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But this is never more true than at the Olympics.
The Olympics are a television show.
But for you, me, and everybody else, they are a fortnight of mini-dramas.
People experience the Olympics in short chunks, to be forgotten about quickly before they move onto something else.
They are, in their purest sense, reality TV.
By every account, the Olympics arealready a mess.
Athletes are testing positive for COVID in growing numbers.
Tokyo is in a state of emergency.
Japanese citizens have been begging the Olympics to stay away for months.
But thats not the way any of us are going to experience it.
Were going to experience it as good television.
NBC has proven expert at shaving off Olympic unpleasantness in the past.
But watching at home, you wouldnt have been privy to much of any of this.
The Olympics are scrubbed for television.
And the Tokyo Olympics are going to require alotof scrubbing.
When the Games get going, its difficult not to get swept up in them, despite everything.
That feeling you have now, that they really shouldnt be doing this?
Trust me, it will fade once the Games get going.
Maybe it shouldnt, but it will.
After all, this has happened in every other sport that has plowed through the pandemic.
The Olympics will be no different.
And the Games have always been dramatically different from the way theyre portrayed on television.
Whats going on behind the curtain?
You dont really want to know.
Ill be hooked, youll be hooked, well all be hooked.
Thats what the Olympics have always counted on, and thats what theyve always delivered.
