Olympics? I don't care...

The Olympics are ending today.  Is it bad of me to not really care?  I enjoy watching bits and pieces of it here and there.  A couple of minutes of figure skating, bobsledding, snowboarding, skiing, and I'm good.  I feel badly for not caring any more about it than that.  I realize these athletes put years of their lives into training for just this occasion.  Somehow, the enormity of it is lost on me.  It's just a whole lot of days that sports infiltrate the normal TV programming.  I haven't always been this ho-hum about the Olympics.

My parents love the Olympics.  They sit up every night watching until 11:00 or 11:30pm.  I can remember being more interested in them when I was a kid at home.  I particularly remember one Olympics.  I remember the year that Mary Lou Retton won the summer Olympics.  I'm thinking that was 1984.  I loved that.  I was so jealous of her gymnastic abilities.  I couldn't even do a cartwheel at that point.  I never did learn to do them well.  I could do the splits.  That was the extent of my gymnastic ablility.  I remember having to tryout for the cheerleading team my seventh grade year.  One requirement was that you had to do two gymnastic manuevers.  I managed to pull off a cartwheel and the splits.  Thank goodness the standards weren't any higher than that!

That actually brings me to another point.  Why don't kids have to tryout for sports anymore?  I mean, I realize that it's nicer to just let everyone play if they want.  However, I think there is something to be learned from failure.  I don't know of anyone that was permanently scarred from not making a team.  My kids' school doesn't have cheerleaders.  I'm fine with that.  They get on my nerves now.  I was a cheerleader in 7th and 8th grades.  I loved it.  Now, I just see them as unnecessary distractions.  It might be better if schools didn't let just everyone on the team that wants on the team.  Cheerleaders kind of suck now (not all).  I know.  That's horrible of me to say.  I can't help it!  They do!  You've got girls out there that don't have a clue what they're doing.  And the floor cheers...give me a break!  What happened to doing exciting lifts and formations?  Oh yeah!  You can't do that when your team is made up of girls not cut out for cheering.  Someone will get hurt.  I'm not referring to all levels of cheering.  I realize some high schools still have good squads, but it's been a NUMBER of years since I've seen a decent middle school squad.  

This idea of shielding kids from disappointment doesn't sit well with me.  I think there should be opportunities for everyone to participate.  I just don't think that every level of play should be open to whoever wants to join.  I think the sport suffers from this mindset.  I know the teams' abilities suffer from it.  I'm sure coaches would love to be able to focus on the kids who have the potential to make a successful team.  However, political correctness has forced them to deal with whatever group shows up.  I could NOT be a coach!

Okay.  I know my opinion on this probably isn't the popular one.  That's fine.  My opinion is just that, MY opinion.  Really, what would it hurt to teach kids to deal with disappointment?  It's not like there aren't countless opportunities outside of school to participate in whatever sports you want.  A few life lessons might be a good way to teach kids to deal with what life will send their way.  A lack of coping skills has become an epidemic in today's world.  

I guess that's enough venting for now.  Tune in tomorrow to see what kind of mood I'm in!!  :)