The Naked Olympics

Haven't read the book, but this Booknotes presentation by author Tony Perrottet is pretty awesome. He set it up as more of a lecture. Caught it by accident on weekend C-SPAN (a.k.a. Book TV), as I usually do catch a lot of good stuff on Book TV on the weekends while lounging around.

The most interesting thing I learned was the history of how the Olympics came to be amateur-only. It was to exclude athletes from the working classes. This, of course, puts the whole amateur vs. professional conflict of the modern Olympics in a new light altogether.

On the topic of the value of Book TV, too bad Brian Lamb's show, Booknotes, is going away this December. Sucks. That show is awesome. I didn't know Lamb was CEO of C-SPAN. I plan on letting C-SPAN know I want the show to stay. Not sure if it'll do any good.