Imagine this scene in ancient Greece. The guy who unintentionally invented the marathon is running up his final hill. His side awaits the message this brave soldier has carried with him for 26 miles. His mouth opens, and these magic words fall from his lips: Just do it.
I hope any Nike executives reading this column give me due credit when they steal the above scene and remake it into a commercial. The famous shoe company is just one of thousands of companies who are participating in the Olympic fever that's hit the U.S. Most of the corporations have paid insane amounts of money to declare themselves "official Olympic sponsors." If you're thirsty in Atlanta, you better not like Pepsi, because Coca-Cola is the official drink of the Olympics. Living in L.A. and you want to catch the opening ceremonies in person? No problem-just hop on a Delta jet, the official airline of the Olympics. If you're hungry at the Olympics, grab a Big Mac at McDonalds-the Olympics' official fast-food joint. And lets not forget how you can pay for all of those Olympic souvenirs-with your Visa card, the only card accepted at the Atlanta Olympics.
Tired of it all? Wait, there's more. Sears has become the official sponsor of the U.S. women's basketball team. Even the U.S. Olympic volleyball team has its own sponsor-some company that's so unknown that I can't even remember it. Kind of fitting, because I don't think many people can name anyone on the volleyball teams. But the best one is Hanes-the official briefs of the Olympics. The company has Michael Jordan, an athlete who is not even in the Olympics, describing "great Olympic moments."
I guess it could be worse. I mean, Right Guard hasn't been named the official deodorant of the Olympics. And Charmin has yet to be declared the "official toilet paper of Olympic athletes." Great, I just handed out another idea. Watch for the commercials in July-"Use Charmin: All the Olympic athletes wipe with us."
Olympic commercialism first became a big issue in 1992, when the U.S. men's basketball team began using professional players instead of college players. The "Dream Team" was sponsored by Reebok, so every warm-up, jersey, and duffel bag with references to the Dream Team also had the little Reebok symbol on it. The only thing is that Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, two of the team's stars, were sponsored by Nike. Obviously Jordan and Johnson couldn't support both companies at one time. So when the Americans were on the platform to accept their gold medals, Jordan and Johnson were draped in the U.S. flag, covering the tiny Reebok on their warm-up jerseys.
Can you think of a better way to show patriotism then have two of the greatest basketball players in the nation covered in the American flag? Reebok was happy-they had Jordan and Johnson on the Dream Team. Nike was happy since when the camera was on its two stars, its competitor's name was nowhere to be found. Johnson and Jordan are happy since they get to make tons of money from Nike and get a gold medal in the Olympics. Everyone's happy.
Except this disgruntled columnist. The Olympics were originally created so that the world's best amateur athletes could compete against one another. Athletes like Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali first competed in the Olympics for the love of their sport. The most famous Olympic team in American history-the 1980 hockey team-didn't have any professionals and it had no companies sponsoring it. Part of that was because none of the players were famous, so no one would buy anything from them. That's why the Olympics used to be so special-it was able to turn athletes that no one had heard of into instant stars. The former unknown becomes the hero.
Now, with professionals and the pre-Olympic hype, there will be very few unknowns on the American team come this July. The draw that professional athletes can attract has created another type of Olympic fervor-the fight for television rights. Earlier this year, NBC outbid CBS, Fox, ABC and PBS for the rights to broadcast not only the 1996 Summer Games, but also both Summer and Winter Games from 2000-2006. By the way, the games in the year 2000 are being held in Sydney, Australia, meaning it will be very rare to run live footage. This from the geniuses who brought you the Triplecast, the pay-per-view adventure that allowed real sports fans to catch the Olympic ping-pong match that wasn't being televised to everyone.
The attraction of pre-Olympic endorsements only raises the question of the real reason some athletes decide to participate in the Olympics. For some, money isn't the issue. For example, some of the women's basketball team members gave up contracts worth over $200,000 to play overseas for the chance to wear the red, white and blue. And of course, there will be a few stories of the courageous Olympian who trained hours each day and paid her own way to the trials just for the chance to represent the U.S.A.
Those stories are around every year, and they are the ones that capture our hearts. That's what the Olympics should stand for-the glory of the athlete and his triumphs. The only gold should be found hanging around an athlete's neck, not in the hands of companies.
John Seelke is a Trinity senior and associate sports editor of The Chronicle. He can be seen walking around campus with the Nike swoosh tattooed on his forehead in support of their sponsorship of this summer's Olympic marathon.
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