I can't disagree with you too much. I guess spending 10 years in the military probably has something to do with my take on the matter... you don't leave your buddies behind to fend for themselves, especially if you happen to be the one who created the situation to begin with. He hightailed it out of there, and left them to deal with the mess.
A case of corruption in Rio? Or a lying douchebag?
Looks like Lockte isn't the Dochebag we thought he was and Brazil is as corrupt as we were told. Police were the ones lying and embellishing the story, the missing minutes of the video tape seem to be actually important. I owe Lochte an apology:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/did-rio-cops-embellish-story-like-lochte/ar-BBvTmCC?li=BBnb7Kz
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At the end of the day, no matter how much was exaggerated or wasn't, a group of guys who had partied all night caused a problem that should've and could've been avoided. I mean - Lockte admitted himself that he exaggerated the story. Why else would he say that if he didn't? He admitted this back home, away from potential prosecution.
Of course - the Brazilian authorities are corrupt. This isn't news. And that never wasn't not considered when I started reading the accounts. But that's even more reason to stay away from potential trouble imo.
And it doesn't change the fact that he hightailed it out of there, leaving his buddies to deal with it while he could go back home and figure out how to save his image. I still think he's a douchebag, for that reason alone if nothing else. You don't do that to your friends.
Sometimes things happen when you're at the wrong place at the wrong time, sure. But when you're at the wrong place and you're urinating in front of a business, which I think is still accurate despite the missing video footage - you're asking for trouble. You'd probably be in some kind of trouble here in the US, and you're sure as hell gonna be in trouble in a different country.
He's apparently still the douchebag according to his biggest sponsors.
Speedo announced today they're parting ways, as did Ralph Lauren, and another company.
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I would not automatically calling someone a douche bag when the sponsorship is dropped.
Yes, agreed on the inappropriate behavior exhibited by the young men. It is unwise to have gotten into the situation in the first place.
However, If someone ( law enforcement or related to the law enforcement of not ) showed me a badge and pulled a weapon on me to demand cash , I'd call that robbery.
Speedo dropped the sponsorship because corporate image is what they protect. I don't blame the Speedo for pulling their endorsement contract .
I would be hightailing out of Brazil if I was advised to do so. Not going to spend one minute in their jail system, period. Judging from the penalty handed down for the Australian team, greed and corruption seemed to come down from the top.
Someone has to pay for the trillions of dollars sunk into hosting this Olympics Game. Does Greece 2004 sounds familiar ? It went into financial difficulties right after the 2004 Summer Olympics. Not that it did not have issues before hands, the Olympics Debts was the last nail for the coffin .
No one should misunderstand - I am not defending the police or their actions, whatsoever. And I guess, if I was drunk and stupid enough to damage private property, then had someone draw a gun on me demanding payment for said damages - yeah - maybe in my drunken state I would assume that at least back in the US - that would meet the criteria for armed robbery.
We'll give him a pass. We'll assume that he was so drunk that he forgot he was in (basically) a 3rd world country and didn't know that a completely different set of laws or values deal with situations over there quite contrarily to the way he's been dealt with at home.
And he has been dealt with at home on several occasions. Public drunkenness, urinating in public, fighting (at least when someone hasn't drawn a gun on him), police show up. There's a pattern here.
That pattern is that he's an Olympic athlete and he feels entitled because of his status, and he's been let off the hook for so long with his behavior that he feels he can get away with stuff.
I bet he ain't feeling that way now. Dude just lost his gravy train ride, and now he's gotta get out and find a job like everybody else. Maybe this will force him to grow up.
"Someone has to pay for the trillions of dollars sunk into hosting this Olympics Game. Does Greece 2004 sounds familiar ? It went into financial difficulties right after the 2004 Summer Olympics. Not that it did not have issues before hands, the Olympics Debts was the last nail for the coffin."
You bet. The government there is in chaos, their president was removed from office several months back, the local government employees aren't getting paid, poverty everywhere, people can't feed their families, etc. so it's basically everyone for themselves.
Brazil is basically heading down the same path as Argentina... the only thing that has prolonged that eventuality has been the Olympic games, and that just ended. The corruption has destroyed their economy and taken their people hostage. It is a very sad situation that I'm afraid will only get worse in the coming months.
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The economic burden brought on by the Olympics ( since it's obvious the event cost the country to be more in debt than boosting the economy ) is so huge they have no idea how to pay for the sunk costs.
One of the criteria which won Brazil the right to host the event was that within the proposal presented to the Olympics Committee, many of the structures will remain fixtures for the public to enjoy. Truth is, they had already planned to tear down the stadium and several other structures to " build schools ". Architect stated these buildings were constructed using Lego like components, so the material could be re-purposed.
Problem is, they don't know where to put the 4 schools under the proposal to be built using the components from the Olympics building.
One wonder why the country is in such trouble. Then again, looking at our law makers, we're not that far behind.
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NBC has a contract for the Olympics for the next 16 years. Despite Michael Phelps, Simone Biles, Usain Bolt and a few other notable performances, ratings are nevertheless down this year significantly.
