I once could not get enough of watching the Olympics. I binge watched. I remember Mark Spitz and Sugar Ray Leonard. There was Mary Lou Retton and The Dream Team. I remember Carl Lewis, Florence Griffith Joyner and Greg Louganis and the pride I felt when they played the National Anthem at another American victory.
But I didn’t watch the Olympics this year. Never turned it on once. And apparently a lot of other Americans did the same. The ratings were down by 50%. Not 5% or 10%, which would have been significant, but 50%. They lost half their audience.
I read with interest as the media tried to explain away the dismal ratings dues to “time zone differences” and “cable TV and so many other choices.”
The reason America turned off the Olympics in mass is because many could not abide seeing athletes use such a stage to show contempt for the American flag and all this country stands for. If someone finds offense at a 150-year-old statue, they take it down, but it’s okay to protest beneath the American flag and piss off 200 million Americans that truly care about this country?
The entire sports world should sit up and take notice. If they continue to allow their leagues and teams to continue to flaunt their political views in the sports arena, there will be a whole lot more TV sets shutting off.