That was.... interesting?

Each time the Olympics roll around, the host country traditionally gets to bring in a new sport or two. In Tokyo, surfing made its debut and it was a hit, returning here in Paris (or in Tahiti) and continuing on in Los Angeles in four years. In two years, mountaineering (combination of climbing and skiing) is making its debut in Milan-Cortina. Los Angeles is bringing back baseball and softball in addition to cricket, squash, lacrosse and the addition of flag football.

In Paris, the new addition was break dancing, or breaking as it is known in the Olympic circles now. Breaking made its official Olympic debut yesterday (Friday) and last night I trudged out to Place de Concorde to the urban sports park to watch a little of the competition. It was held in the same arena that housed 3v3 basketball earlier in the Olympic run.

First and foremost, I have enjoyed many of the "X Games" sports the Olympics have introduced over the past decade, including things like BMX, skateboarding and sport climbing. They've brought a great energy to the Olympics, engaged a lot of new athletes and probably brought in more fans. And I've enjoyed watching those sports both in Tokyo and here in Paris. They athleticism and pure ability displayed by these athletes has been impressive.

I do get that part of the reasoning for bringing in these sports has been to appeal to a younger generation, a group of athletes and fans who grew up with these sports, either competing or watching them. And when you attend one of these events, it certainly has a "young" energy to it. Most of the Olympic events have MCs and many of them have DJs that help to pump the crowd up. That is most definitely the case in these events and that's an atmosphere that these athletes and fans are used to.

That being said, I am not really sure I get breaking. Yes, I understand that it's two different competitors facing off in a competition, but it's difficult to tell exactly what judges are looking for. I couldn't tell which dancer was better than the other, even in the competitions where one won almost entirely across the board.

And what's up with the DJ? Evidently this person is the most powerful person in breaking at the Olympics. He or she chooses the music and the competitors have no say in what the music is and if the DJ doesn't like you, technically speaking he or she can simply play music that doesn't fit your style. It seems a bit off to me.

At the urban sports park last night, the MCs were a bit much for my liking (but again, I'm just the old guy yelling at the kids to get off my lawn) and were a bit hard to understand because they kept yelling despite the fact that they had a microphone that meant they really didn't need to yell.

Overall, I wasn't overly thrilled with the breaking competition. Back when I was a young kid, a classmate, Craig O'Leary (not sure why I remember his name 40 years later), was quite the breakdancer and used to perform in our school talent shows. He was good, at least in my young mind, and the competitors on the Olympic stage were definitely talented. But in the long run, I'll take any of the sports LA is bringing to the table in four years over the breaking.

But that's just me.

Yes, these athletes are talented, but I still don't know exactly what was going on in breaking's Olympic debut.