There's A Slight Problem With The Olympics This Year...

What this episode is about

The commentary expresses mixed feelings about the Olympics, highlighting the author's lack of enthusiasm for the events while acknowledging the excitement of a spouse who is an avid fan. The discussion critiques the repetitiveness of certain sports, such as figure skating, contrasting personal indifference with an appreciation for the athletes' skills and achievements.

Key takeaways

• America: a land of opportunity where gratitude clashes with mixed feelings about law enforcement.
• Olympics: unmatched athleticism or an endless parade of the same twirl? Depends on your perspective.
• Team USA athletes: celebrating achievements while grappling with political critiques - a tricky balance on the world stage.
• Mixed emotions on patriotism: Can love for a country coexist with dissent? Welcome to the modern athlete's dilemma.
• Disloyalty debate: voicing dissent abroad—brave honesty or misguided betrayal? The line is as thin as ice skates.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Matt Walsh (Host) · 7 min speaking
• Amber Glenn · 2 min speaking
• Unnamed Team USA Athletes (Guest) · 2 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Lindsay Vonn
2. 6:00 – 9:00: Helix, Amber Glenn
3. 9:00 – 10:27: Helix

Notable quotes from "There's A Slight Problem With The Olympics This Year..."

• Meanwhile, the Olympics are ongoing and they're happening right now. I've never been a huge fan of the Olympics.

  about Lindsay Vonn · at 0:16

• Yeah. it's been a hard time for the community overall under this administration. it isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our.

  about Amber Glenn · at 6:57

• Our sponsor, Helix, actually makes it incredibly straightforward with their sleep quiz, which matches you to the perfect mattress based on your specific preferences and sleep needs. Not just.

  about Helix · at 8:31

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Amber Glenn — Person · Referenced athlete (figure skater) used as political example · 1 mention · first at 6:35
  Quoted discussing LGBTQ/"queer community" concerns; the host uses her comments to argue some Team USA athletes criticize America on the world stage.
• Lindsay Vonn — Person · Referenced athlete (Olympic skier) in anecdote · 1 mention · first at 0:16
  Mentioned as part of an Olympics-watching story (wife wakes early to watch her race); used to set the Olympics context before the political commentary.

Sponsors

• Helix — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at 8:31
  Promoted as a high-quality mattress brand during an ad read, with personal endorsement from the host.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 You know, on the one hand, America has given me everything that I have, and I have the most amazing life, and every good thing I have in my life is because of America. But on the other hand, ICE agents look scary with their mask. It makes my tummy hurt when they arrest Mexican pedophiles. You know, I got I got mixed emotions. All right. Meanwhile, the Olympics are ongoing and uh they're happening right now. I've never been a huge fan of the Olympics. Um my wife loves the Olympics. She's an Olympic super fan. So, she got up at like 5:00 in the morning on Sunday to watch the Lindsy Vaughn race, which Vaughan wiped out in 10 seconds. So, you know, um but I'll try to get into a a little bit, but you know, to me, most of the events are pretty boring and it's one person after another just doing the same thing one after another for hours and it all looks the same to me.

0:57 like I I guess I just don't know what I'm watching, I guess. And uh I came into the room. My wife was figure skating was the event that was male figure skating, which is the worst of all worlds. And uh it's just and I watched two guys. It's funny cuz I watched I sat I watched it for 10 minutes and so I saw two whatever they call it runs. I don't know what do you call what is it? Um performances. And the first guy goes, and I think he's like from China or something. I think it was a Chinese guy. And he goes and he just does it. It's always the same. Like they do they do a jump twirl and then they do a twirl where they bend down low and they twirl. So there's the jumping twirl and the not jumping twirl. And that's every single figure skating move.

1:44 It's just jump twirl and then a a non-jump twirl. And so one guy goes and does his twirling and the announcers come on and to me it's like yeah it looks fine. I don't know. It's better than I could do. It's not very fun to watch but it's impressive objectively. I mean I I you know I couldn't jump and twirl on ice skates. The announcers come on and explain that it was like it was terrible. It's the worst performance they've ever seen. It was it was stiff. It was bad. It was artless. Then the next guy comes on and does the exact same thing. It looks exactly the same.

2:15 and the announcers tell us it was the most beautiful amazing thing they've ever witnessed. So I you know I don't but the real problem with the Olympics this year is that a number of the U American athletes hate America. So that's a that's a a slight problem. And uh so here are some Team USA freestyle skiers apologizing on behalf of America because you know America is committing the sin of enforcing its own laws. God forbid. watch.

2:46 I feel heartbroken about what's happened in the United States when it, you know, I'm pretty sure you're referencing ICE and some of the protests and things like that. Uh I think that as a country, we need to focus on respecting everybody's rights and uh making sure that we're treating our citizens as well as anybody with love and respect. And uh I hope that when people look at athletes compete in the Olympics, they realize that that's the America that we're trying to represent. It brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now.

3:15 I think um it's a little hard. Um there's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren't. If it aligns with my moral values, um I feel like I'm representing it. Uh just cuz I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the US. Um so yeah, I just kind of want to do it for my friends and my family and the people that support me getting here.

