With the Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympic Games happening tonight, a small ray of light may glimmer in the darkness of the upcoming Games. It seems that everywhere you look, there’s some article or television piece that blasts the Games, the IOC, and Rio. Even I at evilopinion have reported on the problems with the country, the Games, the IOC, performance enhancing drugs, the Russians who should be banned from the Games. It is not a pretty picture at all.
The most scathing report is a 90 minute “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that covers the problems with Rio in detail: raw sewage; unfinished housing for the athletes; the use of money for a big party when the people are clearly suffering. And it also covers the money the IOC receives from the Games (“extorts,” perhaps?) from the host city and how little of the profits go back to that city.
In addition, there was far attention given to the white elephants that the multi-million dollar stadiums become; beautiful palaces when the Games are played and never used again and crumble to decay. The show goes back to previous Olympic sites to find decayed, unused structures, shadows of their former selves as poverty continues as a scourge to the areas. A visit to Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, shows still beautiful, if hauntingly empty locations for which the government will reportedly pay $75 million over the next 4 years to keep the Olympic Village clean even though no one uses it.
It seems like there are nothing but bad stories: lax security due to budget cutbacks as a result of the worst recession in Brazil in years; people who lost their houses because they were in the way of a stadium or a road needed for the Olympics; slave labor at Rio and other Games; unsafe work environment for those immigrant workers.
But it is the Olympics, the sports event that truly brings the world together. We may not care about certain events for 206 of the 208 weeks since the last Summer Olympics, but for the next 2 weeks, we will learn the names and life stories of many of these athletes. Some of the stories will be compelling, many unbelievable, some heartbreaking. Some athletes will become household names over the next 3 weeks. Most will fade into obscurity.
Here is Chicago, people are happy that the city lost the Games to Rio – budget problems at every level of government, a ridiculous level of gun violence on the streets of certain areas of the city, Even those who supported the Chicago Olympic bid are quietly or openly glad that Rio has these Games. (I was against it for all of the reasons cited at the start of this piece.)
The Olympics are about hope, and so, despite it all, I have a small amount of hope that this Olympiad will come off without a hitch. No terrorism; athletes housed decently; no athletes sickened by the waste or infected with the Zika virus. Like every Olympics, I hope to see outstanding performances, the best of the best competing against one another, and a peaceful experience.
The odds may be long; maybe stacked too far to the negative for the Games to overcome everything. But I do hope for a successful Olympiad for everyone.

As we get closer to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, we have to wonder if this will be the final HUGE Olympics we will ever see? The issues of safety, security, lack of money, pollution and the Zika virus are well known. The stench of corruption and lack of return on investment has cities and countries reticent to even apply to host the Games. Now, the 800 pound gorilla that plagues ever sporting event may lead to an unprecedented penalty for cheating.
Already, the International Olympic Committee had agreed with the World Anti-Doping Agency that officials and athletes in Russia’s track-and-field team had engaged in systematic doping and that the Russian team would not be allowed to represent Russia in Rio. Athletes can petition to the IOC and if they were not part of the scandal, they could be allowed to compete in the Games, but under an Olympic flag instead of the Russian flag.
Eleven other nations including the U.S. have petitioned the IOC to ban the entire Russian team altogether. Recent reports from doping watchdog groups show that Russian doctors and coaches lied, covered up, coerced doctors and authorities to cover up a program that may have even dwarfed East Germany’s program in the 1970s and 1980s. Of course, Russian officials proclaim their innocence and Russia’s despotic President Vladimir Putin has called the original WADA ruling “unjust.”
The IOC, generally being gutless bureaucrats, ruled that they would not ban all Russian teams, they would leave it up to the governing bodies of the various sports. Basically, they wimped out as to not risk the further ire of Putin. With the limited amount of time before the Games begin, I doubt that the agencies will have the time to ban them unless they already had in the past. So, there could be all of the athletes except for track and field are in, or, these’s a patchwork Russian team – some athletes participating, other’s banished.
Why the hyperbole about he Games being over? Well, let’s be honest – the Olympics became the preeminent sporting event of the 20th Century because of the Iron Curtain. The fact that athletes from Russia, East Germany, Cuba and the other Communist countries were not allowed to compete in any Western competitions made the Olympics the only time and place when truly the world best athletes would compete against one another. In addition, due to the lack of information coming from the Eastern Bloc nations, we never saw these athletes, not even film. All we had to go on were rumors as to how good these athletes were, which amped up the interest.
