How would you rank your interest in the Olympics? (Poll Closed)

Given the results of this poll whcih demonstrate that bvery few people really care. Why is it that the media will scrap everything else for two tull weeks and subject us to this spectacle? One good reason to hibernate until it's done.

My son now has no cartoons to watch on CBC in lieu of China holding a competition nobody cares about anymore, has zero integrity, and is being hosted by a criminal regime that ranks almost number 1 in the world for human rights abuses. I not only won't watch the Olympics, I wouldn't care if an Earthquake swallowed the entire thing.

I hope our athletes don't read some of these comments! Having The Games in China was a bad decision but let's not diminish the sacrifice and belittle the accomplishments of our athletes. I suggest the person who made the comments about his son missing cartoons is one of those "competition bad - everybody has to win a trophy feel good people". Don't rain on the parade of our fine young men and women who will and should make us proud. Maybe Canadian pride and sportsmanship is something our children can learn from the games. It IS about the athletes.

Thank God for Rogers Box, and Professtional sports, go Bills go! Olympics who cares?

The Olympics bore me actually, and I can't understand why we would waste valuable resources and air time on them. I would much rather watch the grass grow personally!

I can't really see what the fuss is all about. Perhaps all of these no doubt superb athletes should exert their prodigious energies by being productive, hard working members of society instead of pursuing excellence in sports that will, at best, lead to a commentators job on television.

I can't believe we, Canadians, participate in an olympic event in a country were people are treated like animals... apparently they, the Chinees, have nothing spared for the opening ceremonies, lavish display etc.... those monies would have been better spend on their own people that still live in shacks and or dirt floor huts. I wish our athletes all the best but at the same time wish they wouldn't have gone. In doing so they condone what's going on there and have no respect for the Tibetans and all the other regions where China thinks they rule! In my small way, I already decided over a year ago to purchase nothing what has been made, assembled or grown in China. Untill the Chinees government gives human rights, free speach and freedom of movement to all Chinees people, I rather do without. The Chinees govenment has no integrity nor respect for human rights and in my view are the worst criminals walking this earth. I will not watch any of the events and couldn't care less about what the Chinees govenment has done to attract people from all over the world. Shame on them all!

I think it is largely time to put an end to this craziness, or should I say obscenity?, the world calls Olympics. They only serve to divert people attention from much more serious and urgent questions, related to the numerous political, economical, social and environmental problems that plague our societies all over the world, and threaten our very survival. Physical activity should always be encouraged, in order to promote and protect everybody health, and sane development but that have nothing to do with the quasi-deification of the athletes, that accompanies the Olympics. As a matter of fact this institution actually helps to encourage physical inactivity by turning so many people into passive watchers. It also foster many other unhealthy attitudes like considering the athletes, specially the so-called stars, like «heroes». Meanwhile the real heroes — the ones who are devoting all their time and energy to the task of making our world more just, more viable, more peaceful, the ones whose work helps to alleviate the sufferings of others; the ones who, through their research activity and their interventions, seek to find cures to so many diseases who still resist all kinds of treatment and to make those cures available to everybody everywhere in the world; the ones who seek to make food and education available to everybody in the world — are largely ignored, rarely praised or presented as role models who deserve recognition and admiration and to be given all the means they need to help them reach their goals.

I enjoy the enthusiasm of a number of amateur sports, but frankly the amount of money we spend on the Canadian Olympic team could be better spent on social issues. Unfortunately, corporate sponsors (like Visa) end up taxing consumers for their donations, instead of just reducing their charges. No doubt a great show (the opening ceremonies that is), but the rest of each - well thank goodness for the discovery channel.

I stopped watching the olympics when they started bringing in the professionals. The push to win and the unrelenting hype, has had an incredibly negative effect on me. Put that with the obscene amount of money spent just to host the games, and it is one more reason not to watch. And do we really trust any athlete who participates to be "dope" free? Too many athletes have tested positive for me to really care about these games. I live in a small town, and I would appreciate just a fraction of the money spent on these games to spend on local sports programs for all, not just the few.

I am a proud Canadian and I certainly don't need one of "our" athletes to win a bronze medal to make me "feel" good about Canada. The Olympics, for the most part, is an exercise in Nationalism and as such I could never condone or support an event that promotes such an perfidious ideology. Further, I could never forgive the Olympics for helping to legitimize a murderous regime. Such was the case when the Olympic Committee awarded Berlin the games in 1936. Allowing Beijing to host the games smacks of 1936 all over again; albeit, with significant differences but not enough differences that if fails even to give a thin veneer of respectability to a government infamous for their abuses of fundamental rights that we in Canada cherish. For my part, I will refuse to watch, read, or listen to any news or events touching on these games. I find it odd that normally sane people who wouldn’t lend one second of their time watching water polo, or some other such “riveting” event, apparently can’t pull themselves from their TV when this same event is played during the Olympics. The Emperor’s new clothes indeed and I for one will not cheer in awe at the spectacle.

