Dangerous Games

I have to admit, I don't get swept up in Olympic fervor like so much of the rest of the world seems to. Maybe it's that I'm a spoilsport. Perhaps it could be that I was never good enough at anything to compete, and so I passively dislike those who do. Or, maybe it's that watching people bowling on ice while other people massage the floor ahead of it with Swiffers just doesn't capture my spirit of patriotism so much. And then there's the death and defamation.
Granted, I'm on the outside looking in on this one. I don't pretend to know the gravity of the Olympics, what they mean to countries, to individuals, and that's well and good I suppose. But it allows me to be objectively confused about different aspects. For example, in the pre-game practices, a Georgian luger (luger? faster than a speeding bullet?) died when he lost control of his craft. Many wrote of the tragedy of this, and rightfully so, but made the point that, after all, these are only 'games', and it casts an incredible pall on the event when someone gets hurt, let alone expires.
In the next set of articles I read, much criticism was being levied towards a young American snowboarder who was being ribbed for current failure as well as re-castigated for some sort of showboating episode that cost her a win 4 years ago. A young American athlete showboating? Where do kids get this from? I don't know, 24 hour ESPN sports coverage of even the most ridiculous of events? American athletes are more powerful than the gods of Mount Olympus. Wonder why the name sounds so similar? Anyway, my only point is, how come when some guy dies, these are only games, and when some girl attempts to take a bit too big a bite of the pie, she has shamed the sport, her country, and herself with her impetuousness.
I do think I have a compromise, that balances all concerns: Ice Yahtzee--winners become immortal, team with the lowest score gets shot.