be cluttering up his tee vee during the Olympics.
Quotebook: "That's an activity, not a sport," Dad was fond of saying. He's right. We don't really need to watch events where the winner is decided by someone's opinion.
Figure skating at the Winter Games was the worst culprit for his money, but gymnastics wasn't far behind and he almost hemorrhaged when synchronized swimming debuted at Los Angeles in 1984, which was made even worse because that's where we lived, which he considered downright betrayal.
Dry, Technical Matter: Boxing was spared Dad's wrath because you could neutralize the judges by beating the crap out of your opponent.
We've Got To Start Paying More Attention: We usually notice these things, so not only were we surprised when we saw trampoline on the Beijing schedule, imagine our shock when we found out it's been a medal sport since Sydney in 2000!
Trampoline? Yes, the same trampoline we used to fart around on as kids pretending to be, well, Olympians? There are individual titles for both men and women. Basically what happens is people jump around and two judges judge how difficult their routine was, and five others judge how well they executed that routine.
Dry, Technical FunFact: This another sport with an age requirement, as all athletes must turn 18 sometime in 2008.
The Dad Criteria: Under the Dad Criteria, trampoline would be out, too. It's also out based on the anything that can be done at a backyard birthday party criteria.
WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET A TRIVIA QUESTION OUT OF THIS: On this date in 1048 Pope Damasus dies. His 24 day reign is good only for seventh place on the list of shortest papal reigns.
This Ceiling Really Needs To Be Redone: On this date, in 1483, the Sistine Chapel opens in what is now Vatican City.
This Is Harry Caray Calling The Action: Also on 8/9/1483, the Cubs took two from the Reds, IV-II and IX-III.
Our 1908 Cubs: They had the day off, probably for beatings from manager Frank Chance, Our Cubs have lost four straight and are four games behind the Pirates, as the entire National League had the day off. They resume their series in New York on Aug. 10.
Gold Mine: On this date, in 1936, Jesse Owens becomes the first American to win four gold medals at one Olympiad, winning the long jump. Earlier he had won the 100 and 200 meters, and the 4x100 meter relay with Ralph Metcalfe, Foy Draper and Frank Wykoff.
Only You Can Prevent Becoming A Cultural Icon: On this date, in 1944, the US Forest Service debuts Smokey Bear. Smokey would become the longest running public service campaign in American history, and, since his debut, the number of forest acres lost to fires has gone from 22 million annually to four million.
There's More Where That Came From…Well, No There Isn't, But They Don't Know That: On this date, in 1945, three days after using the first one at Hiroshima, the United States uses an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Japan would see our point and surrender a week later.
Pardon Me: On this date, in 1974, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign. He is succeeded by Vice-President Gerald Ford.
FunFact: Nixon's resignation letter was made out to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Thought For The Day: Whether we remain ash or become the phoenix is up to us. - Deng Ming Dao
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: US Army General George Patton competed in the modern pentathlon at Stockholm in 1912. He finished fifth.
Today's Stumper: Which pope had the shortest reign? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
Home |
|