60 | FEBRUARY 10 • 2022 

I WILL BARELY WATCH THE 
OLYMPICS; CAROLE KING & HER 
ALL-KOSHER BACKING BAND
I doubt I will watch the Beijing 
Olympic Games. Maybe I’ll look at a 
few event clips. Holocaust-related 
recent news stories have cemented 
my feelings. 
The International Olympic 
Committee (IOC) knew that China 
was not likely to turn into a democ-
racy or stop persecuting its citizens 
when they awarded the 2022 Games 
to China in 2015. But that didn’t stop 
them.
When Nazi Germany hosted the 
1936 Olympics, the IOC at least 
had the weak excuse that the 1936 
Winter and Summer Games were 
awarded to Germany in 1931, when 
Germany was still a democracy.
Before 1936, no non-democrat-
ic country hosted an Olympics 
Games and the stench of “Hitler’s 
Olympics” seemed strong enough 
that the Games would never go to 
a non-democratic country again. 
But that assumption ended in 2008 
when authoritarian China hosted the 
Summer Games. In fairness, there 
was a weak, if plausible excuse — 
many still thought that China would 
evolve into a more democratic coun-
try.
Any illusions about the IOC van-
ished when Russia was awarded the 
2014 Winter Olympics. Russia got the 
Games despite “everybody know-
ing” that Putin had, step-by-step, 
turned Russia into an increasingly 
repressive dictatorship. During the 
2014 Games, Russia portrayed itself 
as “a nice place.” This mirrored Nazi 
Germany, which suspended its pub-
lic persecution of German Jews just 
before and during the 1936 Games. 
Weeks after the 2014 Games 
ended, Russia invaded the Crimea, 
a part of Ukraine, and annexed it. In 
2016, it was revealed that Russia had 
given performance-enhancing drugs 
to most of its athletes — something 
no democracy would try — and the 

IOC slapped Russia’s wrists. Now the 
speculation is that Putin is waiting 
for the Beijing Winter Games to end 
before invading Ukraine. 
Since 2008, China has morphed 
into a much more repressive society 
under the leadership of Xi Jinping. 
This has led Israeli human rights 
activist Natan Sharansky, French 
writer Bernard-Henri Levy and 
Elisha Wiesel (Elie Wiesel’s son), 
to take a full-page ad out in the NY 
Times (Jan. 31) asking athletes and 
supporting corporations to walk 
away from the Games until China 
stops its quasi-genocidal treatment 
of the Uyghur Muslim minority. 
A “walk-away” is very unlikely. 
NBC, which paid billions for the TV 
rights, will concentrate almost entire-
ly on the athletes and say the least 
they possibly can about China itself 
and about the human rights viola-
tions in China.
As for me, I will vote with my 
TV “clicker” and hardly watch the 
Games.
The good news in winter sports 
is that the most recent issue of 
Jewish Sports Review reports that 
10 Jews are playing in the NHL 
this year. This is the first time I can 
recall that there is a “minyan” of 
Jews in a major pro sport. Please 
check online for more player details 
than I can fit in here. Here’s the list: 

Jakob Chyrchrun, defenseman, 
Arizona; Adam Fox, defenseman, NY 
Rangers; Mark Friedman, defense-
man, Pittsburgh; Jack Hughes, cen-
ter, NJ Devils; Quinn Hughes (Jack’s 
brother), defenseman, Vancouver; 
Zach Hyman, center, Edmonton; 
Luke Kunin, center, Nashville; 
Chase Priskie, defenseman, Florida 
Panthers; Nate Thompson, center, 
Philadelphia; Jake Walman, defense-
man, St. Louis; and Jason Zucker, 
defenseman, Pittsburgh.
I know that there are strong 
Detroit ties to Toronto. Mark 
Friedman, Zach Hyman and Jake 
Walman hail from that city. Also, a 
shout-out to Michigan natives who 
are playing hockey for Div. I col-
leges: Josh Nodler (Michigan State); 
Zach Dubinsky (Rensselaer Poly); 
and Max Miller (Harvard). 
I Want You Back is an original 
Amazon Prime romantic comedy 
film that will premiere on Feb. 11. 
Capsule plot: Peter (Charlie Day) 
and Emma (Jenny Slate, 39) are 
strangers who bond over the fact 
that they have just been dumped by 
their respective partners. Their rela-
tionship begins as a “misery loves 
company thing.” But it morphs into a 
“revenge” thing when they discover 
their former partners are in happy 
new romances.
On Feb. 10, HBO will begin stream-
ing Just Call Out My Name. This doc-
umentary follows Carole King and 
James Taylor’s 2010 Troubadour 
Tour, and it features clips from the 
tour and interviews with King, 79, 
and Taylor about their long history of 
musical collaboration. 
Also interviewed are guitarist 
Danny Kortchmar, 75, drummer 
Russ Kunkel, 73, and bassist Lee 
Sklar, 74. These great rock musi-
cians played behind the duo during 
all their shows (from 1970-2010). 
Sidenote: Kunkel’s first wife, Leah 
Cohen, now 73, was the sister of 
“Mama” Cass Elliott of The Mamas 
and Papas fame. After Cass’s sud-
den death in 1974, they raised her 
then 8-year-old daughter. 

CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE

BY JOHN MATHEW SMITH VIA WIKIMEDIA

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

Carole King

