| The
New Olympics |
| When Olympic snowboarders Ross Powers, Danny Kass and J.J.
Thomas, all Americans, finished 1-2-3 in the halfpipe, most
fans knew that the Winter Olympics had changed forever. |
| It was the first sweep in a generation for America in a
sport where a Gen X pasttime was turned into a sport. It is,
on the surface, a sport for misfits, spiked haired, grunge-wearing
guys who can gather an audience where young women bare their
breasts and young men sign them. |
| It's not exactly your father's Olympics. |
| Snowboarding is not yet mainstream, but it soon will be.
More than 30,000 people watched young Powers, Kass and Thomas
do their stuff. Some participants listening to music on headsets
at full volume as they went through through their program,
trying to blot out the noise of the crowd. |
| Snowboarding was created in Michigan by Sherman Poppen who
originally tied two skis together for his daughters. That
was in the mid-1960s, so it has been a long time coming to
the Olympics. |
| The Olympic committee has tried to modernize the Games while
still trying to keep the dignity of the older events. The
Games are becoming hipper by the year, with sports like skeleton,
free-style skiing and snowboarding now reaching popularity.
|
| All one must do is look at the age of the crowds, the type
of music being played at the award ceremonies to realize that
hip is in. |
| The old, established games, such as hockey, biathlon, curling,
bobsled, figure skating, downhill skiing, slalom, speed skating
and luge are still popular. There's something for everyone. |
| But biathlon, that strange sport combining skiing and shooting,
never was popular outside Russia and Norway. Curling, a sport
almost unheard of in the United States, is kin to shuffleboard
on ice. It's neither exciting nor popular. |
| Speed skating is probably the best of the old Olympic winter
Games, combining sleek bodies, speed and youth. This year
was especially popular as an American won the gold. |
| I, for one, am glad to see the Winter Olympics modernized
and popularized. |
| They've always played second fiddle to the Summer Olympics,
but Salt Lake City is doing everything to change that. |
| But at least one thing remains the same in The Olympics:
politics. A huge controversy arose when the Russians won the
Gold over the Canadians in the pairs figure skating. There
have been charges of corruption and counter charges, and an
investigation is planned. The crowd booed, the losers cried,
but the Olympics were the real losers. |
| Some things never do change. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