Of course, the Berlin Wall fell – the old Soviet Union collapsed and the best players from these countries were now competing in Western Leagues and World Championships against the rest of the world. Hockey players are now in the NHL; Cuba’s best used to be smuggled into the U.S. but the relations between these old enemies have ended and many of the best players will soon be here. The Olympics are no longer the only way to see the athletes from these countries, although it is still a great showcase for the individual sports that don’t have a professional league.
But one has to ask, why cheat now as a country? Back during the Cold War, it was a battle of ideologies that even went to the DNA. Proving superiority on all levels was an important boost to people who didn’t know of the goods and services available to the common person in the West. I understand the athlete more – anything that can give you an edge, you are more likely to use. With it comes fame and fortune – I get it. But for a country to need so badly to win that it will cheat in order to do so, what does that say about your country? Your culture? Plus, how dumb do your doctors and officials have to be to get caught? A recent television story I saw (I think it was HBO’s “Real Sports”) discussed that there isn’t the political will or the money to truly clean up sports. I am sure that there are lots of dirty athletes, including in this country, but its really hard to cover up a conspiracy – the more people that know, the more likely it is to explode and be exposed.
As I wrote above, the IOC will not ban the entire Russian team; that will be left up to the governing organizations of the various sports, and we don’t know which teams will be going. But it appears that track and field and some other sports will not be in Rio, which doesn’t make the television broadcasters happy. One of the things that has made the Olympic broadcasts for decades is the “us vs. them” showdown against Russia. Even though the competition isn’t the same since the fall of the Soviet Union, it is still there to some extent.
I just have to wonder if this is yet another nail in the coffin of the Modern Olympics.

The “Bathroom Law” that is in place in North Carolina has cost the state millions of dollars as businesses refuse to invest there, conventions get moved, and even Michael Jordan, who has taken a great deal of flak for not standing up for black issues in the past, has said that he is considering moving his Hornets out of the state. The law that provides that requires that transgender people go to the bathroom of their birth sex is one of the most restrictive laws in the country and is a blatant violation of their rights.
So, while the Hornets haven’t left yet, there had been rumors that the NBA would move the 2017 All Star Game that is scheduled for Charlotte early next year. Commissioner Adam Silver made the move official by announcing that the game would be moved. Numerous locations have been mentioned including New Orleans and even here in Chicago.
In light of the far right wing planks in the GOP platform, the NBA is making a stand supporting transgender rights. As far as I can tell, the pressure has not forced state officials to consider rescinding the law, so until someone really understands the impact of how much money/opportunity the state is losing, there is probably no way to convince Republican Governor Pat McCrory to overturn the law.
That’s too bad, but kudos to the NBA for taking this stand.

Eighteen months and only after the U.S. Court of Appeals refused to review the case, Tom Brady is finally dropping his appeal and accepting the 4-game suspension levied on him in the “Deflate-gate” affair. Brady Tweeted as much today, meaning that he will miss the first four games of the New England Patriots’ season.
Brady, the team and his supporters and fans will remind you that he never claimed that he was innocent; that Commissioner Roger Goodell overstepped his bounds in issuing such a harsh judgement. To a certain extent, the argument had merit, but in light of proven and alleged cheating on the part of the Patriots and Coach Bill Belichick, the league came down hard on Brady. The lawless, “win at any cost” nature of the culture with the Patriots is what got Brady punished.
The Pats will start Jimmy Garoppolo on the road against Arizona, then home against Miami, the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. The team still has loads of talent, especially All World tight end Rob Gronkowski. However, the Pats have always been built around defense; Belichick is a defensive specialist, and while the Cardinals game could be tough right off the bat and without the future Hall of Fame QB Brady, the other games are very winnable.
There have been ridiculous questions about whether this incident could slow or even keep Brady from being enshrined in the Pro Football Fall of Fame when the time comes. It is a ridiculous question for several reasons. First, even with fully inflated footballs, the Patriots would have defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the 2015 AFC Title Game. Second, like it or not, Brady is one of the best to ever play the game, with 4 Super Bowl titles, 3 Super Bowl MVP awards, 2 NFL MVP awards and 11 Pro Bowl appearances.
However, the cloud of cheating will hang over Brady and Belichick when his call from Canton comes. I know that fans from the Northeast will hate this, but they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, but the cloud belongs too.

