Published: August 23, 2008 11:55 pm            

Olympics come to an end

Today is the final day of the 2008 Summer Olympics, which means I can finally get back to my normal sleeping pattern again. If you were like me (and a very large portion of American television viewers were), you watched as our nation’s finest athletes made us proud as they represented our country in Beijing.

Yes, we were proud— and it showed. In the U.S., more viewers watched NBC’s coverage of the Olympics than those who watched the next 12 channels … combined. The national magazine Variety reported that while NBC was enjoying record ratings, the ratings for the competing networks of CBS, ABC, and FOX hit “historic lows” during the Olympic coverage. As one NBC executive was quoted, the network “defied the laws of media gravity.”

As a country, we watched swimming, gymnastics, track, and volleyball in record numbers over these last two weeks. We were riveted while Michael Phelps swam his way into history as he won eight gold medals. We second-guessed the judges when our ladies’ gymnastics team struggled for medals against the young Chinese girls. We stayed up late to watch our women’s and men’s beach volleyball teams win gold. As I am writing this, both our women’s and men’s indoor volleyball teams will compete for gold in the finals over the weekend as well.

The funny thing is, we Americans can set ratings records watching these sports in the Olympics, but we don’t watch them nearly as much during the four years in between the Olympics. It makes me think it’s not so much the sport we watch, but rather the spirit of national pride we get from watching our country’s best athletes competing – and winning – against the rest of the world.

I have to admit that I really don’t follow swimming or gymnastics year-round, but I was not involved in those sports when I was growing up. I was involved in high school volleyball, though, and I still love to play and watch the sport whenever I can. Volleyball was, and still is, a major sport among high school girls’ teams on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The rivalry between Long Beach and Biloxi made for some great matches and full gyms. I’ll always fondly remember my high school volleyball days, and I would like to see more of our area high schools field teams.

Will Fay ever go away?

It’s prime time hurricane season, and Tropical Storm Fay is another strong reminder that we should NEVER take these storms for granted. Our forecasters at the National Hurricane Center must be down to flipping coins to predict where this storm is headed. After spending a record five days dancing all over Florida, from the Keys to the Panhandle, this most unwelcome guest has finally left the waterlogged Sunshine State to drench a few more gulf states. There is one thing for sure – there is nothing sure about this storm.

And that is the exact point we must understand. All of these tropical systems are potential killers and destroyers, from the tropical storms to the Category 5 monsters. As a general rule, these storms weaken and become disorganized over land. Fay has proven to us that not all storms follow the rules or care about history. In fact, history cost many people their lives in 2006.

I’ve heard it said several times that Hurricane Camille killed more people in 2005 than Hurricane Katrina. Camille was considered “The Big One,” the major storm that only occurs every few centuries. Mississippi residents looked to the historical impact of Camille to prepare for the effects of Katrina. As a result, many residents who rode out Camille thought they could do the same with Katrina. My family and I were living in Laurel at that time, and many people only prepared to be out of power for a couple of days, because that’s how long the power was out for Camille. Camille had been long forgotten after the eleventh day without power.

History teaches us it is not enough to simply prepare for these storms, we should prepare for the worst storms ever … and pray we never have to use those supplies.



Crystal Dupré is publisher of The Meridian Star. E-mail her at cdupre@themeridianstar.com.

        

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