Raising the Stakes at the Olympics

The vaunted Olympic spirit is terrible for competition. What we need, says Joel Stein, are some anti-medals, and a new scoring system

Fabrice Coferini / AFP / Getty

Former Chinese Olympic gymnast Li Ning lights the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

I hate the olympic spirit. No competition should be ruined by an undercurrent of peace and harmony. Would baseball be better if Derek Jeter hugged David Ortiz after every game and talked about how wonderful Boston is? If you want an endless event in which everyone pretends to respect everybody else, go to couples therapy. If I'm going to spend two weeks watching something, I want to see some people pouring Champagne on one another and some people crying at the end of it. That's why I watch the baseball playoffs and Girls Gone Wild . How damaging to sports is...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!