the damn link One viewer's request: Let more Games begin
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Jim Reineking / FOXSports.com
Posted: 22 hours ago
We must confess: we've done little the past 10 days but watch the Olympics. And if we have any complaint about the exhaustive, all-time record amount of coverage (1,210 hours on seven networks) already on television, it's that there just isn't quite enough.
There should be Olympics stuff on TV each hour of the day, on at least two different channels (thus, increasing the chance for team handball to get the television love it so sorely deserves).
There are seemingly countless sports (OK, actually 28) already in the Summer Olympics, so why not add some more? This way, television networks would have no choice but to offer up 24-7 coverage during the Games' two glorious weeks of competition.
The rules?
1. Must be a competition of some sort not already a part of the Summer or Winter Games (preferably a sport that would be more suited for the Summer Olympics. A Winter Games sports-to-add list is more appropriate for another time, perhaps in February of 2006 when those games are held in Turin, Italy).
2. No "extreme sports." Why? Well, they've already done that with the Winter Games, arguably in an attempt to improve television ratings and help the U.S. win some more medals. There's also the X Games, which are held every year in select U.S. cities.
That's about it.
Here are 10 sports to add to the vast smorgasbord of Summer Games offerings. Let's get started ...
New games for the Games
American football: Talk about your Dream Team! Imagine the passionate barroom arguments over which players should be chosen for this team.
After a team is finally selected, this team will go to the Olympics, where the competition wouldn't even be fair. Will Ray Lewis laying out some new-to-the-game youngster from some third-world nation make you feel more patriotic?
Think the antics of the 4x100-meter relay team at the 2000 Games in Sydney made you sick? Wait until the world gets a load of Terrell Owens.
Dodgeball: This could be the first movie-turned-Olympic event.
Horseshoes: Could potentially turn into the curling of the Summer Games. What could be more fun than watching some finely tuned, middle-aged, athletic men participate in a sport that involves throwing a ring, usually made of iron, around a stake?
Hot-dog eating contest: Chalk up a gold medal for Japan's Takeru Kobayashi, who â?? like Manute Bol in Celebrity Boxing â?? has beaten William "the Refrigerator" Perry.
Kickball: The next great recreational sport for people who like to kick stuff, then drink stuff when the game is done, could be the next big hit at the Games. Help the U.S. go for gold in 2008 by finding a kickball league in your area.
Quarters: It's a simple game played by simple people who are simply just trying to drink beer in a binge-type fashion. The ultimate party game requires a reasonable amount of skill and pre-Olympic training would require the finely-tuned quarters athletes to increase their tolerance and improve on their ability bounce quarters into a cup.
Soap-box derby: It's about time that the kids got involved with the Games. This could also satisfy the need for some sort of racing element in the Games that doesn't involve people doing the vast majority of the work.
Tug-of-war: This sport was part of the Olympic Games from 1904 until 1920, but has not been included since. It's high time to bring it back.
Video game decathlon: Nothing will draw the younger television demographic like coverage of the world's best gamers going for the gold on the PS2 or Xbox. Games could be selected from a variety of genres ... action, adventure, driving, puzzle, role-playing, sports and strategy.
Whiffleball: The great backyard plastic ball sport could make its Olympic debut in a venue made to look like a miniature Fenway Park or Wrigley Field.
Also under consideration: Auto racing, bowling, camel racing, hand-to-hand combat, men's beer-league slow-pitch softball (with beer keg at each base, thus giving new meaning to the phrase, "station-to-station baseball"), paintball, pickleball, rodeo, shinty, shuffleboard, spelling bee, synchronized Slip 'N Slide, takraw, ultimate fighting, Yahtzee.
