Everything you want to know about the Olympic Games

[Renew Deal]

This is a great article. I am not sure if he is 100% right, but it's still good.
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The countdown to the Olympics is at 92 days, plenty of time for the organizers to take care of the finishing touches -- a dab of paint here and there, sweeping up the sawdust, installing the 18,000-ton steel-and-glass dome over the main stadium ...

Just kidding! This column will contain no Athens Olympics construction/preparation jokes. The Greek organizers assure us that they will be ready to stage the biggest and grandest world party ever.

So everything is cool? At the 92-day mark, let's take a look at some of the burning questions of the Athens Olympics:

Q: Will any American athletes compete?

A: The U.S. is hoping to send a contingent of athletes to Athens, but that's still up in the air.

The U.S. baseball team scratched itself (and how appropriate is that?) by failing to qualify. Ditto the U.S. men's soccer team. The men's basketball team coaches are having trouble filling out their squad, which is shaping up as a Dennis Rodman comeback vehicle.

In track and field, we've already lost three potential Olympians because of failed drug tests, and more bad news looms. The Senate is holding investigations with the goal of knocking anyone off the American team who might be involved with steroids.

Let's put it this way: I hope Senator John McCain can pole vault.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/13/SPGVI6K6U29.DTL

[OneBlueSky]

1. I lost interest in the Olympics when they started allowing . . .

professional athletes to compete . . . yeah, I know that other countries have paid their athletes for years, but that doesn't mean we should . . . "But how can we possibly WIN?" you ask . . . well, I always thought it was about the competition, about doing your best, not about winning . . . I grew up believing "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" . . . unfortunately, that sentiment is damned near un-American today . . . a real shame, imo . . .

[Renew Deal]

2. Purity in the games.

I think there is still a purity in the games. The Basketball competition is out of hand, but soccer, baseball, hockey (in the winter), are all still very competitive. They are only using real pro's in hockey and basketball. The hockey competition is the absolute best. I think the Chech republic won 6 years ago and Canada last time.