The Summer Olympics commence a week tomorrow (Friday, August 8) in Beijing. I don't care. Do you?
These games are already a farce. Smog threatens to put a choke hold on the marathon and other outdoorsy sporting conquests. The Chinese authorities are trying to play nice and sweep away under the proverbial carpet various nasties such as dog meat on restaurant menus, clogged highways, and spitting in public -- and the press who have already stationed themselves in the Olympic media centre have already discovered that internet sites have been restricted despite the IOC's statements to the contrary. And to top it all off -- check out their Olympic mascots. They're terrible! Did they have to create five in a hopeless attempt to equal one worthy mascot?
Just why were the games granted to China with all their human rights offences and the lung-crippling pollution? Despite their questionable ideology, they're an ever-growing power on the world stage and the IOC (never a group to be free of scandal or overly moralistic) wanted a piece of the pie and couldn't help their greedy selves. For shame. Me? I'll be skipping all the festivities and focusing on the EPL which launches a week later. At least I won't have an asthma attack brought on by watching!