This week brought the retirement of Tim Duncan, one of the NBA’s best power forwards of all time. His Spurs, the only team he ever played for, won 5 NBA titles with Duncan; Duncan won 3 NBA Finals MVP awards, 2 MVP awards, and was an All Star in 15 of his 19 seasons. Under Coach Gregg Popovich, Duncan led the team in unselfish, “old school” style basketball, constant movement, numerous passes, finding the open man. I admit that the only time I watched NBA basketball over the past several years was when Duncon, guard Tony Parker, and shooter Manu Ginobli were on the court. It was almost like going back to Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson style of ball.
However, I don’t think that Duncan has or ever will get his full credit for being one of the best players of all time because he is so quiet, almost laconic. Obviously very intelligent because when he does speak, he makes very smart comments. But he isn’t controversial; he supports causes, but he isn’t loud, or very outspoken. The only controversy comes from his divorce where his soon-to-be-ex-wife claims that Duncan is gay or at least bisexual which has helped cause problems in the relationship. Duncan has quietly denied the allegations.
So, like most great athletes when they retire, the accolades are coming out for Duncan, and they are well deserved. Unlike so many other athletes, Duncan did not announce his final year, avoiding a “farewell tour” like Kobe Bryant just had. Of course, Duncan hadn’t made up his mind until recently, and as they all say, when it’s no longer fun, it’s time to leave. That time has come for Duncan.
Still, I wonder if future fans will under appreciate Duncan? Not powerful like LeBron, or flashy like Kobe or Curry, and without a “natural opponent” like Bird and Magic; I wonder if Duncan’s incredible career will not be given the due he deserves? However, I don’t really think he cares, and that’s apropos.

Yesterday, I wrote two pieces for evilopinion, but posted neither. One involved Dwayne Wade and the Bulls – it is being posted today. The other one concerned the murder of two black men by police. I hadn’t finished it, so I never posted it. Of course, no one could have guessed that 10 police officers were ambushed last night as the officers were just keeping order at a previously peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.
After that, I got into a Facebook argument with an old friend who happens to be a police officer. She wrote that she was tired of being called a racist, which of course I never did. I said that you never heard of any remorse for these incidents, and she told me, correctly, that officers are not supposed to make comment in these situations. OK, but I had wanted to ask her some other questions often and last night, I finally got around to it. I asked her if she (an Irish officer) had ever called out another officer making comments about minorities? More important, had she ever stopped an officer from beating a suspect? She asked if I had ever stopped someone from making these comments (my answer – often), She never answered the other questions.
Which is part of the issue – in an extremely complicated world, too many people are looking to simple, black-and-white answers (no pun intended). As the world gets smaller, through technology, we interact with people of many different races, education, age, religion. It appears that many people, especially the uneducated, want to reduce the world to simple concepts: up-down; black-white; for-against and there is too much grey for us to rely on simple answers.
For example, you can be against police brutality and for effective policing. As I saw in one excellent article, Black Lives Matter has an implicit (Too) on the end of it. Black Lives Matter as much as anyone else’s. It is not (Only) Black Lives Matter. Literally, two wrongs don’t make a right – the murder of people, especially of color, does not grant you the right to take vigilante justice, especially against police that 1) had nothing to do with the murders; 2) are just doing their jobs.
That was my point to the police officer. Another officer that I’ve known forever demeaned a lack of concern for the murdered cops and said that “this is the end of policing as we know it.” Well, for the former, she and so many police see everybody not in uniform as the enemy, and they are above criticism, despite the fact that the City of Chicago is paying out millions of taxpayer dollars to the families of men killed by police in dubious circumstances. As to the latter, I hope this marks a change in the status quo. I do know of cowboy cops, who believe that they can do anything they want and there are no repercussions. I have a letter signed and notaraized that if I am shot to death in a traffic stop and a gun or drugs are found on me or in my car, that this is a plant and the police are covering their asses. The officer I argued with was insulted when I said that while most cops are trying to serve the community, the rest are just a street gang with badges. I stand by that statement.
