Olympic Inspiration

"And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA."
- Lee Greenwood, "God Bless the U.S.A."


Weight: 158

It's been another rough week of training... with most of my runs/workouts being skipped. Sure, especially after my last blog post, I'm simply letting the excuses get in the way. But finding the right balance, that is always key.

The problem this week was 'life', mostly in the form of dentist appointments. My daughter ended up having 2, and I had one myself. Throw in a day where I STILL didn't feel good (still stomach cramping... but it's getting better now that I've put a couple more pounds back on), and it was a pretty bad week, athletically speaking.

This morning was my dentist appointment, and I had originally planned on doing my run afterward. But we got hit with a bit of snow last night. Not a ton, maybe 4 inches accumulation, but it's enough where there isn't any safe open surfaces to take a jog on. I went for a swim instead. Have really been slacking in the pool... as in not going... for a while, but I did manage 600m without much issue other than boredom. So that is good.

But most of my excitement lately has been for the Olympics! I love me some Olympics! I love how suddenly America cares about curling and short track skating and skiing. Even figure skating has little to no life with general America outside of the Olympics.

I am not so much into the hockey. Like basketball in the Summer games, it's just not the same with the pros involved.

But most of all, I love the conversations and debates that stem from the Olympics - the "I could be an Olympian is I just lived in another country" conversation. The "Olympics are better than pro sports, because you aren't rooting for laundry, you're rooting for your country!" debate. The "those female skiers have some thick legs, and I'm simultaneously turned on and repulsed" conundrum. But there is no question, the conversations I love the best regard the National Anthem, and the definition of 'sport'

Look, I love America, and consider myself patriotic. But seriously, the Star-Spangled Banner sucks! And with the Games being in Canada, you get to hear their AWESOME anthem more than usual. Seriously, if there anything better than a stadium/arena full of people bursting out in patriotic song? Please, listen to THIS, and tell me you don't get chills, even though it's another country.

We could never pull that off in America. Our anthem just isn't that good. It's an old marching song, with notes that maybe 50 people in any given arena can actually hit (and half of them consider themselves 'singers' so they would take 'artistic liberties' with the tune and screw it up). That is why I propose we change our anthem to the chorus of "God Bless the USA" shown above.

C'mon! You KNOW that would be awesome! You don't have to hit any difficult notes. Even if you have no voice at all, if you sing loud with thousands of people, it still sounds great. It's the kind of 'anthem' that drunk guys will gladly throw their arms around the guy next to him, even if he's a stranger, and belt out the tune, swaying side to side with the tempo. Give me one GOOD reason why this would not make a better national anthem?

I know, it will never happen, because the same freedom mentioned in the lyrics give idiots the freedom to overreact and get unnecessarily offended at anything with the word "God" in it. Also, English teachers would take issue with 'ain't" being included. Still... next time you are in a group of people of 4 or larger, especially if drinks are involved, and there is an event between a USA person/team and another country... start singing. They WILL join in, you WILL feel patriotic, and you would never get that response from random Star Spangled Bannering.

That is nothing compared to the 'what is a sport' debate. And the Olympics are filled with things that in my opinion, are NOT sports. Don't get me wrong, they are very athletic, take a lot of skill and grace and talent... but they are not sports. Anything that involves 'judges' is instantly not a sport. It's a pageant. Half pipe snowboarding, figure skating, gymnastics, whores on dollar night, etc. Not sports.

I can't do any of those things, they are difficult and take years of practice and commitment. But I don't believe there can be 100% impartial judging (figure skating has proved it time and time again). When there's judging, there is controversy. Some American guy won a gold in figure skating, and within 10 seconds, there was talk that he didn't really win, didn't deserve to win.

Refs, umpires, and officials can drastically change the outcomes of competitions too... but it's not the same. You still have to put points on the board, of keep your opponent from scoring, or be faster to the finish line. There is objective evidence of who wins.

That said - the debate always leads to something idiotic like "So then is chess a sport?" Of course not! A sport has to have at least a little bit of athleticism or physicality. Golf is ridiculously low impact, but highly technical, and a sport. Horseshoes is a sport. Sitting in a chair playing chess... no.

Bowling - that's a sport. Maybe not the way most of us play, where it's something to do between sips of beer. But for actual bowlers... definitely. It may have all the technicality of golf... if not more. Essentially, you have to do the same thing perfect, every time. Golfers do not strive for perfection. They do not shoot for the hole on every stroke. They have greater room for error.

Bowling tournaments require multiple games with good scores, eliminating the competition. It's not only the perfection of repetition, but becomes a bit of an endurance thing. All the more reason it is interesting a bigger deal has not been made of Kelly Kulick.

Who? Kelly Kulick. Only a woman who beat an otherwise male field of 62 bowlers in one of the biggest national tournaments of the year! She beat the number 1 player in the final by 70 pins! 90 games in 6 days averaging 226. A woman, on an equal, level playing field, has just beat the men... and barely a whisper from the media. It's sad really.

Some people will use this to immediately discount bowling as a sport - basically saying that if a woman can beat a man, than it must not really be a sport. It's sad that her accomplishment would turn into a negative. And with Danica Patrick in NASCAR now, it will give people reason to discount that too once she wins (and she will... but you will definitely hear about THAT when it happens)

I wonder if this is part of the whole obesity problem in America? I regularly get 'chicked' while running (and with triathlons I get chicked before I even get out of the water, and that with having a 2 minute head start). Sure, it can be humbling. I wonder if that is why some people don't even try? Because they can't deal with the thought of being beat by certain other people.