I’m exhausted by it.the games.
Totally done with the silly debate -- or will be after this column.
Why are there so many people who want to debate the merits of the Olympics?
Why must so many Boomers yell and scream and complain about some endeavor "not being a sport" or that it is "ridiculous" another event is part of the Games?
Seems events such as skateboarding and kayaking fall right into the bullseye of the haters. Another one is 3-on-3 basketball. Man, people are taking heavy aim at 3-on-3 basketball and shouting over each other to proclaim just how much it isn’t a sport.
Why?
Why do we do this as a society?
What’s the use?
Why are you so jammed up, man?
Look, I get it — the modern Olympics with skateboarding, surfing, rock climbing and the such are something barely recognizable from the days a couple decades ago when track, swimming and boxing ruled the world. But get this: So is the sports landscape.
For me, it kind of feels like the newest sport in the Olympics has become this silly and trivial debate over what should and shouldn’t be a sport in
I elect to look at it like this: I just watch and enjoy. These are, without question, people at the very top end of what they do competing at their selected endeavor. And they are doing it on a stage for all the world to see.
So I ask — what’s the problem here?
If you don’t like badminton or table tennis, simply turn it off.
If you don’t think BMX is worthy of being in the Olympics because you fashion yourself some grand keeper of the sanctity of the event, don’t watch.
But these Olympics have — and I don’t know exactly why — forced a different feeling for me. It doesn’t matter what event it is, I’ll sit and watch.
Perhaps it was going through the pandemic and our live sports selection being so limited, but I’ll sit and watch any competition now. If you pit two people (or two teams) against each other and they are truly accomplished at a higher level than just about anyone else on the planet, I’ve found myself to be enveloped by it.
So you can sit over there and keep crowing about something being a sport or not. You can tell me all about your definition of sports and how this certain thing either fits or doesn’t.
I’ll be over here watching the Olympics — and enjoying the competition of it all.