I love the Winter Olympic games. I have to admit, I love the winter games in comparison to the summer counterpart. Maybe it is the intimacy. Could be the sports and or competitions. I do not know.
One thing that I do know is that the XXI Olympic Winter Games has been covered in the usual insipid manner one now comes to expect in the Left Angeles Times. Yes, many a moon ago, the Los Angeles Times was a decent source of information. But now it appears to be a propaganda arm of the Democrat party.
Example number one is this article in Friday's editions of the Times. The implication of the article is that there is no longer a nationalistic view of the Winter Olympics. Oh, of course there is a nationalism among the eeevvviiilll Americans. Why it even gets down to the counter-cultural snowboarders. Just read this horrifying quote from awesome men's snowboarder Shaun White:
"To the rest of the world, it's the U.S. against them," he said. "It's more about where you're from than being an individual."
Oh, the shame. The shame that Mr. White may feel that there is a rivalry between the United States and the rest of the world.
Not to be outdone, Gretchen Bleiler, the woman snowboarder had this frightening observation:
"You get up to that halfpipe and you can't help but feel patriotic."
Damnit, Gretchen! You can not say that! After all, you should be a citizen of the world. You should not think about your country!
Yet in the same article, it chronicles how Red China is becoming the Olympic powerhouse that the former Soviet Union once was. Sure, they do not have a Michael Phelps. But they try their hand at other sports. Like wrestling. Of course the Times finds a couple of intellectuals trying to peddle this lack of nationalism. But, I am sorry. It is not true. My heart soared when Apolo Ohno won silver last night in speedskating. And today, the United States women's hockey team gave Red China a nice spanking, 12-1. I can not imagine that Red China did not feel some shame for such a shellacking.
The coverage of the tragic death of Republic of Georgia luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, during a practice run on the Opening Day of the XXI Olympic Winter Games is also overdone and bordering on hysterical.
Look, luge is a fast and dangerous sport. It is not for the faint of heart. And I do not think Mr. Kumaritashvili was faint of heart.
But if one reads more of the Times coverage, well this "analysis" by writer Candus Thomson indicates that the sport is too fast. And in the article, it points out that between training runs and actual Olympic events, the total number of fatalities is, hold on to your seat, four. Count 'em. Four. That includes Mr. Kumaritashvili's tragic death.
Why some "columnists" that write for the Times thought the International Olympic Committee was heartless for allowing the opening ceremony to go on. Bill Plashcke seems to be having a lot to write about this tragedy. One would have to wonder if Mr. Plashcke may not be just milking the death for a few column inches.
I get it.
The Left Angeles Times is not reporting on the game, per se. No, they have to interject their opinions, parsed as "analysis". Their wallowing over a tragedy that has only happened a total of four times in the history of the modern Olympics, summer and winter.
Maybe this is why few people beyond the confines of the liberal-left establishment in the greater Los Angeles area have given up on the Times. They find few precious column inches for reporting and a helluva lot for pontification.
Please, please Los Angeles Times. Try some r e p o r t i n g from the XXI Olympic Winter Games. Maybe people will once again turn to your newspaper for news. Sports news.
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