For the last two weeks, it was like the NBA didn't exist. For the last two weeks, baseball-training camps weren't on my radar. For the last two weeks, the NHL shut down by itself, with or without my attention. And for the last two weeks, I didn't even pay attention to Sun Devil athletics.
For the last two weeks, my body was on my living room couch, but my mind was in the Italian Alps and Turin, Italy.
For those that criticize the Olympics, I don't understand you. For those that watched "American Idol" instead of the Olympics, I feel sorry for you. For those that switched on NBC, simply saw a minute of figuring skating, then changed the station and said, "the Olympics suck," you're missing the point entirely.
It's all because the Olympics are bigger than sport. The Olympics are not only the biggest sporting event, but also the biggest event, period, in the world. They are history, and I felt privileged to watch history transpire before my eyes.
The Olympics are about representatives from different nations and vastly different backgrounds coming together. Not only to compete, but also mingle, laugh, hug and even live together. I'm talking about athletes, yes, but also coaches, fans, volunteers, workers and media members. More is accomplished for shattering stereotypes and building international relations here than often is done at the United Nations.
And the utopia of the Olympics has never been greater than it is now. Politics of Olympics past have grown extinct. More countries than ever are competing. Athletes from oppressed nations such as Iraq and Afghanistan are back in the mix. And there is no greater institution in the world that supports equality among the sexes than the Olympics. In Turin, a group entirely made up of women carried in the Olympic flag during the opening ceremonies and a woman lit the Olympic flame. Women's sports are never as renowned or well publicized than they were at the Olympics.
Purely from an athletics standpoint, no sporting event in the world has higher stakes. The Houston Astros, Seattle Seahawks and San Antonio Spurs are all primed for championship runs again this year. Lose in the Olympics, however, and your career could be over, unless you're willing to train four years before you get another shot.
But when Olympic athletes do get that shot, they're competing not for just a city, but an entire country -- a notion that is meaningful to them, to me and hopefully to you. Simply stated, you're an American, and doesn't it mean more to you if a fellow American whooped up on another nation's representative, than if you're simply a Phoenician and the Suns beat that team from out of state?
And times have never been better for the red, white and blue. Don't let an over-hyped situation with Bode Miller not winning a medal fool you into thinking the USA failed in Turin. Surprise gold medals by Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso in alpine skiing made up for that alone. What about the sheer dominance of American snowboarders Shaun White, Hannah Teter and Seth Wescott, or the successes of speed skaters Apolo Anton Ohno, Joey Cheek, Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis -- the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics?
Reach the reporter at drex1_phx@hotmail.com.
