> I like chess. I'm just not sure about the idea of having it as a massively-televised spectator sport.

The chance of it being massively televised here in the US is about zero. Broadcast networks would only show it if the final happened to include an American, and then you'd only see about a 20 second clip of the final move, the contestant's cheering parents, and the teary-eyed medal ceremony. Unless of course the finalist had battled cancer, recently lost a spouse/child/sibling, or sacrificed his childhood to train intensively. In that case, you'd see a five minute "up close and personal" segment before the aforementioned 20 second clip.
>
> In my local paper today, chess enthusiast Larry Bevand talks of Ben Franklin writing an essay called "The Morals of Chess". He also cites H.G. Wells with these words to say about chess as a game:
>
> / / / / / "The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of occupations, the least satisfying of desires, an aimless excrescence upon life. It annihilates a man! ...
> / / / / / "You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist, that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic, clumsy and unreliable -- but torture him, inoculate him with chess, and he is undone."

Is it Jimmy of York who has the website with a quote page? He should include these!

>
> Wolf "wonders if Canada will do better in the Olympics with a Team Chess Canada next year" spirit

I don't mind if they include chess in the Olympics, but where do they draw the line between sport and games?

koala"forsees Monopoly tournaments added in 2008"mom