I Will Not Watch the Sochi Olympics

Russia apparently hates gay people. This makes it more funny that the Russians paid money to host the winter Olympics, which includes a competition in which two men, in skin-tight suits, lie one on top of the other as they sled down the ice.

Oh, but they're just good friends.



The two-man luge is a real Olympic event. But Russia's homophobia did not turn me off of the Olympics by itself. If Billie Jean King and Elton John will go to Sochi, I can't feel too much guilt for watching its games on TV.

But add this: The Russian government hired a pest control company to kill stray dogs on Sochi streets ahead of the Olympics, many by poisoning. They are poisoned humanely, the exterminator's manager says.



I won't support that, or an Olympics that happens in such a barbaric place. 

I've heard people say that we should watch our athletes regardless of the politics. They don't need our support now. At the games, they live in a bubble. If I don't watch the U.S. women's hockey team on NBC, the players will never know.

Don't mistake unwillingness to watch for lack of support for the athletes. I want the U.S. to win gold in every event in which it competes honorably. They will still get their medals, and the endorsement gold that follows. I will happily buy the cereal on whose box their golden smiles appear. But if we just nod our heads and cheer and chant as injustice and cruelty surround the games, we make it possible for them to continue.

So What if the Red Hot Chili Peppers mimed at the Super Bowl?

I don't care that the Red Hot Chili Peppers faked playing their instruments during the Super Bowl halftime show. As long as they've played, does anyone doubt that they know how to play their instruments, and can play their songs live?

I don't.

It's the Ashlee Simpsons, Ke$has, and other autotuned divas of the pop music world who bother me, because I don't know if they have ever sung their songs, even when they, or someone, recorded them.

I have no problem with the RHCP's explanation that, for this one extraordinary event, they gave in to the NFL's demand that they mime over a backing track.

When you remember the 43-8 final score, you can't even call the band the biggest fakes on the field that day.

The Searches Continue

The searches continue.

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Search engine queries leading people to my website (JohnMcQuiston.com) all concern my departure last month from WWSB-TV in Sarasota, where I had anchored the news and sports on weekends. The interest has floored me, as have the numerous emails from people asking where I have gone. The correspondents have uniformly praised my work on the air, and expressed disappointment at its absence from their televisions.

It feels good to be missed!

I have replied to every one of them, and explained that I have devoted myself to freelance work and my own video production company, including a plug for its Facebook page. I spare them complaints about the stress of my former job and the boss who greatly contributed unnecessarily to said stress. That doesn't matter. I decided to leave, and now I look forward to what comes next.

Meantime, I have more time to blog!