I'm still waiting for Mypos to host the Olympics. Anyway, it's on par w/the Commonwealth Games.

Biggest on the World Stage!

I can honestly say that the Olympics have truly lost their meaning.  About 3000 years ago, at a time when Greece was just a loose collection of city-states, a series of athletic games were held in Athens every four years.  One of the reasons for the games was temporarily bring together all Greeks and display their best athletes for pride.  Today, the Olympics are not about national pride.  We have athletes that have been caught using performance-enhancing drugs, competitors that fight over medals, in court, like little children that argue over candy, fixed judging, and corruption within the International Olympic Committee.  In the late sixties, athletes from East Germany were discovered to be using steroids.  The Soviet Union and many of the Eastern Bloc countries were entering professional athletes, despite the fact that the Olympics were solely for amateur competition.  In 1972, the Olympics in Munich became the site of the most controversial incident in Olympic history when the United States men’s basketball team was clearly cheated out of the gold-medal in the final game against the Soviet Union.  Of course you have some of the sites such Salt Lake City and Nagano which were found to have been chosen for the Winter Olympics, but bribery and corruption were involved in their selection.  As far as I am concerned, the Olympics are nothing more than a political game.  I feel the only place they should be held is in Athens.  I also feel they should get rid of all events that involve judging.  Those are events where you win based on somebody’s opinion and there is no real fair way to do that.  The other events are determined by who can jump the highest, run and swim the fastest, throw the farthest, and lift the most.

If I have to rate the Olympics as a single event, and assuming that we are including the summer and winter Olympics, I can only give it a three. The only event that I can say that I really follow is men's basketball. But I will definitely watch several other events, such as bobsledding, volleyball, or curling (which I don't claim to understand, but it is kind of cool). But there are also things which I could care less about, such as figure skating or most of the track events. I also don't get anything out of the opening or closing ceremonies.

Gives people all over the world a chance to put a nationalistic middle finger in the air...

As a general rule and concept, the Olympics are great. The games are special in that they occur only every four years (staggered for winter and summer), they expose people to sports that one would otherwise never see, they foster some international goodwill, and they are historic (a connection with classical Greece). Nevertheless, the Olympics are not perfect. The games have become overly political (as evidenced by the recent scandals), the most suspenseful events are often still the team events (e.g. hockey), and they have been watered down with questionable sports (e.g. ice dancing, synchronized swimming, etc.), though I'm trying not to be cultural centric in my assessment. It's these downsides that result in a loss of a star.

Bode Miller may not care about Olympic medals but I do. There is no better way for a athlete to represent his/her country dudes.

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES This year the Canadian and USA hockey teams were all but handed the gold medal final game before a single puck was dropped. NBC even had a graphic with the US and Canada on top, the Russians, the Swedes and the Chech Republic in the middle and pretty much all the rest sucking snow at the bottom of the screen without a prayer. Problem was you have to play the games. Problem was the US and Canada didnt have more scoring punch than the rest of the world. Problem was the US and Canada didnt have a better defense or goaltending than the rest of the world. Problem was that the only thing the US and Canada had more of than the Swiss and the Latvians and the rest of the world was arrogance. Gretzky's wife must have dropped a bundle! Read the rest at djdennyray.blogspot.com

Losing relevance fast. . .

Just not the same without the Soviet Union.

who accually watches the olypmics? i don't see anyother reason for watching this is if you had a friend or family member competeting cause this is not what it once was. there are too many conspiracies and cheaters in the olympics. plus its a night cap, puts me to sleep

The most important sporting event.

Used to be more entertaining than it is now, but it's still worth watching for those 2 weeks

Generally good, although I get pretty tired of the judged sports, particularly the marginal ones like ice dancing, synchronized swimming and synchronized diving, etc. Personally my favourites are the sports they don't make a big deal of, like rowing, wrestling, speed skating and middle distance running.

If anyone rates the OLYMPICS lower then a 5 then they need some help..It determines the best athlete at their sport..who cares if i hate the sport..it's great to watch the game because you know that the athletes are trying their hearts out to win..it's kinda dissapointing to see some of the pro athletes join the olympics and care about money more then earning a gold medal.

The best game is olympic.I love it.

I love the Olympics. The biggest event, but this year not many people seemed to follow it as much. It certainly doesn't create the fervour of a Football championship over here.

Someone never looked into the meaning of the Olympic motto before. Citius, literally Faster, our expression of pushing our physical limits concerning speed. If we didn't get a kick out of speed, humans would see no need to measure it at all, much less celebrate the achievement of it in various sports. Altius, literally Higher, pushing to overcome our fear of heights. Going after the next big jump can be a huge rush, and taking on big heights with climbing, skydiving, flying, and the like is something we strive for and dream about. Fortius, literally Stronger, our desire to outmuscle the competition. Judging strength is as old as time, and not just about the strength of body, but of mind and spirit. Our will to endure despite challenges is as much our strength as the power within our muscles. It is only natural that we would hold contests to see who can do it better. It's part of our human nature to compete, so why not do it on a huge stage? :)

The BEST sports events of all time PERIOD. Nothing is like the Olympics--the extreme range of events, the ceremonies, the theme music, the awesome television coverage and graphics, the customized arenas, the international cooperation, and more. Truly, I will watch every Olympics that I possibly can!!!

