I hope that no one will consider me to be a poor sport who doesn’t know what he is talking about, or is jealous of Fred having looked so great in all those movies with Ginger and a few other lovely women.
With 2008 being another Olympic year, and the games themselves just starting this weekend, it seemed apropos that I should pay some attention to them here, as I will not be taking the time to watch, nor will I truly be all that interested in the outcome. I had always hoped that the death of the USSR would remove a lot of the political overtones from the games, but it seems that my hopes overcame my common sense; one of the few times I have allowed them to do so. Meanwhile, in the last several months, I learned that the quasi sport of ballroom dancing was once again raising its head, attempting to find entry into a forum that I believe should be reserved for pure sport and not for anything else, regardless of my present distain for the games in general.
As a preamble, I would like the reader to understand one thing completely. Make no mistake about it; I like dancing and was, at one time, pretty good at it. I used to teach various styles of Swing and Latin and had a steady partner for many years before she moved away and I got married. I still enjoy dancing when I get the chance, assuming I can talk my recalcitrant wife onto the floor. She has cultural issues with it, because of her Vietnamese background. When I can, I find that my old moves are still there, although my timing appears to have sadly deteriorated and there are a few that a stiff back get in the way of. As such, I hope that no one will consider me to be a poor sport who doesn't know what he is talking about, or is jealous of Fred having looked so great in all those movies with Ginger and a few other lovely women including my personal favorite, Cyd Charisse with whom he did an incredible jazz number in "The Bandwagon." I am not trying to keep dancing out of the Olympics because I don't like it. It is simply my opinion that it doesn't belong there.
Now to be serious, one can't deny that dancers are athletes. My own doctor told me that I was an athlete based on the amount of dancing I did, and I believe him. It takes, effort, stamina coordination, and strength to do what competitive dancers do. I know because I've done it. But how do we determine who is the best, and why? Consider a race between several runners. There is no question that the winner is the first person across the finish line. If necessary we can resort to the photo finish to determine the winner. It is hard to argue with a photograph. The same can generally be said in other "pure sports." Shooting at a target, throwing objects for distance, races in general, high jumping, and even team sports where it is hoped that the officials will keep their noses out of the process of deciding the winner. That is one of soccer's best attributes. The referee rarely figures in a win or a loss.
This is not true with what I call quasi-sports. Figure skating, ice dancing, diving, and especially gymnastics; events where the winner and loser are determined, not by any objective scale, but by the decisions of judges, which may be biased based on personal or political factors, or perhaps even bought. All of this leads to arguments and sometimes even scandals as has happened in the past. This is not only true of the Olympics. I attended one fairly prestigious dance competition many years ago where I found, with a little help, that one of the events had been rigged and the winners picked in advance. This was only possible because the event was judged by people and not by a clock, a measuring tape, or the number of times a goal had been scored. The audience was upset, not only because the second place team was clearly superior and thus had been cheated, but they felt cheated themselves. They wanted to see an honest event.
One of my favorite films happens to be an Australian made classic entitled "Strictly Ballroom." Anyone who wants to know the inner workings of this particular slice of society should give it a viewing. Quite aside from the accurate depictions of the characters that populate a large percentage of the Ballroom Dance world; it is also entertaining, as a romance and ugly duckling story, with a small triumph of good over evil for good measure. It also has a massive helping of corruption and individual opinion thrown in as well. But the actors who accurately portray reality in this film are the main source of my amusement. Some of the dance devotees I have met make Rosalind Russell's portrayal of a stage mother in "Gypsy" look tame. I met one lady in Sacramento, California who had grown up in Australia with a mother whom she said was exactly like the mother in "Strictly Ballroom." As a result she had refused to dance seriously until she had moved here. Apparently crossing the Pacific Ocean, the Equator and the International Date Line put her out of range.
But more seriously, if there is one thing the Olympic Games don't need it is another sport judged strictly on opinion and not on objective criteria. The human element in sports should be confined to the competitors as much as possible. It is more of a human drama when there is no question in the minds of the participants and the audience who is the winner and why. Seeing the audience and a clear winner both disappointed when the gold medal goes to someone who performs less well does no one any good, and it tarnishes the image of all concerned. The games lose because their fairness comes into question. The medal recipient loses because everyone knows of the lack of fairness. The remaining athletes lose because they aren't judged fairly. Finally, the audience loses because in many instances, particularly with the use of instant slow motion replays, they can tell what is going just as well as the judges. We can thank television for that.
Of course, maybe I'm jaded. Every once in a while someone asks me if I like "Dancing with the Stars." Sadly, I'm forced to tell them that the few times I watched I could tell that the non-dancer celebrities were over-rehearsed. They have worked a routine to death so that they can do it with their partner and look great. But if you give them someone else and ask them to do the same routine they will fall flat. They don't really know how to dance; they have just memorized something, unlike a polished social dancer who can make someone else look great, regardless of whether they lead or follow. I've known a few of them and have been richer for it. They weren't snobs either, which is one thing that I wish the ballroom dance world would learn is a bad deal. Anyone who is a star should remember to maintain good public relations with both their audience and the competition. Maybe ballroom dancers could learn about that from rugby players. Somehow they seam to have got it right. Of course, they don't generally get treated like celebrities or act like it.
slaib@intellectualconservative.com
http://intellectualconservative.com
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