Keller @ Large: Not Watching The Olympics
BOSTON (CBS) - The Summer Olympic Games are underway in Rio, and I wish all of the competitors well, especially our U.S. and New England athletes. I'm sure we all admire their dedication and skill, and we'll be pulling for them.
However, count me among those who won't be watching.
I just can't get past what I learned about the people running the Olympics from their disastrous attempt to hook Boston as host of the games for 2024. Remember how they came into town with promises of cost control they couldn't possibly keep? How they would announce prospective venues without even bothering to talk to the actual owners of the site first, let alone the neighbors?
How they tried to preemptively muzzle Boston city employees from criticizing any aspect of the games? How they insulted our intelligence by making no-show board members of beloved local sports stars, as if we were a bunch of sheep who wouldn't bother to think for ourselves?
And the news out of Rio leading up to these games has been even worse.
Broken promises by the host country to clean up filthy water that contains drug-resistant bacteria, to the point where water sports competitors are being told not to get their heads wet, violations of human rights, stolen and wasted spending, shoddy construction, and as the games begin, a huge shortfall in expected ticket sales.
The Olympic athletes and the Olympic ideal are great; the games themselves are not. Instead, they are a testament to arrogance, greed and social indifference.
No, I won't be watching these Olympics. I'll be celebrating the fact that they're not coming here in eight years from now.
