Olympic Nationalism

It would be refreshing if the media abstained from keeping a running tally of the medal count by country during the Olympics. Most of the time, we will pull for our countrymen and women but to overplay the nationalism undercuts the original Olympic ideal. For this reason, team sports. with their attendant jingoism, do not enhance the Olympic spirit.

Too Many Sports in Olympics

The Summer Olympics has too many sports. There is certainly no need for a sport like tennis, which is played every week with international fields, to be included in the Olympiad. As a matter of fact, there are already too many tennis tournaments. Now there is an ill-advised movement to include golf in the Games. Is NASCAR next?

Fear of Commercials and Other Olympic Matters

While eagerly anticipating the China Olympics, I am already dreading the endless commercials and overwrought stories of athletes overcoming personal hardships.



The success of the U.S. Olympic Basketball team will be an important measure of the status of American hoops in the international hierarchy. Failure to the win the gold this time, considering the talent of the players and commitment by the coaches in light of the recent disappointments, might well mark the official end of American primacy in the game it invented.



A poor showing by the American squad would tarnish the legacy of Coach K whose Duke teams have underachieved in recent NCAA tournaments.