China (Hoax), IOC (Joke), NBC (Dolts), Olympics (Dope)

I don't know what got me so steamed all of a sudden over the Olympics, but I find myself surprisingly bent out of shape. I look forward to the Olympics whenever they come around, Summer or Winter, because the idea of 4-6 years of training for a once every 4 year event is intriguing, the competition is always tight and usually surprising, and the abundance and diversity of sports featuring countries from everywhere is something that I couldn't get enough of even if I was mainlining it. I should be in the lap of luxury right now, right? How could I complain? Well, I'm enjoying a lot about these Olympic games, but a good portion of it exemplifies the double-speak and lack of accountability perpetuating itself throughout the world.

I see all too often in people an inability to be honest with themselves. Sometimes that extends to being dishonest with others as well. China, in the hosting of these Olympic games, in my opinion, has continued an elaborate dishonesty with themselves and by extension the world. The worst part about this is that they refuse to take any responsibility for the circumstances surrounding them, many of which they themselves have created.

When China was awarded these games, it was with the recognition that there were things that needed to be changed. Human rights violations, wrongful imprisonments, censorship and silencing of the press and protests, suffocating control over minority provinces and Tibet and saturating environmental pollution. It was the agreement between China and the IOC that these issues would be addressed for the Olympics, that change had started rippling through the People's Republic, that these Olympics could be the coming out party to show the world a different face than some of the past memories, including the all-too familiar Tienanmen Square incident.

Well. They lied. And failed. Before the games even began, they were dealing with the results of years of oppression of Tibet. The Torch relay, usually a celebrated and heralded event in other countries, became a lightning rod for violent and non-violent protests around the world against the action of the government.It became so bad that they canceled or hid the torch on its way in order to protect the ability to film positive images to post on the news in China. They blame the Dalai Lama for inciting violence (ya, cause that's what a guy who believes in peace and ethics worldwide really wants for his people).

Fast forward to the end of the Torch relay and the beginning of the Olympics. The Opening Ceremony was absolutely fantastic. I was awestruck by the size and precision of the performances, the unbelievable synchronicity of the performers. The venue of the Bird's Nest is something incredible to behold, and finally, unlike many other Opening Ceremonies I've watched, it didn't put me to sleep or have overly weird stuffed animal characters.

But then, it's revealed that some of the firework footage is CGI and done in advance, patched into the real display in order to present a more perfect, unified vision to the viewers. A very cute little girl sang a rousing rendition of "Sing a Song of Praise to the Motherland." Well, some little girl sang it. Again, to present a more perfect version of a Chinese girl, they had one girl Milli Vanilli to the crowd, while the talented singer performed elsewhere (or was it pre-recorded even?) I don't think it matters. The point is, rather than produce a fireworks display that didn't look perfect, rather than present a fantastic singer with not quite right teeth, they try to pull a deception on a massive scale.

What about the city itself? The massive residences and bustling street storefronts aren't the vision of China that the government wants tourists to see. So what do they do? Well, they build a wall. In front of businesses who didn't move for the "fair" compensation they were offered. Don't like something? Have someone sing over it. Don't like the air? CGI it. Don't like the stores? Build a wall in front of them. Are we seeing a pattern here? To a good degree, the tendency of China is to attempt to show one façade to the world, regardless of what's behind the wall.

But it can't be all bad. The Chinese promised that the media would be completely free to report as they saw fit during the games. Open internet for international journalists. That didn't happen. Of course, they say it's for national security that they shut down sites like Amnesty International to reporters. Could the government possibly allow protests to happen? Sure! Well, kinda. They established protest zones for anyone who wants to protest. But they're far away from any of the sports venues, and, more importantly, you need to submit a protest request, and none of those requests have been granted. Surprise? And when a protest does get under way, it's shut down immediately, and sometimes, violently...

What has the IOC done about all this? Absolutely nothing. Now, they aren't responsible for making sure China doesn't build walls in front of stores, and it's certainly not the care of the IOC if they want to cover up a singer with a different face. But human rights and freedom of the press were definitive requirements for the awarding of the games. As the Committee who awarded the games and oversees it, it becomes the responsibility to enforce the rules. Unfortunately, the IOC is a bit impotent. The games have been awarded, and they're happening, and to try to discipline or do anything now would mar the games and take the concentration off the athletes. They're also afraid of "offending" the hosts. Maybe it's just me, but if the hosts violate the rules under which they became the hosts, they should not only be offended, but they should be made to rectify the problems. By allowing this to happen, not only does the IOC weaken itself in the eyes of future cities, but they allow China to whitewash the issues it said it was going to fix. It again allows the pursuit of a perfect representation to the outside world, when no such pursuit should be allowed.

