There are few signs in Rio of the Olympic presence ahead of next year's Games. Photo / Getty
There's less than nine months to the beginning of Rio de Janeiro Olympics and there is no immediate sense in this city that there is a party getting ready to start.
Granted, I've been in the place for 24 hours and have yet to travel the short distance to Barra, where the Olympic Village will be based, but passing through the airport and through the city's oldest, most established suburbs and you could be forgiven for thinking that the local burghers were trying to conceal the fact they are about to host the world's greatest sporting jamboree.
Which is probably not a bad move.
Two things have happened recently that highlight the flaws in the Olympic ideal.
First, Brazil has plunged into an economic crisis. Brazilians are unhappy. Cariocas, the name given to the residents of Rio de Janeiro are unhappy. As I write this, a cavalcade of taxi drivers are mounting a slow-moving protest along the boulevard that lines Copacabana Beach disrupting the already taxing traffic congestion.
The reasons for the downturn are manifold and some of the external, but after a decade of boom, Brazil's economy grew just 0.1 per cent in 2014 and is forecast to shrink by 3 per cent this year. Even with the Olympics in town, further recession is expected in 2016.
Brazil's newly minted middle classes are feeling the strain, with extortionate interest rates and widespread job cuts. This economic crisis is fast morphing into a political one, with growing talk of president Dilma Rousseff facing impeachment.
On the back of Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup, Rio simply can't afford the Olympics, but there is no get-out option. Brasilia, Brazil's embattled capital, is likely to hand back the Olympic soccer matches it has been slated to host, with the city's chiefs unable to pay for the administration of the 70,000-seat Mane Garrincha Stadium it had built for the World Cup but that is now rarely used.
You never know, after a few more days in this city, I might gain a different impression, but at this point I'd put Rio's Olympic buzz-o-meter at 2 out of 10.
Second, the legitimacy of professional sport has again been tainted by scandal, this time the alleged Russian state sponsoring of doping and subsequent cover-ups which have thrown the world of athletics into disarray.
If it is not Fifa and its bungs, cricket and its fixing, cycling and its doping or the NFL and its denial of the dangers of concussion, it seems there is not a shortcut that people won't take to achieve riches and/ or fame.
I really want to believe the sentence contained within these dashes - When people stop believing what they are seeing they will walk away - but there is little evidence to suggest that it is true.
The Fifa World Cup remains the gold standard sporting tournament, T20 cricket has taken cricket to new and bigger audiences while cannibalising tests, cycling might have been hurt for a while but the Tour de France is as big as ever and hundreds of millions of people tune in around the world every week to watch big American men in helmets do irreparable damage to each other.
And many millions more will watch the athletics next year; even the Cariocas might find the will to enjoy them.
GIVE 'EM A TASTE OF KIWI...
Speaking of fixing, we're off to the WACA and one of the great partnerships in New Zealand cricket history between elegant left-hander Stephen Fleming and a right-handed debutant opener of whom we dare not speak his name.
SPORTS SHAREMARKET
I'm buying...
Kane Williamson
Who isn't?
There's more chance of the Blues winning a Super Rugby title this year than Williamson not adding to his test century tally by the end of the summer.
I'm selling... New Zealand's once-vaunted bowling attack
Who isn't?
In hindsight, the perfect Christmas gift for all discerning selectors, going into the Gabba test with two seamers returning from back injuries - Trent Boult and Jimmy Neesham - and one who has played one test in two years, Doug Bracewell, was an error in judgement. A really bad one.
I'M READING...
You can almost feel the nerves of the reporter as he takes the photo - presumably with a cellphone - of the outside of Russia's "anti"-doping laboratory.
MY LAST $10
Last week: NZ batting, first method of dismissal, caught bowler-fielder at $1.90. This came to me in a vision, Martin Guptill pushing too hard at Mitchell Starc and getting caught at second slip. Well, my vision was slightly askew; it was Josh Hazlewood, not Starc. Still a nice little collect though.
This week: Going back to the well, except this time it is paying just $1.67 for the same dismissal. It's Perth, so it's unlikely to be bowled or lbw, so it comes down to a fine nick to the keeper or a thicker edge into the cordon. I'm back the latter.
Total spent: $200 Total collected: $175.60
MAILBAG
The crazies were out in force after last week's less-than-deadly-serious column where I pondered the All Blacks place in the firmament, which I mistakenly described as a "harmless fun". Thankfully there was a bit of reason among the bile, and even a slight scolding for not giving the All Blacks enough credit.
Of those highlighting rugby's lack of scale, Mike made decent points.
It is nice that you rate the All Blacks so highly but really, the greatest franchise. The rugby world is so small that I am afraid you assumption is flawed. What was the greatest boil over in rugby history? The 10th placed side beating the No 2. Wow, what an upset. There are so many football and basketball teams that are, and will remain much larger in world sport. Surely we have to look without our rose-tinted glasses as far as the All Blacks are concerned? Surely if the All Blacks continue to be as successful it will mean that rugby becomes even less a world sport?
So are the All Blacks the top franchise? Yes in minor sports because of the paucity of teams playing the game at top level. If the eligibility of players was tightened up in rugby, I think you would find the sport would be shown up as being a minor sport - was it over 140 players playing for teams that they were not born in.
Mike
A wise man once said, Mike, size isn't everything.
Love your article and contemplation on the greatness of the All Blacks. This has been a big topic since just before the World Cup and like many I have been thinking about this. Like all Kiwis, I love the ABs they are a true juggernaut. You made the fair point of the scope and scale required to make it complete which is tough to do.
When I think of major international sport that is regarded as a "huge" or "major" (meaning #1/2 or #3/4) sport in more than 10 countries the "winningest" team I can think of is the US men's basketball team with a .934 win rate. Any reason you don't think that's a fair comparison?
Regards
Tom Bailey
My only issue with the US men's basketball team is they have a relatively recent legacy due to them playing college players rather than pros up until the 1992 Olympics. Also, you go around rugby fans in New Zealand and the majority would name the All Blacks as their favourite team. Go around basketball fans in the US and few would list the US men's national team as their favourite because of the strength and ubiquity of the NBA.
But you're right, in terms of win percentage, they're truly awesome.
I thought your piece about the ABs position as a sporting team in the world was unnecessarily downbeat.
You might like to have a look at this from the BBC late last year.
More than 200 experts were asked to come up with a list of the most important factors in ranking an event - tickets sold, tourists attracted, media impact and so on - and these were applied to 700 events over a 12-year period.
The results are fascinating, as the 2011 Rugby World Cup is ranked fourth, behind London's Olympics, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and 2012 Paralympics.
I suspect the 2015 RWC will be ranked somewhat higher.
It is easy to downplay rugby's (growing) impact - but I think it important to be accurate. Our position in the rugby world is really important for our position in the sporting world - and the business world is closely linked to that.
I have coached and played soccer for over 20 years (Westlake BHS, Birkenhead United, Warkworth United, various school teams) - but I am also a very loyal Kiwi who understands and appreciates the importance of rugby to our place in the world and thankful for just how well we do at it.
Cheers,
Simon James
Write to me at dylan.cleaver@nzherald.co.nz. Correspondence may be edited for errors and abridged.
Dylan Cleaver is in Rio with Sky Next
Www.skytv.co.nz/skynext
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