 |
Re: [RC] The Emperor's New Clothes: Another thought - Heidi SmithI am not saying I totally disagree with Ms Swagert, or that I wish to see endurance as an Olympic sport, but being soooo adamant about certain topics lays you open to scrutiny. Here are some holes in this post that I thought of in my pre coffee haze this morning. Thank you, Laura. While kat's premises may have been sound, like you, I don't think they support the conclusions she drew. I don't give a gnat's eyebrow whether endurance becomes an Olympic sport or not. Like Jackie W, I'm not bucking to make it so, but I don't think it would be the end of the endurance world as we know it, as some of the doomsayers are trying to convince us. The bottom line here is money. Remember the old "golden rule"? Those that have the gold make the rules. Folks who are willing to throw millions upon millions of dollars into making endurance an Olympic sport have a good chance of getting that done, simply because of the bottom line. I agree that watching endurance is a bit like watching paint dry--from an IOC perspective, at least. "Spectator sports" as such are the ones where the entire event takes place in a venue where the whole thing can be watched from the stands in a relatively short period of time. Think sports that take place on fields, courts, rinks, tracks, or arenas of a specified size and that have either time limits in which to rack up scores or specific patterns of short duration to execute. Nonetheless, there are other non-spectator sports in the Olympics, so that aspect of our sport alone is not necessarily a deterrent. As Laura pointed out, horses die in other equine events--and are simply brushed under the rug so to speak. This isn't something WE like--but it is not in and of itself a deterrent either. The biggest deterrent is indeed the expense--and we have Powers That Be who are eager and willing to overcome that hurdle. While I may agree that the emperor here is naked, that doesn't mean he isn't going to make it into the parade. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|