and so the winter olympics have started. more thrills, chills, and spills. hopefully, no more deaths. i am very dismayed that the network chose to show the actual footage of the luge rider on his failed run. not needed, not necessary. although i have been an "athlete" i suppose since i raced my first bike race in 1979, i didn't pay much attention to sport in general. i don't remember ever watching a whole football or baseball game. i'm sure i watched the wide world of sports on abc just to see that skier go down in the agony of defeat, but that was the extent of my interest in sport.
that changed in 1984. that summer, i happened to be around the tele a lot and caught a bunch of the summer olympic games. i got hooked. i got hooked on sports i didn't like. i was inspired by wrestling of all sports. wrestling, a sport i loathed because my brother was a wrestler in high school. but i remember watching the unlikely hero winning a gold metal and it inspired me. i watched the stars of those games, carl lewis, mitch gaylord, mary lou, micheal jordan, greg louganis...stars in sports i don't care about, but i sure remember their names and their performances. and what about alexi grewal, and nelson vails?? again, cycling stars in cycling sports i didn't care about at the time, but they were AWESOME.
it's taken me more years to come around to the winter sports. i hate cold. i hate watching the cold on tv. but some years ago i sat down and watched speed skating. and of course, who can resist the downhill skiing? and now snowboarding has me intrigued.
ah, the olympics. a surrogate for tour coverage on tv, and a great time to be inspired.
5 comments:
I know right? I was watching today and got the business from Heather.
I agree. I have now caught that crash a few times and it sickens me every time. I have a friend that is in Ireland and they are not showing it there, so hopefully his family will be spared!
I think showing the luge run in the right context is good. I see it as part of life and something that happens, horrible yes. Real yes.
Isn't it up to us to decided how we feel and either turn it off or make our judgements while watching. Its also our duty as parents to either insulate our children or explain to them what happened.
i agree that it's our own responsibility to watch things or not on tv. but they showed the clip in the first 60 seconds of the olympic broadcast friday night. there wasn't much time to NOT watch, it looked like stock luge footage.
i just don't know if it's good journalism to show the moment of someone's horrific death. i guess that's not for me to decide, but personally i have avoided the footage and the story since then.
that picture is funny!!
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