Sunday, February 26, 2006
Olympic Propaganda
I have read and heard several commentaries about the increased American medal counts at the last two Winter Olympics. The central point of these commentaries is chest thumping about America's rising prominence in winter sports.
While it's true that the U.S. has performed better recently in some sports, particularly speed skating, it seems to me the real reason for the increased medal counts is inventing sports that our athletes can dominate initially.
So if we really want to win the medal counts at future Olympics, perhaps we need to enlist the help of the ESPN super-hype machine and turn the Winter Olympics into the X-Games.
While it's true that the U.S. has performed better recently in some sports, particularly speed skating, it seems to me the real reason for the increased medal counts is inventing sports that our athletes can dominate initially.
So if we really want to win the medal counts at future Olympics, perhaps we need to enlist the help of the ESPN super-hype machine and turn the Winter Olympics into the X-Games.
