It's about the Russians, again. But it's so not. Wake up, people: our world is about China

It's about the Russians, again. But it's so not. Wake up, people: our world is about China

The Paris Olympics are due to open in July 2024. That’s 17, 18 months from now. Already, though, it seems to be all about Russia. 

For the past 10 years, it seems like it has been about Russia: Sochi 2014 and the matter of the country’s laws. The seemingly endless doping controversies. Then, of course, the invasion of Ukraine just days after the close of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games.

The International Olympic Committee’s overarching mission is to try to “unite the entire world in peaceful competition.” The entire world means everyone, no exceptions, and this is why already, 17, 18 months away, there’s so much discussion, to and fro, about the notion of getting the Russians to Paris as neutrals.

Except, the focus on the Russians, 17, 18 months away entirely misses the point.

Again: less screaming, less vitriol. Kamila Valieva is just 16

Again: less screaming, less vitriol. Kamila Valieva is just 16

From the get-go, it has been entirely unclear why so much vitriol has been directed at Kamila Valieva. 

She is still just 16. 

Here is yet another call for everyone — repeat, everyone — to dial down the rhetoric, the anger, the urge to put Valieva front and center as proxy for everything Russian or Putin and the war. She is none of those things.

She is a 16-year-old figure skater who, when last seen, was performing at the Russian national championships with a charming down-to-the-move celebration of Jenna Ortega’s viral Wednesday Addams dance from the hit Netflix series.

May Grant Wahl’s memory be a blessing … and many owe Qatar an apology

May Grant Wahl’s memory be a blessing … and many owe Qatar an apology

In Jewish tradition, when someone dies, we say, may his — in this case, his — memory be a blessing. 

Grant Wahl’s sudden death at the World Cup in Qatar came as a devastating shock. May his memory be a blessing, in particular to his wife, their family and their many friends.

Now, as your Jewish friend, because — without getting too deep into theology here — the Jewish way is to concentrate on the life we are living here and now and, especially, as arguably the most significant of events in our calendar reminds us, to think about how we can do better … all of you who were so quick to rush to judgment, to publicly speculate about, suspect, accuse or, worse, condemn the Qataris of the very worst in connection with Wahl’s death, you owe them, the Qataris, an apology. 

The Russians (still, again) and Salt Lake (again, still) -- the gifts that keep giving

The Russians (still, again) and Salt Lake (again, still) -- the gifts that keep giving

Twelve things about the flurry of pronouncements and announcements over the past several days about the Russians and whether they will or won’t be at the Paris Summer Games in 2024.

OK, 11 about the Russians and one about Salt Lake City.

The Russians and Salt Lake. They’re the Olympic gifts that keep giving.

1. Don’t delude yourself. Don’t be naive. Don’t be a hater, either. The Russians will almost surely be in Paris in 2024. Except they won’t be identified as Russians. They will be neutrals. The way they typically had been at World Athletics meets — something like ANA, or Authorized Neutral Athlete.

Ten thoughts (and a bonus) about the 2022 men's World Cup

Ten thoughts (and a bonus) about the 2022 men's World Cup

Ten thoughts — and a bonus extra, too — about the World Cup, now that the United States team is headed home.

1. The U.S. team made it through to the round of 16. So what?

This does not, looking toward 2026, when the World Cup will be (largely) played in the United States, herald some crazy breakthrough for soccer in this country.

If you’re a soccer geek, you’re already a soccer geek. The rest of America mostly cares about world-class soccer only when it’s a big event, like the World Cup. Americans like big events. This is why the Olympics draws big ratings, too.

What America really cares about is football. American football.

Concerned about water sports at LA28? Fear not, for to the left: the Pacific Ocean

Concerned about water sports at LA28? Fear not, for to the left: the Pacific Ocean

The life cycle of an Olympic organizing committee is utterly predictable. Here in SoCal, it’s five-plus years to go until the opening ceremony in July 2028. Thus came the tone and tenor of the inane question directed at a Thursday news conference at LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, which carried the grievance-laced, fix-this-now hallmark that attends these sorts of queries at this point, Olympics organizers somehow expected to fix every problem under the sun when the job description is delivering a Games on time and under budget.

