I couldn’t help thinking about the 1972 summer Olympics in Germany as the 2008 games in Beijing approach.

The China games, which run from Aug. 8-24, possess many eerie similarities to those in Munich, Germany.

First of all, we – the United States – were locked into a nasty and very unpopular war in Vietnam.

Secondly, racial tensions in the country were high, and the Middle East, as it has been since seemingly the beginning of time, was full of strife, organized and otherwise.

The late President Harry Truman once said the Middle East was a region of the world that would never heal or be healed.

And so, the worries accompanying the upcoming games persist.

Promos for the games are calling the athletes the spirit of the games.

I’d take all that a step further and discuss such concepts as international unity and the spirit of the competition which, ideally, unite everyone.

All of that was dashed to bits in 1972 when terrorists took the lives of 11 Israeli athletes in what has to be the darkest hour in Olympic history.

Yes, I do worry along those lines regarding the Beijing games. I worry because the conditions are similar with potential for disaster. I worry because there is too much politicizing about who should do and say what and even attend the ceremonies with pandering to groups to appease others prior to even the start of the festivities.

In a presidential election year, opinions are a dime a dozen. Yet the well-trained athletes are walking a political tightrope based solely on the positions of the hierarchy of leaders and not the team members, who have put so much time into why they’re even in such a faraway place to compete.

I grew up watching the Olympics. I remember the joy of watching a young skater in 1968 at the Grenoble, France, winter games, dazzling the world with her form and her beauty.

I ran out and purchased a pair of figure skates – a no-no in pickup hockey – for the speed it gave me. My crush on the dazzling Peggy Fleming was, of course, short-lived, but the impact of her performance that year is still with me when I watch old highlights of the games.

Like most of you, I long for the upcoming games in China.

I do worry the surrounding world events possess a great degree of possibility for disaster.

The war in Iraq looms as my biggest concern. Zealots come in all shapes and sizes. Causes exist for small groups and large. The host country, China, is filled with strife.

At the very least, trouble within the host country will be publicized. Let’s hope and pray other world issues will be vocalized only, and not spoil the beauty and the pageantry that have made these games what they have been.

30-Second Time Out

As our annual summer vacation approaches, my family is giving me a hard time about my continued interest in taking up wind surfing.

One of my former players, slick-rebounding forward Tommy Shyka of John Bapst High School hoop fame, has made quite a name for himself on the West Coast pursuing this sport and explained all of this to me at a mini-reunion of that 1985 team a few summers ago.

Shyka, Ken Dellamattera, Pat Culumovic, Joe MacDonald and Scott Phelps were starters on the 1985 squad that finished No. 1 in the Heal point rankings in Eastern Class C, the very first Bapst boys hoop squad that garnered that high ranking.

My guess? I’ll read a book and watch others perform the feat.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net