Earlier this week the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics took place in Rio De Janeiro amongst controversy brought on not by security issues, event facilities or any other concerns that had been insinuated by those opposed to Brazil getting the Olympic nod to host the games four years ago, but rather by a group of American swimming competitors on a drinking bender that ended up involving a taxi, a gas station bathroom, some guys with badges, a few guns and a whole bunch of misconceptions brought on by lies.
For those of my fellow Observers who haven't kept up with this years Olympic news or for that matter, like myself, cared to, it was hard to be indifferent to the petulant antics of one Ryan Lochte. The USA's second ranked, 12 time Olympic medalist swimmer with a net worth of 6 million that can't seem to decide what color he wants his hair to be. On the evening of August 15th, after Lochte and three other members of the US swim team, Jack Congar, Gunnar (Really?!?....Gunnar?) Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, broke Olympic rules and went out barhopping, Lochte claimed that the fish-like foursome had been chased in their taxi by armed men wearing badges, impersonating police officers, forced them to stop and robbed them at gunpoint in the parking lot of a gas station with one of the assailants placing the barrel of his gun against Lochte's forehead during the incident.
After having a little time to think about it, Lochte changed his story in an interview that had his taxi actually pulling into the gas station willingly, then they were robbed and the gun was now only pointed in his direction. When questioned in a later interview about the discrepancy in his story he posed the statement, "Why would we make this up?". Then, this widely considered back water, third world, behind the times country went to the video tape for the instant replay that showed that no robbery had occurred.... at all. What it did show was four American, belligerent, drunks pulling into a gas station looking for a bathroom to relieve themselves of the evening's liquid intake. After emerging from the restroom, they were approached by security guards who had heard a loud noise and then detained the group, accusing them of vandalizing the facility.
Although there are conflicting reports of what exactly the damages to the restroom were, reports have varied from rock star hotel room trashing, to a hole punched in a wall, to a simple damaged sign, the reality of the teammates filing a false robbery report is something that these four dimwits couldn't swim away from. As Lochte left (fled) Brazil, the other three involved admitted the truth, paid fines and were eventually released. I guess Lochte saw what was coming and got out while the getting was good. It made no difference as he has ben formally charged by Brazilian authorities for filing a false report, is facing an 18 month sentence, if convicted, as well as fines and could be tried even if he does not return to the country to face the charges.
All I can write, my loyal reader, is..... it figures. With all the hullabaloo going around these days, all the complaints and criticisms about the actions of foreigners and immigrants on our soil and this is how someone who is supposed to be representing our country conducts himself abroad? Oh, well.... not to worry. I've heard that not only is he paying for his arrogance in a criminal sense, he's lost sponsorships with Ralph Lauren and mattress retailer Airweave. The one company that I was surprised scratched Lochte like jock itch was Speedo as he was probably the only guy hat could actually wear their product without being socially eviscerated. I wouldn't feel sorry for him for too long, though. Despite these companies walking away from this twit in a swimming cap, Pine Bros. has just signed him to hawk their new cough drops and he is set to appear on the 23rd season (23rd?!?....Seriously?!) of Dancing With The Stars. I can't stand it! Does any of this make any sense? As I stated earlier.... it figures!
Another thing that falls out of the realm of logic is the popularity of the Olympians in the first place. Is there anyone else besides me that never heard of these people before a couple of weeks ago? And swimming groupies?.... Really?!?! The only swimmer I ever heard of when I was a kid was Mark Spitz and the only reason I knew who he was is because he was on my cousin's Wheaties box across the breakfast table with the caption "Mark Spitz, Olympic Swimmer" under his picture. As far as I was concerned, if athletes weren't important enough to make it onto a box of Cocoa Puffs or Kabooms, I wasn't impressed. And speaking of Olympian cereal endorsements.... does chlorine cause brain damage or something? The last time we entered the five ring circus another one of our swimmers was dropped by Kellogg's because he thought it was a great idea to post pictures of himself doing bong rips on social media.
What I really want to know is anybody actually watching this? Are people's lives so void of purpose that they sit around cheering for sports every four years that they wouldn't watch if they were paid to the rest of the time? "Look at the scoreboard Russia! Yeah!!... We really kicked your ass at.... badminton!... In your face, Putin!!! USA! USA! USA!". Do we really want to put our national pride into something like table tennis? I suppose it worked for Forrest Gump, but that was just a movie, after all. Maybe we should invest it into something that we could better relate to, like.... capitalism.... money. I think that has more to do with the Olympics for our country rather than worldwide athletic competition. Look at it in this light. Out of 207 countries, with over 11,000 athletes competing and 918 medals up for grabs at this year's games only 87 countries took medals home. The lion's share going to the top ten placing countries that included The USA, Great Britain, Russia, China, Germany, Japan and France. Coincidently, all of who are the most wealthy out of the competing countries.....Hmmmm..... Strange how that worked out, isn't it?
Now, let's examine the athletes themselves, shall we? Lochte is a perfect example of what this country produces. Whiny, self important, well to do cry babies that have nothing better to do than practice in their own private facility with the only objective being to win themselves or their parents an Olympic gold medal to hang on their wall and show off to their country club friends while waiting for the phone to ring with endorsement offers. Only financially well off individuals can be so committed as well as afford the cost that competition has attached to it. Every once in a while you'll see a working stiff like Tanya Harding make it to the games, but it's not very often and they don't seem to turn out much better than the ones who skate in on silver spoons. Just ask Nancy Kerrigan.... yeah... I don't know what she's doing now either. At least Harding was on World's Dumbest and is doing pin-up calendars.
The sad truth is that the ones we are cheering for today will be soon forgotten. Quick!... Name one member of the 1980 Olympic hockey team..... See my point? The Dorothy Hamel's and Mary Lou Retton's are few and far between and when the one's we do remember act in a way that society perceives as a betrayal to that memory, we'd just as soon forget them and wish we had never heard of them at all. So let me get this straight.... It was Ok to use Bruce Jenner as a role model back in the seventies but because now he wants to be called Caitlyn... it's not? Does he wanting to be a she diminish what he did back then? And now, people who could care less about what he did in the past consider her to be someone to look up to for what she's doing now. It's all very confusing.
That's the problem with role models. All we do by putting them on a pedestal for all to fawn over is feed their ego to the point that they start to believe they can do no wrong. That despite their actions or words, they think that people will still look up to them and continue to choose to emulate them. As a matter of fact, we have two presidential candidates that follow the pattern to a tee. Forget the celebrities. What about parents? Doesn't going to work and sacrificing their needs in order to provide for their family count for something in the role model category? Shouldn't they be someone to look to for guidance instead of a super model, an actor, a politician or a spoiled rotten 32 year old brat that can swim? If we gave credit only to those that deserve it through their actions we would spare ourselves the disappointment from those that don't when they fall from grace. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, the Curling national semi-finals are on.
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