February 25, 2010- Olympics

Just so we're clear, the Olympics are the best thing about sports. This shouldn't be debated, and yet I've heard more than a few people complaining about the Olympic games. Here's why the Olympics are better than our regular (Americanized) sports:

1) Playing for your country is ultimately the best thing you could do. Sports in America rightly get knocked around for being greedy capitalists. While the gold medal hanging from your neck may not equate to a contract worth in excess of $100 million, there's something to be said about representing your country on the world's largest scale. We are no longer the only market for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Golf and tennis as professional entities are global sports. Other than American Football, we are finding ourselves getting closer (albeit very gradually; I don't see a disproportionate number of non-Americans DOMINATING the NBA yet) to a level playing field internationally. How does this tie into the Olympics? We are squaring off against the best from every other country in the world, and dominance in THAT means we're truly the best in the world.

Look, as much as I love baseball, I know that when the Yankees win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily represent every organization in the world. The Olympics get down to good ol' nationalism at its finest.

2) No trades- Here's the thing: in professional sports, it ultimately comes down to dollars and cents. Granted, most teams make an effort to put together a winning combination of players to put on the field/court/rink/pitch, but I doubt that owners are REALLY upset about not winning a trophy as long as their pockets are still lined with dodo skin (or whatever it is that they line their pockets with). When you start running a team like a business, at least a TINY bit of the game gets out of focus. In the Olympics, there's no question where a participant's loyalty lies. Seeing athletes wrapped up in the flag of their home country, singing their national anthem gives me shivers.

3) Watching sports I normally wouldn't watch- We're exposed to things like figure skating and curling, both team and individual sports, which are not usually shown on many screens around the country. I get that Americans like to rally around pixies on 1/8" blades, and really, that's a good thing. Having pride in the people representing our country SHOULDN'T be reserved for every 2 or 4 years, or sports, really. Luckily, our government has made Olympic athletes bigger stories by being such asshats. I devote a ton of time to watching the downhill, slalom, cross-country, ski-jumping, curling, the biathlon...and aside from learning new sports, getting exposure to world-class athletes competing at the highest level.

4) Medal counts- Takes the arbitrary number-crunching out of the equation. Winning is the only thing that matters. No MVPs, no Cy Youngs, no 6th man awards...you win, you win.

5) Two weeks off from American Idol talk- because really, we don't need to obsess over fabricated acts crammed down our throats. It's THE best dose of reality television in the world. Go U-S-A!