Confronting the Royalty

Kara Goucher is American running royalty.  She is fast, well-sponsored, widely respected for being nice to average Joes, and a total babe. But she might not be helping people with their training.

I read her Tweet today and was sort of  pissed about it. Because that just isn't true.

All of us fail at some point and for someone like Kara to say otherwise is not fair to the mere mortals who look up to her and other elites.

In short, failure is what makes us stronger and faster. Failure also makes us better people.  For example, many of us, myself included, would love to qualify for Boston. Odds are I will never qualify for that race so I will live vicariously through my chums who are wicked fast and elites like Kara. However, this failure to qualify at my current marathon times pumps me up to train harder for the possibility to join my wicked fast chums in Hopkinton.

In recent years Kara has expressed her desire to win that race.  Now, if she doesn't win this year is that failure?  Under most definitions it would be.

But that is a good thing.

Cut out from under him

Pistorius in court. (www.npr.org)

Oscar Pistorius, the Blade Runner, was charged with the murder of his girlfriend. This no legged Olympic sprinter, a man that made us question everything, especially what we were doing with our lives, has fallen from his pedestal to crumble in tears in a South African court room.

We are reminded that those elevated by their actions -- and their sponsors -- to the top of our awareness are just humans, and in some cases really horrible humans. 

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article on Nike's endorsement of Pistorius. It may seem strange that Nike, a shoe company, would sign this man.  However it fits perfectly into the company's model.  Nike signed Jordan before he was a proven commodity, Woods before the company made golf products, and Armstrong without any cycling gear, explains the Journal's Matthew Futterman, because each of these athletes represent something more than being elite; they embody the story of overcoming.

Spectating a Marathon

When the wife and I were walking back to the bus yesterday after watching the Giants loss to the Cards, we were talking about another sporting event that took place in San Francisco during the day.  Not the 49er's loss but rather the Nike Women's Marathon.

She said to me that is nice that I get so excited to watch other regular Joes (or in this case mostly Janes) run for 4+ hours for no good reason.  I said to her, I know the pain these people have chosen to inflict upon themselves and the joy they have created for themselves. I get it. I like ringing my cowbell and showing off my inappropriate signs.  It is fun. And I know it helps.

While I didn't race yesterday, I feel like I spent nearly as long as I will on the course next month, so here is my spectating recap.

11 guys, 5 Rings, and 1 Minute

I love sports.  I have my teams and my preferred events, but more or less, I am a sucker for a televised or live competition. I will take tickets to anything off your hands and the game could be on ESPN the Ocho and I will watch it, choose a side, and yell at the refs (because they always deserve to be yelled at by the guy in his living room).  Just ask my lovely wife. She might say I would put the game on the TV and promptly fall asleep on the couch but that is a salacious lie.

I also love my country.  For all its bull, the United States is the best country in the world and I am proud to call myself an American.

So when these two things come together, I get crazy excited.  I love me some Olympics.  NBC has this thing down to a science.  Meaningful music, a story of some kid from [city/town/farm] had it tough.  Kid lost [mother/father/training facility/ability to walk] but made it to the Olympic team to win and wave the Stars and Stripes (insert crescendo here). USA USA USA USA!!!!! We all cry, we all cheer.

To be honest, nothing really gets me down about the Olympics.

"But why then," you ask, "are you blogging about it?  You never have something only good to say about something when you blog, so something about the Games must be getting you down."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is refusing to take a minute out of the open ceremonies to remember 11 athletes who were murdered in a terrorist attach 40 years ago in Munich.  Everyone from President Obama to Governor Romney, from Aish HaTorah to the Reform Jewish Movement has pushed for this minute.  The IOC refuses to take some time to remember 11 athletes who were murdered at the Olympic Games 40 years ago.

That has me down.

The IOC is a semi-governmental organization and should be accountable to someone. But they are not.  You can sign petitions and such but it won't make much of a difference; more than 100,000 signatures haven't made an impact yet.  The group of widows  have been brushed off (again) and will have a moment of silence during the opening ceremonies regardless of its official recognition, and while that is nice, it doesn't fix or really honor the memory of these guys in the right way.

The Palestinian Olympic Committee (POC) called this moment of silence "racist" today and that makes my head hurt.  The POC's own statement leads a logical person to believe that they would be supportive of this remembrance. "Sports are a bridge for love, communication and the spreading of peace between nations," the POC said in its statement, before it went on to say this remembrance was racist. The entire movement here is to remember people killed, not as a condemnation of terrorists, Palestinian or otherwise.

The politics of this situation are nasty but the reality is that 11 guys, kids mostly, were gunned down by bad dudes during the Olympics.  A minute to remember them during the ceremony would not only be right but should be support the sprit of the Olympics.  We all cheer and hope our country will win the gold but we all hope that one, lone athlete can make the splash, stick the landing, break the tape and make his or her home country proud.  The Olympics at least should be about the purity of sport and competition.  Not about politics. 

So as I watch the Olympics and in a mob-like manner, wave my flag, I will try to remember these guys.

The Business of Sports

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that when Little Johny gets his first Little League Jersey, he is dreaming of his first contract, complete with slugging percentage bonuses.

Oh, sorry.  He is most likely pretending to be his favorite player on his favorite team as he cracks a game winner in the bottom of the ninth, the standing ovation from the capacity crowed and jumping-slapping-head-home-plate-dance that the norm for MLB walk-off celebrations.

While there is no doubt that sports are big business, there are a few things within the business of sport that transcend the money. I would like to think that kids playing, the thrill of winning it all, and the spectacle of the Olympics still fall into the transcendent category.  But it would appear I would be wrong.

It appears that the always classy Dwayne Wade, the measured and thoughtful Marc Cuban, and the author of that post and editor of My Athletic Life Tim Huntley believe that the athletes should get paid to compete in the Olympics.  Huntley points to a number of ill-advised responses to Wade's recent commentary from an ESPN blog.  The reason why those who say they would rather lose the Olympic championship than have greedy (yeah I said it) NBA stars represent our country are right is based on that kid who dreams of the big hit.

This isn't to disparage those with limited other skills from making millions of dollars but rather to say at some point, money should dictate all actions.  There are some things you do for honor and some you do for pay.  Oh yeah, you PLAY A GAME for a living. So shut up you spoiled brat, be thankful for your gift and the culture that pays you to be a brute, and go win the gold for the best country on earth!

USA USA USA USA USA USA!!!