2010 Winter Olympic Games and team sponsors

Okay, this is my first blog on this topic, but it's been on my mind. Where's the parity as far as sponsors and the Olympics are concerned? Here's the deal:
Because the bidding is so large for who is going to get the Games, and the sponsors that bid to be "official sponsors" of the Games (like McDonalds or NBC), the sponsors that have taken care of the athletes for years and years, prior to the Games, get shut out when it really counts. Let me tell you how anal they are at the Olympics:

When they go to pan on the crowd, or on the parking lots, there's a team that goes out and COVERS the logo's on the cars so they won't show up in the shots. If you're competing, the rule is that your logo's have to be under a certain size, and part of the equipment (i.e. if you're wearing a helmet, the logo can be on there as long as it's under the acceptible standards), or you have to tape/draw over it, or have it removed. Now this is my current confusion. As much as I've always had an issue with this rule (we competed back in the 2002 Games in bobsled, and had to repaint our sled because it had our sponsors logo's on it), I was watching the snowboarding competitions, and who could miss the giant, "Burton," and other logo's on the bottom of those snowboards? Now, in no way am I knocking the snowboarders, because I think that this should be allowed by all teams, but where is the parity?

Let me explain how this corporate machine works. It's a lot like college football. You have these schools that are bringing in TONS of cash for their respective universities from bowl games, ticket sales, etc. Although the players are getting scholarships, they're not getting a fraction of what their "entertainment" value is. Now the more extreme example are the sports that are played in the Olympics. Although most people don't realize it, these sports happen every year, not just during the Games. The athletes are held to a higher standard than ANY other sport (if you have a first time steroid violation or any illegal substance violation, you're immediately banned for 2 years), and generally have to rely on raising their own money, even if they compete for some of the larger nations. These are truly people that are competing because they LOVE what they do. I'm not saying that professional athletes don't love it, but I challenge any of them to replace their ridiculous salaries with having to PAY to compete. Anyway, that requires athletes to go out and find sponsors who generally don't see much if any return on their investment. They do it because they want to help. Well, in a best case scenario, if these athletes do great, and make it to the "Big Show" for these types of sports, the sponsoring companies suddenly are forced into exile from getting any credit for helping the athletes make it there. At that point, the credit goes to McDonalds, or Home Depot, or Coca Cola. Coke even had a ridiculous commercial about "If you've bought a Coke in the past 80 years, you've helped sponsor Olympic athletes..." My favorite was the plethora of McDonalds ads that had the gaul to advertise that if you eat McDonalds, then you're eating like an Olympic Athlete... Think I'm kidding? Goto my page at www.youtube.com/danjan1 and see some of these ads for yourself! Anyway, they're all full of it! Beside the two weeks that you're at the Games, and I will acknowledge that they definitely take great care of you while you're there, they don't give you a dime towards what it took for you to actually get there (including your flight!). Believe me, every little bit helps, and as a bobsledder, just shipping that thing from event to event is a small fortune. Hey McDonalds... I'll paint my sled red and put the Golden Arches all over it if you'll just pay my costs for a season?! Forget about actually making any money to subsidize the fact that you can't get paid from a job if you're actually competing...

Yeah, I'm a little perturbed about the politics that go into this, but hey, we can blog about a ton of these topics, and all of them would be really interesting. For example:
Why do certain sports allow for the advantage of superior equipment, when it's supposed to be about athletics?
Why is there no playoff system in college football (yeah, this is an obvious one)
Why don't pro's get banned from playing if they cheat? Betcha a 2 year ban from those salaries would clean up sports REALLY quick...
Why are their protests in sports? I can't remember the last time a protested soccer, or major sports team had their loss turned into a rematch, or a win... is it just to make team that got screwed feel better?

Anyway, please throw down your comments, I'd love to hear em!