Olympic Mistakes

About the Olympics: I can imagine nothing more boring than sitting through hour upon hour upon hour of the opening ceremony. Do Lebron James and all the other athletes have to be there the whole time, sitting on their hands? Do they stop selling alcohol to the fans at some point in the event, like after the seventh inning at Wrigley? I shudder. 

About the soccer tournament, I was glad Lionel Messi got the green light to play from Barcelona, even more so after watching his brilliant performance against the Ivory Coast. Given Messi's importance to the squad, and having witnessed the Ronaldo melodrama this summer, why would Barca risk having the only other Ronaldo-level talent in the world unhappy? Makes no sense to me. 

Also, why are five teams in the tournament from East Asia or Oceania (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand), which is hardly a soccer hotbed? At the same time, there are only two South American clubs and three African teams. That's even sillier than pissing off Lionel Messi.