Olympics

Did you know this is an Olympic Year? Did you know the opening ceremonies are tonight? Yea, I just found out. I really need to watch more network TV.

I’m very excited about the games. I know, I know the Chinese have a human rights record that makes ours look like Sweden’s and they are being real hard asses about Tibet and they don’t think the Dali Lama is all that and sure, they have a lot of civil liberties issues in that they really don’t have civil liberties and they cling to being Communists, I mean even the Russians aren’t communists anymore and they hold the original patent. I mean, The Soviets are capitalist pigs! I mean except for a few over heated backwaters, the whole communism fad thing is so over.

Anyway. I can’t wait. I love the summer games because nearly all of them are things I can do. Swimming? I can swim!, Diving? I can dive! Running? Not as fast or for as long but I can run! Who hasn’t run a relay? Gymnastics? I took gymnastics as a child! Beach Volleyball? I suck but I’ve played Volleyball in the sand! It’s like I’ve been in training my whole life.

I’ve been reading other sites and the commenter's are all saying Oh. No. I’m not watching this year. I’m boycotting it, or I’m offended by China’s human rights record or Snif. I only watch the winter games, Oh get over yourselves. I prefer the summer games because there are fewer props involved, no skis, no skates, no funny rubber suits, no carts or sleds, no aerodynamic helmets, no snow to blame or ice to curse at. It’s all about the athletes.

And the Olympics aren’t about China. The Olympics are about the best athletes in the world coming together in China to compete among themselves. The best of the best doing their best. It’s not about the venues, it’s about what happens inside them, the worlds best runners, the worlds best divers, the worlds best swimmers and yes, the worlds best beach Volleyball players. It’s all about celebrating what the human body is capable of. It’s about displaying what human beings are built for.  Its for the aliens, we do this for them.

These athletes aren’t any different from us, they are built with the same factory parts as the rest of us. They have the same hearts and kidneys and livers that we came with too, the same knees the same forearms. There is nothing on them that we don’t also come equipped with. We just don’t use them in the same way. Most of us also lack the talent, the drive, the skills and the heart that these people have. It’s not that they have the same foot bones that we possess, it’s the drive it’s the desire and ability that are totally part of a gold package the rest of us didn’t come with. Can you dive and hit the water without splashing? Can you run a quarter mile in a seconds? Can you dance across a balance beam? How is your crawl stroke?

Which is why they are so much fun to watch! I’m always damn impressed with human beings after I’ve watched an Olympian do something amazing. The Olympics make me proud to be a human and how often do you find yourself saying Wow! Look how awesome as a species we are!

The Olympics are all about dreams. Tell me you don’t watch the athletes and superimpose your face on theirs, tell me you have never watched a runner do something super-human on the track and didn’t imagine yourself doing the same thing? Extra points if you ever went into the yard and tried to long jump over the sand box . How many of us signed up for kiddie gymnastics after watching Nadia?  And what about the anti-Nadia’s? Most of the athletes aren’t going to win anything, and they know this, they have prepared every minute of their lives to come in fifteenth place .The vast majority aren’t going to make past the first heat on the first day. The Olympics are about the players and their talent and skills and heart, not where they are playing.

Olympic caliber cuteness