A controversial idea to add juice to the Olympics

If you’re watching the Olympics you are among a relative minority. The first two days of the Olympics have seen a major dip in ratings when compared with this time four years ago in London.

TV ratings for the first two nights fell 28 percent and 32 percent, respectively, over the four-year time span, according to the Hollywood Reporter, though some of that is likely attributed to variables of how people are watching.

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KIRO Radio’s John Curley says the days of the Miracle on Ice are gone because Americans are less “jingoistic” — patriotic to the extreme — as they used to be. The idea of America taking on the world is not the same as more and more people hop from country-to-country and we become “more of a world group.”

“The idea of us against the world, I kind of felt that when I was a kid growing up and watching Mark Spitz swim in 1972,” he said. “Nowadays, it seems of feels like the air has been let out of that balloon and maybe within 12 years or something the Olympics go away because it’s just too costly for the host them to take care of. Also, people have maybe lost interest because the athletes themselves realize, what am I getting for all of this hard work?”

With that in mind, Curley suggests it’s time for a change that could spice up the Games, as well as make them more honest.

“They’re cheating anyway, so I say let them cheat,” Curley said. “The main thing is that people don’t want to be lied to. If you’re watching somebody in a race and know the person is cheating or have acted like they haven’t in the past, it’d be better if they just admit to the whole thing.”

KIRO News anchor Kim Shepard said such a move would be a slippery slope because of health issues related to doping and also that it would be a hard pill for sponsors like Nike to swallow. Curley disagreed, adding that he thinks it’s time to allow steroids for athletes of all kinds, including in baseball.

“Let’s see you hit the ball 600 feet,” he said. “People would tune in to watch someone hit the ball out of the field. I don’t care how many drugs they put into their system if they are able to perform at such a level, it’s even that much more exciting. We already know you’re cheating in cycling and these other sports, let them cheat as much as they want. Just don’t compare the records.”

 

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