can I have my Olympics back now?

On the eve of the Olympic games, I feel like I have to ask...can it be a sporting event now?

This grand stage of sports seems to get more politicized every time. Every fringe group on earth sees a place where most of the world's television cameras are going to be, and therefore a stage to get their cause seen. That happens when they don't put the games in China. Now that they have, it's all the worse, and really, shame on the I.O.C. for giving the games to Beijing, knowing full well that this would happen.

Who the hell actually believed the Chinese when they said there would be open access to just about everything? Those people don't know how to define open access....to anything. Who thought this whole Tibet situation was going to quietly simmer while every spotlight in the universe is right next door? Who thought every human rights group on earth was going to self impose a gag order so the world could go to China and engage in sport? How naive can you possibly be?

So now we have this event, that is usually over-politicized, and ratcheted that aspect up a bazillion percent. Lost in all this are athletes...who have dedicated their lives to being the best they can be in a sport, wanting to go and compete against the best from all over the world. At one time, the Olympics used to be about those athletes. It's now become more about the smog problem, the great firewall, the Dali Lama, and the dissidents who aren't being allowed to protest close to the Olympic venues. Please....at some point...can it be about sports again?