Posted on 02/15/2014 10:54:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The snow in the Caucasus Mountains is dissolving, the white patches shrinking, and many athletes on Team USA seem to be melting down with them. Some Americans are drained, and others are dragging. When they ski or they skate, they think they went fast, but then they look up at the clock and are stunned to find they were a second slow, and finish eighth. Team USA’s self-esteem is leaking away, and it’s triggering anxious super-secret coaching meetings and conspiracy theories. What’s in the Russian water table — and why are those Swiss timers so suspiciously slow?
It must be a plot — some foreign machination, causing this massive slippage. Four years ago in Vancouver, the Americans won more medals than anyone, with 37, but halfway through Sochi, the 13 medals they have won somehow don’t feel quite as memorable as the ones they let get away. They can’t win so much as a foiled chocolate in speedskating, where they’ve yet to finish any better than seventh. U.S. speedskating coach Ryan Shimabukuro said: “The fact that we’re that far out, something’s up.”
“It’s a mystery to me,” skater Brian Hansen said. “I think it’s a mystery to a lot of people.”
A mystery! At least that’s something for the American television audience to grab on to, because there is precious little suspense otherwise, save for the matter of when Bob Costas will return from his eye infection, and that’s a dodgy matter too. Who or what is poisoning us?
What accounts for this? Ted Ligety was the gold medal favorite in Friday’s super combined, yet he finished 12th, while Bode Miller was sixth, both of them shooting up huge rooster-tails of snow, futilely.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
-PJ
Hey did you see, we beat the Russians in hockey.
Wow.
Short answer: Yes. Always. We are Americans. At one time we WERE the best of the best and no one could touch us. We must crush all who stand in our path. Ask anyone around FR and that's going to be the prevailing attitude
What's the problem this time? Mediocrity. All those who were supposed to stand out....didn't. We have but a week left in these Olympics to prove ourselves....and, frankly, I don't hold out much hope.
Granted, there are some disciplines that we have never been a power in (Nordic disciplines, biathlon, ski jumping). There are some sports, however, that we have been dominant in past Olympics. It just seems that we've fielded some people who are great human interest stories, but not overwhelming competitors who should be winning their sports.
I'd love this to change, but we're getting to the point that sports should be something we'll need to take our focus off of in order to focus on more important things.
Those Americans out lying to the world about global warming?
I find it easy to hope they get beaten, humiliated and lose every opportunity the Olympics may have offered.
Those that didn’t sigh up to lie about it? I hope they win.
You could’ve been drinking with me at 6:30am to watch! And the owner of the bar put out a spread for us!
Sounds more like Germany than the US.
If you win all the time it gets boring, and people start to root for the underdogs.
People like comeback stories, and rightly so. Next time will be our comeback story.
Kind of sums up the Obama presidency also. Maybe it is Bush’s fault they aren’t winning more.
Wash Post rubbish. USA is currently second in totals awarded. I hate that commie rag
Watch the women’s hockey team. USA has a very tough fast bunch on the ice. When they play Canada again watch the fur fly
26 countries have won medals so far. Four of them have only won 1 medal. I don't know how many other countries are competing but haven't won any medals.
Obama said before his first election that he wanted to share the wealth around. Shouldn't we be striving to reduce medal inequality?
.....”I am embarrassed by our athletes. Their multicolored hair, tattoos, sloppy clothes, poor hygiene, and rumors of them “hooking up” with anything that moves in the Olympic village make me want to change to channel in disgust”.....
Much truth in saying that....and it’s all about them. Sad to see such comments they are making in ‘blaming everything and anyone for their no-wins and poor performances.... from their suits to the condition of the slopes and on and on in why they are failing so.
Sadly they do represent most of our young today....victim mentality and life is suppose to be “fair” to me!
Exactly, Obama said we are not exceptional, or something of that sort.
After all everyone deserves a participation medal.
I heard the US speed skaters blame their new suits for slowing them down.
Other than the X-games junk the Winter Games are made up mostly of sports Americans don’t generally excel at. And the X-games have been around long enough for other countries to catch on and get good, same kind of thing that’s gone on in international basketball only with more medals. Really it’s predictable, we always had bad medal counts in winter, it’s been artificially inflated by the dress-like-a-bum sports, and now it’s fading back to the norm.
I’ll have a coke.
(sorry swore off drinking, about a year and a half ago)
But just wow.
Way to go America.
It’s been said these are our best...I tend to doubt this after seeing some of them fail to adapt and go for it...instead they’re complaining and groaning like spoiled children.
With our schools teaching “Everyone is a winner”.....these guys are learning they didn’t!
The networks didn’t start the medal count, Nazi Germany did and the USSR kept it going. They both felt international competition was a great place to prove their superiority, which is also why the USSR dumped so much money into it. US networks noticed and figured it would add some “rah rah” ratings. And yeah the count goes totally against everything the Olympics stands for, at least in theory, but as long as they let nations organize their teams and stick their flag on their athletes they really have no room to complain.
People who think the US must be #1 all the time are best left not watching the Winter Games, the only time we’ve ever been #1 in the medal count for winter was 1932. We’re always top 10 but only top 3 half the time. It just doesn’t feature sports we excel at, mostly because it doesn’t feature sports we watch.
Actions do indeed have consequences.
I expect to see medals stricken from the olympics altogether if liberalism continues to rule. It will turn into a kids soccer situation where they all ski/skate around aimlessly and feel good about it. Then at the end, everyone including the crowd will get participation trophies and have pizza. And I am dead serious.
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