Goodbye Olympics

Ms. Packratty has pretty much given up on the Olympics since they opened competition up to professionals, but the latest, where some jock-sniffing law student working as an intern for USOC wrote a very snarky letter to the Ravelry website complaining about their Ravelympics - a knitters observance of the Olympics in which knitters were challenged to start and complete projects within the duration of the Olympics, tackle new techniques or dig out ancient Works In Progress and finish them.  Mr. Brett Hirsch found it necessary to comment that a "sweater triathalon" somehow denigrated the efforts of our noble athletes.

Clearly, Mr. Hirsch needs a humor transplant and, frankly, I suspect that some of this attitude stems from the perception of knitting as women's stuff and relatively valueless.  Although he appears to be from New York, apparently he's never priced a handknit at Ralph Lauren or Barneys.  And after this boner, I rather suspect that not only will he never own a pair of hand-knit socks, he's probably going to be the laughingstock of his final year in law school

Now, Ms. Packratty was not going to participate in the Ravelympics - her nod to the Olympics was going to be to pledge to swim every day during the games and NOT spend the time in front of the tube because between the adverts and the endless commentary and color, Ms. Packratty has just flat out found the last 4 or 5 Olympic Games utterly boooooring.  However, this reminded her of what complete tools the USOC was during the Atlanta games when they nearly forced a 30 year old institution on Marietta Boulevard - the Olympic Diner - out of business.  Not to mention the high handed and abusive way some of the visiting Olympic committee members behaved.  So Ms. Packratty will not be watching any of the Olympics and she will be looking up the names of major sponsors and putting them on her "buy from these people LAST" list.
Too bad there aren't enough of us to really make stupidity painful.

I did agree that there were patterns on Ravelry that were for sale that did infringe on the Olympic trademark - although a pattern that was free that just shows how to knit 5 interlocking rings - well, face it, no one knitter making cotton dishclothes is taking money out of the USOC coffers with it.  It's not like it's competing with a commercial product.  But the tone of the letter was appalling and the pettiness of it, as well.

If USOC had a brain at this point, they would offer to license the term Ravelympix for a peppercorn charge and turn it into a public relations plus on how ordinary people can be challenged by the Olympics to be more and better and motivated by the Games.  But I bet they won't have the brains, humor or the imagination to do anything but continue on their heavy-handed way.