{"id":421,"date":"2010-12-04T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-04T18:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=421"},"modified":"2010-12-04T10:06:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-04T18:06:00","slug":"u-s-could-benefit-from-a-cold-war-mentality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=421","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Could Benefit From a Cold War Mentality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/archival\/sam-the-eagle-los-angeles\/image\/4629458?term=los+angeles+Olympics\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view1.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/4629458\/sam-the-eagle-los-angeles\/sam-the-eagle-los-angeles.jpg?resize=234%2C347\" border=\"0\" width=\"234\" title=\"SAM THE EAGLE LOS ANGELES OLYMPICS\" height=\"347\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\" ondrag=\"return false;\" onmousedown=\"return false;\" alt=\"AUG 1984:  OFFICIAL MASCOT OF THE 1984 SUMMER OLYMPICS IN LOS ANGELES SAM THE EAGLE IS PHOTOGRAPHED OUTSIDE THE OLYMPIC STADIUM.\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/\/JavaScripts\/OTIjs.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Within the past fourteen months we\u2019ve seen the U.S. defeated in two bids for major global competitions. Last year losing out to Rio in the bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, and this past week losing out to Qatar in the bid for the 2022 FIFA Soccer World Cup. And track and field sits in the stands without even submitting bids for the World Championships.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly for America\u2019s sporting community, these things are announced in the media and seemingly quickly forgotten. As America seems to have lost it\u2019s appetite for \u201cOlympic oriented\u201d sports with the NBA, NFL, and MLB filling their sporting plates \u2013 not to mention huge sides of golf and NASCAR.<\/p>\n<p>While many reading this blog weren\u2019t even born, there was a time when \u201cOlympic\u201d sports were a major part of this country. A time when America truly cared about what was going on with Mark Spitz, Dorothy Hamil, Edwin Moses, Evelyn Ashford and Carl Lewis. A time when winning Olympic medals was paramount \u2013 when the US v USSR in basketball and the \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d were as important as the World Series and the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure many of you are asking: when was that? Well, it was during the \u201cCold War\u201d. A period of time when there were two primary \u201cSuper Powers\u201d in the world \u2013 the United States and the Soviet Union. Two nations on opposite sides of the table ideologically and both with the resources and military might to do serious damage to the other. Which, ironically, kept both from going to war \u2013 because neither wanted to be annihilated!<\/p>\n<p>Yet we did wage war. It just wasn\u2019t on the battle field \u2013 hence the term \u201cCold War\u201d. Instead we waged a war to prove which \u201csystem\u201d was better \u2013 Communism or Capitalism. A war that fueled the race to space; advances in medicine and science; and tremendous technological gains. But the real \u201csoldiers\u201d in this war became the athletes of both countries \u2013 as the head to head battles took place on basketball courts, in swimming pools and on tracks \u2013 the battle grounds of the Cold War. <\/p>\n<p>The Soviet Union put tons of human and financial resources into the development of its athletics teams. And while the U.S. was not as heavily financially invested much more support was given to Olympic sports during this period because, after all, these athletes became the face of the country to the world and their success was truly the nations success, or failure. <\/p>\n<p>With the death of the Cold War in the 90\u2019s, and after the huge success of the Atlanta Olympics, it seems to me that we have gotten further and further away from that sense of \u201cnational pride\u201d that participating in, and hosting, global events used to bring to this country. While, ironically, it seems that other nations seem to have developed the view that these things are VERY important to their global images.<\/p>\n<p>Small countries like South Korea and Qatar have very little athletic clout, yet view hosting global events important to their countries. On the flip side, burgeoning world power China deems it important that the world come visit them so that they can show the world who and what they are \u2013 global public relations!<\/p>\n<p>In the last decade, the U.S. has taken many \u201chits\u201d on the global stage \u2013 our \u201cimage\u201d taking a beating in everything from athletics to politics. With the rest of the world looking to \u201csports\u201d as a national marketing tool, perhaps it is time for the U.S. to get back to that Cold War mentality and look at our \u201cOlympic oriented sports\u201d athletes as our global ambassadors \u2013 and our showings in global events as a measure of our relative \u201cstrength\u201d as a nation. Not just \u201cphysical\u201d strength, but strength of country \u2013 as in how well we can develop, and support our athletic \u201carmy\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>We have invested hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars into \u201cbailing\u201d out the financial and auto industries. Perhaps a collective of these corporations could be called upon to invest in America. My thought being that between them they could be coaxed into funding (or advancing a long term loan) for the development of a National Sporting Center capable of hosting an Olympics \u2013 and by default a World Championships, World Cup, World&nbsp; Swimming Championships, or World Gymnastics Championships, to name a few events. These corporations could in turn be paid back through the revenues derived from these events \u2013 not to mention the potential of lease arrangements with professional sports teams depending on where the facility is located (Los Angeles is looking for an NFL team). After all it was our collective dollars that kept them afloat, and in the words of JFK, \u201cask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>Just a thought. After all what\u2019s a hundred million dollars or so per company, when they\u2019ve been advanced hundreds of billions? Imagine what sort of complex could be put together for say five to ten billion dollars. More importantly, the U.S. needs to get back to having a global presence other than our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Cold War or not, sports STILL plays a huge roll in global perception \u2013 and we are still a major player on the planet and could use a shot in the arm in public relations. Just something to think on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Within the past fourteen months we\u2019ve seen the U.S. defeated in two bids for major global competitions. Last year losing out to Rio in the bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, and this past week losing out to Qatar in the bid for the 2022 FIFA Soccer World Cup. And track and field sits in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-6N","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}