Thursday, February 16, 2006

Speaking of Greeks

Bryant's Gumbel's recent HBO commentary on the Winter Olympics included this nugget:
[T]ry not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.
What's Gumbel saying here? That Winter Olympians can't possibly be "the world's greatest athletes" because they're not black? That blacks are, by nature, better athletes? It's all Jimmy the Greek to me.