Class and Culture at the Olympic Games

Having said what I said earlier about the empty seats at the Summer Olympics and Greece's role in that, I'll say this as well:

Hats off to Greece for a staggeringly successful staging of the Olympic Games. They were safe, peaceful, interesting, and highly competitive. I enjoyed watching as much as I could and there were many thrilling moments.

And I was impressed by the Closing Ceremonies tonight as I was earlier with the Opening Ceremonies. They were a magnificently planned and delivered show of class and culture. Elegant and classy. And a celebration of the uniqueness and antiquity of Greek Culture. Bravo!

Unfortunately, I chose to contrast it with the MTV Video Music Awards which were on at the same time. I flipped back and forth. MTV, and all the music and Hollywood star power that they put on display, did not fare well in the comparison of class and culture.

And the fact that I spent any time at all watching MTV's VMA's unfortunately says too much about the state of my culture.

Congratulations to the people of Greece for a fine national effort and for the success of the games.