Free Republic

TURIN, Italy -- Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis represent the sound and fury, not to mention the general goofiness that engulfed the U.S. men's long track speedskating team during the Winter Olympics. Joey Cheek remains an island of calmness, sanity and, not least of all, an extremely generous nature. He is not the only skater who kept his wits about him. But maybe more than any athlete here, Cheek made the most of his moments. He seems to embrace the quaint notion of the Olympic spirit that existed before the overselling of underachievers and other forms of crass commercialism grabbed...