Beijing 2008 (so far): The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Everyday people can not get really involved in the ins and outs of foreign policy, of world domination… but every two years we are allowed to collectively come together to compete. Even if you are not an athlete, you can participate. The Games are just a front for what is really happening.

This year, the olympic waters run deep. There has been much more buzz around these games. It’s almost as if China has something to prove, because, well they do… if they plan on dominating the world, they better darn well be able to dominate the Olympics.

Everyone is sitting around waiting for the USA to lose our Superpower world force. History shows that countries can only sustain this position of power for a couple hundred years, and we are passing our prime.

Enter Michael Phelps. Sorry, China. But the swim team isn’t the only thing going on these days… right now we have more medals then any other country (as time of publishing, China still holds more gold, but its in things people don’t care about like weight lifting and judo).

Here is the deal: with the small stories, the big picture is painted… allow me to elaborate on three key elements that have been overshadowed by what really matters here: We beat France in the 400 relay.

The Good: My Girls

Following just behind Red China, the USA Women’s Gymnastic team has advanced to the team finals competition. To qualify, five gymnasts from each country competes on each event and the top four scores count towards the team score.

Right before the start of the qualifying round, Samantha Peszek heard her ankle pop while warming up Sunday… leaving her able to compete in only one event during the team qualification round and left her team shorthanded.

The team shaken-up, still competes. Someone jumps out of bounds during the floor exercise. Another falls completely on her backside during her dismount. And it continues…Despite their five major mistakes (all of which were not subjective, but automatic point deductions) my girls finished the qualifying round less than 1½ points behind China, our main rival for gold and world domination. The Russians are third.

Will it be Russia? Will it be China? The dollar is slipping, the Leader of the Free world is less then impressive, the girls are falling off the balance beam… and we are still able to stay strong.

The Bad: Opening Ceremonies

Dazzled by the dance, I sat in the comfort of my home and increasingly got more and more pissed as the ceremonies went on. They were beautiful, I was continually impressed with depth of art and work that went into putting on such a show… but wait a second. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WASTED THEIR LIVES FOR THIS.

That’s right… human resources were grossly misused. There were far too many mass dances and meticulous ceremonies with costumes that spent millions of dollars, and more importantly, millions of collective hours to produce.

I understand that China has tons of people and that a couple thousand is no big deal to them. But it is to me… it is to Georgia… it is wrong. What the hell are they doing spending their money, time, energy on making boxes raise up and down to music, only to discover it wasn’t computer generated, but HUMANS were under those boxes. No thanks. You know what Americans are good at? Being lazy. We use it to our advantage… we know that we need to produce the most amount of product for the least amount of energy. Another reason I am not afraid of losing power.

If this is what China has to offer, we don’t want it.

The Ugly: Bob Costas

UPDATE/EDIT: I forgot two important things...
1.) China is a commie country. That alone is enough to stop them.
2.) They are also cheaters... those little girls on their gymnastic team are like 10 1/2 years old. Seriously.