Friendly competition is always good stuff - commercialized sports much less so, and in these days it's just more bread and circuses for 'the masses' - as a lot of people seem to understand, considering the fairly low level of interest amongst 'we the people'. Leads to many interesting questions, including the media role telling everyone this is really big stuff we should all be watching!!! - thus are the media reporting news we need to know, or propagandizing us all? Actually, that's one of those questions that once it gets asked, the answer becomes clear. Which is why I'd be surprised if this comment makes it past the moderators. If it does - more interesting reading at Green Island They're Building a Box - and You're In It - http://www.rudemacedon.ca/dlp/box/box-intro.html

The athletes give their all - they do deserve our best wishes and support - but - much like most sports the administrators really screw it up. Given the ability to move from country to country and get just about any passport you want including the use of dual citizenship, we can thank our lucky stars that some place like Dubai or Saudi Arabia doesn't take a real interest. They could just about buy every gold medal if they wanted to. And where did those outfits come from? I've always been proud to wear our colours, but these things look like they came off a Wal-Mart clearance rack. What I have learned from the Olympic coverage is where those ugly little Asian look 2010 mascots came from. Seems Beijing 2008 has their cousins.

The Olympics provide fool's gold for the most part. They have been corrupted at every level. The Olympic committee is a small private club who are wined, dined and otherwise bribed by the competing countries. There have been several scandals uncovered of bribes thinly disguised e.g. someone's daughter gets admission to a top university. Even considering totalitarian regimes for whom the event is just another cog in their massive propaganda scheme runs counter to the high faluting ideals spouted. The Olympic committee tried to cover their asses by claiming that China had promised them to improve human rights and their air pollution. Well, 0 for 2 is a surprise to no one with any common sense and knowledge of communism. If anything, there has been a bigger crackdown and more repression of the native population, Tibetans, Falun Gong, you name it. The hypocrisy of Russia participating in this showboat global love fest and using the world's inattention to invade Georgia just as it once invaded the Baltics and Poland is another example of totalitarian asshats. The political farce and power plays overshadow the actual sports but even there, all is not gold, silver or bronze. Doping has dogged the games since the glory days of communist countries such as East Germany who suddenly dropped out of contention when science caught up and could detect performance enhancing drugs. China has now substituted selecting young children, separating them from their families and training them like robots for 9 years in special centers as the equally reprehensible road to Olympic success. And if they're really good but too young to qualify...well a birth certificate is easy to forge. Many athletes, east and west bloc have been corrupted by the lure of lucrative endorsements. They want to win to up their price. If the money and training energy that went into this circus were directed to something productive, we could probably cure some dread disease or feed a starving nation. I'm no socialist. My idea of feeding someone is not handing them a fish but teaching them to fish but spending billions on a mediocre TV show and propaganda coup for a regime that deserves criticism, not a blind eye or even praise by the clueless and/or shameless is not best use of limited world resources. I agree with the above commenters who mentioned sponsoring sport more widely in all communities for physical and health purposes. Truly it's counter-productive to have couch potatoes cheer on a handful of people over-invested in sport, most of whom hope to make a career out of it and are there for purely selfish purposes. They are not heroes, which is a word that should be reserved for someone who does something altruistic, not chasing glory for themselves. Re the Canadian uniforms, they're not like something from Walmart, but Zellers; namely wasn't this the year the contract went from Roots to the Bay? And with the hats are they trying out for Mao's Red (and white) Guard? Either that or they just came from a painting party splashing a lot of red about.

P Fahmy. Hear! Hear!

Wow. Those are some pretty sad comments so far. So when did the accomplishments of our atheletes become connected to items manufactured in China? Get mad at the IOC but not the athelete; the atheletes have no choice as to where the games are. It IS your decision to shop where you wish but would these "nay sayers" still have the same negative attitude if the Olympics were held elsewhere? I don't shop at WalMart either and buy free trade coffee and do all that other politically correct stuff too - not that the large corporations notice. I still recognise the accomplishments of our atheletes As far as watching the games, I and many of my friends are watching every moment possible. This is great! I believe many of those commenting are missing the point of why we should be proud of our atheletes. I think anyone who is able to give their all for their sport is someone who should be commended not chastised or belittled. The only thing I can surmise is that those negative "nay sayers" were perhaps those peple who in their youth were last to be picked for any team games. Their deep rooted psychological scarring has translated to propoganda spewing Olympic hating drivel. Too bad.