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NUMBER ONE

8/3/2012

 
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NUMBER ONE
    
    The Olympics are a wonder.  I root for every American yet cannot root against any athlete, each a miracle of achievement, beauty, and realized human potential.  The American women of the gymnastics team were all  smiles and  breathless joy after winning gold while their main competition, the 
Russians, who won silver, were in tears.
    Female gymnasts are  usually tiny and very young. The American team, wonder kids all, are in fact, children.  When each completed a performance, she rushed  into hugs from every teammate and coach. For the Russians, maybe a quick  obligatory hug from a coach, but nothing like the loving embraces that  nestled every American. Did it translate into better performance?  Surely something beyond sheer physical prowess is at work, a combination  of passion, intensity, morale, confidence, and whatever propels
an  athlete to outdo herself one day and fall back another.
    The  Olympic spirit has always been,
“It’s not whether you win, but whether  you take
part in the games.”
It’s great to win gold, but carried too far, it diminishes the Olympic spirit. A football coach named Henry Sanders (also attributed to Vince Lombardi)  said,
“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” I’d never want a  kid of mine to be near such a coach or exposed to such a corrosive attitude, everything the Olympic spirit is  not.
     Watching eight lanes of swimmers pummel through the water,  each a champion
in his or her own country, the TV broadcast fixates on  the leader at the end of each lap, and zooms in on the winner, ignoring  the rest. Is that why the Russian kids were crying after having won  silver medals?
    The drive to be number one gave our species  mastery over Planet Earth. Will it also be the reason we destroy it? A  grim thought amid the glorious Olympic saturnalia, and
yet a shadow cast  behind every shining Olympic star.

tracy link
8/3/2012 03:11:32 am

the greatest commentator on America died 2 days ago; Gore Vidal.
Naturally, it was not on any newc channel and not mentioned in the mdeia. It was a full page ion the NY Times. However, that obituary was tasteless. It makes me wonder why, and I think I know:
They and Mr Vidal were not on good terms. This is because Mr. Vidal did not respect the NY Times, famously, as a good source of news, and they knew it.

tracy link
8/3/2012 03:15:12 am

The greatest observer of America's role in the world was Gore Vidal. He died 2 days ago. His obituary was done without good taste. Mr. Vidal did not respect the NY Times as a news source, which was famously known. Perhaps this is why the large obituary mentioned salubrious matters totally nonessential to the man.

CH
8/3/2012 03:11:33 am

Read a disturbing article about how Chinese Olympians are treated back home if they win less than gold. Silver medalists suffer humiliation and even death-threats.


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    Author (Yuma, AZ, 1944)

    Being 90 years in this world,  with great kids,  great grandkids, great wives (two, one at a time) and great memories, I wonder why some people seem to have stopped loving the U.S.A.? I will wonder in print right here. If you wonder too, or can provide some answers, please comment.
                                   Stuart Hodes

    Picture
           With my friend, Nero.
                   April, 2012.
        Photo by Ray Madrigal

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