Do the Olympics still matter?

Of course they still matter - what kind of stupid question is that? They just don't matter to the extent that they once did.

Part of me takes the last two weeks' news about American Idol trouncing the Winter Olympics in the Nielsens and fears for the future of the republic. Then, before I get completely reactionary, the other part of me takes the following two facts into account and breathes a little easier:

1. America is not a nation that loves its winter sports. When I worked in the cable ad sales industry, the Winter Olympics were a tough sell - local advertisers just didn't foresee a return on investment for running ads during the Games. There are pockets of the country - mostly in the north - that are just rabid for games on snow and ice, but there's a reason that hockey is about fifth in the pecking order of the major professional sports here in the States. (And fifth may be a little generous.) Perhaps the lack of gratuitous beefcake shots (gratuitous picture of beach volleyballer Misty May's butt here) is a dominating factor; winter sports just aren't sexy.

All that aside, let's face it - the United States just isn't very good at most winter sports; the pool from which to draw competitors isn't quite as deep as it would be for basketball - not that we've exactly been lighting it up on the world stage in recent years in that game. But in addition to the general dearth of snow and ice in the bulk of the country, a lot of these sports seem to me to be quite pricey. It doesn't take a whole lot of scratch to put up a hoop in a driveway or create a makeshift baseball diamond down at the park - but equipment for sports like hockey, curling or skiing are a little more expensive, I think. Not to mention finding a place to perform your sport - you can't exactly build a bobsled track in your backyard. Even skating, which requires the least amount of equipment, requires at the very least having a place to skate and train. Sure, a lot of people make it happen, but the impediments seem much too prohibitive for all but the most passionate.

(Then again, I suppose if you don't have the passion for the sport, you have no business being in the Olympics.)

2) If this were 1988, perhaps it wouldn't be a problem that this year's Games are in Italy, about seven time zones away. NBC's tape delay of the Games for primetime viewing is a factor in the ratings decline of the Olympics - when I can go to any number of websites and find any amount of information on the day's outcomes, or even watch the ESPN networks' tickers, I'd be a lot less inclined to sit through the same events in the evening if I knew how they were going to end - especially if an American didn't win. (The sheer hilarity of Lindsay Jacobellis' crash excepted.)

(Unfortunately, this is something that I agree with that poseur Bill Simmons about. Ugh. I'm very disgusted with myself right now.)

Anyway, the next Winter Games are in 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia ...

(That's in Canada, for the less geographically inclined among my readership.)

(You know, Canada ... the country just to the north of the United States.)

(If you're looking at a map, it's "up" from the United States.)

Sheesh.

... and we'll have a better gauge on whether the Games are still relevant. These are questions we'll probably be asking before then, when the next Summer Games are held in 2008 in Beijing.

*****

I would be remiss if I didn't address Bo-dee Miller's comments after his five-times-over failure at Torino.

One quote from Miller sticks out. In an interview with the Associated Press, Bo-dee said:

"The expectations were other people's," he said. "I'm comfortable with
what I've accomplished, including at the Olympics ... I wanted to have fun here,
to enjoy the Olympic experience, not be holed up in a closet and not ever
leave your room. I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level ... I just
did it my way. I'm not a martyr, and I'm not a do-gooder. I just want to go
out and rock. And man, I rocked here."

Mmm-hmm. Yep, it was an Olympic-level failure for Miller, who was favored to, at the very least, bring home something besides a hangover. He didn't just rock - he rawked.

Miller was rich enough before the Games from endorsements that he never has to ski again - he could have been experienced the Olympic-level partying and socializing as a tourist, couldn't he? Couldn't his spot on the team didn't go to someone more deserving, more hungry, who wouldn't have been "comfortable" with "accomplishing" an 0-for-5 record. I wonder how the first alternate to the U.S. ski team feels, knowing that Bo-dee half-assed it?