Funds for Olympics could be better spent

With a resounding yawn, the 2014 Winter Olympics will soon close the curtain on what must be the most boring sporting event in international history.

I can only imagine the good that could have come from the estimated $50 billion dollars the Russian government spent on transforming a quiet southern region into a showcase for the world.

Unfortunately for the Russians and NBC, not too many folk are paying attention.

But honestly, the Winter Olympics always pale by comparison to the Summer Games and this year is a prime example.

No big name stars - in fact few names to remember at all - have offered the potential audience absolutely nothing to watch.

And from another perspective, it's difficult to get excited about bobsledding when other world events are unfolding at the same time.

Other Olympics - from Hitler's failed showcase in the 1930s to the Miracle on Ice in 1980 - have attracted international attention and huge followings.

But not so much this year.

This Winter Olympics was actually doomed from the very beginning. It started with the real threat of terrorism in the dangerous area of Russia and then it became a punchline with unfinished athlete accommodations, unsafe water, etc.

In short, this was an international party that few attended.

The sports networks are trying their best to build excitement with a daily gold medal count but it's really hard to get excited about curling or a host of made-for-television snow events that are hard to follow.

All of this is sad in a way because all of the athletes genuinely trained countless hours and devoted their lives to this competition.

And for that, we give them great credit.

But if you took the money spent by the Russians and the money spent by network television and provided that for a much better cause, I suspect it would be money much better spent.