Sunday, August 24, 2008

olympic fuss

the first week of the olympics wasn't exactly ideal for me. the tv in our bacolod abode only had one channel for the olympic coverage and only during the evenings with tons and tons of infomercials during the day. one cable provider in my hometown doesn't cut it for sports enthusiasts, making me muff watching the gymnastics events, one of my favorite things. i got the brunt of the hubby missing his team GB parade during the opening ceremonies and that's because of the adverts, one minute coverage for ten minute commercials. we were watching more product ads than the show itself and compelling us to sing the Coke pinoy jingle by heart. it's probably not fair to compare the RP's olympic broadcast with the beeb and eurosport coverages, their websites alone are olympic candy delights, but a UK IP address an absolute must.

it's gravely disappointing that my home country is not in the medals table, we've not been in the medals tally since 1996, not even close, not even a single filipino athlete was in contention. what happened to the boxers from bago? a city that has produced world-class amateur boxers? if a team from mongolia can win a boxing gold medal, what about us? is it so highly-imaginable for the philippines to mirror the sports program of vietnam? we're not talking china here or even russia or not even thailand or indonesia or malaysia. singapore has a medal. singapore? our ASEAN neighbors have sailed past us in the sports arena and our officials are still quite nonchalant. there's more to life than catering to the least common denominator.

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