I won't be watching the Olympics for the simple reason that it's boring as hell.

The issue to me is not that the individual competition and sportsmanship should be squelched, it's the PLACE. How much revenue is going to pour into China? With the history of human rights abuses, why were they awarded the venue? Award, reward, whatever...it smells fishy to me.

Sure, let the games begin. But let them begin somewhere else. Surely there are other countries which would benefit from millions of dollars pouring into their economy? Or is this set up as a partial payment of all that the US owes China? :eyebrow:

The "think of the sportsmen" argument is quite short-sighted and really not what I'd expect from you.

Take a look at the CNN clip they are running today. All about how the young Chinese children are pushed from a VERY young age so they can compete, win and move on to a life that is "better for them".

Some of these kids didn't want to be pushed so hard. Walking on their hand for 3 minutes, followed by 60 crunches, followed by serious ab workouts. Shit....I couldn't do that. Even the look on their faces.

happens in the US too. and Canada, and france, and just about anywhere that kids have more talent than their parents have brains.

happens in the US too. and Canada, and France, and just about anywhere that kids have more talent than their parents have brains.

Lookout with your permission I might pirate that saying

Well, except in the US it's the parents pushing the kids and being overly involved. In China, the government takes the kids off to live (literally) at the gymnasium, away from their families.

How is this a short-sited argument? It's the very reason for the creation of the Olympics in the first place. China is hosting the Olympics because they promised to have brand new, state-of-the-art, facilities, and excellent security. China represents a very important nation of historical and cultural significance. They are as deserving of hosting the Olympics as America, or anyone else.

The Olympic committee isn't here to reward or to punish. They are here to find good venues for the Olympics that have an adequate amount of hotel rooms, security, transportation, etc.

China is spending an order of magnitude more money, then they are taking in.
It's a national ego trip, of the first order... a trip that countries are lining up to take themselves.
;)

Really, Sheldon? All those hunky athletic types doing gymnastics, wrestling, etc? You wouldn't even have it on with the sound turned down?

It's true. One of the things people were calling for when Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London was that he should refuse to hold the Olympics here (the bis was won under the previous Mayor, Ken Livingstone). Sadly, for the moaners, it was also backed heavily by a Tory peer, so it had cross-party support.

I'll find you some of the many, many negative opinion posts if you're interested. In fact Zen probably remembers it from the Sydney Olympics too. Hosting the Olympics is a very expensive business, and a very contentious issue (in a democracy).

Hell, you should have heard the complaints whrn America got the World Cup!

And air quality? :rolleyes:

k...point taken, guys! I see what you're saying.

If they ever start wrestling in the nude like the original Olympics, I might tune it. ;)

How is this honestly different from young girls that are pushed, squeezed, trained and made-up from ages as young as 3 to compete in beauty pageants right here in the US? Sure, some of them love to compete but you also see these same kids worried about being fat or hating how they look when not made-up and they aren't out of kindergarten yet. School takes second fiddle to dancing lessons, poise practice and exercise to lose that baby fat. 5 years olds that look damn near close to slowly-developing 16 year olds? Yeesh.

It's not. Stage parents living vicariously through there kids. Not all of them. Some kids do really want to do these things. It should never take the lead over school.

I didn't see the clip, but my assumption is that the pushing of the Chinese children that the CNN clip was about was on a larger scale, even sanctioned by powers-that be, than some stage moms (creepy) or living vicariously through such means as munchausen-by-proxy.

As I said, I did not get to see the clip, but is this the case? What I'm asking is: does the pushing of these children in China seem to be more the norm, the way of life, the status quo, for most families as opposed to the relatively few freaky moms who push the girls to beauty pageants or push the boys to be great football players, or else?