Hockey Whooha
With
Wingnut
Of
This week in the the Whooha I'm going to talk about playing (or not playing) in the Olympics. As I listen and read about this player and that player not wanting to play in the Olympics this year I have mixed thoughts about it.
I mean, on one hand, my first thought of a player that says "no I'm not going to play", is why the hell not? It's a rare occurrence that the Olympics even happen, let alone being *selected* to play and represent your country. It should be looked at as an honor and an obligation to play for your country.
I remember growing up and being so excited when the Olympics were going to happen. The worlds best "amateur" athletes performing against one another, some of them waiting to turn pro in order to play in the games. Now the $7 million a year "stars" sit back and decide *if* they are going to play. Some of the countries that are trying to compete don't have that type of budget for their entire programs. I really think that "pro" athletes should be excluded from the games and leave the games to the future stars of the sports world.
Now that I've bitched about the high priced babies of the league not playing in the games. I do understand (a little) why they might not want to be selected to play. All of these guys have bonus plans in their contracts, and the break (and extra playing time that goes with it) can have an impact on their play. There was an obvious "hangover" after the last Olympic games, the games for the first two weeks were .. well boring.
Now if I was an NHL team owner, I would not want my $7 million dollar investment doing what I paid him to do, for someone else. Not to mention the apparent need for the nutjobs of the world to blow stuff up. There seems to always be some controversy at the games anyway, remember the trashed rooms of the US hockey team?
I guess my final thoughts on this are to the "good ole boys" that run the games. Leave the games to the youth of the world and let them show their pride and athletic ability to the world, it's much more entertaining.
