Gold, Silver, Bronze...And Gruel

Trey Smith

While Europe roils in economic turmoil, London is preparing for a lavish jamboree of international good will: in a few weeks, the city will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
~ from Olympian Arrogance by Jules Boykoff and Alan Tomlinson ~

I like sports. I always have. As a kid, I loved to watch both versions of the Olympic Games -- Summer and Winter. One of my best Olympic memories is the 1980 Miracle on Ice! I still get goosebumps when I hear Al Michaels' historic query, "Do you believe in miracles?"

But I've got to be honest with you. With all the austerity sweeping the world and with more and people falling into poverty every day, I think the Olympics should go on long-term, if not permanent, hiatus. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on pageantry that will last a month or so. All the while, the poor in London (and around the world) grow more impoverished.

I certainly would favor a scaled-back Olympic Games, but that is no longer possible because the genie is out of the bottle. As with most everything else, corporations have latched onto the Olympics -- big, big money to be made -- and they sure as hell won't let go of it. So, the only humane thing to do is to shut it down.

It pains me to write this, more than most of you could ever imagine.