Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

If you told me that was a Yugoslavian kid enjoying an abandoned Olympic facility, I'd buy it.

The host nation thing needs to end.  They need to set on 3-4 permanent hosts on a rotating basis.  USA, Western Europe, Asia, Australia for Summer; Canada, Europe, Asia for Winter, and be done with it

But how is there supposed to be massive corruption and mismanagement of money?!?!?!!  FIFA can't do it alone!!!

You know, if you want to make an argument that the US is the best nation in the world, you could look at the Olympics...

Don't you think the Chinese are looking at Nathan Chen and asking "why does that guy who looks like us skate for the Americans?" Or the South Koreans looking at Chloe Kim and wondering "why doesn't she ride snowboard for us?" Or, Africa (I don't know where her ancestors hail from; perhaps neither does she due to slavery) look at Simone Biles and ask "why is she doing gymnastics for the Americans when she looks like us?"

The Statue of Liberty says "Give me your tired, your poor,  your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Yet what it seems to me is that America had gathered the best of the best of every nation, every race, every nationality on earth... Or, perhaps more meaningfully, America gathered everyone from everywhere and nurtured their best of their best to perform.

Don't forget Ireland looking at Shaun White and saying, "that's OUR guy!"

Don't forget Ireland looking at Shaun White and saying, "that's OUR guy!"

You can't include people of European ancestry when you are trying to virtue signal. 

You know, if you want to make an argument that the US is the best nation in the world, you could look at the Olympics...

Don't you think the Chinese are looking at Nathan Chen and asking "why does that guy who looks like us skate for the Americans?" Or the South Koreans looking at Chloe Kim and wondering "why doesn't she ride snowboard for us?" Or, Africa (I don't know where her ancestors hail from; perhaps neither does she due to slavery) look at Simone Biles and ask "why is she doing gymnastics for the Americans when she looks like us?"

The Statue of Liberty says "Give me your tired, your poor,  your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Yet what it seems to me is that America had gathered the best of the best of every nation, every race, every nationality on earth... Or, perhaps more meaningfully, America gathered everyone from everywhere and nurtured their best of their best to perform.

There are a LOT of athletes from multiple countries that have Asian ancestry.  The Hungarian brothers in short-track are half Chinese.

I like the Olympics.  So many compelling stories and competitions

Today I read an article about the first non-binary athlete to compete.

I guess I should be embarrassed to admit this but I had to look that up to see what it meant and now that I’ve read the definition I’m not quite sure I still understand it. 

My turn off with the Olympics isn’t your point per se but, like your example, the headlines run headlong into the scandals rather than the competitions themselves, to the point that the scandals drown out the novelty of watching the sports, sometimes deservedly so.

Even in the build up to these Winter Games any scant mention of the brand name athletes such as Shaun White and Mikaela Shiffrin were drowned out by a focus on (or ignoring of) the Uyghurs, nations refusing to send diplomats, CCP censorship, and Putin hobnobbing Xi Jinping before potentially invading Ukraine.

So the escape factor is ruined by the content surrounding the games. And it continues now that the games have kicked off. Deadspin tallies the ongoing mess: Female Athletes kidnapped into isolation pods over Covid protocols, sickening meals served in the Olympic Village, and 100 percent manmade snow on the ski downhills (http://deadspin.com/don-t-look-at-us-china-you-asked-for-this-1848501401).

I quit watching the Olympics last summer as it became more about these headlines than the actual athletic competitions:

Olympian Mothers Forced to Choose Between Competing and Breastfeeding (The Mary Sue)

A transgender woman weightlifter's Olympic dream has sparked an existential debate about what it means to be female (CNN)

Team USA Sprint Sensation Sha’Carri Richardson Fails Drug Test and May Miss Olympics (Wall Street Journal)

Soul Cap, designed for swimmers with natural Black hair, banned from Tokyo Olympics (NPR)

Norway’s Women's Beach Handball Team Is Fined For Not Wanting To Wear Sexist Bikini Bottoms (NPR)

U.S. Olympic Trials: Hammer thrower Gwen Berry turns away from flag during anthem (The Athletic)

2021 Olympics Are Turning Into a $20 Billion Bust for Japan (Wall Street Journal)

Japanese cower from Olympics they don’t want and should not be happening (Guardian)

I mean, it looks like you're actively seeking out these negative headlines, and that's really on you.

I've only seen a tiny fraction of those.  I'm not seeking them.

If you watch the NBC coverage it's pretty much the opposite. All human interest stories, overcoming adversity, putting team and country before self, etc.  The "usual."

It's pretty obvious that they're expressly forbidden from making any kind of commentary about China that could be construed as remotely political, which is fine with me, because I have no desire for that type of commentary whilst enjoying international sport.

Ditto.  I do get aggravated by those things/ but I just don’t let them bother me.  Watching these athletes do these incredible things- and so many of their stories about how they got there- is enjoyable.  Plus- why should I punish the athletes by not watching?  They are not the problem and IMHO- deserve us watching. 

sad reality

negative news sells more then positive news