Olympics 2008

[innerSpaceman]

No, you miss my point, scaeagles. It DID make the race super ultra heart-pounding exciting. I LOVED watching it. I'm happy that, um, my countrymen whom I know no better than the French boys won. Er, strike that. I hate the happy feeling I get when the U.S. wins. What does that mean to me? It's shameful nationalism. To the extent the French were trash-talking, if that's at all unusual for this sport, I'm glad they got the cumuppance of, what, a silver medal?


But the result, sir, is what I find meaningless. 1 second faster between what's taken to be shining glory and what is seemingly perceived as horrible defeat.


Just as silly as me finding more joy in Americans winning than equally unknown-to-me humans of any nationality.


Fun? Yes. Dumb? Certainly.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

It's shameful nationalism.

Why is it shameful? Don't you suppose that most every person on the face of this planet wants the athlete from their country to win? Or is it that everyone is shameful?

Everyone wants to be a part of the winning team. Granted, none of us here were swimming, but we are Americans and I think that feeling is wonderful. It is wonderful for whomever win and their countrymen (er...and countrywomen....ok, countrypersons).

[Alex]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Why is it shameful? Don't you suppose that most every person on the face of this planet wants the athlete from their country to win? Or is it that everyone is shameful?

Everyone wants to be a part of the winning team. Granted, none of us here were swimming, but we are Americans and I think that feeling is wonderful. It is wonderful for whomever win and their countrymen (er...and countrywomen....ok, countrypersons).

I wouldn't use the word shameful. It is simply silly. I don't gain any excitement from an American winning as opposed to a Kazakh. To the extent I enjoy watching a sport it is to see it well played. Simply being American is not a personal connection to the competitor. If I knew one of the swimmers personally (or even knew someone who knew them personally) then it would be a bit of a rooting interest. And yes, I carry that to the sport I most love: baseball. I'm a fan of whatever team is local, not because of that local connection but simply because it is more satisfying to root for the team I can actually watch regularly. Since I don't watch swimming events except at the Olympics there is no "local access" advantage to any particular team. If I were to move from Oakland to Dallas I would immediately switch allegiance from the Athletics to the Rangers, just as I have already done from the Mariners to the Athletics.

In fact, because so many people are engaged in what I see as silly nationalism I kind of end up actively rooting against the American teams simply to be contrarian. I've certainly been pushed by endless hype into hoping Phelps loses soon so people will shut up.

My problem with a 0.08 second difference (and with all sports which inherently produce such slim margins) is that it is essentially a meaningless increment of time. So far as I'm concerned they were tied.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Alex

I wouldn't use the word shameful. It is simply silly.

I suppose silly is in the eye of the beholder. People make and feel connections with others for all sorts of reasons.

If it is silly to be happy for the American to win in his/her/their event, than I am happy to be silly (though I don't consider it to be so).

If it is contrary to the spirit of the Olympic games, ISM, why doesn't the IOC throw out the concept of country from the games entirely? Anyone can compete in regional trials for individual sports, make their own teams to compete, etc.

I think the competition between countries is ingrained into the Olympics. It may not be by design, but to eliminate it, no one should represent countries, just themselves.