A sports channel is constantly playing on the monitor screen of the gym I go to. I go to the gym, not to test the limits of my fitness, but to slow the decline of aging. I never was an athlete, but I’ve been a fan as long as I can remember.
I usually give a listen, as I strain to tie my shoes, to commentary about this or that sports pursuit. Recently I glanced-up to watch a panel commenting on the up-coming Olympic games in Brazil. The games that are now here. On the screen was an iron pipe with grayish sludge gushing onto pavement. The voice over related that this was an example of what happens with 30% of the toilets in Rio DeJaneiro. What I was being entertained by was a close up view of raw sewage.
When the program cut back to the panel, one of the commentators was getting out of his chair and taking off his microphone. As he exited stage left his colleagues laughed. One of them said that this was just the way it was in Rio and the Games would still be great. The voice now coming from off camera, remarked, “I just can’t watch this.” The two remaining commentators went on to cover other news in the world of sport. I was left with an image that wasn’t so great.
The Olympic Committee had pledged to help Brazil with their poop problem. They mostly helped divert world wide attention from it. Athletes from around the globe have added the avoidance of drug-resistant bacteria lurking along magnificent beaches, to the risks that great athletes are willing to take to go for the Gold.
Athletes from around the globe have added the avoidance of drug-resistant bacteria lurking along magnificent beaches, to the risks that great athletes are willing to take to go for the Gold.
|
One of the first Olympic events was a soccer, (football) match between the USA and New Zealand. The USA won. The USA goalie got booed and mocked with chants of “zika, zika” when she took the field. The problem was her posting on Facebook of an image of her face encased in mosquito netting and holding a can of bug spray. When it comes to a new pathogen to avoid, be careful about your Facebook presentations.
USA won the soccer match, as zika infected more pregnant women back home. I have not heard of any reported cases yet in New Zealand.
I noticed a story about the US basketball team deciding that a cruise ship offered better accommodations then did the Olympic Village. The commentator remarked that this was an obvious choice as all of the team members were millionaires. These athletes weren’t competing to try and spin Gold, Silver or Bronze metals into cash, they were wealthy before they got on the boat.
How far we have come from debates about whether or not allowing professionals to compete would corrupt the Olympic ideal of the exploration of the limits of human flesh and spirt for its own sake.
To my knowledge the avoidance of being caught taking banned performance enhancing drugs is not yet a sport. Rumors that this will be the case in 2020, are probably false.
I wonder what would happen if there was a water protecting, infectious disease prevention, sexual assault awareness world wide competition. Would countries keep secrets from each other?
|
I do find that the Olympics being fully open to female competitors heartening. I am sorry that the female gymnasts are so exposed to being sexually abused by their coaches, but hey that happens all over.
I wonder what would happen if there was a water protecting, infectious disease prevention, sexual assault awareness world wide competition. Would countries keep secrets from each other? Would the falsifiers of research data up their game? Would anybody be watching? What corporations would provide sponsorship?
I wonder if watching women excel at competitive sports, from which they were once banned will, encourage men to pursue cooperative pastimes like never before. If their sisters can break new ground, why not men?
Will there come to be intense sponsorship for groups of men and women, without regard to lines transposed onto a globe, coming together, like as in a quilting bee, to stitch together filters for our waters, and nets to protect us from disease and the actions of dishonorable men?
I plan on watching the Olympic Opening Ceremony tonight on television and maybe again in four years.
_____
The role of men is changing in the 21st century. Want to keep up? Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
Photo credit: Getty Images