This (Non) Sporting Life is my blog post where I, a guy who knows very little about sports, writes about sports.
For a guy who knows little about sports, there's been a lot of sports on this blog this week.
Yep, 3 sports themed posts in one week?
You didn't come here for sports.
I would ask for my money back if I were you.
Anyway...
Andrea and I have been poking our heads into the Winter Olympics at random moments.
In one of those moments, we bore witness to Lindsay Vonn's tragic wipeout on Sunday.
Lindsay had torn her ACL the week before and the general wisdom on the matter was that she would not being able to participate with Team USA for the downhill ski event.
Lindsay decided she was good to go.
Man, if I tore my ACL, I would milk that for YEARS if I could to get out of shit.
But there's Lindsay Vonn, Olympic gold medal winner, pushing off one more time in pursuit of a dream for more Olympic gold.
13 seconds later and that dream died in as she came crashing down into the snow in excruciating pain.
The gallery down at the bottom of the slope fell into an eerie hushed silence as Lindsay lay twisted and broken in the snow.
A helicopter airlifted her off the side of the snow covered hill.
She has been through 2 surgeries since that terrible fall.
It is such a mind blowing concept that a matter of seconds can undo a lifetime of training and preparation.
Olympic events do ride on the razor's edge of mere inches or seconds standing between a date with an Olympic medal or failure.
Andrea and I were watching an ice dancing routine by an American couple and the announcers declared their performance nearly flawless.
Nearly.
Their point total was a mere percentage point off the leader, changing their fortunes from gold to silver.
Apparently the woman skater moved her leg one inch out of position during a turn on the ice.
A lifetime of dreams, of plans and training and work done in by an inch.
This is getting too heavy.
Here's an SNL sketch involving Winter Olympic athletes getting ready for their big moment of glory filled with hope and enthusiasm and, in the case of the luge athlete, dread.
"I hate the thing I'm good at!"
Jane Wickline is too damn funny in this sketch,
Back at the actual Olympics, I've become fascinated with ski jumping.
Step 1: Ski down a slide
Step 2: Ski off the end of the slide.
Step 3: Fly! (Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!)
Step 4: Land!
Step 5: Don't fall down.
I know there must be some kind of skill involved but I'm dumb enough to think I could do that.
As much as I want to keep this post about the purity of the sport, like every goddam thing these days, politics rears it's ugly orange misshapened head.
27 year old free style skier Hunter Hess made this statement: "There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of. For me it’s more I’m representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S."
Seems like a fairly reasonable and measured response to balance national pride with concern about governmental policy.
What is the opposite of fairly reasonable and measured?
Yes, Donald Fucking Trump had to weigh in with this: “U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn’t represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics. If that’s the case, he shouldn’t have tried out for the Team, and it’s too bad he’s on it. Very hard to root for someone like this."
Stay classy, Li'l Donnie!
Hunter Hess had this response to Trump calling him a loser. “There are always things that could be better. One of the many things that makes this country so amazing is that we have the right and the freedom to point that out. The best part of the Olympics is that it brings people together, and when so many of us are divided we need that more than ever. I cannot wait to represent Team USA next week when I compete.”
Hunter Hess is a far better man than I am. My response to Trump would be along the lines of "Fuck off, you fat fuck!"
Which I think is a fairly reasonable and measured response to this goddam ego maniac moron.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah, the wonder of the Winter Olympics.
Sporting events that take years of dedication, training and commitment, an extraordinay amount of talent and skill.
Although I am dumb enough to think I could do this.
No comments:
Post a Comment