Left Flank

Pyeongchang is a two-timer loser. Even with the cheesy name change (may «PyeongChang die a quiet linguistic death), Pyeongchang lost in a good fight to the Russian Black Sea resort at Sochi. Robert Koehler, quoting Yonhap, speculates that «...Incheon and Daegu’s success at winning major international sporting bids may have proved harmful to Pyeongchang’s Olympic dreams.» It's a coy stunt for Yonhap to turn a loss in Pyeongchang to both a plug for two future sporting events and South Korea's past successes. But, the win for Sochi is a good decision for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Russia, an Olympic power which has won 293 Winter Games medals, has never hosted the Winter Games. That was a strong point in Sochi's favor with the IOC, which likes to spread the Olympics to new host countries. Moscow hosted the 1980 Summer Games, which were hit by the U.S.-led boycott following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

It's a shame Russia's awful Caucasus policies have made most of the Trans-Caspian region uninhabitable, let alone tourist-friendly. Nay-sayers could point this out with justification. It's not as if Pyeongchang was not above playing the pacifist card, by hinting at a joint Unification team. But, as an advocate of closer EU-Russia ties, giving pro-European Russians an Olympics is a decent move just as worthy of encouragement as Korean unification.

But, generally, who cares:

I'm not a fan of the Olympics.

Too commercial. They've pretty much degenerated into a huge advertising venue for soda makers, sneaker brands, hi-tech companies, whatever.

Too nationalistic. As if the world doesn't have enough trouble with «my country's better than yours.»

Too many sports that nobody-especially we Americans-cares about except every four years when the Games come around. When's the last time you went out of your way to attend a short-track skate race? Or a long distance Nordic ski race? Or a modern pentathlon meet?

Too many sports that are «judged.» Figure skating may be the worst. But, come summertime, there's gymnastics. Even snowboarding halfpipe awards style points. It's all beautiful to watch, but only the judges know what the heck they're looking at.

Or looking for.

And, I might add a lot of questionable physical infrastructure, like stadiums and other venues for those sports no one practices. Why not replace those disgusting bomb shelters South Koreans call public school and college buildings with the most modern edifices?