I would not want that contract hanging over my head. The age demographic matters. Millennials just don't have the time or the interest. The older folks (my generation) tune in, but our kids just ain't that interested. Sad to say, but Netflix gets more views in that demographic.
Younger generation watch it on live streaming .
I even saw a stupid driver streaming it on his smart phone ( a larger device than the regular size ), hanging over the dashboard while he was driving down the road.
They make decision like the way they drive on the roadway, they could only focus on the bumper ahead of them.
No matter how fast or slow the vehicle in front of them, they'll be within feet to play tag.
But don't tell them they lack of common sense, because not many happening these days are common sense.
I feel lucky, at least my kids have "common sense" and a good practice of integrity.
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PA-PLAYA but our kids just ain't that interested.
If you are saying the kids are not interested in the Games, then who will be IN them for the next 16 yrs.? If they are not interested in them, they will never be participants in them. Sports are a hard thing to kick from your system, once you let it in through participation.
Even I was not going to watch this year. I'm glad they are over as I'm quite tired/sore from all the running/jumping/throwing from the past week. I even swam a few times.....and I don't even know how to!!!
I kinda see the waning interest of the Olympics similar to that of golf, although by virtue of the Olympics being hosted only once every four years - obviously there's an attraction there because it's not something we get to experience regularly.
There will always be people interested in watching the games, even some of the younger folks. I guess I shouldn't generalize to the degree I did, although I do believe fewer kids these days are playing sports. And I'm not just talking about school-related sports, but sports in general. There are a lot of basketball courts here in this area that are seldom used, lots of rec fields empty. Back in my day - we'd be all over that. Of course - we didn't have our noses buried in a computer or a smartphone either.
Like golf, the Olympics will continue. Just because fewer people take an interest doesn't necessarily mean that golf will become extinct. The same goes with the Olympics. I guess you could call it more of a niche following. Not everyone gets fired up about the Ryder Cup, but those of us who play golf and follow a little bit of the pro game on tv do.
CAD, animation had killed many many fun in "real life".
I still think he's a douche, but I also think the level of corruption going on within the local government there is being highlighted with the news today that the local police is recommending charges against him. It's fairly obvious they're not satisfied with having extorted a sizable payoff from just one of the athletes, but they're now eying an even bigger payday.
It is very difficult to see Lockte as a victim of anything other than his own lying and stupidity, but this news changes the narrative considerably... they're doing their damnedest to make him look the victim, regardless of compromising all the positive accolades and goodwill the city received for doing a better-than-expected job of otherwise managing the games.
He's already lost millions of dollars in sponsorship revenues, which I think is sufficient enough punishment for what he did. If I were him, I would not respond to the case further, nor would I even acknowledge anything the Brazilian government requests. If they weren't so corrupt - maybe I'd feel differently... then again, if they weren't so corrupt - this story would've died weeks ago with (at most) a small fine and little else.
So you have to add point #4 to your bulletin: Rio attempts to extort money from another US Olympian, looks bad again, and couldn't care less about what the rest of the world thinks about them.
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I always tell my children the line between good and excellent is very thin.
So is the line between good and bad behavior, between considerate and self-serving........
Everyone could be a gentleman and being nice when there is plenty. What makes the difference is when time gets tough and the chips are down.
Brazil is basically bankrupt many times over. The government does not even have the funding to maintain the basic infrastructure. Can't really blame the convenient store hiring armed security guards without proper training.
It's a case of " cave ne unus ". The swimmers should know they can't take their relaxed behavior to someone else's turf.
Precisely.
I was 18 years old when I deployed to Central America with my military unit on a 6-month deployment. Talk about a serious eye opener for me... we'd gone through several weeks of culture sensitivity training prior to deploying, so although we had an idea of what to expect - it was still a very enlightening experience. Nothing prepares a young kid for seeing that type of poverty and overall culture shock.
One morning on our way to our project site, I saw a heavy-duty tire strapped to the back of a young Honduran soldier, who was being forced to walk barefooted up this gravel road. He had a rifle pointed at him, and was being slapped and yelled at by two others who were there to oversee the punishment. Rumor had it that he'd attempted to go awol from the Honduran army, they found him and beat the living crap out of him once he returned. That image has never left me, nearly 30 years later.
We understood the consequences of getting in trouble. The way they dealt with things over there was far different from the processes usually entitled to us back home... and we basically had someone looking over our shoulders the entire 6 months, making sure we didn't get out of line. A majority of the people there were indifferent to us being there, but there were a few hostiles that resented us. Back then, what I made per month as a private first class in the army was equal to an entire year of salary for a Honduran soldier, and the Honduran military paid well as it related to average income for the country. So naturally - there would be some who would resent that, even within the Honduran military (who were tasked with securing our project site off-base). We were always on guard for anything that didn't look or feel right. If there were no Honduran military personnel visibly securing our site - we didn't waste any time getting things loaded up and returning back to base pronto.
Anyway... as bad as Honduras was, Guatemala was 1000 times worse.
Suffice to say - military personnel know better than anyone the importance of not causing problems in a host country. Even if the government of that country is alleged to be "pro" western. Corruption and poverty generally aren't mutually exclusive... they go hand and hand most of the time.