The International Olympic Committee dropped its pants when it dropped wrestling from the 2020 Games. It was one of the few sports that actually evolved from the original Greek games over two millenniums ago, is the sixth most popular collegiate sport ahead of swimming and tennis and is second most universal sport with 177 countries participating with weight classes for both men and women.
Why did they drop wrestling? It doesn't get the ratings and the Olympics has been nothing more than an unreality show for decades. Beach volleyball is to volleyball what mud wrestling is to wrestling. So why don't they just add mud wrestling? That's done in bikinis too.
And god forbid they drop pingpong, trampoline or badminton. They've brought back golf so all you need now is shuffleboard and bridge and you can hold your own Olympics every time you go on vacation.
I won't pick on synchronized swimming since I actually like Esther Williams musicals but if we're going to make the performing arts sports why not Olympic poetry slams, polka dancing and world idol singing?
Television didn't take over the Olympics; television owns the Olympics and if any sport no matter how storied and noble isn't selling the useless crap we impoverish ourselves devouring it is ripe for the chopping block. Why doesn't the IOC just cut to the chase and make sex an Olympic Sport with freestyle copulation, mixed doubles and no hands, no hips head giving events? And if that doesn't work why don't we forget the Ancient Greek model altogether and just do the Roman Games with beheadings, lion feedings and whatever other torture and murder looks good on the small screen?
Don Arrup
Satire1
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