As surely everyone has heard by now, either through NBC promos or countless articles in newspapers, the Winter Olympics begin on Friday and go all the way through to Sunday, February 28th. To me, the Summer Olympics are far more enjoyable than the Winter ones. There's a lot more sporting events going on, some of which in America, we never get a chance to see on television such as table tennis, equestrian or fencing. NBC and their affiliates do a heck of a job covering it, especially ever since Athens. They have kicked up their level of coverage to a staggering level, and I love watching every moment of it. I also like them a lot more than the Winter ones because some of the sports you know were being played by the Ancient Greeks in the original Olympiad. You could see them doing track and field or archery. I really doubt they were alpine skiing or speed skating(although speed skating is one of my favorite events in the winter ones). Of course both comes with criticism, what constitutes what as a sport, the doping scandals and more as well as summer always dealing with why should there be sports where the ultimate prize isnt the gold such as Tennis where its a grand slam title or Baseball where its a world series. If you ask Kobe what he wants more, a NBA title or the gold, you can bet he's gonna say an NBA title. There's a lot of pride in that, there's hardly any beating Angola by 50 points in group play. But I enjoy the summer olympics because it has a little bit of everything for a sports fan. There's 31 sports so there's something to watch for everyone and a lot of them are different ones which America doesn't get to see often so that's a plus as well.
Some of you may be wondering the significance of the title of this blog. I mentioned pride in the last paragraph and this is the general theme of this post, but what happened to American pride in the winter Olympics. I feel it very much in the Summer ones. You know Michael Phelps was thrilled to win all those for America and to show the world that they're the crown jewel in swimming. I especially felt it in the Jason Lezak come back in the 4x100 freestyle relay race and then again in Phelps epic race against Miroslav Cavic where Phelps won by.001 of a second. I could also feel American pride with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh in beach volleyball. You could tell how hard they trained and really wanted to bring the title back to America and then lastly of course, with the basketball team having disgraced the country by missing gold in the 2004 Olympics, wanted to show that they were back on top in the basketball world. I don't feel the pride in the Winter Olympics. Times have changed over the last 2 decades or so. Now I feel that most of our modern athletes in the Winter Olympics are self-serving brats who couldn't give a rats ass about their country. I am absolutely ashamed as to what took place in Torino 4 years ago between Bode Miller receiving all the hype and doing absolutely nothing. I don't want idiots like him to as he put it "party and socialize at an Olympic level." There's a time and place for that, but to not give a damn about your country and then continuously give half-assed efforts over there is an embarrassment. Where is all the hype this year over him? It's gone and thank god. Then you have perhaps the most self-serving athlete of the Winter Olympics and that's Shani Davis. I'm not going to go as hard on him. I don't have a problem with him doing his training by himself or even him not doing the team pursuit to do a couple extra things on his own. But the way he acted in Torino to the media was a disgrace as well. He really snubbed Melissa Stark after what could've been a great moment in Olympic history after he became the first African American to win gold in an individual event, offering her curt answers because she supposedly praised his teammate more than him. Throughout the entire Olympics, it seemed like he unnecessarily brought race into everything and while his achievement should've been a great thing, it simply turned into a sour and bitter occasion. I am expecting great things this year from Shani and this will be the year where I'll decide if I can forget his attitude at Torino and remember him for what he does (and says) this year. And lastly, perhaps the defining visual of the 2006 Torino Olympics for Americans was Lindsay Jacobellis's showoat trick which cost her the gold. Somehow she seemed perfectly content with silver which is a disgrace and she didn't mseem too unhappy with herself which is a joke. If she never wins a gold that should haunt her for the rest of her life, but as I said, it doesn't seem like many individuals give a damn about their country or even how well they perform individually in the Olympics. Shani, clearly does which is why I still have tons of respect for hm for what he's been able to accompish so far. Our best hopes this year I think are Shani Davis, Lindsay Vonn and our hockey teams I'm sure guys like Shaun White and Chad Hedrick will perform well, but I expect the 3 I mentioned to be the things we remember when the Winter Olympics close 2 and a half weeks from now. We have to have more national and personal pride in the Winter Olympic games and even if we lose, we have to give it our all. If you're not, you have no business competing on your country's team. I hope this mentality changes and I think it will. I think there's been a lot of growing up especially by Bode Miller, but think Shani and Lindsay have done some growing up as well. This year's theme to me is repeat or redemption. Will they repeat their performances and more importantly actions at this year's games or will they redeem themselves with better performances and have the mount of pride that past Olympians have had. The choice is their's alone and they have their fate in their hands. But it starts with having more pride in themselves and their country. No matter how many beatings our country takes physically and verbally, we are still the United States of America and it's time to show the world once again what we are capable of doing. Hope everyone enjoys the games and I'm sure I'll be talking about them again over the next couple weeks.
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