COMMENTARY: Let’s return to a purer idea of sport

c. 1996 Religion News Service (Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. His home page on the World Wide Web is at http://www.agreeley.com. Or contact him via e-mail at agreel(at)aol.com.) (UNDATED) I hate the Olympics. I hate the ballyhoo and […]

c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. His home page on the World Wide Web is at http://www.agreeley.com. Or contact him via e-mail at agreel(at)aol.com.)

(UNDATED) I hate the Olympics.


I hate the ballyhoo and the babble, the hyperbole and hypocrisy, the pomposity, posing and pretense. I hate the making of heroes and of goats, the supercilious, cynical, and mean-spirited”in your face”sports journalists, the pseudo-patriotism and the phony glory.

In truth, most Olympic competition is boring, something like watching grass grow. For me thus far, the games are a better cure for insomnia than counting sheep.

But what I hate most about the Olympics is the ruination of young lives, of bodies and souls, of youth and joy by coaches and parents who believe far more than did the late Coach Vince Lombardi that winning is all that matters in life.

All one need to do is to look at the misshapen bodies of women gymnasts, swimmers and divers to realize that these young women are the victims of child abuse.

Excellence in sports for young people has come to mean that they must give up their lives in dedication to training. Women who push their bodies to the limit also run the risk of doing grave harm to their endocrine systems. And the temptation is strong for male and female athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs.

As I understand it, drug technology has progressed far more rapidly than the ability _ or the willingness _ of organizations like the Olympics to detect them. Tests for anabolic steroids work some of the time. But urine analysis will not pick up human growth hormones and other performance-enhancing drugs that may increase athletic strength, but also can kill _ or permanently mess up a young life.

Sophisticated blood tests are required to detect such drugs, but the Olympic organization does not want to conduct them. Of course, not every Olympic athlete over-trains or takes drugs. Presumably, they are not necessary to ensure excellence in Olympic competitions for equestrian contests, skeet shooting or beach volleyball.

But in the big-ticket competitions _ swimming, diving, track, gymnastics _ there is every reason to believe that some participants can and do get away with taking drugs. One merely has to look at women divers, for example, to know that they have done terrible harm to their bodies.


My distaste for the Olympics is part of my dislike of much of what currently passes for sports. Many college football players ingest recreational or performance-enhancing drugs. Unless they are blatant, they do not get caught. Many a coach knows about such activities and winks.

The exploitation of African-Americans in college athletics programs is deplorable. Many of these young men and young women are under so much pressure to compete that they do not have the time or energy to devote to their studies.

Many, too, will not make it to the ranks of professional sports. Their colleges stand to make big money from athletics competition, yet the young athletes may well end up back on the streets from which they were recruited by false promises.

They are not the only victims of our fascination with athletic achievement. How many teen-age tennis stars or Little League players will end up emotional wrecks at the hands of ambitious parents?

Can anyone seriously believe that elaborate grammar school athletic programs with summer practices and hard-nosed coaches are good for the maturation of twelve year olds?

It’s time to return to the good old days of early and middle adolescent sports, to pick-up basketball and volleyball, softball and baseball games in schoolyards and vacant lots and prairies, to adults who let kids run their own athletic programs and enjoy their lives.


And how will we make it possible for children to play their own games in their own way? For starters, let’s take some of the money squandered on the Olympics to carve out a few playing fields in the nation’s cities.

If we build them, the kids will come.

MJP END GREELEY

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!