QUOTE (Snow_Fox @ Jan 4 2012, 03:44 AM)

I'm not going to go along with that, I removed NASCAR/formula 1 because those aren't team sports in the olympics. but to look at NHL and NBA these are leagues and pay big big bucks in professional sports but the players proudly go back to their home nations, especially Baseball, the MLB might be the big deal if you play in America but when it comes time for the Olympics the naitonal pride is big and that's now. the same for soccer/football- the euro-leagues are the big deal but when the torch is lit, people return home.
The simple canon answer to that is, as Paul mentions, that the corp
is "home,"
is "nation," for a large number of people. They willingly get zaibatsu tattoos, and care deeply about the personality quirks of their leaders. For some people - not all, by any means - loyalty to the corporation would supplant nationalism. Again, this doesn't have to be true for everyone, just enough people to field a decent track team.

One thing I don't know, and wouldn't know where to start looking: if you're an Ares citizen,
can you compete for the UCAS in the Olympics?
QUOTE (Snow_Fox @ Jan 4 2012, 03:44 AM)

Me RL worked for Xerox in the 90's and had soem pride in that but I'm not with them now.
The less simple just-me answer is that most people are like you [and me]: their loyalty to the corporation that feeds [and houses and clothes and governs, in Shadowrun] you is pretty minimal, and very mercurial. [Of course, national loyalty is often remarkably plastic, as well.] They're not competing in the Olympics because they love the corp, any more than most modern Olympic athletes are doing it for their pride in their nation. You mention a lot of today's athletes play hockey in the NHL for Canada but go home to Russia to play in the Olympics, but if Canada was paying twice what Russia could, how many guys would stick around? Enough to field a decent team? I mean, that
has to be true,
or else they'd be playing professional hockey in Russia still! They go where the money is.
QUOTE (Snow_Fox @ Jan 4 2012, 03:44 AM)

So what can the corp offer?
• A roof over your head, forever; for many, this alone would be worth selling your soul.
• Free PR, and exclusive access to endorsement deals worth millions.
• The chance to compete at an international level; for any athlete I've ever known, this would be more than enough.
• Training and equipment at no cost, for life.
• Access to pleasures and vices that would be considered extralegal in nation-states.
• Money, money, money.
• Fame, the chance to be well-known and publicly appreciated.
• World-class nutrition and supplements, aka
free food.• Sex. People really like to have sex with famous athletes. I mean, so I hear. [Call me, Shaq?]
• The simple pleasure of bringing glory to the people who feed and clothe you, who educated you, who bought [and made] your first car, who paid for [and produced] the song you lost your virginity to. Nobody loves the company store, and the company boss less so, but the company is something people will even fight and die for, in Shadowrun, and why wouldn't they? The corporations have done more for most of their citizens than any government ever did for you or I, and all they ask for in return is
everything.