So the combination of being tired from duty yesterday (which is not tiring in itself but somehow took a lot out of me none the less) and the level of pain that I am in...I had little choice but to spend my Sunday in my recliner.
Before I jump into my take on the Olympics so far...let me discuss the effect that the Olympics has on the rest of television. It pretty much screws over anyone who is not interested in watching the coverage. Most of the other channels know that they have no chance in beating the three or four channels of Olympic coverage so they don't even try. So they show their shittiest movies and reruns and simply wait for the first 10 days to pass. By then...even the most hard core fans are plain sick of the Olympics and return to the channels they love. It is because of this and the lack of decent things to watch today that forced me to watch coverage of sports that I never would have watched otherwise.
I have to say that I found myself emerged in the men's basketball US vs China game. It has been at least eight years since I was about to muster any excitement over basketball so this was a bit surprising for me. As much as I don't care for Kobe...I must admit that watching him play is pretty overwhelming. He just makes it look so easy.
Moving on...I began flipping back and forth between three of the channels with Olympic coverage and found myself watching Lightweight Two Person Sculling, Archery, Water Polo, Lightweight Men's Weightlifting, and Men's Soccer. I am not even going to address the soccer game because anyone who knows me is already well aware of my opinion on the "sport". I have to say that I was actually entertained by the weightlifting and the Water Polo. But mainly I was killing time until the Law and Order: SVU marathon started...but it did get me thinking.
How does one become one of the world's greatest scullers? (I apologize if this is not the technical term...I only know what I learned today and even still...I spent most of my time hoping that one of the dudes biking alongside the scullers would bite it.) How does a child get exposed to a sport like archery and realize that he/she wants to go to the Olympics and compete in that particular sport. I guess it is no different than my dreams of gymnastics but gymnastics is little bit more mainstream than say Synchronized Diving. Nevertheless...kudos to these athletes who found their niche and have made it to this level...regardless of the popularity of their chosen sport.
While I was entertained by the daytime coverage of the games...it was the evening coverage that got to me. While I am always a sucker for comeback, underdog type stories...I found myself a little bit more emotional than normal. As I watched the US Women's Gymnastics Team this evening, I felt a lot of emotions. I felt proud of the poise and determination that they showed as they competed. I was most impressed by the way that they handled the pressure put on them my Lisa's injury during warm-ups. But the most significant thing that I felt was mother hen instinct kick in as I watched these young girls give everything that they had with no regard for the consequences.
In spite of the fact that I do not know any of these girls, I know many like them. Hell...I might not have made it to their level but I wasn't far from it and I can still remember my when I was at my peak in the sport. I never once gave any thought to the future or the effect that training was having on my body. I highly doubt that the girls on this year's team are thinking about that either. It is easy to buy into the line that it is a small price to pay for the glory.
Funny...those people who constantly fed me that line of bullshit never bothered to tell me that I would be paying that price for the rest of my life.
Of course...I might be so bitter on account of the fact that I had about three good months of feeling healthy and starting to get back into shape only to suffer another setback. Oh and the fact that Yankees were swept this weekend certainly doesn't help.
4 comments:
Millie Vanillie, there is no way to answer this blog. I cannot begin to imagine how you feel. I was there so I know without a doubt that no one trained harder or gave up more than you did and you are right, it was not worth it in the end.
I know that it sucks now but you had fun while you were doing it. You got to travel and you have a ton of medals and you looked hot when you competed. What more do you want?
My dear frind Todd...I am less pissed off today. Of course, I am feeling a bit better so I am sure that it helps.
Answer this for me Fine, you bitch. How does stalking qualify you to make any kind of opinion on Millie? How much could you really learn from sitting outside her house when her real friends were inside?
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