It’s Over!
The 2008 Summer Olympics are over. What was the story of this year’s big world party? What were the stories not told?
For folks from Chesapeake Bay Country and hopefully the whole United States, we’ll remember this as the Michael Phelps Olympics. It’s a true joy to see such an ordinary kid, the son of a Middle School Principal, set some goals, work his butt off, do things the right way, and grab eight gold medals on the world’s biggest stage.
The American Basketball team performed heroically. The team many had labeled as the “Redeem Team” needing to not only win the Gold Medal but to project a much more good-guy, all-American image did just that. They were totally involved in this year’s Olympics conspicuously present at other Olympic events, making themselves accessible to the world’s fans, and even providing a little American diplomacy visiting hospitals and showing a refreshing human side. Kobe Bryant showed leadership and maturity throughout the entire event. Perhaps, the Olympic experience was as much a redemption story for Bryant as well. The player who had come to epitomize the greedy “ME” player in professional sports during the L.A. Lakers championship runs with Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant was seen as aloof, sulky, and greedy. It was his sullen temper that ultimately sent Shaq packing. Then there was the rape allegation. The truth of that tale will probably never be known as many will believe Kobe Bryant bought his way out of conviction. If that were found to be true, Bryant would truly be irredeemable, but in the eyes of the law and the sports fans’ community, that tale is over. In Beijing, Bryant did all the right things on and off the court. LeBron James showed his coming of age as the NBA’s next legend. However, what was most noteworthy about the team’s play on the court was that despite everyone of them being a significant NBA All-Star performer was how well they played ball as a team. That team effort was a signature Mike Krzyzewski coaching. World basketball is a different game than either the college or pro game in America.
Hey, let’s not forget the US Women’s Basketball team won Gold too!!! You go girls!!!
Perhaps the most fun for Olympics fans this year was the Jamaican runner, Usain Bolt. Not only were his record breaking gold medal performances breath-taking, but his free-spirited, joyful antics added some much needed color and a true streak independence for an event that ran with almost machine like precision in the dehumanized faceless world of the Red Chinese hosts.
What a triumph it was for the Men’s Volleyball team to be crowned champs. The team entered Beijing with mixed hopes of glory when pure evil struck. U.S. Coach Hugh McCutcheon competed with a heavy heart as his wife’s father, Todd Bachman, was murdered, stabbed to death, the day before the games began. With this horrible darkness hovering over the team, they persisted, and when all was over, stood proud receiving their gold medals.
One more notable American gold performance featured shooter, Walton Eller, who set an Olympic final record capturing the gold in the Men's Double Trap. Eller is part of the US Army’s Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The whole world had good reason to celebrate when the women’s volleyball team from Georgia beat the Russians as Russian troops were ransacking and pillaging their Georgian homeland.
So much for the good, the 2008 Olympics had plenty of ugliness to report too as if the murder of an American spectator wasn’t bad enough.
Start with the behavior of a Cuban martial arts specialist, Angel Matos, kicked the Olympics official in the face after being disqualified from the Bronze Medal, Taekwondo competition. For his flagrant malicious conduct Matos has been banned from world competition for life. Adding fuel to the fire, Cuban coach, Leudis Gonzalez, offered no apology. Why we hate Communists, let’s count the ways…
The Red Chinese hosts won 51 gold medals, 100 medals overall. How many of those medals are tainted. There’s no denying the Chinese fielded under aged gymnasts who couldn’t possibly meet the sixteen year old age requirement. Reports indicate Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin and He Kexin are too young to compete. Evidence is all over the Internet that Kexin was born on January 1, 1994. One of the girls is supposedly just twelve years old. One can only imagine the mechanistic, inhumane way these little girls were trained.
It’s hard to believe the IOC, an organization so rife with corruption where standards are negotiable for the right price, will ensure all Chinese accomplishments are legit. They’ve sure proven willing to look the other way on the case of under aged gymnasts.
While the Chinese publicity machine, with a highly duplicitous, NBC, providing the window to the world on the Olympic events, carefully orchestrated spectacle against the back drop of a gleaming world class city, those who believe in human justice and cared to see what got swept under the red carpet, have a very different story to tell. Here’s some of the highlights where the Totalitarian thugs revealed their true selves.
