ESPN Sports Cuban Propaganda

One of the reasons why sports is a popular pastime among Americans is because it has tended to be non-partisan. It is news which mentally reconnects aged athletes back to their glory days, while stoking local loyalties and friendly rivalries and forgetting the tumult of news from the "real world".

Unfortunately, the trend in the media has been to politicize everything, including sports news.  More than seeing sports through a lens of political correctness, the sports media has segued into political propaganda. 

A case in point was a ESPN Sportscenter social media sharing in regards to President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba after 55 years of bilateral hostility.

ESPN authorized a Tweet which whitewashed the brutality of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's communist regime by promoting propaganda that Fidel was a sports fan. 

After a couple of hours of consternation, ESPN withdrew the post, but the damage was done by humanizing the despot. One of the reasons that Cubans believe that they won their long standoff with the United States is because of Fidel's romancing the American press. 

It may be true that Fidel is a big sports fan.  Fidel even yearned to play for the Yanquis in his youth. But ESPN featuring such factoids during a controversial trip to Cuba by President Barack Obama amounts to propaganda. 

To give a truer picture of the sporting Castro, it is important to understand how Fidel Castro used sports as a weapon to enforce his communist ideology.



A more accurate picture of Fidel Castro's sporting sense is captured by hitting the links with the bloody revolutionary Che Guevara. 

[L] Che Guevara [R] Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro

It is dubious that Che's favorite sport was golf.  More likely it was coaching firing squads.

Why the Red Card on the F.I.F.A. World Cup of Corruption?

In the wake of Attorney General Loretta Lynch pulling out a red card on 14 F.I.F.A officials for an alleged World Cup of Corruption, Russian President Vladimir Putin opined that the Americans were offsides. 

It is bizarre that Putin purports that the United States is culminating a three year investigation in order to interfere with the F.I.F.A. election of Joseph Sepp  Blatter, but that sort of agiprop distracts from the Russians continuing to mass heavy firepower on the Ukrainian border. But then again, Putin's Russia used the Sochi Winter Olympics as cover for initially invading Crimea in 2014.

To answer why the Department of Justice issued a 47 count indictment over F.I.F.A. corruption, it is worth noting that the plots were hatched in the United States and utilized the U.S. banking system.  It is wrong to think that the F.I.F.A. case does not affect American politics either.  The United States missed out on winning the 2018 World Cup to the Russian Federation's Sochi bid and the out of the box award to Qatar in 2022.  The U.S. would be a natural backup in case either the Russian or Qatari bids fall through.

Moreover,  the Clinton Foundation received between  $50,000 and $100,000 and partnered with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.  President Bill Clinton was said to have been so upset at the US losing the 2022 World Cup bid to Qatar that he smashed a mirror.  But the Qatar 2022 tried to make it up by giving the Clinton Foundation  $250,000 and $500,000 as well as the Qatari government pitching in between $1 million and $5 million.

This may only be the beginning of the F.I.F.A. fallout. Suddenly the business of soccer has become very exiting.  Goooooooooooool!

h/t: Steve Bell

President Obama Sizing Up Competition

When President Obama dismissed all-Qaeda linked militants (i.e. ISIS) as "jayvee", his Administration could not imagine that eight months later POTUS would be ordering limited airstrikes against the jihadist terror group in Iraq.  White House spokesman Josh Ernest tried some fancy moves to distract from an uneasy question about this foreign policy flip-flop.

Perhaps President Obama would now choose another favorite sports analogy that the terror group is "punching above their weight". 

World Class Gymnast Natalia Godunko Auctions Gold Medal to Aid Ukrainian Army

[L] Natalia Godunko performing Rhythmic Gymnastics  [R] Gold Medal being auctioned for Ukrainian Army

Natalia Godunka, a 29 year old world class Rhythmic Gymnast from Ukraine, decided to auction her team Gold Medal from the 2001 World Championships in Madrid to support the Ukrainian army in the War of the Donbass (Eastern Ukraine).

To get an idea of the caliber of athlete Godonko is, witness her frenetic but flawless ribbon performance at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.



Godunka boyfriend, musician Sasha Polozhynsky, announced the auction of the medal on Facebook.  Plozhynsky regrets that Godunka put the medal up for auction but since it has been bid upon, he hopes that it will raise more money and inspire others to also help fund the cause. 

In one day, the auction had garnered bids had garnered bids up to $843 US.   The auction runs until August 10th, 2014.

