XP Men’s Beijing One World One Dream Hoody

The 2008 Summer Olympics kick off in two days, and while individuals outside the U.S. are mortgaging their homes to endorse efforts at attending the games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, most Americans are preparing by barely noticing that this is an Olympic Year.  Fairly low hype considering the US will send 596 athletes to the games (according to the U.S. Olympic Committee). 

Not only are the Olympic Games the most prestigious athletic venue in the entire world, it is the most coveted broadcasting event in all of television, with NBC paying upward of $2 billion for the advertising rights; hard to believe that American viewership of a CSI repeat beat out a night of the Winter Games two years ago (not to mention American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Survivor).    

The U.S. market response to the Olympics seems to be a pretty good litmus test for the collective intelligence and ranking of our nation.  The decadence pattern for the U.S. ratings of the Olympics over the past couple of decades seems to parallel the U.S. decline in literacy (US ranked 55th) , infant mortality (48th), Freedom of the Press (44th), Overall health (72nd), and other measures of a countries worth.   

With NBC declaring that they will present more than 3,600 hours of coverage for the Beijing Games (more than the combined total of every Summer Olympics ever televised in the U.S.), 212 hours of Olympics a day, it’s about time Americans get their sporting priorities in order and honor the greatest athletes as they represent their countries in the biggest sporting venture the world has ever known.

*Keep reading for more info about the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing China.

At more than 80% sold out, NBC has already secured sponsorships that has driven Olympic advertising revenues north of $1.8 billion.  According to Brian Walker, senior director of corporate communications at NBC sports “…we are on pace to break records for the Olympics”.  With triple the coverage of the Athens Games (2004) and 20 times the coverage of the Atlanta Games (1996), lets hope the American public can keep up.

During the average night in prime time, the games will be 75% live including the major events, but with the pending talks of boycotts and in the wake of the Beijing ticket scam, there are many individuals left frustrated with these Games. 

Shrouded in controversy, there has been a major push from government officials around the globe to prevent athletes from attending the Beijing Olympic Games, in a human rights protest stemming from China’s mistreatment and even genocidal tactics used in Tibet and Nepal.  Stephen Harper (the Canadian Prime Minister) is one that has already boycotted the opening ceremonies. 

Though the Chinese actions have been closely watched, it’s difficult to say whether some events are staged such as Tibetan protestors inciting a riot that lead to the “Chinese reported” death of 22 people (the Tibetan government reported one hundred more were not accounted for).  The Dali Lama insists that the Tibetan protestors were peaceful and that the riots were staged.  It seems prudent to mention that there was a photo of Chinese soldiers being handed monk looking clothing. 

Hitler used the now traditional torch relay as a tool of propaganda to help introduce European citizens to his fascist government and project the image of the Third Reich.  The Chinese also planned their torch route with careful political precision, planning on marching through Tibet, up Everest, and through Taiwan’s capital, Taipei.  Due to tension between the Taiwanese and Chinese leaders, the Olympic Committee changed the route in respect to Taipei, but China’s history with Tibet, Taiwan and Darfur are certainly political concerns that should not be taken lightly. 

I think it’s great that more attention and awareness can be directed towards the 200,000 deaths in Darfur by Sudan (supported by Chinese oil and military interest) or the gross mistreatment of Tibetan monks, but in the act of a boycott we not only forfeit our liberty to a force of evil, but we deliberately contaminate the spirit of an event specifically designed to unit the nations of the world in celebration of basic and fundamental human achievement and passion.  If anything, shouldn’t we use this forum as a platform to showcase not the inequality and disapproval of one nation, but the achievements of the human nation?

Citius, Altius, Fortius,