Kill your idols II

Or actually, don't bother. Our idols seem to be doing a very competent job of killing themselves.

This one is personal for me, as I've mentioned before. I sat in press row in Sydney and watched Marion Jones with the pure awe that I imagine people felt when they watched Wilma Rupdolph, Jesse Owens... Christ, when they watched fucking Achilles. Sports have always had a classical aspect for me - what I want from them is some sign of otherworldly forces at work, the sense that the gods have intervened on some mortal's behalf for the sheer joy of watching him or her achieve the unthinkable.

Now we have confirmation of what has been suspected for so long - drugs and not the gods were intervening for Maid Marion Jones.

I wonder how long it will be before the gods abandon sports entirely. There comes a point for everybody, mortals and otherwise, when you just have to say fuck the whole damn thing.