Drama, injuries, chanting fans, security nightmares, photo finishes with . . . marbles?
This year’s official Winter Olympics in Beijing are a source of major contention across the U.S. and the globe due to security concerns and, more important, horrific human-rights issues in the host country. Many viewers are choosing to tune out, while others are torn between the principle of things and their appreciation for the incredible feats of the competitors.
For those looking for an alternative, games they can watch without politics lurking in the backgrounds but still full of excitement and suspense, let me present: Marble League.
No, I’ve not lost my marbles — at least, not yet. The YouTube Channel Jelle’s Marble Runs is manned by Netherlandic brothers Jelle and Dion Bakker. Jelle, who has a form of autism, started the original channel in 2006 to post videos of his marble run creations. He was awarded a Guinness World Record for the longest marble run in 2009. After an unfortunate incident in 2018, when he accidentally deleted the channel with its 600k+ subscribers, Jelle started over, and this time, the subscriber count quickly reached over 1 million.
The channel has a range of events that mimic real-world competitions, and over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing a video from the 2019 Marble League (originally title “Marblelympics,” but rebranded because of copyright issues) and some commentary each day as counterprogramming to the real Olympics.
Please enjoy these suspenseful, clever, and charming videos, and keep an eye out for Roldo.
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