I was talking to my wife and I realized that my interests in the Olympics has decreased a lot from after the Cold War ended. It is more than just that, but that was a big part of it.
There was something extra special about our amateurs going up against the Professionals of the Eastern Block. The 1980 Hockey upset could never happen today as it would now just be our pros beating their pros. If the US was not good at a sport, but the UK, West Germany, Canada or Japan was, I would have a strong rooting interest in lets say Canada beating East Germany.
Other factors for me are the coverage. Beginning with the uber-coverage of Nancy Kerrigan and her nearly blind mother, Olympic coverage changed from sports coverage to personality coverage.
Additionally, sometime in the 80s Boxing stopped being a major part of Olympic coverage.
So have there been changes that affected your interest? Has a change made it more interesting or less? What were the changes?
One thing that also changed around the end of the Cold War was the increasing number of channels and sports coverage. In the Cold War days, most Olympic sports were not shown on television except during the Olympics. Sure, there might be an occasional Wide World of Sports feature, but that was about it. Even the NBA finals were shown on tape delay in most of the United States until the Michael Jordan era.
I enjoy the Olympics more now because of all the cable network coverage of the less popular events. The cable coverage shows the events without the “Up Close and Personal” features I detest.
The “Dream Team” really spoiled the Olympics for me. I always liked the notion of athletes doing it for the love of the sport. OK, so maybe corners were cut, like the Red Army employing all kinds of athletes (and our collegians getting scholarships) but when they flat-out dragged in professionals, it turned me off. Athletes from other countries, where they may not have full-fledged professional sports or colleges to cultivate the talent, didn’t stand a chance. Without parity, it’s pointless.
And yeah, the personality stuff got too in-depth. I have learned, since 9/11, that when the “news” focuses on one individual in a story, it means the media outlet has run out of new developments or relevant information.
The Dream Team was sort of fun the first time, but in a Harlem Globe Trotter way. I agree, I never wanted to see it again, by the time it was done.
It reached the point with Kerrigan where I could no longer stand it is what I meant. 1984 was much worse than what came before it, you are correct about that. It was also the first time I remember the hundreds of Officials ______ of the 1984 Olympics.
I have watched less and less Olympics lately, so I was not aware it was improving a bit since then. That is actually good news.
I remember the LA Games very well since it was the last summer before I was able to drive. Thus, I spent a lot of time watching the games. ABC really stepped up the personal coverage, especially in the daytime hours.
I lost most of my interest in the Olympics when the networks started covering them from the human interest angle instead of showing the athletic events.
“This young athlete got up at the wee hours of 7:30 three days a week and was driven to the swimming pool in a slightly worse part of town in by the family chauffeur. He was devastated when, at the tender age of fourteen, his aunt’s neighbor suddenly disappeared, but his spirit was undaunted…”
The Olympic coverage you’re getting in the US really does sound like it sucks. We’re spared that saccharine-cheese combo here, so it’s really all about the sport. Or I should say that it can be all about the sport if you want it to be. The political dimension to the games is too much for some people, which I can quite understand particularly with Beijing. I’m too big a sports fan though, so I pick my political battles elsewhere.
Olympic boxing is great - I would have thought current user-directed styles of programming choice would mean you could more or less structure whatever you wanted to see on the TV.
Another thing that caused my interest in the Olympics was the switch from “winter and summer events every four years” to winter this year, summer two years from now". This reduced a "Major Once Every Four Years Big Thing to background noise.
Also, the rise of exhibition ice events made figure skating boring. Thanks for nothing, Boitano.
I love sports and watch a lot of events. I like even the obscure sports. I have no use for the up close and personal. Just show the events. When an American wins t we have to wade through a medal ceremony and a long winded interview. Skip it and lets get going .
Hear hear. If anything, it’s the obscure events that I want to watch, and am unable to find whether any channel is even showing them at all. Case in point: last time around there were several Muslim women runners competing in one event. There was big controversy over whether they were going to be covered modestly as their own country’s Olympics committee dictated, or were going to dress in appropriate clothing for the event. I would have liked to see that.
I’ve never been interested in the Olympics. Not sure why.
I loved playing casual sports (softball, football in the park, horse, etc) when I was a kid, but I was a total klutz. My highschool boxing coach told me it was likely because I was a converted lefty. Could be, I boxed much better left handed. I tried half court basketball, which was fun, but it was too late.
Professional sports are dead to me. Too boring. Too much like a movie.
XGames are on now. Now that’s fun. All of it. I was just watching the rally car races.
Peace,
mangeorge
Since my interest in the Olympics began in 1980, I was actually glad that the cold war ended so we’d finally have everyone competing instead of half the world boycotting each time.
The Cold War caused some of the most blatant, outrageous miscarriages of justices in the goddam history of sports. Remember ‘72 mens’ basketball final, where our guys got screwed THREE TIMES? Don’t get me started on Olympic boxing, which has slightly less credibility than The Amazing Race. Then there were the boycotts, i.e. self-important stuffed shirts almost gleefully crushing the dreams of hundreds of athletes, with the implication that you’d have to be an idiot to have Olympic aspirations. And of course, the vastly reduced competition made an even greater mockery of the events than they already were.
On top of that, it was just plain out of place. If we’re going to fight a damn Cold War, we should fight it, not defer to some lame proxy where most of the actual participants really don’t give a damn. Want to prove Communism got it wrong? Show that free markets, free expression, and private ownership work. Politicans fight political battles, soldiers fight field battles, and athletes compete in contests. There’s no mixing, and I don’t see any reason why there should be mixing.
On top of that the bottom line was that the Cold War In The Olympics was a story involving two countries. Boring! Hey, you figure there’s a reason there are 8 people on the track? The Olympics, above all else, should be a showcase of all kinds of athletes from all kinds of countries (and cultures) competing in all kinds of events, especially the weirdo events like trampolining, especially countries you couldn’t find on a map in ten years, especially athletes you’ll never going to see again…precisely because this is the only opportunity we’ll ever get.
In short: Cold War didn’t make me more interested in the Olympics, quite the opposite, and even after it’s over, a lot of the same problems remain, so I’m maintaining the same level of not caring.
I agree with DKW - it’s more interesting since the end of the Cold War. I never liked that sport was being used as a proxy by the Yanks and godless commies.
Plus, I like that they split the Winter/Summer cycle. Now all the real sports (the ones that involve ice and snow) get showcased on their own, not just as a prelude to beach volleyball.
I tend not to watch the summer Olympics - just don’t find them as interesting (except for canoeing and kayaking - they’re fun).