What's funny to me is that China turns around and acts downright offended that people could even question these things. I read one report where a Chinese official said that Amnesty International, because they spoke out again on rights violations in China, needed to take off their "colored glasses" and see that China can change. But as we've seen in the attempts to silence dissident voices and opinions in front of the eyes of the world with all the things I've mentioned above, it hasn't. That isn't to say it can't, but it hasn't.

So if you haven't changed, how can you act shocked when the rest of the world calls you out on it? If it looks like shit and it smells like shit, it's a good guess that it's shit. If you want the world to see you as changed, do something about it! Open up your press and internet access, allow your citizens to speak out without being detained. Rather than being obsessed with showing the world how perfect you are, be real about how human we all are. It's not like every country doesn't have something to be ashamed of in the past 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. years. Russia and Georgia are at it, genocide is happening in numerous places throughout the world as you read this and America is currently in everyone else's shit when it shouldn't be. We're all fucked up! Stop trying to prove how perfect you are...we simply don't believe it! Say, "yeah, we're working on reform, but we're not quite there yet."

Visual, international perspective aside, you're the host country...you need to at least compete fairly. The disputes over the ages of some of China's women's team members is well documented at this point. You need to be 16 in the year of the Olympics, and three or four of the girls on the team looked about 13, 14 at best. There had been documentation issues with these girls before, but for the Games, their passports were presented and they're clear for competition. But are we to believe that a country that spent millions faking a fireworks display for tv, and relegated a 7 year old girl to a cellar while a prettier girl lip synched, and goes to great lengths to cover up all the other things I've been ranting about here would have any problem faking a passport for some potential gold medal winners for the honor of the Republic?

This would be a great time for the IOC to jump in, right? Seek some definitive end to the controversy for everyone's satisfaction? Once again, they're nowhere to be found. No doubt another need to not offend the host nation. Once again, the IOC has allowed itself to become the butt of the joke continued by a series of China's hoaxes. So, that's where quite a bit of my frustration comes from.

On the other hand, a vast deal of my aggravation is derived from the coverage given these games by NBC. For starters, NBC stands for Nothing But Costas. Bob Costas, the most idiotic and ridiculous announcer I've had the misery of listening to has his stamp on every Olympics I can remember, and I have no idea why NBC makes him the key anchor man. He stutters, confuses himself and makes inane comments that only he could find funny. The other night I heard him transfer between calling it night and day (confused because it's daytime in Beijing and nighttime where Bob is from), and then making a joke about it, to himself, ending with, "it doesn't matter really, back to the pool." Does he listen to himself?

Tonight, Cris Collinsworth made a bit of a stretch when he asserted that Michael Phelps and the US relay teams were in some ways similar to Brett Favre and the Packers. That right there was some iffy commentary. But Costas, always seeking audience enjoyment, says that he hopes that doesn't mean that Phelps could get traded to another country. Then he laughs. Mr. Costas....you're not that funny, and you're not even that witty....do us a favor and retire.

But Costas isn't the only NBC employee who demonstrates an extreme lack of intelligence. The people over there, in their infinite wisdom, I mean, infinite search for higher ratings, aren't even broadcasting live coverage of the Olympics. At least not to people in the PST zone. These are live games of sport and chance. They need to be shown live. What better way to bring the feeling of Beijing, the atmosphere of the Olympics and the pace of the games to the viewers than to give live coverage? The folks over on the East Coast get the live feed. Yet NBC feels that the Olympics are no more than another show like American Idol or America's Next Top Model where the people on the West Coast don't care if it's live or tape delayed, so they tape delay it with the "Live" symbol up in the corner. Sure, every once in a while they show the "live" time, which further reminds us in California that it isn't really live at all, just canned trash with Bob Costas presiding.

Surely though, there are other viewing options for the Olympics, right? I'd say the answer is kind of. NBC controls the bulk of the Olympic broadcasting, including the "main" events like Michael Phelps in the pool, May/Walsh in beach volleyball, gymnastics and they edit that down and save it all for prime time. The overboard patriotism and editing of the events to cut down to medal winners and American athletes is pathetic. There are a vast number of amazing athletes at the Games, but on NBC, the only channel in the country that EVERYONE can get, it's only the big American names that get shown. Through cable affiliates that not everyone gets (MSNBC, Oxygen, Universal HD, CNBC and USA), they let go of the lesser known sports and anything that doesn't happen to feature an American (although, I've been watching these channels and the majority of the events still feature American athletes). And some of these channels are live. Watching a women's softball game last night I realized that it was raining, yet the pre-packaged NBC beach volleyball showed no rain, because it had been taped before the softball game and shown at the same time.