In the Donald Trump world, the world is very simple: us vs. them; build a wall; prohibit Muslims from entering the country. The world is a simple place where simple ideas can prevail. We can create this reality through force of will, or brute force if necessary. Along with this simplistic attitude is an extreme lack of empathy. Anyone who doesn’t look like you, or you have met isn’t deserving of anything. There was a meme a couple of weeks ago that showed a picture of the late Nancy Reagan. A staunch Republican like her husband, she was against gay rights until her daughter came out as gay. She was against stem cell research until the ex-President came down with Alzheimer ’s disease; then, she was all for it. The meme ended with – Republicans only support things when it impacts them personally.
As I’ve said numerous times, what is really frustrating is the complete disregard for facts. You can come up with the most direct facts about something, and someone else thinks that their beliefs trump your facts. Most of the time, we consider that a problem of the Tea Party and Far Right, but if you look at the snipers who reined death down on those Dallas police officers last night, you have to wonder – what did you think you would accomplish? The only accomplishment is a lot of needless death, including probably your own death. Would this suddenly stop police from killing innocent black men? Or would this just harden the hearts of those same people, and probably lead to more bloodshed?
My original piece said that I’m tired of being sad. I’m tired of seeing black men killed and incarcerated at a high rate. At the same time, what opportunities and prospects are in the nation for them: bad schools and narcissism from parents lead to a feeling that they will accomplish nothing. And with all of the manufacturing and other lower skilled jobs being replaced by robots or sent overseas, all the while the airwaves are full of the next wave of cool clothes, cool cars. Corporations are selling the best goods in the history of mankind, but they don’t want to cut into their shareholders’ dividends even a little, to hire people and pay them living wages so that they can afford more. And as the people at the bottom rungs of the societal ladder start spending more, we need to produce more, leading to more jobs and more wealth distributed into the economy.
Everyone wants life to be simple, but it never really was. For the caveman having to invent fire to stay warm, or fight off other predators for food, life wasn’t simple. It wasn’t simple in the Middle Ages; it sure as hell wasn’t like Leave It to Beaver in the 1950s. But many believe that it was: minorities knew their place; women were in the bedroom and the kitchen; white men didn’t do much in the way of child rearing, they came home to a martini with dinner. But we know that this was not the life of white people in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. Hell, life wasn’t like that to many white people growing up in New York or Maine or Michigan either.
People need to start using the brains they have, or improve the learning in those brains. Now!

As a former Andy Frain usher, there was nothing worse than rain delays. If it rains in football, they keep on playing. If the same thing happens in soccer, unless it’s a torrential downpour, they keep playing. In hockey and basketball, most of the games are indoors, so the weather is a moot point. But in baseball, rain brings everything to a complete stop.
For those of us who worked at the parks, this was a painful experience. First, many of us had to stand in the rain to try and deter fans from doing something stupid, like running on the field, bothering the players, hurting themselves, starting a fight. As in all sports, alcohol consumption brings out the worst in people, and since baseball games are in the summer, when it is hot, there is more drinking. Add to that the fact that there’s nothing going on, boredom and drinking form a problematic pair.
Last night, during a rain delay, a man jumped from the Bleachers at Wrigley Field. It must have been a great leap, since he had to leap over the three foot “basket” fencing that keeps the fans from the playing field. Unfortunately, there is nothing but air after the basket, an 11 foot drop to the ground. The man lay on the ground motionless causing the man to be attended to by paramedics; eventually, he will be arrested for trespassing.
I have dozens, perhaps hundreds of stories about drunken fans. Back when I was working at Wrigley and the old Comiskey Park, there weren’t that many police officers working the games, so we had to deal with many of these fans. And when you have to stand in the rain because three drunken yahoos don’t have the good sense to come in out of the rain, making me certainly surly. Then, when they run on the field, guards would have to chase after them, and in hard, dress shoes, made for blooper reel type slipping and sliding.
However, most fans don’t know that most stadiums have a “detention” area, which is little more than a small version of a police station, where people could be thrown out of the park, banned from returning that season, or arrested. Usually, the room has a door that leads directly to the street where a police car, paddy wagon, or ambulance could pull directly up and take someone away. (It should be noted that often the First Aid room is in the same location – most of the time, the ambulance was for people hurt or sick, not because they were arrested.)
I was the first responder when a man fell from one of the upper deck ramps at Wrigley Field back in 1984. I don’t know if liquor was involved, but it was n ugly scene – the fan hit a row of the old wooden chairs in the 200 section seats.
So, I have an idea – let’s get rid of rain delays. Keep on playing unless there’s lightning. We know that the owners will never stop selling beer.