3:40 I have mixed emotions. mixed emotions representing America. You know, on the one hand, America has given me everything that I have and I have the most amazing life and uh every good thing I have in my life is because of America. But on the other hand, ICE agents look scary with their masks and um it makes my tummy hurt when they arrest Mexican pedophiles. You know, I got I got mixed emotions. Mixed emotions. I truly have. I mean, I hope these people lose. I I hope any Olympic athlete complaining about America on the world stage loses and is humiliated.

4:20 I hope they work their whole life to get to this moment and then fail. That's what I hope. Both of those guys, I don't know who they are. I hope they fail. I hope they lose. I hope they fail. That's what they deserve. You don't deserve to be there. Like, how dare you? Disloyalty is beneath contempt. This is snake behavior. This is rodent behavior. No loyalty, no gratitude. And even if there were legitimate reasons to be angry about ICE, which there aren't, but even if there were, you don't voice those objections at the Olympics in a different country in front of the world. You just don't do that.

5:03 You keep that in-house. I mean, that's like even if I had reasons to be mad at my family, which I don't, but if I did and I'm out in public and you come up to me in public in front of a crowd and say, "Hey, Matt, care to share your complaints about your family?" I'm going to say, "Hey, care to kiss my ass? Care to leave me the hell alone, you scumbag? You You care to do that? Because whatever issues I may have, if I have issues with my family, I'm not going to publicize them. Like that's in-house. That's for us. That is private. And and the same goes for my country. That is in-house.

5:50 So that is a disloyalty, a total lack of gratitude, and it it should be condemned. This is not about free speech. I've heard some people defending this saying free speech is an American value. Yeah, they have the right to say that. They have the light the right to be disloyal snakes who go to a foreign country when they're supposed to be representing America flying our flag. They have the right to do that and then say I'm, you know, I'm kind of ashamed to be flying the flag. They have the right to. And I have the right to say that they are disloyal snakes and they deserve to lose.

6:31 These are men of no honor, no integrity. This one is even worse. Here's Amber Glenn, who's a figure skater and apparently a member of the queer community, quote unquote, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean in her case. And here's what she had to say. When when given the chance to um stab her country in the back on the world stage, she was happy to take advantage of it. But here's here's the way she framed it. Watch.

6:57 Yeah. Uh it's been a hard time for the community overall under this administration. Uh it isn't the first time that we've had to come together as a community and try and fight for our human rights. And now especially, it's not just affecting the queer community, but many other communities. And I think that we are able to support each other in a way that uh we didn't have to before. And because of that, it's made us a lot stronger. Uh I hope I can use my platform and my voice throughout these games to try and encourage people to stay strong uh in these hard times.

7:40 Uh I know that a lot of people will say you're just an athlete, like stick to your job, shut up about politics. But politics affect us all. uh it is something that I will not just be quiet about because it is something that affects us in our everyday lives. So of course there are things that I disagree with but as a community we are strong and we support each other and brighter days are ahead of us.

8:11 Hard time for the queer community under this administration. She says, "Really, Amber? How so? In what way?" You can show up as your best self this year by actually getting a good night's sleep despite all the idiotic things happening in the news that should keep you up at night. It all starts by finding the right mattress. It doesn't have to be a complicated task. Our sponsor, Helix, actually makes it incredibly straightforward with their sleep quiz, which matches you to the perfect mattress based on your specific preferences and sleep needs. Not just another mattress company either. Helix is the most awarded mattress brand out there with glowing reviews from major publications like Forbes and Wired. I used to struggle falling asleep at night, but since my wife and I switched to a Helix mattress, uh, that issue has largely gone away. Can't speak highly enough about the quality and the comfort

8:56 of these mattresses. They even offer free shipping straight to your door, a 120 night sleep trial, so you can actually test it out on your own. And um, and they back everything up with a limited lifetime warranty. Start sleeping right tonight by ordering a Helix mattress today. You go to helixleep.com/walsh for 27% off sitewide. It's helixleep.com/walsh for 27% off sitewide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. Helixleep.com/walsh. Of course, none of these reporters followed up on that. Why is it a hard time for the quote unquote so-called queer community under Trump?

9:34 What has Trump done to you? Like in what way has he made your life more difficult because you are queer quote unquote? Can you explain how does no one follow up and say oh how why I mean what well that oh it's a a hard time for your community. Well like why is he targeting you in some way? Is he taking away your rights? Uh is he what's what's happening? Nobody asks that because they know that the answer is nothing is happening to them. Nothing is happening. You're perfectly fine. You're not being targeted in any way whatsoever.

10:21 So, but of course we don't get that follow-up.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "There's A Slight Problem With The Olympics This Year..."?

Matt Walsh (Host), Amber Glenn, Unnamed Team USA Athletes (Guest).

What is "There's A Slight Problem With The Olympics This Year..." about?

The commentary expresses mixed feelings about the Olympics, highlighting the author's lack of enthusiasm for the events while acknowledging the excitement of a spouse who is an avid fan. The discussion critiques the repetitiveness of certain sports, such as figure skating, contrasting personal indifference with an appreciation for the athletes' skills and achievements.

What is mentioned in this Matt Walsh episode?

3 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Amber Glenn, Lindsay Vonn. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "There's A Slight Problem With The Olympics This Year..."?

The episode runs 10 min; the transcript is about 1,799 words in 17 timestamped sections.

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