In a startling fit of obviousness, a local NPR reporter noted that Los Angeles has a homelessness problem. He asked: “So what’s your response right now?” Then, after some remarks from the head table, this follow-up: “Are you prepared to put policies on the table or to put remedies on the table …”

Is an Olympic organizing committee a government entity? No. Is the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California — are all these entities wrestling with the maddening complexities of this issue? Yes. Has there been a long-running lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles over this exact matter worth literally billions of dollars? Yes.

And yet an Olympic organizing committee is supposed to wave the five rings in the air or something, and summon a magical fix? What next? Solve climate change? Cure cancer? Achieve a breakthrough in cold fusion?

in praise of a true Olympic and American hero and civil rights icon: Anita DeFrantz

in praise of a true Olympic and American hero and civil rights icon: Anita DeFrantz

About halfway through the first in-person news conference of the Los Angeles 2028 coordination commission, Casey Wasserman, head of the LA28 organizing committee, put a pause on Thursday’s proceedings. Someone special had unassumingly taken a seat at the back of the room.

“Anita DeFrantz just walked in,” Wasserman said from the head table. “I would say that none of us would be here without Anita DeFrantz. Someone I’ve known longer than both of us would like to admit. A true inspiration.

“Not only an Olympic hero,” a 1976 bronze medalist in rowing, “but a true American icon for civil rights and the Olympic movement and if you had any doubt that she’s tougher than all of us,” the last few months having seen DeFrantz battling cancer, “she is.

“And we love her. And we look forward,” now Wasserman looking directly at DeFrantz, “to being with you at opening ceremony in 2028. So thank you for being here.”

The Ukraine track federation president, a social media-savvy Kyiv lawyer, fighting Russians with tank-killing drones

The Ukraine track federation president, a social media-savvy Kyiv lawyer, fighting Russians with tank-killing drones

Meet Yevhen Pronin, acting president of the Ukraine track and field federation. A few days ago, he was at the world track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon. Now he’s back at war, using armed drones to blow up Russian tanks.

Because his mobile drone operating group is so very good at what they do, the Russians have put a bounty on their heads.

In one intercepted phone call, he said, the Russians talked about a specific amount — rumor has it, maybe, $10,000. In another, it was said that there would be a reward, without details.

Americans insist they care about doping in sports. And then there's Shelby Houlihan

Americans insist they care about doping in sports. And then there's Shelby Houlihan

Americans love to pile on when athletes from other countries are accused of doping. Especially the Russians.

We can’t have a state-sponsored doping system here. We don’t have a state ministry of sport. But we for sure cheat. We are really, really good cheaters, too. See, for one, Lance Armstrong.

And then when our athletes do absurd things to flaunt the system, we don’t understand why others looking at us from abroad cry hypocrisy and double standards.

Track and field thinks it’s one thing. It’s actually something else. The disconnect is stark

Track and field thinks it’s one thing. It’s actually something else. The disconnect is stark

Track and field has an existential challenge. What the sport thinks it is, and what it actually is, are two different things. Two very different things.

There is a stark disconnect between the romantic idealism that many of its most important international leaders hold for the sport and what track and field realistically can be in the modern landscape, particularly in the United States.

Those of a certain age — this means the sport’s base, the fans it already has — tend to think of track and field as the most elemental exhibition of grace, power and, especially, speed. For them, it is the most beautiful manifestation of the potential of humankind, a primal thing that everyone should obviously fall in love and be in love with.

The disconnect is elemental. Why should young people in our 21st century fall in love with a sport that requires dozens it not more than 100 hours of viewing over the span of 10 days? Additionally, outside of the worlds, you need half a dozen subscriptions to watch everything. Impossible. Dude, come on.