To each his own
August 26th, 2008, 7:22 am · Post a Comment · posted by aubreywoods
Another Olympics has come and gone.
I have to admit that I watched these games a lot more than I have some in the past. It might be because I have a 16-year-old at home right now that loves all things sports.
Or it might be because that 16-year-old isn’t around the house anymore and I’ve begun searching for things to do because he’s not there. I really enjoyed watching the swimming because Michael Phelps made that easy to do and the track and field events weren’t bad to watch with the exception of the fact that are runners apparently have no idea about how to pass a baton.
Some of the other sports, especially the volleyball, baseball, water polo and gymnastics weren’t too bad to watch either.
But I still have trouble seeing how a game most of us learn to play in a garage or basement with friends can be an Olympic sport. Yes, I’m talking about table tennis or ping pong, as I know it. The Chinese apparently won almost all the medals awarded in that sport. One sportscaster said 425 million people (about 120 million more people than there are in the United States) watched a table tennis match.
Take away the four gold medals the Chinese won in table tennis and the gap between that country and the U.S. narrows significantly. But I also think you could take away the gold medal the United States won in beach volleyball. I don’t think table tennis, beach volleyball, badminton (another sport most of us learned to play in the front yard), artistic gymnastics and synchronized swimming qualify as a worthy of the Olympics either especially since the International Olympics Committee has dropped what was once America’s favorite pastime, baseball, as well as softball for the 2012 games in London.
How can you drop baseball and softball and keep a sport like handball? In case you missed it during the Beijing Games, handball is a sport that looks a lot like soccer to me, except you can use your hands to throw what looks like a nerfball into a net. You don’t have to dribble the ball or hit it with a bat or catch it with a net and then throw it. It sure didn’t seem like much of a sport to me. In fact, it looked like a game my son and his best friend used to make up when they were younger and had some time to kill.
Now that the Olympics are gone, I guess I have to go back to my favorite past-time of late, watching the hummingbirds drink from feeders in my yard and the yards of my neighbors.
To each his own, I guess.