Furthermore, of those channels that are allowed to broadcast the games live, only two of them are in HD (Universal, USA). The rest, if you want live Olympic action, is going to need to be swallowed in regular format, which definitely takes away some of the grandeur of the Olympics and certainly some of the joy in watching sports. If you're going to purchase a monopoly over 2 weeks of over 15 sporting events, you need to swallow your pride and farm some of them out to other outlets (for a fee of course), promote truly live broadcasting of the events, and give a more complete view of the games than only what you think will gain viewership in America. Unfortunately, NBC lords their complete coverage control over us. Thankfully for me, I have cable and can change the channels, which, at least for HD, opens up two more options for watching. This brings me to my final point....regardless of the fake public face China has put on, regardless of the impotence of the IOC, regardless of the ridiculous farce that is NBC's coverage, the Olympics, in and of themselves, are dope.

Sure, Michael Phelps is an incredible story. If he succeeds in his quest for 8 golds and becomes the first ever to do it in a single Games, he'll truly place himself among the ranks of greatest athlete of all time. Not to mention that most of his golds have come on World Record swims. But we know all that....it's been hammered into our collective American consciousness since two weeks before the Games started. We know May/Walsh are great...at 104 consecutive matches won, how can they not be? But in seeking out alternate Olympic viewing options, I've come across some fantastic events.....here's some of the sports I've checked out and enjoyed that weren't being shown on NBC's "Must See TV":

- Men's Badminton Doubles. The Badminton court is pretty small (I had never seen an official one before), and when you put four men on it, it looks like a couple of giants playing on a tennis court. But don't be fooled, the movement, quickness and agility of these guys is pretty astounding. It looks like four monkeys playing with a cotton ball, but it was pretty exciting.

- Women's Softball. I've only seen the US women, but at least it's a female sport other than swimming or gymnastics. Not to mention that our team has absolutely pounded every team I've seen it play.

- Boxing. I'm still not sure how the Olympic boxing works. Because it's the only sport on between 5pm and NBC coverage at 7 or 8pm, I've watched quite a few matches ranging from 106 lbs boxers to 230 lbs boxers. I've seen Cuba, France, Algeria, Uzbekistan, US and a few others take to the rings, and yet I still don't know how they score the event. You're wearing headgear, so knockouts and beating the living shit out of your opponent isn't really encouraged like it is in the multi-million dollar fights staged in professional boxing, and despite all my watching, I have no idea how you go about scoring a point.

- Women's Field Hockey. This looks like a cross between soccer, hockey and lacrosse. I hadn't seen a game before, so it was fun watching the US tangle with Germany last night. I'm clueless as to how it's even remotely possible or comfortable to run around hunched over with a small stick in your hand, but these women do it quickly and efficiently. With the ball and the turf the way they are, the action is fast paced and enjoyable to watch.

- Women's Badminton Singles. I saw Germany take on China in the quarterfinal event. These women can move and watching the footwork is amazing. The control they have over themselves and the shuttlecock are astounding to watch as they work with lob shots, cut shots, drop shots and smashes. Seeing this truly made me want to go out and try Badminton. What was even cooler about this match was that the German contestant was actually a Chinese expatriate. She had grown up in China and moved to Europe at a young age, becoming a German citizen. People over in China take Badminton very seriously, and here was one of their own in a quarter final showdown against someone who had chosen a different route. The crowd was rowdy, the competition intense, and when it was over and China had won, there wasn't any need for a dispute over birth certificates.

- Fencing. I watched women's team fencing last night between the US and the Ukraine, and that was exciting. These ladies, like the badminton players, exhibit spectacular speed, agility and footwork. The fast moves required to score a hit on the opponent are almost too fast to even see, and indeed they have electronic sensors to help the judges score the match. I had not seen fencing at the world level before, and this match was a great introduction...not to mention the enjoyment from scoring a hit...it's like a touchdown every time.

With these Olympics not yet half over, I'm looking forward to much more in the way of interesting and unique sports from channels other than NBC as coverage continues. I'll press on in search of random and crazy sporting events that Nothing But Costas and the US Patriotism machine won't give me.

China's promise of change...a hoax. IOC's lack of enforcement...a joke. NBC broadcasters and specifically Bob Costas...a bunch of dolts. The Olympics.....still dope.