Urban Thought Collective

I told you so! I told me so! I said I was completely uninterested in this year’s Olympics. I was going to “force” myself to watch and “hope” for a pleasant surprise. Well I don’t have to hope anymore. The first five days of the Olympic Games, have BLOWN ME AWAY!

Let’s start back at the beginning. Did you see the Opening Ceremonies? The sheer magnitude and scale of the spectacle was nothing short of jaw dropping. Although The Beijing National Stadium, aka The Bird’s Nest, is the site for several events, the Chinese government built that stadium for one primary purpose; to host the opening ceremonies. I just have to let that sink in a little bit. Their vision was to put on a performance so overwhelming, they built the stadium just to facilitate the show! What?! That’s just mind blowing.

To have the kind of “hey world look at us” ambition, to out shine every preceding Olympic Opening Ceremony, and then, go out and DO IT, was just a staggering accomplishment. The precision, the choreography, the colors, the mass of humanity, the beauty of it all was just spectacular.

So let’s get to the games. Can you say swimming? How many of us knew who Jason Lezak was, before he out stretched the trash talking French, to win the 4X100 relay in a nail biting thriller? Who knew there was a Black Olympic swimmer? Not only is Cullen Jones on the team, he helped set the world record. I’ll be looking for that brother on the cover of Jet and Ebony. Then there’s the headliner, Michael Phelps. All I can say is, he’s a bad man. He’s setting world records, winning Gold in every race, and now, has more Gold Medals than anyone in Olympic history. Wow.

That’s not all. I told you one of my favorite events is fencing. Well it was a clean sweep for the US. Mariel Zagunis won Gold, Sada Jacobson, the Silver and Becca Ward, the Bronze. If you enjoy women’s tennis, where there’s a bone chilling, high pitched scream on every stroke, try watching a women screaming at their opponent, while she slashes at her head with a saber in her hand!

USA Basketball is on a roll and looks like they will win the Gold. (I hope I didn’t just jinx them) The Gymnastics have been hotly contested. I watched a little water polo even thought I can hardly figure out what’s going on. I will not be surprised to see the Cuban women’s volleyball in next year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.

This is just the beginning! I don’t have enough space to cover all the highlights.

It hasn’t been all fun and games. An American was murdered and another seriously injured in what seems to be a random attack. There’s no way to explain crime and random acts of violence. But it just strikes me as one of life’s particularly cruel twists of fate, that someone met their tragic end, on a vacation trip, with plans to celebrate a once in a lifetime joyous event.

The brilliance of the Opening Ceremonies put the Human Rights protests of the Chinese government on the back burner. Then the story broke that the little girl who sang in the opening Ceremonies was lip syncing. She replaced the actual little girl who was deemed by the Chinese government not to be “cute enough.” Imagine how devastated some children are after an audition where they’re told they’re not pretty enough. In that situation, only a handful of people ever know. This little girl was officially rebuked by her government, in front of the world! When people ask “how could the government do that?” the protestors will answer, “we’ve been telling you for years.”

Then there are questions about the world records in swimming. They are not just being broken, but smashed, and not just once, everyday. The questions of performance enhancing drugs are swirling. For now, the athletes are being given the benefit of the doubt. We want to believe. One explanation is that the pool in Beijing is deeper and wider than previous pools. That allows for less turbulence in the water and thus, better times. If that’s true, and I’m Mark Spitz I’m crying foul. By comparison, Track and Field competitors don’t get credit for records if there is wind assistance or other track factors that enable them to go faster. But someone more knowledgeable than me will have to explain how it’s fair. In addition, if pool conditions and not drugs are effecting times, that would also go a long way to lifting the suspicions off clean athletes.

We haven’t come to the end of the first week of competition and the ratings say it all. This is one of the most exciting world events. Don’t miss it.

Let me get my remote!

Darryl Bell is an actor and Chicago native, best known for his role in classic TV series “A Different World” and Spike Lee’s “School Daze.” His unique television commentary is exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.