Better off?
Posted on 02/19/2006 12:42:02 PM PST by rhema
The next time you see a kid skateboarding down the railings at the post office or zipping around the shopping carts at the supermarket, don't throw a can of cling peaches at him. Instead, put your hand over your heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
These youngsters are our Olympic future. Many of them go on to become snowboarders. And snowboarding is about the only thing we can do right here in Turin. Nearly half of the USA's medals are the result of our snowboarding expertise.
We pour millions of dollars into developing Olympic athletes. But it's the kids with the snowboards who are keeping us from being completely embarrassed. Kids who say their medals are "cool." Kids who text message one another all day long. Kids who know more about the history of the X Games than the Olympic Games.
People have been asking why the United States is doing so poorly here. At first, those questions seemed premature. Now that we are halfway through the Games, they are legitimate.
The answer is that we appear to be getting soft. Look at all the private coaches. Check out the finest training facilities in the world. Count the number of agents, personal physicians and corporate sponsors. And then when we get right down to it, athletes from other countries seem more determined. They want it the way American athletes used to want it.
Since the Iron Curtain was torn down, the Americans are the bad guys. We're the sitting target that everybody strives to beat. Our old rivals now are capitalist wannabes. U.S. athletes are left to push themselves, and some aren't good at it.
Plus, there is a growing suspicion that some of our athletes are more concerned about fame and personal glory. The Games are not a destination but a pit stop on the road to wherever it is they want to be.
Many of our most-hyped athletes have failed miserably. Skier Bode Miller immediately comes to mind. Miller messed up in the super-G on Saturday, hitting a gate and failing to finish his race. He is a world-class self-promoter who has become a world-class bust.
The women's hockey team met with disaster. So has the women's curling team and assorted other skiers and skaters. Johnny Weir, for example, had a chance to win a medal in men's figure skating. Instead, he fell apart. Why are we losing? Our athletes are talented. Crusty old Pat Quinn, coach of the Canadian men's hockey team, might have said it best Saturday. Switzerland had just upset his team 2-0.
"Talent?" Quinn said. "We have talent. Talent is only part of the whole thing. We tried to rely on talent tonight. I hope we learned."
I don't know what's important to some of our athletes. But our Olympic program is very well funded. Meanwhile, the Canadians, who have so little cash in their Olympic coffers that they probably had to fly standby to Turin, are doing well here. They are doing well in the more traditional sports, too. So are the Austrians, Norwegians, Russians, Germans and others.
Here's a possible key to the current state of affairs: Notice how some athletes from certain countries fall to their knees in tears after a good performance. Notice how athletes from one certain country tend to mug for the cameras.
Not all American athletes are like that. Not by a long shot. But too many are concerned with taking full advantage of the multimedia exposure here. Their agents and corporate sponsors expect a lot out of them. I used to consider snowboarding events to be junk sports. Now they are our salvation. They are like video games transferred to the athletic field, which is why they are so popular among the younger crowd. Maybe we can get video gaming directly into the next Olympics. We might win a few more medals.
The fall of the women's hockey team was the most disappointing. Not because they lost a game to Sweden, which never should have happened. But because they have a lot in common with old-time Olympic athletes. They aren't getting rich by being Olympians. In fact, they have to make sacrifices.
But the program has become complacent. The coaching staff should have been shaken up after the loss to Canada in Salt Lake City. Clearly, the United States had the best team four years ago. But when push came to shove, they couldn't do it.
That set the stage for the disaster against Sweden. Yes, women's hockey has improved worldwide. But losing to Sweden was a joke. Watch what Canada does to Sweden in the gold-medal game.
The American team has played hard ever since arriving in Turin. When superior talent and superior effort don't translate into success, the problems are elsewhere. But rather than switch coaches, we float along and hope for the best.
The United States should be doing better in a lot of sports. Sometimes we're complacent. Sometimes we're soft. And sometimes it's all about personal glory. That's a losing formula.
skating?...telemarking?
I was 35 years ahead of my time with my "Snurf-board"
Snowboarders...the Muslims of the ski slopes!
Congratulations.
You have just identified the reason why I stopped watching the Olympics. About 20 years ago...
Better off?
I'm still hoping for another Dan Jansen or Eric Heiden.
LOVE the "flower power" zipper gripper!
I'm leaving right now for Sun Valley. I'll let you know Monday.
The alpine countries have always owned us in skiing, luge & bobsledding. The Nordic countries won what the Alpine countries, or the old Soviet Union didn't. That left very little for the US to cheer about during the Winter Games. Womens figure skating, maybe. Speed skating, if we had a phenom like Eric Heiden or Bonnie Blair.
Phenoms just don't cut it anymore. Every country seems to have maxed out the athletic potential of their athletes so the competitive mis-matches just don't exist as they used to. Yes, we own snowboarding for the present, but this too shall change.
Oh, and I can understand a Bode Miller (note: I said "understand", not "agree with"). He's a major star -- in Europe. He's used to being a celebrity & living in 5-star hotels. Living at the olympic village must seem like living in a dog kennel by comparison. Bode won't be able to transfer that stardom to the US without an Olympic gold medal, however.
Why did we win a gold medal in skateboarding?
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