Olympics

Now that the Olympics has officially started, I’ve got to be honest and say that I don’t care one bit.  I’m not in the least bit excited about it, I question whether it should even be taking place, and I really don’t care how many medals Team GB gets or doesn’t get.  And I shall certainly not be watching much of the jingoistic US coverage.  I have no idea how the time difference works in terms of watching any events live, but it looks like there are going to be replays and highlights every night during primetime on NBC.  And it will be awful.  Normally I wouldn’t be quite so down on one of the premier sporting spectacles, but I think pandemic fatigue has created a lot of indifference in me to it.  Besides, the impact of the pandemic and the year’s delay means that I don’t think it’s a fair competition – it’s not a question of who is the best at their respective sport, but who (and whose country) has adapted best to these new circumstances.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a big Covid outbreak in the Olympic village, the consequences of which could be hilariously dramatic.  No wonder most of the Japanese public oppose holding the games – especially as they can’t even get to watch any of the events.  And the lack of atmosphere is going to make things very weird, and a lot of the fringe and stupid “sports” are going to be almost unwatchable.