Empty Seats

I'm wondering if the terroritsts have won.

There are enough empty seats at the Olympics to make me sad, to make me feel bad for Greece. They're doing a great job but, like Rodney Dangerfield, aren't getting any respect. Now it's true that I'm a huge fan of Greek culture and am pretty dead set against the chauvinism that runs through all the US coverage of the games, but I wonder how much of the rest of the world is dancing to our song or following our lead.

Leading up to the games I remember hearing lots of stuff about security concerns. I don't know, of course, but I wonder if that, along with the whole ugly American habit, is what kept people away from these games. The US news was full of stories about how far behind the Greeks were when it came to finishing the venues and I think that, along with our national skittishness, may have kept lots of people away.

The Greeks said it would all be ready, but we reported that with a wink.

The good news is I can watch the games without continual shots of idiots yelling "USA" and being obnoxious with "We're #1" signs and shit. Um, I don't think it's a question that we're richer and more powerful than the other countries. This isn't news. What I don't like is how obnoxious and arrogant we have to be about it all.

It started with the "Dream Team" basketball thing a few Olympics ago, when we could send professionals. How some people felt any pride at all about how we beat the rest of the world by forty points a game while fielding Magic Johnson and Larrry Bird is a sad mystery to me. Now I like the events Americans don't care about, the ones we consider beneath us and not worth competing in. Those are the ones I enjoy, watching the athletes who don't get nonstop US coverage doing their best and winning and losing.

Nothing to me says more about the Olympics than watching a Thai fencer, or a match between Uruguay and Romania. Nothing says less about the Olympics than Medal Counts or focusing on that swimmer guy.