Olympic Sports or Olympic Entertainment

Hey, I'm with the latter I'm afraid.

Yes, I am the guy who looks at it all and shrugs.  Ok, the pagentry can be fun.  The particular sports men and women are amazing and at the top of their game. 

But the reality is that the act of watching it is merely entertainment to me.  I'm fortunate enough to have been and am a long distance inline skater, even now when the sport has "died".  If you still skate you either are someone who has kids and wants to "bond" with them or you're serious about getting a workout.  I do the latter.  I've skated 21,000 miles to date, and that is a lot of time.  I have actually made some beer money training people to inline skate and have had a phone job interview while on skates doing so.  

Couple that with my volunteer work with the City of Wilton Manors and my Regular Job as IT Manager for a Mall Holding Company, and I just don't have time to watch someone else run around a track or throw a javelin.  Nice, but it doesn't give me anything back but entertainment, and frankly I'd rather watch a movie or something a bit more educational.

I understand that I march to a different drummer.  I was that kid down the block who would rather listen to shortwave radio when everyone else was tuned into the local top 40 station.  I could quote facts on European Parliamentary procedures when many kids could only tell you about Parliament Funkadelic.  I'd listen to P-Funk in the car or when I'm doing something on the PC ... like now.  When I was a pre-teen I had to begin to get into sports and finally got into a good group of friends in High School that taught me the benefits of being active were.  I got very good at bike riding well before distance biking took off as a sport. Later, I eventually took up the weight lifting that I wanted to do when I was in Jr High as well as running.  

Cardio is fun, but I digress...

The point is that not everyone watched the Superbowl or the World Series or now the Olympics.   I prefer my fireworks more close to home and not half way around the world.   If I am going to watch sports I will want to get something out of it that I can apply to my own sport or I'll do so waiting for My Turn To Go In Coach.  Sports Bars are an interesting phenomenon, but definitely not my scene.  Amusing after a beer or three but I'm not a heavy drinker.

I know, its just my opinion, and I do understand that I'm not the only one around that feels that way.  I've always been "Non Herd Mentality" and I probably won't change.  On the other hand I really do enjoy a good tailgate party so if you are having one, have me over and try to teach me why I'm wrong.   I may just come a little closer to the fold, but for now....

Meh!