Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Where Have You Gone Dan Gable?

It's been a while since I've blogged, here, on my own little blog.  I've done some fill-in work for my wife on her blog and I've written plenty of articles for my church, but I've sadly neglected my own little piece of cyberspace.

I need to return.  My two readers are depending on me.

Actually I'm not blogging for anyone today.  I am on a rant.  I'm ticked off.  Angry.  I could type out those little symbols that they put over cartoon characters heads.  Today was going absolutely great until I happened across a headline online while looking for something entirely different.

Wrestling Dropped From Olympics.

You can read the article too.  It's hard to type when you'd rather throw something.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  You are going to drop one of the Olympics oldest sports, a sport that a great man nations compete in, from Russia to Iran, to China, to Cuba to the United States . . .  you're going to drop it so you can add something new?

One of the comments on that article said it nicely, "Ribbon dancing and trampoline jumping are now Olympic sports but wrestling is out?  What a joke."

When they deep sixed softball (which I was against) it was supposedly because there weren't enough countries who could compete.  Not the case here.  It is a sport that any nation can compete in.  AAAGGHH!

I wish I knew where to contact the IOC and blow up their inbox with petitions and complaints.  Maybe I'll have to settle for hanging them in effigy.

But instead of ending this in a venomous tirade I decided to suggest some new changes that the IOC should consider making.

They should drop the rowing competitions and replace it with aerial freestyle (where the contestants jump out of a plane and perform as many insane tricks as they can before pulling their parachute).

They should drop the shooting competitions and replace it with competitive web surfing.

They should drop bicycling and replace it with an International Dance Off.

They should drop diving and replace it with team Karaoke.

They should drop swimming and replace it with a Settlers of Catan tournament.

They should drop synchronized swimming and replaced it with a Battle Bots competition.  (OK I would actually go for that but I'd feel really bad for the athletes who have been training for years for the next Olympics).

They SHOULD replace rythmic dancing with a Jousting Competition

Of course they will never touch their media darlings: track and gymnastics.  But I might not even watch those next time.  I am so mad.  Maybe I'll be working on a time machine to go back to the original Olympics.  Where, you know, wrestling was one of events (the number of which you could count on your fingers).

I'm mad.  But I am slightly worried for the IOC when true supermen and former Olympic and collegiate wrestlers go looking of them.  You know men like Dan Gable, John Smith, Aleksandr Karelin, Cael Sanderson, Alexander Medved and Randy Couture go looking for them.

Happy hunting.

I did notice they didn't axe the shooting competition. You DON'T want those guys looking for you.


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