Whine Country: Athletes and Audiences Follow Media's Lead in Sochi

We’ve all heard the complaints out of Sochi from the American media out by now: bad water, bad hotel rooms, bad gay perspective, bad (balmy) weather, and bad opening ceremony.

Some athletes appear to be following the media’s lead and going all-in on the complaint route as well. Bode Miller fails to medal in the men’s downhill; he blames the soft snow created by warm weather (which is similar to conditions he won in four years ago in Vancouver, but no matter). Snowboarder Shaun White doesn’t make it back to the podium as well, he blames the Slurpee-like half pipe (where a 15-year-old from Japan had no issue with in beating him).

But the gold medal for whining goes to the U.S. speed skating team, who took major issue with its uniform sponsor and supplier, Under Armour, which apparently was preventing anyone on the team from finishing higher than 7th place thus far. It even prompted UA CEO Kevin Plank to go on Bloomberg TV to address the issue.

As the old saying goes, a good craftsman never blames his tools. So after doing just that, the team declares it is switching back to its old Under Armour uniforms it used with more success during training. And on cue, its best skater (Shani Davis) finished…11th. What’s next? An emergency delivery from Nike? Skinny skating?

The moaning doesn’t end with the media or some athletes, either; it now extends to those watching the games as well. The unescapable biggie is the criticism NBC is getting over showing events in primetime on tape delay. But the Peacock has every right to satisfy its sponsors and maximize its ratings, and with Sochi 11-14 hours ahead of the continental U.S., what exactly is NBC supposed to do? Another doozy comes from those who bellyache about learning Olympic results via Twitter, ESPN or cable news before the tape delay broadcast occurs. Is it too much to ask to avoid those outlets or covering ears or eyes if the element of surprise is really that important?

As the former Republican Senator Phil Gramm once infamously said back in 2008, “We have sort of become a nation of whiners.”

No kidding.

Just watch the Olympics or read or watch all of the stories about it.

The media complains.

Some athletes follow suit.

And audiences are never satisfied.

Gramm was wrong about one thing:

We are not “sort of” a nation of whiners.

We just are.

Source: Mediaite
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