Rad Winter Olympics? The ‘sports’ are total fabrication

If there is anyone reading this article who thinks that made-for-TV sport events are real athletic achievements, are real sports, are in any way fair competition, go to the back of the class.Watching metal structures (slopestyle rails) embedded in 6 feet of concrete on an artificial snow slope, or a 18-feet high, 217-feet long half circle (halfpipe) built with bulldozers and more than 2,000 yards of poured concrete on a mountain slope, these and many more contrivances to make TV filming easier (and more profitable, they think) can hardly be said to be in any way natural or an outgrowth of any athletic tradition, and certainly cannot use the term “modernization of the sport” (what sport exactly is that?) or “extreme skiing” (using that definition so would jumping off the Eiffel Tower with skis).The Olympics are a failure to sport. They are a slave and leech to television sport broadcasting dressed up as primetime entertainment. Desperate to justify the primetime position, they litter sporting events with video modules — little biographical pieces on athletes (mainly U.S. athletes or performers) — replacing true sporting knowledge of watching heats, qualifications and technical understanding, replaced with editorialized predigested vignettes on the end result of any event. Some events are sporting events, such as figure skating and speed skating, but even there such is the desperation of the broadcasters to recoup the $775 million NBC paid for the winter broadcast rights at Sochi alone (not to mention the additional $3.6 billion they have paid for upcoming games) that you will never see these sporting events in full, only regurgitated commentary and final highlights.If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Noise, yes. But sound is meant to be heard. If an event takes place in Sochi and NBC never broadcasts any part of it, did the event matter? Did those competitors’ efforts exist? How will you know? Who cares?• • •What you are told to care about are the little darlings who look good on camera, or who have a compelling video story, or who achieve what NBC constantly refers to as “greatness” and “superhuman achievement.” These people help NBC sell more cornflakes and soda pop, sell more commercials and reap a profit. In short, all those who go to the Olympics now are the commercial marionettes of the broadcaster. They feed the machine with their blood, sweat and tears. And if they succeed on that commercial platform, they can expect to reap the rewards. What, you don’t think the little dancing, darling, warm-up girl Kate Hansen won’t have a TV commercial of her own or appear on Letterman? Win or lose her luge event, she’ll be celebrity fodder for her brief moments of fame. Hard to blame her, she’s genuine. And genuinely belongs within the good ol’ American system of cash benefits for celebrity.The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) finally moved away from any notion that the athletes were excelling for the sheer joy of it. They have committees who help pair athletes with sponsors. They pay $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. They pay expenses, provide facilities, help athletes get scholarships at universities ... it’s a business. Oh, no it’s not, says the USOC. They have to say that or else everything they provide would be considered income (which the IRS is looking into). Like college football, they pretend they’re all amateurs, walking charities.The icing on this cake? The Olympics are paying a disc jockey (DJ Naka G) $90,000 to accompany the athletes, to help them, especially the snowboarders, (NPR) “We’re really providing the soundtrack for a story,” he says. “We’re making it dramatic. We’re making it exciting. We’re making it just pure fun.” Yeah, that’s the real athletic dream, to make a story, make a drama, to make it fun and exciting for TV. What a crock.Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.