Planning on Watching Men's World Cup Soccer Tourney Despite Nationalism

The 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup of soccer...a sport that is called "football" in nearly every other country of the world...is underway with matches in the group stage.  It's held every four years, the even-numbered years not divisible by four is how I like to remember it (or during the Winter Olympic year).  This time around, the little Persian Gulf country of Qatar is the selected site, and the United States...unlike with the previous World Cup...qualified for it.  Not that I'm especially rooting for my country...I probably have more "viewership roots" in soccer with the Mexican national team since I've been a regular follower of that country's premier league since 2014, more than with our homegrown Major League Soccer.  Truth be told, though, I have long been sick and tired of the excessive nationalism in international sports and if you've read past articles on this blog about soccer, tennis, golf, or other sports, you might notice that I have consistently downplayed the national origins of various players or the teams they represent...and I objected to this year's banning at Wimbledon of Russian and Belarusian players because of a war that they had no personal role in.  For this World Cup I have yet to watch a match, but as time grinds on I'm sure I'll enjoy a few...it's going on up to the finale on December 18th.  It's a lot easier following a televised drawn-out sports event like the U.S. Open in tennis or the Olympics when I'm off from work on vacation, or last year, when I was recovering from surgery.  My opposition to excessive nationalism doesn't mean that I won't pick a side of a World Cup match I'm watching to pull for...and yes, I suppose the USA and Mexico are going to naturally be among my favorites although I don't plan on being nutty about it...

Watched Tokyo Olympics

When I was in the hospital for two weeks following open heart surgery, I had available a TV to watch, both when I was in the intensive care unit and when I was moved one story below to a more general room.  Once I felt capable enough, I watched a lot of the Tokyo Olympics...which were shown on NBC, NBCSports, USA Network, and CNBC.  I focused on the events for which judges did not play a dominant role in determining scores, opting instead for games and races.  Volleyball, basketball, table tennis, water polo, swimming, badminton, fencing, soccer, bicycle track racing, team handball, field hockey, softball...I enjoyed watching them all, noting that badminton looks pretty brutal when played on a high level.  I somehow missed out on many of the track and field events...in perspective this was most likely due to the fact that they were mostly held after my discharge from the hospital.  But my favorite events, which I enjoyed greatly, were the women and men's marathons...they were among the final events there.  But for the most part I skipped on the diving, gymnastics, artistic swimming, and skateboarding due to the objectivity factor of the judges.  I also thought the rock climbing competition was mesmerizing.  The Tokyo organizers minimized spectator presence due to the pernicious pandemic...understandable. For the same reason they decided not to stage awards with the winning country's national anthem...for me it was refreshing as I had long believed that the Olympics had become way too divisive with the nationalism.  Still, I admit that I would consistently root for the "home" team or contestant.  In just a few months China will be hosting the Winter Olympics...I sincerely hope I won't be back in the Krankenhaus when it takes place...

Tuesday's List: Olympic Games Sites Since 1968

You may be wondering why the following is a list of the sites of the Summer and Winter Olympic sites since 1968...why that year, considering that the former began in 1896 and the latter in 1924?  It's because 1968 is the year I began following the Olympic Games, at the age of eleven: I watched Peggy Fleming win the gold medal for the USA in figure skating.  So this list is more like a personal life memory project for myself: some of these Olympics I vividly remember...like the 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, and 1996 Summer Games, while others slipped by almost unnoticed.  Of course, the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the previous year and most folks here agreed that they couldn't care less about that one.  Corresponding to my 1968,1972, and 1976 interest in the Summer Games was my following of the Winter Games those years, as well as the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in 1980.  Through 1992, the Summer and Winter Olympics were held the same year, but in 1994 the Winter Games started during even-numbered off-years, the same year that the men's World Cup in soccer takes place...

It's interesting how during the Cold War, the communist bloc nations staged essentially professional Olympic athletes while strict rules of amateurism were enforced for the rest of the world...an offensive double standard, in my opinion.  Ironically, it was after the Cold War ended that standards for professionals competing in the Olympics were relaxed and suddenly you began to see all these multimillionaire pro athletes competing while at the same time being featured on commercial breaks...I see very little amateurism anymore and that's sad...

Well, here's that list...another one that probably works better for me than you, the reader.  The Summer Olympics sites I highlighted in red, the Winter in blue...

1968 Summer  Mexico City, Mexico
         Winter     Grenoble, France
1972 Summer  Munich, West Germany
         Winter    Sapporo, Japan
1976 Summer  Montreal, Canada
         Winter     Innsbruck, Austria
1980 Summer  Moscow, USSR
         Winter     Lake Placid, NY
1984 Summer   Los Angeles, CA
         Winter     Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1988 Summer  Seoul, South Korea
         Winter     Calgary, Canada
1992 Summer  Barcelona, Spain
         Winter     Albertville, France
1994 Winter     Lilliehammer, Norway
1996 Summer   Atlanta, GA
1998 Winter     Nagano, Japan
2000 Summer   Sydney, Australia
2002 Winter     Salt Lake City, UT
2004 Summer   Athens, Greece
2006 Winter     Turin, Italy
2008 Summer   Beijing, China
2010 Winter     Vancouver, Canada
2012 Summer   London, United Kingdom
2014 Winter     Sochi, Russia
2016 Summer   Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
---------------------------------------------
-----------(Future Games)---------------
2018 Winter     Pyeongchang, South Korea
2020 Summer  Tokyo, Japan
2022 Winter     Beijing, China
2024 Summer   Los Angeles, CA