Five American were held in Chinese prison as Students for a Free Tibet. Further, two elderly Chinese women were hauled off for “re-education through labor” because they sought to protest what they considered inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes. Hmm, wouldn’t some corrupt local governments in cahoots with wealthy developers love to be able to deal folks who don’t like their “eminent domain” settlements in this country? This episode shows the real character of the Chinese regime when two elderly women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, are subjected to forced labor. Imagine if some of our detainees at “Gitmo” were requested to do something they didn’t want to do. Another American was deported for simply filming some minor protest activities at Tiananmen Square. Free expression and journalistic integrity mean nothing to these oppressive tyrants, as two Japanese reporters were beaten just prior to the Olympics opening.
Given the degree of censorship and fawning cooperation from some segments of the world press, we are left to wonder how many others’ rights and dignity were violated by the butchers of Beijing.
As retched as the Red Chinese experience has been, one huge promotional extravaganza to convince the world they are everything good the modern world has to offer, there is some intrinsic good the Olympic spirit embodies that politics, corruption, and crass commercialization cannot destroy. As horrible as the 2008 experience could prove to be, the world will be treated to about the classiest people on earth when the Olympics begin anew in London in 2012. What country on earth understands pageantry better than the British? Here’s hoping Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger and his mates in the Rolling Stones are still in top performing shape and have some roll in the festivities.
Why does this writer suspect the press will make more of Prince Charles’ stuffiness four years from now than the whole sum of reportage concerning the hideous underbelly of the detestable Chinese bastards?
The 2008 Summer Olympics are over. What was the story of this year’s big world party? What were the stories not told?
For folks from Chesapeake Bay Country and hopefully the whole United States, we’ll remember this as the Michael Phelps Olympics. It’s a true joy to see such an ordinary kid, the son of a Middle School Principal, set some goals, work his butt off, do things the right way, and grab eight gold medals on the world’s biggest stage.
The American Basketball team performed heroically. The team many had labeled as the “Redeem Team” needing to not only win the Gold Medal but to project a much more good-guy, all-American image did just that. They were totally involved in this year’s Olympics conspicuously present at other Olympic events, making themselves accessible to the world’s fans, and even providing a little American diplomacy visiting hospitals and showing a refreshing human side. Kobe Bryant showed leadership and maturity throughout the entire event. Perhaps, the Olympic experience was as much a redemption story for Bryant as well. The player who had come to epitomize the greedy “ME” player in professional sports during the L.A. Lakers championship runs with Shaquille O’Neal, Bryant was seen as aloof, sulky, and greedy. It was his sullen temper that ultimately sent Shaq packing. Then there was the rape allegation. The truth of that tale will probably never be known as many will believe Kobe Bryant bought his way out of conviction. If that were found to be true, Bryant would truly be irredeemable, but in the eyes of the law and the sports fans’ community, that tale is over. In Beijing, Bryant did all the right things on and off the court. LeBron James showed his coming of age as the NBA’s next legend. However, what was most noteworthy about the team’s play on the court was that despite everyone of them being a significant NBA All-Star performer was how well they played ball as a team. That team effort was a signature Mike Krzyzewski coaching. World basketball is a different game than either the college or pro game in America.
Hey, let’s not forget the US Women’s Basketball team won Gold too!!! You go girls!!!
Perhaps the most fun for Olympics fans this year was the Jamaican runner, Usain Bolt. Not only were his record breaking gold medal performances breath-taking, but his free-spirited, joyful antics added some much needed color and a true streak independence for an event that ran with almost machine like precision in the dehumanized faceless world of the Red Chinese hosts.
What a triumph it was for the Men’s Volleyball team to be crowned champs. The team entered Beijing with mixed hopes of glory when pure evil struck. U.S. Coach Hugh McCutcheon competed with a heavy heart as his wife’s father, Todd Bachman, was murdered, stabbed to death, the day before the games began. With this horrible darkness hovering over the team, they persisted, and when all was over, stood proud receiving their gold medals.
One more notable American gold performance featured shooter, Walton Eller, who set an Olympic final record capturing the gold in the Men's Double Trap. Eller is part of the US Army’s Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The whole world had good reason to celebrate when the women’s volleyball team from Georgia beat the Russians as Russian troops were ransacking and pillaging their Georgian homeland.
So much for the good, the 2008 Olympics had plenty of ugliness to report too as if the murder of an American spectator wasn’t bad enough.
