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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
David Niven had the best commentary about a streaker at the 1974 Oscars. As the naked gent (why is it always guys?) exited stage left, Niven quipped, "Well, that was bound to happen. The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping ... and showing his shortcomings."
Hey King, lighten up on Norway. Not every medal is gold. Norway won 19 medals--2 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze. Not bad for a country of 4.6 million.
Cheers!
Once again the olympics has reinforced my hatred of figure skating. For a sport where the point is to look good, how can anyone that falls get a medal? I haven't put skates on in 10 years but I'm pretty sure I can manage a fall. It's ballet on ice, which is interesting and all, but doesn't make for a sport. Sports have set rules, and aren't determined by some judges saying "that looked good" or "that looked hard to pull off."
I think the key to Miller's press is indeed whether or not he tried. He would have been vilified either way, but had he given it his best effort, at least the criticism would have been somewhat polite.
Because he didn't seem to give a rat's ass it's open season.
I have to take exception with two points that were made in the Bode Miller part of the article relative to best efforts.
First, I believe that, regardless of what anyone thinks about Bode Miller, making your best effort when competing in any endeavor earns the respect of most people, especially if they have any appreciation of what it takes to compete in the field. The “winning is everything” attitude that is being expressed in the article is one that is promoted heavily by the media, although it is actually held by relatively few. Speculation of why this is so has to do with the some of the media’s interest in creating controversy, drama, and further polarizing their audience.
Secondly, the author says “I’m going to be called an ugly American”, indicating a negative connotation. I feel I have to remind the author that if he was refereeing to the book “The Ugly American” by Lederer and Burdick the person referred to as the ugly American was only unattractive physically. It was the simple beauty of his character and the way he decided to make a difference that made him a hero in this book that is still so timely today.
Hey King, lighten up on Norway. Not every medal is gold.
Uh-huh. Tell that to a Norwegian.
...Did any newspaper, to the best of anyone's knowledge, herald our short-track speedskater's victory with a headline saying "Oh-Yes" or "Oh-Yeah!"
Is this an original thought on my part, or has anyone else labeled Bonehead Miller as "The Fraud of Turin?"
In addition to the abovementioned Mr. Miller, who else among the US Olympic Team is destined for the 2006 Esquire Magazine Dubious Achievement Awards?
Bode tried to position himself as the anti-hero, but I guess he forgot that hero part includes at least appearing to care about whether you win or lose. America is very embracing of bad-boy heros who go their own way to get it done - look at Kobe Bryant, John Daly, Dale Earnhardt. I was actually still in Bode's camp that he was just having a bad run of luck and form until the last race where he appeared to ski intentionally right off the course at the top. If he didn't want the noteriety, he shouldn't have taken Phil Knight's money.
Interesting that his signature moment on the hill was that one legged save he made with the other flapping around that would have snapped the knee of 99.5% of us. As if it's more important to show his true skills in the middle of a wipeout that only he can save, but still not finish the race.
I think that is his Olympic moment.
I heard that the NHL-playing Swedes were NOT allowed to return to Stockholm for even a day to celebrate their gold medal. I get they are being paid salaries by their NHL clubs, but just as a gesture of good faith (oh, wait we're talking about NHL owners here) they would have given them an extra day or two to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime acheivement. I watched much of the Olympic hockey, and would advocate only one change for Vancouver. Eliminate one more team in the group/prelim round and give the winner of each group a bye to the final four (medal round). Make the group round games mean more. Lastly, I thought Teemu Selanne of Finland was the player of the tournament, lost teeth and all, though he seemed to wear down a bit in the final from all those shifts. Miller could learn something by looking at the commitment of guys like Selanne to winning gold, not merely cashing checks.
OHNO -- OH YES! No need to Apolo-gize for gold-bronze finish
San Francisco Chronicle
Ohno? Oh yes! Long Beach Press-Telegram
Ohno ... oh, yes! Los Angeles Daily News
Ohno . . . Oh yes! Boston Globe
Ohno? Oh, yes!
phillyBurbs.com, PA
Ohno, oh yes!
Miami Herald, FL
Oh, yes: Ohno takes on powerful South Koreans
Oh Yes: Ohno Leads US Into Relay Final
The Ledger, FL
Oh, yes — Ohno safely advances in short track
Salt Lake City Deseret News, UT
Now South Korea can say, 'Oh, yes'
Indianapolis Star
Four years later, Koreans can say, oh yes
Concord Monitor, NH
Oh, yes: Ohno advances
In-Forum (subscription), ND
King wrote in today's column
"American Sasha Cohen is being praised in some quarters for battling back, for recovering from her two early mishaps to skate beautifully the rest of the way and win a silver medal. Well, of course she skated beautifully. The pressure was off."
While most of King's analysis was on-target, I believe this is not. Cohen should be praised for battling back and persevering. She likely knew the chance at a gold medal was gone after her first fall, and after the next slip, the odds for any medal at all could have been in doubt. But the pressure was definitely not off. Battling injury and nerves, she could have chucked the rest of her program, lost focus and simply skated through the motions. That she did not do so is testament to the character and courage she displayed on the biggest stage in international sport.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
