I'm not watching the Olympics either

Greg at the Talent Show admits that he likes to watch the Olympics, crappy coverage and all, disagreeing with Brian and Kevin. All those posts make good points, even when they directly contradict each other. The thing with sports is that it's so much a matter of taste that the various reasons to like or dislike any sport can't help but be intensely personal. Kevin dislikes the Olympics because the need to cover as many events as possible forces the networks to cut out a good deal of the process of a sport to get to the good parts. That makes sense that would bug Kevin--he likes the process of politics, too. Greg likes the Olympics because despite the network coverage's best attempts, it's hard to generate star power like you find in the NFL or NBA. Plus, he enjoys the chance to participate in the experience of international sports.

Also, the Olympics really bring out the nationalist in me. When I'm watching, I want "our team" to kick ass. When someone is representing their country, you can really feel the patriotism in the air. Hell, this is probably the only two weeks every four years where people are waving the flag because they love their country, rather than hate their ideological "enemies".

I have a much different feeling about the Olympics and the nationalist feelings they engender. Like Greg, I'm indifferent to outright hostile to most sports. My boyfriend and some friends of mine are absolute racing fanatics. Nearly every Sunday during racing season is dominated by a MotoGP race or a Formula 1 race at this house. To boot, both of us like soccer well enough and we'll take in a game or two if we're bored and hanging out at the house and one is on. We tried to watch the World Cup, but since most of the games were early in the morning and because American TV is really hostile to international soccer, it was hard. We had to watch most of the games on Spanish-language TV, and believe me, it can be tiring to hear "GOOOOOOAAAAAAAL!" every time, well, they score a goal.

Suffice it to say, I take in a lot of sports for someone who doesn't care very much about sports. But, as you might have noticed, it's all international sports. If nothing else, it's nice not to have to listen to annoying American sports commentators go on about how this time last year it was a degree colder outside and how this might affect someone's batting except that last year he also started the day with waffles and this year it was pancakes and there's no way to guess what effect that might have. But hands down the thing that makes international sports so exciting is the way that nationality comes into play. It's usually a good thing--watching a national team or racer win in their home country and the stands go absolutely bonkers with pride is downright heart-warming. It can be totally horrible, of course, the English football hooligans being the prime example. But most international sports fans can manage both to root for their fellow citizens and also be happy for others when they win.

Americans have a weird take on international sports. The common wisdom is that if Americans atheletes don't dominate, American fans just pretend the sport doesn't exist at all. Or, even worse, there is this ugly tendency to concoct elaborate theories about why said sport isn't as good a sport as something that Americans like, the implication being that the rest of the sports fans in the world are just really stupid. And American fans of those sports can get pretty defensive. The F1 and MotoGP fans in my life have nothing but contempt for NASCAR, for instance. And if you've never been on the receiving end of an American sports fan trash soccer and imply that if the rest of the world likes it, it must be because the rest of the world is a buncha fairies.

Americans win a lot in the Olympics, and what sports receive coverage is dictated by how well Americans are expected to do in it. That's why Brian at Crooked Timber can expect not to have a chance to watch his favorite Australian swimmers perform. The Olympic coverage veers dangerously close at times to being an exercise in Americans patting themselves on the back for being better athletes than the entire rest of the world. It's fine to root for the home team, but in international sports it's important that one also learns to appreciate good athletes from other countries. (We are capable of this, if we let ourselves be. It was impossible to resent Oksana Baiul pulling the gold out from Nancy Kerrigan, in part because she was much more likable than Kerrigan and because she completely deserved it.)

I can understand why Americans feel that it's important to be fiercely nationalistic, though. The fierce nationalism gives us some room to define what exactly it means to be an American. It's a cliche, but it's also an important truism that this is a country that's been completely shaped by immigration. A good number of people are invested in the idea of the melting pot, though I notice that the way most of them define it is to insist that people abandon their own ethnic heritage to adopt Anglo ways, as if Anglo wasn't an ethnic heritage in and of itself. From that point of view, international sports are a huge threat, since people are invested in watching Americans win, yes, but also in rooting for people from the countries they or their family came from. The discomfort is avoided altogether by only watching sports that pit Americans against Americans. Or occassionally watch international sports only if they come around every 4 years and the TV agrees to only show games that Americans win.

But hey, I'm hopeful that Americans can learn to enjoy international sports without getting a huge chip on our collective shoulders about it. Soccer's popularity is growing by leaps and bounds. From what I hear, Formula 1 is interested in getting more Americans involved, from Americans driving cars to American companies sponsoring teams. There's a sense that Americans are finally open to watching these kinds of competitions and that all it's going to take is a little effort towards wooing American fans.

So, why am I not watching the Olympics? Well, in part because we still haven't managed to get to a place where the overwhelming nationalism distracts from the coverage of the events themselves. But mostly because the corporate sponsorship of the games has come to dominate the games themselves, which works on my very last nerve.