By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SamuelRSmith on 27 July 2012
Edit Thread
kitler53 said:

i don't even view it has a problem.  i don't like watching sports if there isn't a team i feel invested in.  i think most people share that.  that feeling of investment (in sharing the glory) is what keeps me paying to see sports events.  take that element out and you take out the audience (and money) as well.

 

  • It's become a celebration of pomp-and-circumstance. The over-engineered stadiums, press chambers, opening ceremonies, and the rest of it, really take away from the core of what the Olympics are about. Great athletism. In a way, this is similar to my first point, as much of it comes from hosting countries trying to outdo each other.

I also feel like dismissing this one now.  i have dinner parties with my friends.  there is a lot of pomp-and-circumstance around the event and it is costly to me to host but you know what ... it's these types of events that make life worth living.  take away my celebrations and what is left??  work and sleep?  fuck that.  i didn't travel to paris to see the "finacially-and-use appropriate effiel towerette" .. i came to see something wonderous, something amazing, something worth traveling for..

I have no problem with people feeling pride in their local team, or what-have-you. My problem with the Olympics (and other major sporting events, not all) is that it becomes a part of statist dominance. "My country is better than your country because we win more medals, win more per person, or whatever". You don't see this, to the same extent, with other international sport events.

Look at the Tour d'France, US Open, Wimbledon, etc. In those, the quality of the athlete far exceeds their nationality. Let's see a little more than that.

As for school sporting events, this boggles my mind even more "My shitty school that I was forced to go to is slightly better at an extracurricular activity than your shitty school thst you were forced to go to". Personally, I love watching college sports, because I'm amazed by the quality of athletes, and admire the effort that they put in. I could not give a toss which school they go to.

-----------

If the stadiums were built using private money, then, yeah, go for it. Pomp and circumstance does make things more exciting. The difference is, when you decided to host that event, you made that decision and controlled exactly how much you spent. At any rate, there's no way you'd ever go 5 times over budget. When they take £26 billion in taxes, you take away the amount of money that we have to spend on our own free time.

Part of what makes Disney World awesome is how over-the-top and larger-than-life everything is. And that's fantastic. Difference is: nobody paid for it that didn't want to.