Little-known sportspeople and those who cover them are fully entitled to enjoy the limelight. What quickly became tedious was the assertion that these Games offered an epic sporting event. They never do, regardless of the host.
This has generally been a party for the middle class. Which is fine, but people should know better than to supply an alternative, force-fed narrative.
Scotland has apparently become so impoverished as a sporting nation that the sight of any success at all is hailed beyond comprehension and context. At the time of writing, one able-bodied world record has been broken. Runners from Tonga and Gibraltar were lapped three times on the Hampden track. The men’s 1500m and marathon Commonwealth records have been in place since 1974; they aren’t isolated statistics.
This year’s medal table tells a story about the standard of the Games. There are more medals available than ever before, an important footnote to tales of national glory.
So the BBC went over the top - as per usual. But by all accounts, the athletes enjoyed the Games and, certainly, the crowds did. What's not to celebrate?
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