Start with the behavior of a Cuban martial arts specialist, Angel Matos, kicked the Olympics official in the face after being disqualified from the Bronze Medal, Taekwondo competition. For his flagrant malicious conduct Matos has been banned from world competition for life. Adding fuel to the fire, Cuban coach, Leudis Gonzalez, offered no apology. Why we hate Communists, let’s count the ways…
The Red Chinese hosts won 51 gold medals, 100 medals overall. How many of those medals are tainted. There’s no denying the Chinese fielded under aged gymnasts who couldn’t possibly meet the sixteen year old age requirement. Reports indicate Jiang Yuyuan, Yang Yilin and He Kexin are too young to compete. Evidence is all over the Internet that Kexin was born on January 1, 1994. One of the girls is supposedly just twelve years old. One can only imagine the mechanistic, inhumane way these little girls were trained.
It’s hard to believe the IOC, an organization so rife with corruption where standards are negotiable for the right price, will ensure all Chinese accomplishments are legit. They’ve sure proven willing to look the other way on the case of under aged gymnasts.
While the Chinese publicity machine, with a highly duplicitous, NBC, providing the window to the world on the Olympic events, carefully orchestrated spectacle against the back drop of a gleaming world class city, those who believe in human justice and cared to see what got swept under the red carpet, have a very different story to tell. Here’s some of the highlights where the Totalitarian thugs revealed their true selves.
Five American were held in Chinese prison as Students for a Free Tibet. Further, two elderly Chinese women were hauled off for “re-education through labor” because they sought to protest what they considered inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes. Hmm, wouldn’t some corrupt local governments in cahoots with wealthy developers love to be able to deal folks who don’t like their “eminent domain” settlements in this country? This episode shows the real character of the Chinese regime when two elderly women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, are subjected to forced labor. Imagine if some of our detainees at “Gitmo” were requested to do something they didn’t want to do. Another American was deported for simply filming some minor protest activities at Tiananmen Square. Free expression and journalistic integrity mean nothing to these oppressive tyrants, as two Japanese reporters were beaten just prior to the Olympics opening.
Given the degree of censorship and fawning cooperation from some segments of the world press, we are left to wonder how many others’ rights and dignity were violated by the butchers of Beijing.
As retched as the Red Chinese experience has been, one huge promotional extravaganza to convince the world they are everything good the modern world has to offer, there is some intrinsic good the Olympic spirit embodies that politics, corruption, and crass commercialization cannot destroy. As horrible as the 2008 experience could prove to be, the world will be treated to about the classiest people on earth when the Olympics begin anew in London in 2012. What country on earth understands pageantry better than the British? Here’s hoping Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger and his mates in the Rolling Stones are still in top performing shape and have some roll in the festivities.
Why does this writer suspect the press will make more of Prince Charles’ stuffiness four years from now than the whole sum of reportage concerning the hideous underbelly of the detestable Chinese bastards?
The World Media and US Outlets, Fox, CNN, ABC, and NBC in particular had a golden opporunity to reveal the truth about modern China to do targetted reporting on the oppressive, corrupt, and secretive country is all about. How beneficial it would have been to explore the extent to which Chinese sources are contributing the the world's air pollution. Surely, there were plenty of opportunities for programs to explore the economic relationships China has with the rest of the world. Aren't plenty of Americans claiming their jobs are being shipped to China? The working conditions and treatment of workers in Chinese industry could have been exposed. How China is building up its military developing anti-satellite weapons and where its nuclear weapons are apointed could be revealed. The brutal oppression of Tibet, the gentlehearted followers of the Dali Lama is a story that has pulled at the world's heart strings. Consider these and many more possibilities that could have been a logical outgrowth of the intensified interest in China growing out of interest in the Olympics. Further, raising these issues and reporting these stories also helps provide some balance for the huge proganda and publicity boost the Chinese were able to gain from the media attention Olympic coverage gave them. As purely rotten as NBC's news coverage is especially on political topics, to be fair, we must give them a little bit of breathing room as the network of the Olympics. They've surely had to sell their collective soul to the devil for broadcast rights to televise the Olympic specticle. In a free society with an open press, if all members do their jobs, the coverage omitted or touched up by NBC should be over-ridden by the thoughtful objective coverage from the other media sources. NBC has an easy excuse. What do the other networks, Fox, CNN, ABC, and CBS have to say for themselves?
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