The Peterson Principle 7/30/12

Tim Peterson

I’m not sure what that was. It certainly wasn’t an opening ceremonies for an Olympic games was it? If you didn’t know better you would think you were watching the beginning of  a Broadway musical or some type of promotion for a Disney movie.

I mean, really they’re all boring. Watching an Olympic Games opening ceremony is about as fascinating as watching a plant grow. But this one was over the top dead. Athens and Bejing were hard to sit through as well but Athens had tradition and Bejing’s special effects made it somewhat compelling but London was boorish, and at times a little creepy.

What do Harry Potter characters, Mary Poppins, Cruella de Vil and kids in pajamas being read bedtime stories by nurses have to do with Olympic athletes? It was five hours of pure torture. There was one positive outcome. All insomniacs were immediately cured.

No, in case you’re wondering, I didn’t watch the entire five grueling hours. But I did see enough to know that it was an absolute yawn fest. Fortunately I had the Dodgers and Hanley Ramirez to save the evening.

The last decent Olympic opening ceremonies I can remember was Los Angeles in 1984. Who can forget Rafer Johnson running up the steps of the Coliseum with the torch that was originally brought into the stadium by Gina Hemphill, who is the granddaughter of Jesse Owens? I mean the whole thing brought goose bumps. The one Friday night in London brought snores.

Did the Queen really need to be involved? Judging by the look on the Queen’s face did she really want to be involved? And whoever declared that the ceremonies have to last five hours? Okay, maybe it was actually about four plus but anything over three is way too long. After that it gets drawn out, agonizing and just plain monotonous.

There wasn’t even a single renowned Olympic athlete that lit the cauldron that will burn until the end of the games on August 12. Instead it was seven young athletes that supposedly embodied the London Games motto of hope to “inspire a generation.”

Why not trot out an athlete from the 1948 London Olympics to light the torch or even make a speech? There are still six surviving athletes from those games including one from the basketball team that was interviewed over the weekend.

Inspiring the next generation of athletes is fine but the opening ceremonies should be about honoring the ones that have come before us and letting them shine one more time.

Showing the athletes from all of the different countries walk in the stadium is awesome. That’s what the opening ceremonies should be about. But after all the hours of the other garbage, it seemed like they were being rushed into the stadium with barely a mention. By the time they were  being introduced it was nearly 11:30 pm for people tuning in here in California.

Even NBC announcer Bob Costas mentioned that notes about the countries were being given to him at “warp speed” as he tried to keep up. They should have been brought in about about an hour or so into the ceremony or when you know, people are still awake. At least that way the announcers could give them their proper due. Last I checked the Olympics were supposed to be about the athletes not fictitious storybook characters.

I love the Olympics. I’ve been watching the coverage almost non stop since they began. There’s also been a great local flavor with South El Monte bantamweight boxer Joseph Diaz winning his first bout and Kim Rhode from El Monte winning the Gold Medal in skeet shooting.

The games are great. As for the opening ceremonies? London missed its calling.

That’s my principle.

Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com.

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