Opinion: Responses to Rio Games all over the map

Finally, the 2016 Summer Olympics arrived in all its glory and grandstanding. Times readers got into the game, responding to the non-sports coverage — including an opinion piece by Carl Lewis, the broadcasts themselves and the perhaps inevitable injection of politics — with comments all over the map.

Among the responses:

Petra Schneider in Rancho Palos Verdes is pleased:

Thank you, Carl Lewis, for that beautiful article. Viva the games, and Viva Rio.

Louis Nevell in Los Angeles agrees with the premise:

Lewis, one of America’s greatest Olympians, has it exactly right: “The athletes and their efforts .... should come first.”

The modern Olympic Games have become a glorified potlatch ceremony in which tribes (countries in this case) bid to outdo each other in the gifting and destruction of possessions in order to demonstrate their own wealth, power and place in the pecking order.

Gerry Walsh in Redondo Beach wishes some weren’t in attendance:

Eric Garcetti has “Rio” problems for sure. Some in Brazil are insulted by the expense of the Olympics, considering their people’s significant economic and political difficulties this year. For the LA mayor to stump for a national election using the Olympics as a 2024 carrot is currying favor, not fixing a city.

Michael White in Burbank is exasperated:

With endless station breaks to advertise countless services and products, the Olympics on TV have become a marathon exhibit of commercials sporadically interrupted by athletic events, hero worship of American competitors with attendant sob stories, and irritating formulaic babble by announcers — rather than the greatest show of sports on earth.

Don Evans in Canoga Park dislikes the price tag:

With reports that the Rio Olympics are costing many billions of dollars .... the cost of the [proposed] Olympics in Los Angeles in 2024 is .. frightening. This is not even a party we need in Los Angeles. Hotel occupancy rates are high now. LAX is one of the businest airports in the nation.

Of course the local fans want the 2024 games here, but the reason to host this event is not clear to me.

And Laura Brown from Pasadena observes:

I’m on vacation in Montreal watching the Olympics in French. I can’t understand every word, but it’s clear the sports announcers have great appreciation for American athletes.

In contrast, when our cab driver saw we were American, he confided his fear of Donald Trump. He believes the man is a threat to world stability and a menace to his children. “Why this man always say ‘I, I ... me, me?’ ’’ he asked.

Why, indeed. Our athletes are universally admired, our politicians reviled. How can we get more teamwork and fair play into our political system?

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