I love the Olympics.

Love them.

I’m fixed on the television as Michael Phelps displays his dominance against the best swimmers in the world. I can get into watching the NBA-stacked men’s basketball team and I can even watch gymnastics, because there’s a good American underdog story there.

But in the middle of all this competition, the coverage is often interrupted with events that are, well, suspicious. That’s right, suspicious.

Events that leave fans wondering exactly what methods were used to include them in the majestic Olympic Games.

Let’s start with badminton.

Badminton?

Are there grills full of hamburgers and hot dogs to sell the spectators? If we’re going to have a barbeque, let’s go all out.

It isn’t that I can’t appreciate the skill of those Olympians, but that sport rises to the top of the suspicious list.

Close behind is beach volleyball. Now, it’s not that I don’t recognize the dominance and abilities of Americans Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, but how exactly did this sport get invited to the show?

There had to have been a conversation in California with a couple of beach bums that started it all.

“Dude, you know what would be awesome? …”

One must have had a distant relative on the International Olympic Committee. There’s something fishy here.

And also right there at the top is synchronized diving. I’m not even sure how the synchronized sports were invented.

Every time I think of the synchronized sports, it reminds me of a columnist in the Cincinnati area several years ago who was ridiculing the city of Cincinnati for trying to land the Olympics. He was explaining how far outside the city of Cincinnati the events would have to be for the city to handle the magnitude of the Olympics. He made one particularly memorable comment about a small Kentucky county.

He said, very sarcastically, “Just think, we could have synchronized swimming in Nicholas County. The logic? Nobody cares about synchronized swimming just like nobody cares about Nicholas County.”

Well, the

truth of the matter is that the gold, silver and bronze medals the Olympians in those sports receive are just like the ones every other Olympian receives. Their accomplishments should be celebrated and respected because they have worked hard to put themselves atop their sports.

But I can’t wait to what’s in store for the 2012 Summer Games.

Bring on the rodeo!

Rick Greene is the managing editor of The Ironton Tribune. He can be reached at (740) 532-1441, ext. 12, or by e-mail at rick.greene@irontontribune.com.