Who're They Kidding? Dept.

I would never argue to abolish the Olympic. Why should they? I just think they've got it blown out of all proportion. It's nothing but a big track meet with some other stuff thrown in, like softball and skeet shooting, or some such thing. I love sports as much as the next guy, but all this argument about keeping politics and money out of it is plain silly. It's a highly political, highly commercial enterprise. If a head of state attends it's a political statement, if he doesn't it's a political statement, and all the bloviating to the contrary isn't going to change it. Here's what sports are about. My lacrosse team is totally raw, and most of the teams we're playing this year are highly experienced, so we're getting our butts whipped constantly. One coach whose team beat us badly early in the season called to ask if we'd prefer to play their JV squad in our next scheduled game with them. I put it to the team and they adamantly said no. They gave up a chance for an easy win in favor of measuring their progress in what in all likelihood will be another loss. That's character. That's sports.