An olympic gold medal is the ultimate prize in sports.

too many events with sports you know nothing about with athletes you never heard of. gets more dull ever olympiad.

varies

I always watch the hockey games during the winter olympics...beyond that, I don't watch them.

Snooze-fest.

This is nothing more than a joke anymore .I still snjoy the winter game.But to me the summer games has lost it's way.I am sure in the future there will be craft making competeions in the events.

no one cares anymore.

It is a great thing to watch because it only comes around once every four years, so you know every athelete out there is going to give it all they have, so it's inspirational in a sense. Plus, it's good to see America win more medals than the other countries. When that happens, there's always that sense of national pride.

It's a very special occasion when the Olympics are on, but the main problem I have with them is that they only happen every four years. Suppose an athlete reaches their peak just before one of the games and he gets injured. Then he has to wait another four years, and added to the last four that's eight years. That's a lifetime in some athletic careers. Also, the United States, among others, is totally handicapped by the system. There are events in which we could take all the medals, but because most events only allow two athletes we can't always send all of our best ones. Take tennis for example: right now, we could send Serena and Venus Williams, but we would have to leave Jennifer Capriati, Lindsey Davenport, and Monica Seles at home and every one of these players has won grand slam titles. Then, you take a country that has very few good players like Canada or Israel or whatever and they still get to send two players even though they aren't even ranked in the top 200 and don't have a prayer of winning a medal. That kind of system isn't fair, and it doesn't always allow for the best competition available either.

I like watching Oympics sports like figure skating. Lately, biased judges and bad TV coverage turns me off. Yesterday, the judges gave the gold medal to the Russian Team. Their performance wasn't flawless. I think Anton touched the ice. The American and Candian pairs were better. Also I don't like NBC for delaying my favorite events.

Since when is my national pride suppose to be attatched to a thirteen year old anorexic's ability to turn a back flip? Ooo, he was .0000015 seconds faster than the Albanian, we are a super power! Then there's all the sponsors turning an "amatuer" event into a corporate polluted vehicle to sell soft drinks. Quick: name five gold medal winners in five different sports from the last Olympics. TIMES UP! You can't because they didn't matter to you, only your false sense of national pride did. When the U.S. catches up with Europe in scholastics let me know. Otherwise, put regular programming back on damnit!

Way overrated...the Olympics are something I have never been interested in personally - doing or watching. I couldn't even care less how long it takes to train to do it - especially when you consider that it's all done to gain some kind of personal catharsis for the athelete involved. I'm more impressed by people who work hard to help others than to garner a little gold, silver or bronze medal to put around their necks. But, we all enjoy different things for various reasons so if you like watching someone do something better, faster, or whatever or if you're young enough to participate - knock yourself out!

I don't watch the olympics and have really lost interest in them. I have to hand it to the athletes for their relentless training, but I wouldn't ever actually be a spectator of the olympics.

Gotta give it to the Olympics. Athletes working their butts off for years and years for what? A one in 50 shot at a gold disc. Fifteen seconds of fame. Awesome. Simply awesome.

It's too commercialized now. And WTF is the deal with giving China the bid?

I guess they become cooler if you're in them, or related to someone who is. Boring. Wait, it was really cool to see Ali lighting the torch in Atlanta. A bad injury or a mistake is really the only hihghlight-worthy part of this snore-fest.

Some Good events but alot of crap. Bi-Athalon, 60000k speedskate, Rythmic Gymnastics, Ball-room dancing. Maybe it would be more interesting if the bi-atheletes had to shoot speed skaters insted of targets and the rythmic dancers spun very sharp objects that could go flying off into the crowd or at one another.

USA, USA, USA-enough said.

The Olympics are great and not because of the Dream Team or Professional Tennis Players or NHL guys, but because of the athletes who work their asses off for four years for as little as 10 seconds of glory.

Again, another event where you can root for your country. there are always a lot of coll human interest stories related to the Olympics that provide another side of interest to the actual sporting events. Get rid of the professioanl participants, let the true amateurs have their day in the sun once every four years.

Summer is better than Winter. The Olympic Committee scandals this year were pretty disgusting, as is the growing commercialization of this event. All that being said, it's still fun to root for your country.

The grandfather of all sports championships. The Olympics is the only event on this list that truly transcends sports and becomes a larger statement of international cooperation and goodwill. But get rid of Geena Davis.