The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming!

And with DVR, I can record the days I want and skip commercials and events I am not interested in watching.

For example, although I am more than willing to cheer on our beloved Panthers basketball team, I really don't have interest in watching the basketball games during the Olympics. However, I may watch the U.S. just because it is our guys.

So, why all the hoopla?

The Olympics are more than a display of athletic prowess. They are a testimony that people from different nations and religions can get along.

I always enjoyed watching the Olympics where men and women compete in a variety of events that do not include the use of violence.

OK, there is boxing ... and judo, tae kwon do, shooting and wrestling. But in shooting, it is at paper targets, not people. And while boxing, judo, tae kwon do and wrestling look violent, it is controlled.

Yes, tempers can take hold. But that is why there are rules and referees.

All we need is for the politicians to take notice. Apparently politics are not working at keeping the world at peace. There is too much scheming and conniving behavior in politics.

What we should have, instead of wars, is a big sporting event. Face it, war is about who is the strongest, and who can out maneuver everybody else.  So, what if we had a competitions like in the movie "Rollerball"  - without the unbridled violence - instead of wars. Less people would die, and the economy might not be in the toilet because there is no need for "weapons of mass destruction."

Then again, that will never work because the powers that be would just muck it up.

Besides, look at international soccer fans. They're worse than the war mongers.