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Showing posts from July 31, 2016

The Olympics, cargo shorts and other former stars

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The Olympics aren’t the crowd-gathering, world-unifying spectacle they once were. In our whiz-bang, attention-splintered culture, the 17-day event is too long-winded, too story-driven, too much longer than a YouTube clip. The Olympics are now kind of like, hmm ... Let's call them the cargo shorts of the sports world. Still easy to find. Still offering some value. Just not really in fashion. But it’s been years since I’ve worried about trying to be cool, so I’m comfortable admitting that I enjoy the Olympics. I’m also comfortable in cargo shorts because, despite the fashion trends, my personal trends still require carrying stuff around. * * * The Olympics aren’t what they used to be, but that’s partly because there used to be very limited television options. Back during the Summer Games of 1984 in Los Angeles, the first Olympics I remember watching, the quest for gold was the clear entertainment leader. My parents had finally broken down and signed up for cable TV, whic