Olympic Yawn

I've watched a little bit of the Summer Olympics so far, but this event has long ago ceased to be of much interest to me. The olympics has become homogenized, with every last drop of anything interesting sucked out of it. For me, the olympics is a big yawn as a result of the following:

• Nationalism is verboten - National pride, especially American pride is under emphasized. Instead, "human achievement" is lauded without regard to the pride of one country defeating the other in sport. Occasionally, some national pride manages to leak through. The 1984 Olympic victory over the Russian Hockey Team is an example. A big part of the rationale behind the olympics is that if nations could meet each other on a playing field then they wouldn't feel such a need to meet each other on a battlefield. But in today's politically correct environment, national pride is downplayed. You won't hear any of the American commentators refer to the US team as "we" or "our" team either.
  
• Religion is swept under the carpet. Of course, religion doesn't have a lot to do with sports. It isn't a venue where religion of any kind needs to be promoted. However, when you consider the role religion plays in the lives of others in "elite" positions such as professional sports or military special forces, it isn't unreasonable to assume that at least some of the athletes would feel free to share how their faith has motivated them. You won't hear any of that though. If it exists, it's conveniently edited out. (Remember, Chariots of Fire?)
• The event is over-produced. It's getting to be all too predictable. Each Olympics, certain human interest stories are pushed. There's nothing inherently wrong about this, but it's gotten so formulaic that the whole thing begins to seem a bit contrived.
• The event is antiseptic in the extreme. - Back when the biggest foe at the olympics was the eastern bloc countries, it seemed there was more of a sense of drama. Nowdays you won't see athletes going out of their way to trumpet their wins. You won't likely hear them swearing when they miss something they should've gotten. Whatever happened to the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat?