Snuff this torch already

Frank Deford might have aged into Grandpa Munster's long-lost brother, but the man always makes a mighty point.

In light of its origins, why does the pretentious task of sending the Olympic torch relay around the globe go on? Deford wrote about the games being due for a decline, and I won't argue that. All the nauseating hoopla attached to them is enough to turn anyone against the games.

The Dutch came up with the first modern torch for the 1928 Amsterdam games ... wondering what they were lighting with it, eh? Harmless enough, unless you're an Olympic athlete facing a drug test.

But they weren't inspired to take the larger step and use a relay -- we needed Hitler to do that. Trying to tie the ancient Greeks into his Aryan mythology, the relay debuted at the 1936 Berlin games. You'd think that alone might force the impotent Olympic committee to drop this overblown dose of pageantry.

With the protests against China, the torch relay turned into a friggin' video game - Grand Theft Relay, if you will.

The torch-bearers ducked into buildings, vehicles, altered their routes and skipped a ceremony to head for the airport and Buenes Aires.
Then it's onto such bastions of liberty as Dar es Salaam, Islamabad, Ho Chi Minh City and Pyongyang before zigzagging through about 600 Chinese cities.

The stooges behind the Olympics like to tout the torch as a symbol of piece. Look back 72 years - that's stunningly false. The greatest villains of the 20th century crafted it, and in a new century, it's still an excuse for people to rally around their flag.

They should toss that thing in the ocean and let it go out for good. They can keep their flame, but the torch's globetrotting days should be over.