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia  a couple of Ukrainian athletes protested violence at the Euromaiden protests in Kiev by Russian backed paramilitaries  by not showing up to their events.

Godunko sacrificing her gold medal  to support her country's army to inspire shared sacrifice to forestall Finlandization of Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin's expansionistic incursions using  non-linear warfare.

Many celebrities will spout off about causes about which they know little or that lending their support comes at no cost.  It is admirable that Ukrainian athletes like Natalia Godunko as well as Olg and Bohdana Matsohski are willing to personally sacrifice for their country and their freedom. 

h/t: Ukrainian Pravda 

Bob Costas Sees Red in Sochi

Sports fans may not have recognized Bob Costas in his early reports from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics because of his unfamiliar eye wear.  Wags likened the bespeckled sportscaster as doubling as Clark Kent or more mature Harry Potter.  There is even a parody Twitter account chronicling the situation

As NBC started its 18 days of intense coverage of the XXII Winter Olympiad, Costas came down with an eye infection, so he needed to wear glasses on air.  Network doctors think that it is a minor infection which should resolve itself by the weekend.

Considering all of the Sochi Problems, especially with the special non-potable Sochi water coming from "five star" hotel taps, it is easy to see how Costa could get pink eye.

It is a reminder to don't drink the water.

             

Questioning the Quality of the Sochi Slopestyle Course

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia has faced a storm of criticism from the media for poorly prepared lodging. However, the withdrawal of USA snowboard superstar Shaun White from the Slopestyle competition calls into question whether poor preparations have extended to athletic facilities.

 Slopestyle is a new sport in the Winter Olympics. Slopestyle is a discipline which combines skill sets of skiing and snowboarding. Competitors perform tricks on a mountainside course which resembles a snowy skate park. Slopestyle may draw more youthful extreme sports enthusiast to follow the Winter Olympics.

 The Slopestyle course for the Sochi Olympics is a 2,083-foot course with three humongous jumps and an assortment of pipes and rails on which the 30 male and 24 female athletes perform freestyle tricks. The competitors are judged on: 1) the execution of style 2) variety and difficulty of tricks and 3) risk and progression.

 The jump in the Sochi Extreme Park is 72 feet (22 meters) high. That is like stacking six school buses on top of each other. The other two jumps are around 59 feet (18 meters) high. There are also three jibs (assortments of pipes and rails) where the snowboarders do their freestyle tricks as they descend the 656 feet (200 meters) to the finish.

Here is a point of view shot of the descent down the Sochi Slopestyle course.


So there is an exciting new Olympic event which promises to draw more extreme sports fanatics to watch the Sochi Winter Games.  What could go wrong?

Well, the Slopestyle course at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park generated quite a bit of concern among participating athletes.  In practice runs before the start of the games, Norwegian snowboarder Torstein Horgmo crashed at the top of the course and broke his collar bone.  The next day during practices, Finnish snowboarder Marika Enne suffered a concussion.

 To be fair, there is some speculation that White was more concerned about a prior wrist sprain in the US qualification.  Some cynics suggest that White might have pulled out of Sochi Slopestyles when it seemed like he would only place in 6th, which was not good enough for endorsement deals.  Nevertheless, after he sprained his wrist in Sochi practice runs and  American Shaun White decided to bow out of the Slopestyle competition, it drew more attention to the unforgiving Slopestyle course.

The consensus among Sochi Slopestyle competitors is that changes needed to be made.  British snowboarder (and World Cup medalist) Billy Morgan,  criticizes the design of the jumps which he believes are too steep which results in snowboarders losing speed at the top of each jump, yet there are short landings on the other side. Seamus O'Connor, a San Diego snowboarder representing Ireland believes that the railings are too close together and that the jumps have been overbuilt.  Australian snowboarder Torah Bright initially offered a damning appraisal of the craftsmanship of the Sochi Winter Olympics Extreme Park.

Sochi Olympic organizers have scrambled to make adjustments to the Slopestyle course.  International Ski and Snowboard Federation technical delegate Bill van Gilder anticipated that the height of all three jumps may be lowered by six feet.   Ms. Bright seemed pleased by some of the course corrections that Sochi organizers made after her initial practice runs.

Another issue may be the condition of the snow.  Most of the snow on the course is old stuff stockpiled over the last year mixed in with artificial snow.  That makes the course too soft in some areas and too hard in other parts. Due to the warm weather, raking equipment has not been able to get on the course since the weight of heavy equipment could break the course down in these conditions.

