As I begin to type this, it is about 2:25 AM Monday Tokyo Time. Day +1.
The Tokyo Games of the XXXIInd Olympiad closed last night, with what appeared to be a simple Closing Ceremony, void of most of the pomp and celebration (and the huge concert -- can you imagine what kind of a J-Pop experience Tokyo would've had for the athletes in a fully-attended Games???) of a normal Closing.
(One which I also overslept the actual live stream, which WAS, unlike the Opening, a natural-sound only affair...)
The Inside the Games crew, which I again express my unending gratitude to for material, had a lot of fun at Thomas Bach's expense -- though they also noted the Japanese had heard QUITE ENOUGH of the IOC chair in the Opening Ceremony, so he scaled back his remarks.
And he called upon the youth of the world to descend on Paris -- though I am not sure he gave even the three-year amended timeframe...
... because I don't think ANYONE... ANYONE... has a clue of what kind of a world the Games of the XXXIIIrd Olympiad will have for everyone.
And you need look no further than the top of the medal table (I'll go into the numbers in another post...) for multiple ramifications of this fact.
First, I have a feeling that, as soon as Paris (if this doesn't manifest itself in Beijing or the USA boycotts!), there could easily be a change in who or how much of the Games you end up seeing on various television outlets.
The baseline ratings losses, Rio to Tokyo, for EVERY NIGHT of the Games start in the area of 40%.
The Olympics used to be the one guarantee every four years for ABC previously and NBC til now. So much so that, even this year, ABC/CBS/Fox got out of the way and did mostly rerun or discard programming against NBC's main Olympic coverage. (And, remember, even before Beijing, the full-sports NBC Sports Network goes away December 31st.)
But even this has fallen prey to the very reality that White America has had enough.
Nationalist White Cisgender America has had enough of the American Sports Machine, and all of it's trappings. And unless loyalty to Nationalist White Cisgender America is re-established, they're done and they're not coming back.
This isn't just Colin Kaepernick. This isn't just Megan Rapinoe. This is the misguided belief by these Red-Hatted Alternate Facts TERRORISTS that we don't love the country enough to be allowed to represent it, live in it, or live at all!
Yes, NBCUniversal bought the rights for a tremendous sum (one which largely keeps the IOC afloat) through Brisbane 2032.
But not only because of the reality of the ratings not justifying recouping the costs of such an effort (which is one of the reasons you saw even the NBCOlympics streams so bombarded with commercials -- and major American events on the NBCOlympics streams force-doublecasted with the NBC graphics and coverage, even if you decided to use the stream for the Integrated (World) Feed instead!!!), but because of the continued move toward streaming services, even on the networks (which see the new NFL contracts and the broadcasting of the USA men's basketball team on NBCUniversal's paid service, Peacock), one has to wonder if NBCUniversal, in any form resembling what it is now, survives to see 2024, much less 2032.
Then you have the very real political realities which are going to surround even the discussion of this team's performance in Tokyo. I have seen an EXPLOSION of right-wing propaganda in my Facebook demanding a loyalty test to Right Wing Nationalist White Cisgender America for anyone representing the country in any capacity.
I will say three things:
1) In a move which may compel, through the respect of wishes of a number of the readers of this blog, a permanent further boycott of Olympic coverage here, I do believe that non-cisgender athletes will be forcibly removed from the Games, starting with an IOC directive regarding transgenderism, etc., as the IOC states it will do for the member athletic sanctioning bodies. (For the record, all the current IOC announcement has implied is that it will give direction to the sanctioning bodies.)
2) I do believe some form of loyalty test will be required of the United States Olympic Team by Paris. How closely it represents a Red-Hat Manifesto will depend on the political climate of the country.
For the record, I do believe that a number of former Olympic hopefuls (both Left and Right) have discarded their Olympic dream because they cannot, in good conscience, support nor represent this America.
To give you an idea of how bad it's already getting in this country: The most liberal state in the nation, California, may have the Republican 25% of it's electorate unseat the governor of the state because the Republican crybabies want this state to become a COVID epicenter, with the 1.5-3% death rate this all would imply. A Black Oreo Rush Limbaugh clone is about to become the governor of this state unless Democrats come to their senses and forcibly send this off, as the previous polls several months ago indicated would happen by 20 points.
A recent San Diego Union-Tribune poll now has the governor being unseated by Larry Elder, with the vote to throw out Gov. Newsom winning by almost 15 points!
That one transgender BMX alternate was not graduated to the main team by the withdrawl of one of the two who were ahead of her on the team, as another example.
If this country lurches to the Right (midterms, Newsom recalled, etc.), you will see a demand of a far Whiter, cisgendered, probably more "appealing" Olympic team which might resemble what the 1936 Berlin Games was being put on for ifyouknowwhatI'msaying...
3) I believe this and maybe Beijing will be the last Olympics covered in any degree of this level of coverage, at least on mainstream American network and cable television.
I do believe there's going to be some degree of questions, starting tomorrow, at the offices of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
Yes, they won the medal table, 39 golds, 113 total. The total is about right.
But I DO wonder how much the political upheaval had to do with:
- Simone Biles, who probably netted a minus couple golds, even with Suni Lee taking the all-around.
- No gold wins in baseball, softball, or women's soccer.
- One gold win for the men on the track.
- A loss of five golds over Rio in the pool...
I mean, a fully-committed USA team might well have won 50!
And now, the barking's really gonna start. You watch. Closely.
