Nearly a week after the opening ceremonies, the 2008 Beijing Olympics are well under way in Communist China. Because of censorship, NBC television can only show you what China wants to see. As always, there are plenty of unanswered questions. Here are a few:
- Who was responsible for the Chinese National Anthem "switch-a-roo" and now that the cat's out of the bag, is the whistleblower in prison? Simply put...OF COURSE! How long did you think it would actually take for the Chinese to duplicate one of America's most famous tricks in show buisness: "lip-synching"?!! Milli-Vanilli did it and so did Ashley Simpson. The only difference there is, it took a while for us lame brained Americans to catch on. The fact is, we're wiser now. It only took a day to catch this blunder. The reality of all of this is that even though a t-shirt with Mao Tse Tung's face on it is still a hot seller at Chinese gift shops, taking a little homely girls singing voice and getting a "cute" little girl to "sing" the song on tv may be cruel, but it's a brilliant idea that is as red, white, and blue as America! Besides, in the end, both the ugly and cute kid got their 15 minutes of fame.
- Since when has shooting a gun turned into an "Olympic Sport"? I've seen plenty of strange things, but this idea is the most bizzare of all of them. Charles Gibson ended yesterday's ABC Nightly News with a story about a 58 year old woman who is a "sharp shooter" and qualified as the oldest active participant in Olympic history because of her trigger finger. I realize that over the course of time, many things get added to the competition however, how long has shooting a handgun been considered a sport? As I recall the history of the Olympiad in ancient Greece, chariot races, running and maybe a shotput or javelin thrown in for the hell of it was about as far as it went. If shooting is now a ticket to compete in the olympics, Chicago should have gone after hosting the 2008 Olympics rather than bidding on 2016. The United States would win the gold in no contest, hands down. There already are quite a few odd events in the games...Why not add "drive-bys"?
- Yao Ming. The name literally ricochets off the tip of your tongue. Remember the big stink a few years ago when The Houston Rockets drafted this 7 foot tall monster from China and gave him a multi-million dollar contract. The first season he was with the NBA, Ming's ugly face was all over the place on television. He was selling everything from American Express cards to Big Macs and raking in lots of money on the side. His ugly mug makes a head shot of Godzilla look like George Clooney and still, this giant freak-a-zoid remains a big draw on U.S. basketball courts. Americans have recently embraced the color green for everything so, why then, was this young man so put off to be a part of "Team USA" and go back home to be part of "Team China"? China's money is red so, someone needs to ask this guy while he's driving around in his Ferarri if he can understand what color a stop sign is. Does he stop or does he go? If he's not colorblind, he's simply taking advantage of a good thing. Never mind that the NBA puts food on his table. He says that his intentions were made clear at his signing that he would represent China. Good for him. I hope Homeland Security seized his suitcases full of $100 bills at the airport before he left...but I doubt it.