Of course, the Sochi Slopestyle course controversy did not effect the performance of Super Mario and Sonic on the slopes.



h/t: PRI 
     CTVNews

Problems Sochi-izing (sic)

In the run up to the XXII Winter Olympiad being held in the Russia Federation's Black Sea resort city of Sochi, there were concerns about attacks from so called black widow Chechian terrorists and  Vladimir Putin's drive against homosexuals.   That being said, now that the world's media are arriving to the Caucus to cover the games, more immediate infrastructure issues are evident.

The Russian Federation has invested $51 billion to make the Sochi games a hallmark for the new Russia. Yet with days before the start of the games, six of the nine  mountain hotels meant for the media were fully operational. While organizers maintain that 97% of the hotel rooms are finished, construction workers are rushing around two days before the opening ceremonies.  They boast that the hotels are 95% booked.

Organizers may pride themselves on the rooms being finished but a more salient question is are they ready.  Organizers expect 11,000 accredited journalists to cover the games. Some hotels do not even have lobbies yet, which promoted a Twitter post suggesting that guest's check in at the owner's bedroom.  While that could have been some Black Sea humor,  knowing the myriad of other infrastructure issues and work arounds, it may not have been a tongue in cheek comment.

A German photographer sought to check into a media hotel and found that his first room was unfinished, the substitute room was occupied by still busy construction workers and the third room was occupied by a stray dog. So much for first chances to make a good impression.

Lightbulbs were such a premium at the media hotel room that Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel was willing to barter them for a single working door handle.  Per (Canada) National Post correspondent Bruce Arthur, there may be a hot black market for shower curtains.   Wetzel noted that his room has two single beds, one pillow and no shower curtain as workmen laid the brick sidewalk outside.  Well at least construction workers were not spray painting the grass green near him.

One journalist lost his hotel key. As the hotel did not have a copy, instead of giving him a new key, the management removed the whole door.  Not that the rooms with doors are secure.  Brian Costa from  Wall Street Journal reported had an unexpected  4 am Stranger in the Sochi night. Costa wondered if it was graveyard shift housekeeping, a construction worker or something more sinister.  Sean Walker, the Moscow Correspondent for The Guardian, quipped on Twitter: “If you bring 4.9 stars we can add it to what we have already and it’ll be a five star hotel!”

Then there are the toilet situations.  As some of the venues facilities were constructed, there were no partitions for separate commode stalls in the Men's Olympic Biathalon.

Perhaps it was a failure in communications as construction workers thought Biathlon meant Two for Loo.  Rest assured it was not the very real  ToDaLoo or the satirical Love Toilet  of SNL fame.   For those visitors to Sochi with running water and can use their toilets, there are idiosyncratic operational signs.

But there were also signs which warned not to flush toilet paper down the commode but to use the bins which Sochi organizers provided. Classy.

Then there are less fortunate guests, who do not have water, at a supposed first class hotel for the media.

There was good reason not to use the water when it was restored as it looked like urine.  The Chicago Tribune's Stacey St. Clair looked on the bright side of the situation, and shared via Twitter that she was washing her face with Evian, like a Kardashian.  But then again, look at what drinking that water has done for Bruce Jenner.

These Olympic infrastructure issues are enough to make a tourist laugh lest one cry.




Although these are niggling problems for visitors which Sochi is in the spotlight, it is much more for local inhabitants.  In Akhshtyr , a mountain village near Sochi, the pristine nature reserves lost its status as a national park when Sochi was picked in 2008 to host the XXII Winter Olympiad.  Quarries and waste dumps mushroomed.  A chagrined resident lamented:  "All you can fish from the river these days is construction waste." 

Caucus mountain village of  Akhshtyr with Sochi Olympic construction waste (photo: DWM Bushuev)

Denizens which will not suffer anymore are the stray dog population.   There have been thousands of stray dogs in the mud and rubble of Olympic construction sites that roam the streets and snowy mountainsides.  As the Games drew new, Sochi organizers hired a company to catch and kill the animals so that they do not create a nuisance.  No wonder the stray was hiding in the media hotel room, to blend in among kindred spirits.

It is dubious if NBC will cover much of this construction chaos as an official media channel for the International Olympic Committee.  However, the curious can follow the construction schadenfreude on Twitter #sochiproblems

h/t:  Euronews
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