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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 democracy 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-democratic 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 country.

Any illusions about the IOC vanished when Russia was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics. Russia got the Games despite “everybody knowing” 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 public 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 entirely on the athletes and say the least they possibly can about China itself and about the human rights violations 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, defenseman, Pittsburgh; Jack Hughes, center, 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, defenseman, 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 colleges: 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 relationship 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 streaming Just Call Out My Name. This documentary 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 musicians 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 sudden death in 1974, they raised her then 8-year-old daughter.

Carole King

BY JOHN MATHEW SMITH VIA WIKIMEDIA