Alright, so I got sucked in. I’ve taken to watching the games and in large
measure it took track and field to hook me.
Well, it took track. My cynical
side, which as anyone who reads this regularly would know is dominant,
tells me that the strength events are PED tainted. I still feel burned over those two USA Track
and Field Championships at Stanford a few years back. A few years back can be translated to mean
“the Balco years.” I spent top dollar
for good seats, hyped the events to Cora and then we found out after the Balco
bubble burst that many of the results from both meets were frauds.
At least track and field and cycling put the hammer down
on the cheats. Tainted results are
vacated and as far as the record books go it’s as if the fakers never existed. Sadly baseball hasn’t followed suit. A visit to The Baseball Almanac shows us that
the American League record for career home runs is held by Babe Ruth at 708 and
the National League record by that petulant, surly, self-absorbed son of a
bitch Barry Bonds. No mention of Henry
Aaron’s 752. Thank you for participating
Hammerin’ Hank and for showing up we have a Popeil’s Pocket Fisherman and
several other lovely parting gifts. I
have a Facebook friend who loved the fraudulent steroid raged years ruled by
swindlers like Sosa, McGwire and Bonds.
He couldn’t get enough of those 700 foot homeruns and the bastardization
of that wonderful game. The good news
for this fellow is that if he wants to see the Mona Lisa and other works of art
he doesn’t have to travel to Paris. He
can visit the poster shop at the nearest mall; a fake is a fake is a fake.
Maybe my comments about the Olympics in my last post
where a bit harsh. I’m not too big to
admit that I might be wrong; which means I wouldn’t be fit to serve in
Congress.
So I was a little tough on the Olympics (as if they
really care). It still has more than its
share of melodrama and there are still too many of those John Wooden, “Sports
don’t build character, they reveal it” moments.
There
was last Wednesday’s comic bantamweight boxing match in which Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu went into the third round
trailing by 7 points to Azerbaijan’s Magomed Abdulhamidov. Shimizu made a 3rd round comeback
and pummeled his opponent, knocking down the Azerbaijani 6 times and the referee's cupboard was apparently out of standing 8 counts; nary a one was issued as the rules require. In the
end Abdulhamidov was awarded the bout by 5 points, a decision that was
overturned by officials of the International Amateur Boxing Association which
issued a statement that said in part, “our main concern has been and will
always be the protection of the integrity and fair-play of our
competitions.” Boxing? Let’s be clear, the words “integrity,” “fair
play” and “boxing” should never be used in the same sentence. The referee of the bout and one of the judges
were shown the gate and “no Pocket Fisherman for you.” As it turned out, a year ago the BBC
reported that Azerbaijani boxing officials may have been involved in a pay for
medals scandal.
And then there’s badminton; bad,
bad, badminton and the scandal in which teams from China, Indonesia and South
Korea flagrantly tanked their matches in order to get more favorable draws for
later matches in the round robin tournament.
This pot boiling drama created some incredible observations.
Fans who had paid over 100
dollars U.S. were incensed and booed the
competitors (for lack of a better word) mercilessly for purposely serving into the net and
saving opponents shots that were sailing well out of bounds. One hundred dollars to watch badminton
prelims? I would be booing myself just
for paying that kind of money to watch badminton.
Top ranked player Yu Yang has
hung up her racket after the scandal, "Farewell Badminton World
Federation; farewell my beloved badminton." Yang claimed that she and her
partner Wang Xiaoli were BOTH injured before the match and were using the round
robin rules to survive to the next match.
Injured? Badminton? Both players
on the same team at the same time? I
must have missed the part where players are body checked into the boards. Wait, there are no boards. For dramatic affect Yang concluded, “Do you
understand the pain athletes suffer?"
And finally with a collective
straight face the Chinese Olympic Committee issued the statement, "The
behavior of Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli violated the principles of the Olympic
Movement and went against the spirit of fair play. It hurt our hearts. The
Chinese Olympic Committee has always been firmly against any conduct that is
against sportsmanship." This would be the selfsame China that fielded a
swim team that came from nowhere to win 12 golds at the 1994 World’s and then
had 11 swimmers test positive for dihydrotestosterone. Two years later at the ’96 Olympics with the memory of a doping ban still fresh Chinese
swimmers were clean but garnered only one gold.
And then there’s that little matter of underage gymnasts. “Hurt our hearts” indeed.
Really; what’s the use of having a medal that came as a
result of a payoff, PEDs or some other form of chicanery? What do you tell your grandchildren? It was the best performance money could buy?
What goes through your mind and what does your heart tell you when you look at
your ill-gotten medal? It doesn’t really
matter that the public adores you. You
still have to face yourself. What will
Marion Jones tell her grandchildren? I
guess you own up to it all and try to turn it into a teaching moment and in
your own private moments keep asking yourself, “what if?”
I followed a perimeter of the games littered with
scandals, sensationalism and athletes, coaches and fans behaving badly. Did Hope Solo really have to get in a pissing
contest with Brandy Chastain? Hope, do
you realize that except for two weeks out of 208 most American sports fans
think women’s soccer is a joke and the rest of the country doesn’t know it
exists? Is that the PR that soccer is
looking for?
I got sucked into
watching by those stories that bring a smile, maybe a head shake or a tear and
the realization that while all isn’t right, all isn’t bad either.
The men’s 10000 meter race gave
us one of those moments the Olympics are expected to deliver; the joyous moment
of victory for Britain’s, Mo Farrah, wide eyed, hands to his face, a mixture of
boundless joy and amazement at the moment.
He was living an athlete’s dream; to win an Olympic medal for the
hometown fans.
Missy Franklin is doing things
her way. Despite early success as a
swimmer she didn’t uproot herself from Colorado to train with some high powered
coach in California and she isn’t planning on cashing in on her successful
Olympics. Nope, she wants to maintain
her eligibility to be able to continue her high school swim career and then
swim in college. It isn’t always about
the money.
Holley Mangold only finished 10th
(only) in women’s weightlifting but she did it with a torn tendon in her wrist
that will require surgery. Happily she
wasn’t competing in badminton because then we wouldn’t understand the pain that
athletes suffer.
Kayla Harrison was sexually
abused by her judo coach when she was 13; abuse that continued for 3 years
until Harrison revealed the abuse first to a friend and then to her mother. The coach is in jail now but the experience
could easily have put the young woman off of judo, if not off of life in
general. She persevered and won Olympic
judo gold.
Even seeing the Dream Team show
up at other venues to cheer on their teammates (no they aren’t in the same
sport but they are all on the same team) and to an impromptu practice with
beach volley ballers Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh revealed some indication that these rich young men do recognize the moment.
The marathon is an athletic
opera; a two hour drama complete with acts, full of twists, turns and mystery.
“Watching the Olympics makes you just want to
lace up and go.” said a
Facebook post. The half full
glass is that every four years some folks are inspired. No, I’m not talking about the young athlete
who decides to train for greatness. I’m
thinking about the seriously overweight mother and daughter I saw struggling
through a run this morning. Could it be
that they watched an event and were motivated to do something life changing?
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