Friday, August 22, 2008

Why I am Boycotting the Olympics

I was very excited for the Olympics, only you know, sometimes with the Olympics you're not really sure when anything's on, but then, the receptionist at work handed out these handy dandy little glossy brochures that the CBC made with the ENTIRE schedule for the Olympic coverage. And I opened it with anticipation, and looked, and searched.... but NO WHERE WAS THERE ANY SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING COVERAGE.

What? There are days and days of Olympic coverage, pretty much non-stop, and the CBC can't find it in their hearts to cover one itty bitty HOUR of synchronized swimming?

It's not even as if the Canadians didn't have a chance at a medal. The duet team was in 6th after the free routine!

I decided I hated the Olympics.

But then, I went to my dad's for a few days and he and my stepmom are ADDICTED to the Olympics and when I said I hadn't watched any of it they looked at me, appalled, like I'd just reported that actually, no, I DON'T like Pizza. (Which would never happen, BTW).

So then, I started watching some Olympics and I got a little hooked with all the Michael Phelps stuff and then my dad told me that a girl I rowed with in high school was in the games and then, well, who doesn't want to watch the male divers in their skimpy banana hammocks?

When I explained why I wasn't watching (no synchronized swimming) my dad said that a sport should not be in the Olympics unless it could be played without a judge. To clarify, he was saying that all sports such as diving, trampoline, gymnastics and synchronized swimming should be cut. To make room for Javelin? Come on.

The Hubs got in on the debate. He said that only sports that originated with killing something to eat or moving for survival should be in the Olympics. Like Javelin. Running (for your life). Shotput (to kill a pig?). Swimming (from sharks)... You get the idea.

Either way, they were both saying Synchronized Swimming should be cut.

One of my editor friends is also a former synchronized swimmer (like me). She and I were discussing the lack of synchro in the Olympics, to which I said that if there were an All Synchro All the Time Channel on TV, I would subscribe. That's how much I love this sport. Which is why I was so set to not watch the Olympics.

But now it's after 11 pm (and past my bedtime) and I'm watching Gymnastics. Gymnastics! I love Gymnastics! But I'm watching it on NBC. I have no clue if NBC has boycotted Synchronized Swimming coverage too, but I don't have clear confirmation of that at this time, so for now, I'm sticking with them, even though their sole coverage is of course, of Americans. Oh well.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

My Olympic question: Why not golf? There are at least three different kinds of diving, two kinds of volleyball, countless running and swimming races, but no golf. Not that I need more golf covereage on TV, but I would like the lack of this particular sport explained. It's very mysterious to me.
Oh, and I totally would have watched the synchro, too.

vickie said...

OMG! Look at the drama that unfolded in synchro!

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/swimming/news?slug=ap-swm-swimmercollapses&prov=ap&type=lgns

I'm sure some mention will be made of it. The networks love their sports dramas.

vickie said...

Good grief. Let me try that again:

Synchro Drama!

vickie said...

Um, and because two comments aren't enough:

NBC is covering synchronized swimming right now. Saturday afternoon.

chantelguertin said...

Well, I DID end up seeing about 5 minutes of synchro coverage! Just as I was getting excited, I realized that they were showing approximately 15 seconds of each of the team routines, while announcing, "Oh look, here's China, who placed second." And then they cut to the next team. Why? The viewing public can't take more synchro than that? Anyway, at least there were the Home Depot ads...

Laural Dawn said...

How weird is this.
Last night I dreamt I was competing in Olympic synchro. THEN I was talking to this lady today who randomly brought up the lack of synchro and told me she took synchro classes last year (she learned to swim and had always wanted to try it). Then I read your blog.
Weird.