It's not all of a sudden. I voted against the Vancouver Winter Olympics way back when we had the referendum.
That much I figured. Not sure how I would have voted, but my reasoning would probably be different than yours.
The Olympics was, in theory, about amateur sports, about pure athletics - it hasn't been that for decades.
It was probably never that way. Technically the games were to honor Zeus, until of course the Christian emperor put an end to the games in an attempt to stamp out paganism in favor of Christianity. But even in the ancient years it was really mostly about politics and asserting dominance. Sorta like today. Things don't change as much as you might think. The fact that money wasn't a big part of the events back then may have had to do with it's religious context and the fact that satellite TV didn't exist. But that doesn't mean Olympians didn't get fame and fortune in other ways.
But you do raise a good point about money. It should be mostly about glory as the cash prizes do seem to cheapen it a bit. But at the same time I can't see how you'd eliminate it either as modern athletics requires money to train and organize. If it were purely amateur the Olympics probably would be far less popular. You know, you can go watch a college or high school hockey game for free, but who does that? Instead they pay top dollar for an NHL team. People want to see the very best and are willing to pay for it.
These days you get professional athletes with huge payouts and giant sponsorship deals - you get huge media productions and enormous public debt while private and giant corporations make huge profits which they tend to refuse to share with the people who actually foot the bill.
How could they be sponsors and not also help foot the bill? Isn't a sponsor someone who contributes to the costs? The beer league arena that I play at has corporate sponsors who pay for the right to plaster a big poster ad on the wall, which helps reduce the cost of our team fees. Of course, it's so small that no major corporations actually advertise, it's just small mom and pop shops, including my buddy's DJ business who also plays on one of the teams. The Olympics is not that much different, just on a grander scale. I do have to admit though, it's kinda funny that McDonalds is an Olympic sponsor. That just seems wrong for some reason.
Sure, if it's fine art that disintegrates in couple of weeks. Most fine art lasts longer.
Even temporary art is considered art. In the end it's all about the experience and what you get out of it. Obviously you don't get it, which is fine. I guess my beef here is that you think people who think differently are "rubes".
So do useful challenges ...
That's just you being judgmental. Perhaps you should take up a sport. It's not just a waste of time, but good for the health.
