I know it is a bit strange that in my VERY first post to this wonderful forum
I will begin by telling you how I have erred - gone astray - a few times - in my life
from the straight-and-narrow-sports-hating path.
I will focus my rant against the Olympics,
because it is the one evil sports event which has seduced me in the past.
The ONLY sports event in my life that had EVER interested me has been the Olympics.
The first Olympics I remember were the 1976 Olympics, when I was 12. I seem to recall
the Winter games were in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that year.
Going through puberty at that time, the 1976 summer games were the first time I looked
at women - on television - in a whole new way.
By 1984, 1988, and 1992, I would always get drawn in to the opening and closing ceremonies.
I loved the pageant. I would certainly not watch the games around the clock. I would tune in sporadically, only to the more "exotic" games - those that never air in the United States at any other time.
When the Olympic games were over, I always went through post-Olympic depression / withdrawal (for maybe 2 or 3 days). I kept telling myself - I am NOT going to get sucked into and emotionally drawn into something IN WHICH I AM NOT PERSONALLY INVOLVED - and then get myself emotionally sick over it when it ends.
The Olympics - much more so currently than back in 1976 - look much more "colorful"
and "pretty" - visually, than any other sports shown on television. This has nothing to do with the particular type of sport itself. I just mean the background, the stages, the scenery.
Obviously, all this eye candy is a result of an inordinate amount of money pumped into the event.
I was born and still live in the United States. My knowledge of the outside world has come mostly from hard reading and studying. My trips to other countries consist of
1) about 6 trips to Canada in my life for periods ranging from a weekend up to a week, perhaps, for vacation and math-conference, and job-seeking purposes.
2) 7.5 weeks in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1985 in Moscow and Leningrad
3) I think I stepped foot across the border of Mexico when I was 4 years old on a family
vacation to San Diego, California.
While in the Soviet Union, I actually attended a fairly poorly-attended soccer match
between some local (local to the Soviet Union, that is) teams. Having NO idea WHAT towns
in the Soviet Union they represented, I decided to make the best of a very dull game by "rooting" with the crowd around me. Needless to say, my being on the "losing" team didn't exactly help my enthusiasm.
The issue of my hating sports must, unfortunately, become invariably intertwined with my rabid hatred of American media. Let us just say that, as I aged (and grew wiser?),
I (and my family) grew more political and more radical. Hence, the world takes on a very different hue when one compares what garbage is in American media against what one knows to be the truth about what is really important in this world.
But, the garbage - and BS - as we say in the USA - is NOT just due to the media.
It is due to the organizers - and athletes - and all the supporters of the Olympics.
The evidence, of which I speak, is the pseudo-political speeches the heads of the Olympics make at these games, at the closing ceremonies.
One year, the hot-topic is "terrorism". The next Olympics, it's "peace in Bosnia".
THAT sickens - and enrages me. I am radical, not a peace activist. I do NOT make politically correct speeches just because of what some government(s) - whether the US or China or whoever - thinks that THAT should be the important issue of the day.
I won't go into my complicated politics here - obviously, because that would be off-topic.
And, if I told you all my views, the moderators would ban me instantly.
However, as regarding sports, and the Olympics in general, my current, rumbling-in-the-stomach hatred of the Olympics could crudely be summarized as follows:
THEY (all those fans you see in the stands + coaches + athletes - obviously, all physically well enough to travel ) ARE JUST A BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DAMNED LUCKY TO BE AS HEALTHY AS THEY ARE AND HAVE THE FINANCIAL MEANS THAT THEY DO TO HAVE A BIG OL' PARTY THAT THEY THINK THE REST OF THE WORLD SHOULD JOIN IN CELEBRATING AND THAT THEY THINK WILL BRING WORLD PEACE AND JUSTICE, BUT WHICH IN REALITY IS NOTHING BUT A BIG FUNTIME WANK FOR THEM AND DOES NOTHING FOR ANYONE ELSE!!
HOW, pray tell, the HELL will doing backflips and dives help ALL THE PRISONERS IN THE WORLD GET TO SEE AND BE ENTERTAINED BY IT? HUH?! There may be thousands of prisoners throughout the world - in the USA, in Guantanamo Bay, in Abu Ghraib, Peru, China - etc. - who might enjoy being entertained by this.
