Rejected Olympic Events

I love the Olympics.  The incredible athletic feats, the stories, the patriotism, all of it.  But most of all, I love the events.  When else are you going to spend hours night after night watching swimming, volleyball, track, and a host of other sports that – let’s face it – you probably wouldn’t watch if they were competing in your back yard.

The events have changed over the years as new ones (BMX biking, women’s boxing) are added and less popular ones (baseball and softball) are dropped.

The International Olympic Committee is always looking for new events to add, but not all of the events are gold-medal worthy.  Among the rejected events*:

• Synchronized Slip ‘n Slide
• Beer Pong
• Live or Tape Delay?
• 10 meter dash
• Stripper Pole Gymnastics
• Worseminton
• Paddleboating
• Short Jump
• Trampoline (wait…that one is real)
• Spelling Bee
• Darts (both Lawn and Bar)
• Words With Friends
• H.O.R.S.E.
• Wipeout obstacle course
• Rock, Paper, Scissors
• Unicycling
• Undressage
• Foosball
• Invisible Fencing
• Thumb Wrestling

*Official disclaimer:  As I was writing this, I flipped over to Twitter and saw that #RejectedOlympicEvents was trending.  You’ll have to take my word that a) the none of these were borrowed, and b) the inspiration for this post came to me before I was aware of the Twitter trend.

Thought of the Day – 7/9/2012

My Twitter feed* informs me that former Nebraska Basketball players Aleks Maric and Ade Dagunduro will be representing their countries (Australia and Nigeria, respectively) in the 2012 Olympic Games.

*Yes kids it is true – you too can follow @FeitCanWrite to receive instant notification of new Feit Can Write posts.  #ShamelessPlug 

Which leads me to this scary revelation:

• Lowly Nebraska basketball (zero NCAA tournament wins) will have twice as many Olympic basketball players as legendary hoops powerhouse Kansas (Sasha Kaun*, Russia).

*The name Sasha Kaun still makes me think of Chaka Khan’s “I Feel For You”.  #HowMyWeirdMindWorks  #ContinuingTheTwitterHashtagTheme

As I try to digest that fact, I’m starting to think this is less suited for “Thought of the Day” and more apt for Sports Illustrated’s “Sign of the Apocalypse”.

The only thing that would be scarier is if American Football was an Olympic sport and more Kansas Jayhawks made teams than Nebraska Cornhuskers.