So with a basically free weekend, I got to watch quite a bit of Olympic coverage. It’s pretty sad how much drama there is even with a pretigious event such as this, but I guess, like a lot of things, when ppl care enough, things get ugly. NBC coverage is kind of irritating at times as well. While I want to get in my 30 min of half-pipe snowboarding action, I instead end up having to watch for 2 hrs while they mix it in with events that I (sorry if you disagree with this statement) think are not nearly exciting enough to be shown. For example, ski jump. Just about every person does basically the same thing, and the difference is within 5 meters for the jump between the whole range of them. And ‘ne difference between their “tactics” will fly completely over the head of the average viewer, i.e. me. Please, just save me the time and let me watch the stuff I actually care about in a contiguous section.
And then there are the Olympians themselves. I’m not trying to bash them at all, since they’ve evidently worked very hard to get to where they all, and do have their niche in life, but I’m seeing a nasty trend. As of late, the US has been struggling in Science. Although I can’t pinpoint ‘ne particular news, it is generally agreed that the US has gotten a tad complacent, so foreign countries, excluding cheaters *cough South Korea cough*, are surging ahead. Now, looking at the past 2 Olympics, the US has almost tripled from Nagano to Salt Lake City in medals (13 to 34). Now, I think that the US did send more athletes to SLC since it was home field, but that’s pretty drastic. Barring ‘ne statistical abberations, I find it odd that the “Olympic Dream” is so prominently advertised. As I said, I’m sure that these guys did lots of work and do deserve their status as the American idol for their success, but it seems like the common populous is heavily directed towards this. While we focus on their achievements, we’re striving towards being the best luge person (what do you call them) instead of finding the Theory of Everything. But as shown by the media, we’re not focusing on that: we’re watching the Olympics. And honestly, just like ‘neone else, I’d rather watch a guy go down a hill really fast than listen to a documentary on recent advances in Biochemical Engineering, but there’s a place for that, and a place for this. Talk to Aseem if you want to know the power the media holds over us.
So Valentine’s Day is coming up, which is always interesting, considering that a large amount of the populous is currently without a romantic relationship at the time. I’ll take a moment to compare it to.. the Olympics! (perhaps not the most accurate, considering that I’ve never been, and “The Dream” suggests it’s more, but just follow me for a bit) Okay, so let’s say you’re in 1st place, and then the last guy goes in, and beats you. That feeling is exactly like Valentine’s. You feel obligated to be nice to the guy who won, and help him celebrate his victory… but dammit, you just got screwed! Valentine’s is kind of like that guy’s victory party, where you just kind of wallow/rationalize in your situation. Well, you try and figure out and rationalize how you’re better off because of being unentangled, but everyone from the DNev’s to the Janie J’s to, yes, even me, still wishes that they had a bit more in life. You might be nice to the guy who got 1st, but dammit, it could’ve been you! Is it gloating? Not really: just a victory party that you aren’t the subject of. I myself have completely rationalized the situation and therefore, as I mentioned in the title, am not really bitter about it, but everyone deals with it differently. And if you do have that excitement in your life, don’t feel bad for the rest of us: we don’t need it; we’re satisfied as we are.
Enjoy the Games, and cheer for Canada.
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