View from the Cheap Seats is an extension of the newsroom, which is frequently a site of heated debate on topics ranging from the extremely serious to the utterly ridiculous. This web edition features the views of print edition columnists Thom Barker (Wednesday) and Calvin Daniels (Saturday), as well as web exclusive content by Michaela Miller (Thursday) and Devin Wilger (Friday).
This week: What are your views on the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro?
Should I stay or should I go?
Maybe this will be the year I pass on the Olympics.
There is, of course, no end to pre-Olympics controversies for the 2016 Rio Games. Why should this year be any different? It is tiresome and, maybe it鈥檚 me, but this year seems to be particularly bad. The thing that bothers me most, perhaps, is the Zika virus nonsense. So many big names, including Canada鈥檚 Milos Raonic will be absent citing concerns about the virus. I have zero respect left for these athletes for falling prey to pseudoscientific fear-mongering. Even the World Health Organization rejected calls to postpone or move the Games.
Also, doping or no doping, it鈥檚 not a competition without the Russians. I know the IOC decided against a blanket ban, but the cloud of suspicion over the Games is going to make it difficult to get into them.
The other thing is the professionals. Sure, it鈥檚 nice to see the best of the best, but professional athletes are so damned spoiled these days (see my earlier comment about Zika).
It was Soviet 鈥渃heating鈥� back in the 1960s and 70s that ultimately led to the professional Olympics we have today. I put cheating in quotation marks because technically the Soviet athletes were not pros even though they were.
The Games are just so mired in muck these days, I鈥檓 not sure how to enjoy them.
In fact, maybe it鈥檚 time for a sabbatical from sports altogether. Has anybody else noticed the football messiah Chris Jones has so far failed to turn our Roughriders into anything short of an embarrassment. Darian 鈥淢r. Glass鈥� Durant鈥檚 injury notwithstanding, we suck.
And what about the Blue Jays? They have arguably the best starting pitcher in the world right now in Aaron Sanchez and they insist they are going to put him back in the bullpen. I get that the people managing the team are baseball professionals and I鈥檓 not, but that is just madness. 聽
Who am I kidding, though? Once the first event at Rio is underway, whether the Roughriders win or lose, no matter how stupid the Jays management is, I won鈥檛 be able to stay away.
-Thom Barker
A Chance
When the International Olympics Committee chose Rio de Janeiro, it was at a time when Brazil was trending in the economic world. The population was growing at a healthy rate unseen in years prior, poverty was declining and Brazil had already been chosen to host the Soccer World Cup. This was due to the efforts of their ambitious leader, President Lula. Now however, Brazil is experiencing a decline in all social and economic aspects. Subway infrastructure is delayed, the water is dirty, security is low and sickness lingers in the air. It looks more and more each day that Rio is the worst place to have decided on. Normally, I do not care to involve myself with sports, even on a global scale. With the safety and security of athletes in question this year though, I find myself concerned. If our athletes come back as carriers of a bug found in a poverty stricken city, there is a chance of it making its way through our towns. What I have to remember though, is that having the Olympics in Rio is a great chance for the economy to heal. The success of the Olympics can lead to job growth in the areas the city needs most. If the city can do its best to be ready in time for the start of the games, we should give it a chance.
- Michaela Miller
I'll watch them even if it explodes
Back when Rio won the 2016 Olympic bid, I was thrilled, entirely because my anti-American streak made me happy that it wasn鈥檛 going to Chicago. In spite of our neighbors south of the border being generally well suited to host a two week long sports meet, they always seem to have the attitude that they鈥檙e entitled to be an Olympic host and I鈥檓 always somewhat happy when the Americans don鈥檛 get what they want.
But Rio has had the problems endemic to the modern Olympic movement. The International Olympic Committee鈥檚 love of countries putting in a large amount of work just for them has always been a hinderance to a good games, and their love of awarding games to the city which is going to build the largest number of shiny new facilities in their honor is partially the reason why it鈥檚 becoming very difficult to find cities willing to host 鈥� Norway is a natural host for a winter games, but they also pulled their bid due to a disinterest in bending over backwards for IOC members 鈥� and the primary reason why the facilities are never actually finished before the Olympics start. We saw it in Sochi last winter games, we鈥檙e seeing it in Brazil now, and Brazil is also dealing with sanitary problems and the Zika virus. The narrative that nothing is finished, everything is a disaster and all the athletes will probably die is a pretty common one before every games, but Rio has been especially bad for it.
Brazil isn鈥檛 to blame for one of the other problems in the games, the that being caused by a Russian doping scandal banning the majority of their team. Which isn鈥檛 really a surprise, the Olympics have always had an element of being a proxy war between America and Russia, fought through athletics rather than bloodshed, but does mean that one of the main storylines that develops each games has been halted before they can begin 鈥� this particular remnant of the cold war did lead to some entertaining competition.
The world should probably give the IOC a black eye, and seems to be in the process of doing just that. Bids for future games are drying up, countries are getting less inclined to jump through the hoops they demand and we might see the committee get some much needed humility if nobody wants to host their party. I love the Olympics, I love how it brings out sports that are not as popular on their own and gives them two weeks in the international spotlight. I love the silly inspirational nonsense every TV network flogs, I love that it鈥檚 a big event that everyone watches around the world. But I don鈥檛 love how deliriously incompetent the IOC is, and maybe if Rio is a disaster it鈥檒l wind up saving them from themselves.
- Devin Wilger
Disinterested
Apparently the Summer Olympics are set to begin this week.
All right I was aware of that, but I鈥檒l admit it鈥檚 not very high on my 鈥榗are鈥� metre.
That surprises me even a little bit, since I am a fairly ardent sports fan.
And, I am also fiercely Canadian, so I appreciate when Canadians do well at sports.
But therein lies my two core issues which combine to dim my interest in the upcoming event.
Canada is simply not a particularly powerful country in terms of Summer Olympic sports. That is a result of several factors including a smaller population base, the tendency of athletes here to gravitate to sports with a possible pro future, (hockey, football, baseball), and a lack of government and corporate dollars to finance athlete development in Olympic sports.
In addition, most Summer Olympic sports just don鈥檛 make my interest list. In the past, at some point of boredom, I made a list of my favourite sports. Summer Olympic sports are not prominent on the list.
Basketball is on the list, but Canada鈥檚 men鈥檚 team disappointingly failed to make the Olympics even with two win and in games.
Rugby 7s is a list sport, but the men failed to make the cut. I鈥檒l likely watch the Canadian women, but in general I don鈥檛 follow women鈥檚 sports very much.
I love badminton, but Canada is not likely in the mix barring a monster effort, and finding isolated badminton coverage is not easy.
That leaves Canada鈥檚 equestrian team, a sport I love, and one where Canada should at least be in the mix.
But generally the Games can come, and go, I would barely notice, or care.
鈥� Calvin Daniels
