It Will Take Time to Restore Olympic Luster

OK, let’s hear from everyone who is shocked and outraged by the Olympic bribery scandal...

Hmmm. Pretty quiet out there.

If I asked to hear from the people shocked and outraged by the amount of time they spend in traffic on Olympic Boulevard, would that get you talking?

Because this bombshell of a story that International Olympic Committee members took gifts that went way beyond “perks” from Salt Lake City Olympic organizing officials can’t seem to generate any talk.

The voice mail lady says “No new messages.” The in basket on e-mail contains the same old jokes circulating around the Internet. I turn on the radio and all the chatter is about the NFL.

No harping, no crying, not even a peep about the Olympic embarrassment.

Proof once again that the sporting public has become completely desensitized. We’re so used to corruption and disappointment that nothing fazes us anymore.

It’s been more than seven years since the last time the sports world ground to a halt in utter shock, stunned by Magic Johnson’s announcement that he was HIV-positive.

Let’s face it, we’ve become tired. Drugs, arrests, cheating colleges, point-shaving players. . . . it’s exhausting just keeping track, let alone protesting.And when something bad comes up about the few things that are right with sports, we’re so weary of fighting it that we make it go away, turn it into a non-issue.

Mark McGwire takes androstenedione, a substance banned by almost every other sports governing body? Yawn.

Michael Jordan likes to gamble? Ho-hum.

I have to admit, the first thing I thought of when I heard the details of this Olympics story was, “How do I get a job on the IOC?”

If all of those allegations are true, it’s tough to beat the benefits package: good housing deals, a health care plan that even covers cosmetic surgery and college scholarships for your kids.

Even before the allegations, it always seemed as though the sole purpose of serving on the IOC was to be wined and dined by representatives of the world’s best cities before choosing the one with the nicest gifts and most luxurious hotel accommodations to host the games.

So the thought of them stashing some extra goodies on the side wasn’t that surprising.

Still, these are the Olympic Games, the purest showcase of sports on the planet.

There was a time when that ideal meant something. Just like there was a time when people thought it was a cool thing to buy a pet rock. Good luck trying to bring either of those eras back.

We saw sprinter Ben Johnson stripped of his gold medal for using steroids in 1988. After the Berlin Wall fell, our worst suspicions that steroid use was behind that slew of East German gold medals in the ‘60s and ‘70s were proven true. The amateur notion gave way to Olympic delegations stocked with pros. If the athletes are foul, it almost follows suit that the organizers of these games can be corrupted too.

“Sure, the Olympic rings will be slightly tarnished from this,” said former Olympic triple-jumper Willie Banks. “The Olympics have always been surrounded by huge things--Black September [the terrorist killings in Munich] in ‘72, the boycott in ’80 of Western countries, the Eastern European boycott [in 1984]. There have been tremendous scandals for the Olympic Games. Because it’s the biggest thing in the world, it’s a magnet for that.”

Banks doesn’t think this is the end, however.

“What never changes is that there are athletes out there competing at the top level, who are there competing for that one reason, to live the ideal of being the best in the world on that one day,” he said.

He’s right, of course.

Sure, some sponsors might reconsider and yank their ad money. Maybe a few fans might stay away. But the Games will go on, the same way they did a few hours after that bomb exploded in Atlanta.

Sports fans are a resilient bunch. They returned to the NFL after those preposterous replacement games the league put on during the 1987 strike. They came back after the NHL lockout, after the baseball strike. They’ll slowly return once the NBA gets going again. Perhaps they don’t always come back in the same numbers, but they keep the leagues in business.

Why? Well, as bad as the news in the sports section might seem, have you looked at the front page lately?

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* ALL SHOOK UP? The IOC is expected to press members believed to have taken bribes in the Salt Lake City scandal for resignations. A1