21st Century Olympics have lost their luster

Opinion by WILLIAM WILCZEWSKI

I hate to admit it, but I’ve never been a big fan of the winter Olympic Games.

Aside from hockey—and the occasional drunk curling party—the winter Olympics are about as exciting as … well, a sober curling party, which is to say I’d rather brush my teeth with a mouthful of rusty razor blades than spend time watching 300 different ways to slide down a mountain.

Anyway, the upside used to be the flipside of that coin, which is the summer Olympics.

Not so much anymore.

Sadly, in the last few years anyway, even the summer Games aren’t what they used to be. At least in the United States, that used to be athletic competition at its purist being performed by unknown amateurs looking to climb the ladder of success and perhaps make a name for themselves in the process.

That same desire to drive onto victory lane, though, has cheapened the American Olympic experience with the ever-increasing trend of allowing our pro athletes to compete in what was once an amateur-only experience.

That used to make the U.S. special compared to much of the world that never really differentiated the two. In fact, that’s what made my only winter Olympic memory such an impressive accomplishment.

Yep, much like the rest of the country, I would imagine, you guessed it.

The “Mirace on Ice.”

1980.

Lake Placid, N.Y.

A ragtag bunch of no-name American hockey kids defeated what amounted to a professional Soviet Union hockey dynasty that it had no business beating in the medal round before winning gold after an eventual victory over Finland.

Prior to that, the Soviets had won six of seven previous Olympic gold medals and hadn’t lost a single game to the U.S. in 20 years.

Add a cold war and its accompanying political climate to the mix and you have a story that Hollywood wouldn’t have even dare wrote—one that united a nation when we needed it most.

That, however, will never happen again.

That door was shut years ago when the U.S. started allowing professionals in the Olympic ranks—and not only in hockey, but also in basketball.

This year, you can even add boxing—my favorite summer Olympic sport—to that list.

If the drug-doping era weren’t enough, these relatively recent developments have most certainly made the Olympics lose its luster for a man whose first memories in life include now-boxing-legend Sugar Ray Leonard winning Olympic gold in the 1976 Games in Montreal, Canada.

He did so as an amateur, as the modern Olympics were first envisioned by Demetrius Vikelas, the first president of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

Those days, though, are long gone.

And I miss them.

For the upcoming Games in August, the talk of professional boxers going for the gold dominates the scene along with seeing what the final U.S. basketball team roster will look like after a laundry list of pros have announced that they’re no-goes for Rio.

On that list is LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Marc Stein, LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony Davis, John Wall, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

Even Carmelo Anthony had expressed uncertainty about whether he wanted to go, although he is on the roster now. Widespread concern over the Zika virus was likely the driving force that kept many of our stars from heading to Brazil.

Me?

I really don’t care.

In fact, it brings a smile to my face.

I see enough of those guys all year long on Fox, NBC, ESPN and endless Nike commercials.

Once every four years I want to see some new faces.

Some new names.

I want the up-and-comers to emerge on the scene like Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione and Jack O’Callahan.

I want to see the Mary Lou Rettons and Carl Lewises and Michael Phelpses take my breath away and capture my imagination from out of nowhere.

Sure, this can happen in sports like gymnastics, track and field and swimming, where there are no professional ranks in the U.S. I just wish it could happen across the board because it should be all-amateur or nothing.

Sure, I may be living in the past, but at least there, my good ol’ days were good. Not like they are today where the current stars get more time to shine and the upstarts get lost in their shadows.

Give me new.

Give me hungry.

Give me someone who doesn’t stand a chance.

They could prove us wrong.

Heck, the Olympics only happen every four years. Don’t we deserve a breath of fresh air?

Wilczewski can be reached at wwilczewski@havasunews.com.