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