My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love ’em and I hate ’em and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.
Let’s get something straight right up front. The Olympics are a media event. Sure they’re a sports event too but the reality is that most of us, in fact most people throughout the history of the Olympics will only experience them through the media. As much as I would love to go to either a summer or winter Olympic games it’s just not likely unless by some miracle the winter Olympics end up in Holiday Valley or Peek n Peak.
So I was a little disappointed and surprised by some commentary that I came across recently about the Vancouver Olympics. The basic opinion was that they had no interest in the Winter Olympics. And this was from SPORTS guys. 40 years ago such statements would have been unimaginable.
One of them referred to the games as the “Women’s Olympics” rather than the Winter Olympics. Reason? Basically that outside of Men’s Hockey there aren’t any “Guy” sports at the Winter games. You know, the kind of sports where big sweaty guys get to beat on each other for our amusement. Plus there are too many sports that are decided by sissy things like judges scores and a stop watch. This point of view came from someone who fits my G-O-M-er category, or Grumpy Old Man. I keep hoping that we’ve seen the last the Gomer in sports but apparently not.
The other commentator was much younger. Seems he doesn’t understand the sports and he’s never heard of most of the athletes. He likes sports with big stars. This is the American cult of personality raising it’s idiotic head again. If you’re not a star then you must not be interesting. In my experience too many stars are astoundingly dull when examined too closely. But then the star worshippers don’t tend to examine their idols. Star worship is for the lazy and the shallow.
I like the Olympics BECAUSE of the unknowns, give me the Jamaican bobsled team, and the Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards over the Dream Team in Basketball or the NHL stars in hockey. Yes, the context of the Olympics has changed in 100 years. A century ago the best athletes in the world were almost entirely amateurs. So I don’t expect to put the genie back in the bottle. I’d still rather watch people putting out Olympic efforts for the love of the sport rather than watch over paid “stars” give me 80% efforts because they don’t want to hurt their chances on their paying jobs. And I love watching competitions that I rarely see than watch one more slam dunk.
So light the flame, strap on your skis and skates and get ready for a run down the bobsled track. I’m ready for the Winter Games.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
“The View From the Phlipside” airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright – Jay Phillippi 2010
Stories Are My Life 
I always thought the IOC lost their greatest opportunity when they failed to name Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards the Olympian who most exemplified the Olympic Spirit. Instead, they did everything they could to thwart his participation in any other Olympic games, the reason—he was too much of an amateur! Duh! Is that not what the Olympics were originally supposed to be about instead of the big, commercial cash cow it has become?
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