Rhubarb Report #046

The Olympics are upon us. We’re now through day 6, and all is well in London. It would appear that the biggest scandal in these Olympics thus far has been the attempted game-fixing in badminton. Oh, those crazy badminton cheats. Now that is big news. I guess that says a lot about how smoothly these Olympic Games are moving along, even though London certainly isn’t Salt Lake City.

Though NBC provides the United States with a bazillion hours of coverage, we don’t really see the broad perspective of the Olympics. We see the American drama, and the occasional smattering of the cool things happening to the rest of the world. We also have to bear with Bob Costas, who has his moments of greatness and his moments of utter goofiness.

This episode of the Rhubarb Report has a decidedly Olympic slant to it, with a touch of NYC just to bring it all back home again.

1. I, for one, think that there needs to be a change in women’s gymnastics. Here’s my proposal. Let’s set a minimum age limit of, oh, how about 18 years old? It would certainly make many of the events more interesting for both men and women. It might also potentially remove a little of the “diva” drama and the “mommy” drama as well.  But when that drama makes for good reality TV … I guess NBC won’t petition for age minimums any time soon.

This Olympic year has given us some great technical gymnasts. But I would ask you: where is this year’s Nadia or Olga? Where is the true performer that can play to the crowd?

2. Here’s a humorous tidbit from the Olympics … if you are a Canadian. While Canada is still waiting for its first gold medal of the games, word on the street is that, yes, Missy Franklin is Canadian! Ah ha! That explains everything. Well, not really.  The gold medalist has dual citizenship because her parents were born in Canada.

At this point in time, a faint association with grandeur is about as close as my home country gets to a gold medal. It is hard to believe that there was a time when the Canadian swim team was a dominant force in swimming. It is now a shadow of its former self.

3. The whole medal tracker idea sure sounds great, but does it really reflect what is happening? Data is so readily accessible these days that I think we should seriously assess the value of medals relative to population. Perhaps more importantly, how much money is spent per person to win a gold medal? I think that would be the gold standard (pun intended) of what everyone is trying to accomplish these days. So why not measure it?

4. Oh, and in case you were thinking that life had stopped while the Olympics were going on – not quite. If the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has his way, there will be some crazy restrictions coming down the turnpike. On what, you say? How about soda and baby formula?

He started off with the concept of soda restrictions – a ban on sugary sodas that are greater than 16 oz. But wait, it gets better. How about a ban on giving away free baby formula in city hospitals? Bloomberg now has a pro-breastfeeding campaign. Truth is definitely stranger than fiction on that one.

People don’t need more laws and regulations, they need a little education and common sense. Sadly, as much as you might want to try, you simply can’t legislate common sense.

Photo credits: Wikipedia