My Thoughts on the Beijing Olympics

So the Beijing Olympics commenced today with the Opening Ceremonies with President Bush in attendancenotwithstanding his tough words for the Chinese government yesterday. Although there was a push to have world leaders boycott the Opening Ceremonies I knew it wouldn't come to fruition. China is simply too powerful an economic power. Communism has lasted in China because there's money in it. Economic freedom has not led to political freedom.

Of course, these boycotts only tend to hurt the athletes partaking in these events. The U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980 and the Soviets boycott of the Los Angeles Games in 1984 prove it.

Boycott or no boycott, I have little interest in the Olympics. The only thing I will probably watch is the Olympic Baseball Tournament. Given that baseball will not be played at the 2012 Games in London it might be worth a look although the World Baseball Classic will do a nice job in filling that void. Still, Olympic Baseball takes a back seat to Major League Baseball any day of the week.

Still, China leaves a lot to be desired - it's support of dictatorial regimes around the world, its own housing of political prisoners and suppression of religious freedom for starters.

Our best bet is to hope our American athletes can decisively beat Chinese athletes when they face head to head in the medal counts.

And, of course, it's always nice to see Canada win medals too.