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Wedgies are Just Part of the Game

For those who hadn't gotten sick of the Olympic gymnastics competition, NBC brodcasted the superfluous gymnastics gala last night. The best part of the show was having a chance to see the gymnasts to finally relax and have some fun, but where's the tension, the excitement, the ruthless competition?

Performance sports (gymnastics, diving, weight-lifting, equestrian, etc.) are exciting because of their inherent difficulty and create tension or a sense of danger to go with the competetive scoring . Any race (swimming, track, cycling, etc.) has tension and competition built in. Same thing for team or head-to-head sports (table tennis, volleyball, basketball, etc.) and bout competitions (judo, fencing, wrestling, etc.).

On CNBC I could watch boxing, possibly one of the most brutal and competetive of sports. But there is one team sport that embraces the the physical brutality of boxing: water polo. Now, I appreciate the skimpy beach volleyball uniforms as much as anyone, but why doesn't NBC put water polo into their prime-time lineup?

From a Washington Post article (requires registration):

Water polo is a combination of swimming, soccer and basketball, plus wrestling, boxing and mugging. The players are phenomenal athletes who perform amazing feats of speed, grace, stamina and ball-handling. They also perform amazing feats of kicking, punching, scratching, clawing and choking. And that's just the men. The women are also fond of tearing each other's bathing suits off.

...

"A couple guys got punched in the face and a couple got kicked in the face," [Defenseman Dan Klatt] said with a shrug. "But that's just part of the game."

A few yards away, another game had started, this one between Russia and Serbia and Montenegro. Up on the big TV screen was a candid shot from the pool: A Russian player appeared to be giving a Serb player a big bear hug. The Serb hugged him back.

For a split second, it looked like one of those heartwarming moments of Olympic brotherhood. Then the two men started trying to drown each other, and you realized it was just another heartwarming moment of Olympic water polo.

Now this is a sport worth staying up 'til 11PM for.