I'm sorry, but the Olympics will not achieve justice, and hence peace, in this world.
Doing that is ugly, uncomfortable, confrontational - sometimes even violent - work -whether by civilians or soldiers. Even SELF-CONFRONTATIONAL. It even involves confronting oneself, internally, looking for uncomfortable, contradictions. But, it means, confronting whatever issue is the source of the injustice, which is always some LAW (or lack of a law).
China scoring higher in diving than the USA won't change China's and the USA's
trade inequities and use of slave labor. (Well, perhaps, if China scores higher than the US in FENCING, China might win a battle over the USA on trade relations, if the Chinese army and the American army are both equipped with swords.)
If you're keeping track, that's reason #1.
Oh - did I mention, I am disabled and in severe pain most of the time?
Severe rheumatoid arthritis and colitis.
When I was in college, I jogged every day and swam everyday.
Before I started hating the Olympics for the "political" reasons I mentioned above,
I secretly hated them - even while tempted to watch the ceremonies - for the same reason
that I hated ALL sporting events: competition.
I really HATE seeing athletes fail, fall, lose, etc. before a worldwide crowd.
I HATE the stupid ranking.
Call this my "reason #2" for my hating sports. My "anti-competition reason".
I tried to keep in shape in high school and college. Like my academic studies,
I always believed that if I kept pushing myself, I would get stronger and stronger with time.
Well, I am 44 years old now. That means I ought to be in better physical condition than I have ever been in my entire life, because of the cumulative benefit of 44 years of exercise. THAT is what SPORTS have taught me. THAT is the hype and the message that SPORTS - whether on television - commercials for sports products or by coaches and athletes themselves - has sent me my entire life.
If that is the case - that I am now more fit than ever -
and I ought to be - now with 2 artificial metal knees, and artificial metal wrist,
and 7 other orthopedic surgeries - WHY is that I cannot play the violin anymore like I did from ages 8 to 33? WHY is it that I can barely walk 25 feet without having to sit down?
For the record, I AM overweight. I am 5 foot 11.5 inches tall, 195 pounds. But NOT obese.
I have to sit down because of severe foot pain.
It's the "Just do it" attitude of sports enthusiasts that has been my primary reason
for hating sports for the majority of my life (my "political" reason - which is now primary - came much later in my life - even after I got involved in politics).
Count that as reason #3.
And, no trivial matter: Sunday football has interrupted and played havoc with my favorite animated cartoons - King of the Hill, Futurama, The Simpsons - long enough!
Ok, ok. I have since shown a little more sympathy to the sports fan.
Sports are spontaneous and unpredictable. That particular game may never been shown in its entiretey ever again on television. In contrast, my cartoons are scripted (which, is to their credit, I must say) and will always be available in the future on dvd or rerun endlessly in syndication.
I'll call this reason #4, but I will be more forgiving on this issue. But, YOU don't have to be.
Finally, ... and this is something that just came to mind.. are there are RIDICULOUS
number of types of sports in the Olympics? I mean, WHY do we need TWO kinds of volleyball -indoor versus beach? Is it to give the heterosexual and bisexual male (and perhaps lesbian or bisexual female) viewers a chance to see sexy women in sports bikinis?
Are the Olympics turning into disgusting,
truly degrading "reality" sports shows,like Wipe-out? Degrading in many senses, not the LEAST of which is that the shows are complete shameless - and I can't believe not in violation of copyright law - COPIES
of wacky Japanese game shows. Should one even consider those physical game shows sports?
Oh - did I mention? My hatred
of "reality" shows - whether "mental" or physical or a mix - with their nauseating oh-so-"serious" "rules" - has infinite depth. Just think the "Saw" movies for inspiration of what I would do to the creators of those shows.I urge you to rent the movie "Idiocracy" - a brilliant movie - to see where that part of the world is headed that blindly takes mainstream media seriously.
Call this my reason #5 for hating sports, or, rather, where one segment of sports is headed.
On a final note: regarding keeping in shape and good physical health.
I have one (pseudo-)word for that:
GENETICENGINEERINGBIONANOTECHNOLOGY!
Now to repent I shall go read about true side of the Olympics;"cheating, big money, and corruption", read all the letters, articles, and look at all the links on this site(which I never get tired of doing) a dozen times and swear never to act like that again. 
