I'm Rooting for America From A Far
By Matt Dery
It is August and it is definitely a slow time in sports. It's the perfect time for the summer Olympics to take center stage and I think it is nice that sports fans have something else to gravitate towards.
I am not one of those people. Don't get me wrong, I hope the United States wins medal after medal, I just don't really care.
I just can't fake it. Swimming doesn't interest me. Gymnastics do nothing for me unless my daughter is taking a class and I can watch her. The "Fab Five" to me will always be Jalen, Chris, Juwan, Jimmy and Ray. I cannot fake this. I do not know who many of these Olympians are and I don't really have the time to get to know them.
I'm just not interested. When I think of great athletes, I think of Jim Brown, Michael Jordan, Calvin Johnson, and even Mike Trout (I know, that is geeky). I don't think of Michael Phelps. Don't get me wrong, what Phelps has accomplished is just incredible and it is great that he is an American; I am just not rushing to the TV to watch it.
I wonder if any of these athletes laugh at the media? There are so many writers and reporters who know NOTHING about the sport and once every four years, these guys and gals travel to the site and act like they know. It is strange to me to read columns from very good scribes who obviously have not seen these athletes ever before. It would be like someone hiring me to cover Indy car racing. Do you really think NBC's Dan Patrick or Al Michaels care about Ryan Lochte? The media on twitter are all going crazy for Lochte and others and obviously, the Olympics is his time and their time to shine. But, next year at the World Championships or at the Grand Prix Series (I had to Google that), will Erin Andrews tweet us that Phelps or Lochte is kicking butt? I doubt it.
I will never tell our audience at The Ticket what to do or what to watch. That is not my style. But I just can't get into the Olympics.
I've tried.
