You know the last time I gave a shit about the Olympics?
USA v Russia 1980.
I was laid up in bed with a broken leg that I suffered when I fell off the t-bar on my way up the bunny slope to my first ever skiing lesson, my first time ever on skis.
That Olympics was great and I would argue the pinnacle of American pride that I can remember during my lifetime.
But now I don’t know a single person that cares a bit about the Olympics. No one. Well no-one except the athletes themselves and family members I suppose.
The amount of money poured into advertising for the Olympic games and the stadiums built are staggering. I don’t know if it’s worthwhile for these companies or not to spend this much dough on advertising. You would think their marketing teams would know what they are doing at these huge companies but then again think about all the companies that overpay for naming rights to stadiums when they are flush with cash and we only find out a couple years later they go bankrupt. I suppose blowing tons of money on stupid campaigns doesn’t help the bottom line but whatever, it’s not my dough.
As a devout and completely biased homer for all teams that represent our geographic region and USA in the Olympics this isn’t a slight to the athletes, I wish them the best. I just don’t know when the whole allure of the Olympics fell apart for me and I wonder if others feel the same.
Vote for how much you enjoy the Olympics below-
Matty Olson, owner of Surfside Subs just stopped by to pick up his lobsters to make his outstanding lobster rolls and I asked him when was teh last time he cared about the Olympics. his response- “Never” I asked what about the Miracle on Ice?’
His reply he was too young to remember that because he’s 35.
I rest my case.
Good Morning Gloucester 
I do care deeply about the Olympics–and all the young athletes who have devoted so much of their lives to become the best at what they do ! How many of US can say the same?And they are one hullava lot more fun to watch that the sad sack Sox !
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Matty Olson, owner of Surfside Subs just stopped by to pick up his lobsters to make his outstanding lobster rolls and I asked him when was teh last time he cared about the Olympics. his response- “Never” I asked what about the Miracle on Ice?’
His reply he was too young to remember that because he’s 35.
I rest my case.
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I love any Olympics as I am very Patriotic and we should be proud of the Country and the compitition of the American Spirit! I think if you put the Politics aside you can be more open-minded! I think that they should have Made the uniforms here no matter the COST!!!! My wife and I saw some of the goings on when it was here in 1996. If you ever get to see the ParaOlympics you get greatful and proud and the tears flow. We saw the swim meet @ Georgia Tech and people with one limb were swimming. The Field and Track we saw at twice the size of the Atlanta Braves Stadium (then halved into the now stadium)had many Standing Ovations as one of the Track Runners lost his running leg and hopped home the remaining 200 feet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joey ,pretty soon you will have to check those lobsters to see if they are made in China.
As a major aside I think that you have the best staff in the world and I enjoy them all for different reasons I like each and I can see the growth as the time progresses. I love being connected to my HOME TOWN of GLOSTA!
As a minor aside my Sister, Sister Judith Silveira saw your mother at their 47th (of all years) reunion. I also knew your Dad and that dreadful disease changes life completely as we also that in our blended family.
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I can’t get past the bunny slope broken leg part. Exact same time after college my college girlfriend is finally dumping me and it’s all boo-hoo but my brain can’t stop thinking, “could we speed this up a little bit there is a hockey game I’m missing!” (Do you believe in miracles? I caught the last three minutes)
Completely agree with an exception or two. Summer Olympics? Who watches TV in the summer?? The girl gymnast who hurt her ankle and did the pommel horse and landed like she was going to do the karate kid head kick. I think that was worth watching. But the summer Olympics? I guess I can wait for the Youtube of Mitt Romney’s horse doing the prissy horse dancing in a tuxedo stuff.
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I can’t wait..I think the time difference from the past summer Olympics had given the coverage a bit of a damper. Remember China’s games were like a day later. That right there made it a challenge for the excitement to build. Americans want it fast. London should be exciting. It will be hard to compete with that ending ceremonies from China though. That was something. We’ll see. Let the Game begin!
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Honestly, the whole thing jumped the shark for me when they started letting professional athletes compete. I still watch, but not as avidly or happily as I used to. I also watch less…
Also – the USOC are a bunch of tools. The online knitting community RAVELRY celebrates the Olympics with the “Ravelympics”. The USOC sent them a nasty Cease & Desist letter with the following:
We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.” Then threatened legal action if they did NOT CHANGE THE NAME OF THE “RAVELYMPICS.” When the backlash hit the USOC they fumbled around and stuck their foot further up their ass & told the group they could sure knit things and send them to the athletes – for free, of course. The money & corruption and policing and expense of these games has stripped them of much of their credibility and status. Frankly, I miss them, but it’s all about the dollar.
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Miracle on Ice? – I still get choked up – Good memories!
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Swimming and Water Polo. Swimming will be really interesting now that they have banned the Full Razor Suits.
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The Olympics make great background noise late at night while trying to come up with GMG Posts. I like the winter ones better. but The Summer ones will do.
I just wish we could leave the Pro’s out of it and let the College kids represent us. Not a fan of the USA Basketball so called Dream Team.
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I like the opening ceremonies. Makes me proud to be an American.
The downhill skiing where the racers fly by is cool. And the snowboarders half pipe.
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I LOVE THE SUMMER OLYMPICS!!! I understand all of the counter points (don’t want to watch tv in the summer, much more commercialized, not as cool since they let pro athletes in, etc.) However, as someone who grew up doing gymnastics all of my life, the summer olympics have always been so exciting to me because so many other people love women’s gymnastics, even if it’s only for two weeks… And those olympic gymnasts were my heroes – so great to see all of their crazy hard work paying off! Especially in 1996 as a kid, when the Magnificent 7 won the gold medal for the US and Kerri Strug made that amazing landing on Vault! I know it’s incredibly cliche, but I definitely still own the Wheaties box with the Magnificent Seven on the front of it…
All that to say, I STILL love the summer olympics – not only for gymnastics, but for track and diving and so many other events… Alright, I guess I’m a little bit of a summer olympics junkie. I don’t expect other people to care nearly as much as me, but I do think there are still people out there who get excited about them. I know there’s at least one 🙂
Check out this video and please take note of the glasses on Kerri Strug’s Mom:
“Her story an inspiration from every youngster – for any adult who has ever had a dream” – Just a little quote from the announcer about Kerri Strug.
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I was at the US-USSR hockey game in 1980 sitting in an aisle with my buddy from college. We couldn’t talk right for days after that game! I still watch the Olympics.
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I love the Olympics. My mother, a native of England, spent some years as an athletic instructor there, and she transmitted to me her love of the excellence on display. I love summer and winter both. I support athletes from everywhere, probably because my mother always did. Even with the taint of suspected performance enhancing drugs and professional athletic participation, I love the Olympics.
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Tangentially, but in the spirit of global community events, I wish we still participated in the World’s Fair. They still go on, but the US doesn’t participate due to some political tif or whatnot… I would love to see a splendid one with the scientific developments and pageantry associated. It could help buoy spirits and the progression of leadership roles in development. It is nice to have events where politics are put aside for common advancement and celebration. (I am imagining the type that was portrayed in Meet Me in St Louis, of course.) 🙂 The boat parade for the finishing of the Tucks Point repairs was downright sad with only a few participants and very few flags flown, hardly worthy of the awesome sequined sailor hat Arden wore. MOAR community spirit, says I (from the safety of the batcave.)
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