Neal spent the weekend working at Fort Lee and although Blue and I were supposed to accompany him (who doesn't love a mini-vacation to Richmond? They have the best Goodwill on Cary Street.), I decided at the 11th hour on Friday morning that we would stay home. It was so last minute that the school called at 3 PM because Blue was convinced he was supposed to be parent pick-up. As it turns out, I had some sort of maternal premonition because Blue woke up Saturday morning filled with snot and surliness and I had a flare-up that only copious amount of Cypress essential oil would resolve. So, we ate popcorn, had a disastrous juicing incident that resulted in pear dripping from the ceiling and watched the Olympics.
It isn't like I grew up watching the Olympics. In fact, I think as a Wee Ally I found them pretty boring. Summer, winter, it didn't matter. It didn't involve ponies with wings or a girl in rainbow colored socks. Who had time for that? But in 2012 I went into labor with Blue at the beginning of the Summer Olympics. Not having any other children or a j-o-b, I spent a lot of time horizontal on the couch, watching Michael Phelps grin his way to gold and Aly Raisman's parents pitch, roll and yaw throughout every routine. (And now I can't look at an Olympic gymnast without wanting to hug her while we sing a few stanzas of Earl's Gotta Die.) I came to love the spirit of international competition, how we were all cheering for Team USA but if the Germans or the French took first, it was OK because they had earned it. (This opens up a whole other discussion regarding how low the Russians will stoop but let's not go there...not today.) How often does the whole world (or most of it, anyway) come together for 2 weeks? Well, every 2 years. But most people tend to tune it out.
One of my favorite books is Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Not so much for the murderous plot but because it is set in Chicago during the World's Fair. The last time the United States hosted the World's Fair was 1984. I just barely remember this as I was 6 and more interested in Barbie than technological progress. But why is that? Why has it been held largely in European and Asian countries for the past 3 decades? We fight to host the Olympics but not the World's Fair. Has the World's Fair lost favor with Americans? And are the Olympics close behind? It feels like even though the Internet can link someone in Kansas with someone in Kazakhstan in less than 5 seconds, we are losing the desire to connect, face-to-face, with the rest of the world. Is our spirit of competition superceding our spirit of cooperation? When we come together internationally we learn so much more than when we sequester ourselves to one tiny corner of the world. But I fear those who are leading us don't feel the same. It is so easy to judge an entire country when you don't have to look into the eyes of her people. The Olympics bring our American athletes eye-to-eye with Germans, French, Chinese, Russians and, this time, North Koreans. Neal always says that what happens in the Army will eventually happen in society because the military is such a cross-section of America. The military is the great predictor of the future, the Magic 8 Ball. But sometimes I think sport is, too.
I will be the first to admit that I went a little MIA over the last 2 weeks. I am hopeful that events in Parkland have created a space for more lasting conversation over gun regulation, even if the victims themselves are the ones standing in that space. I've been part of and read through many threads on Facebook that discussed the NRA, their money, what constitutes a violation of the 2nd amendment and what is reasonable and common sense legislation. Sometimes I've had to walk away from someone whose argument was based on a hypothesis and sometimes I was the one who was proven ill-informed. All of it is good stuff and I hesitate to step away from it because I don't want to contribute to extinguishing the flame of conversation. There is a meme floating around on Facebook that shows the cyclical nature of a traumatic event, followed by outrage and grief, Facebook debates, everyone moves on, no change is made, next traumatic event. I have been ensnared in Facebook debates for over a week. I needed to take a break. I needed to watch the Olympics.
Last night after I got Blue to bed I caught the last 90 minutes of the closing ceremony. Two weeks earlier I had seen the first 90 minutes of the opening ceremony before conking out on the couch and although I saw every. single. nation. march in, I missed the shape-shifting drones. Neal slept through the nations entering but woke up in time to see the drones, which he talked about so much I finally got on YouTube because it was beginning to feel like waking up after the rapture only to realize you missed the coolest part. I will take some time today to watch what I missed last night but stopping to experience and appreciate some of Korean culture, including the music, is just part of what shapes the Olympic spirit. When it was Beijing's turn to receive the Olympic flag and show its presentation, which was intended to prepare us for the 2022 Olympics, I cried. I can't wait...4 years is too long. What will the world look like in 4 years? Will Korea be united? Will Russia be allowed to return? Will Nathan Chen, the Quad King win gold? Will anyone care that the Olympics are on? As much as I've enjoyed watching the highlights during prime time each night, I miss the 24-7 coverage of years past, which were even more feasible this year considering the time difference. But we don't have cable and adding the special "Olympic" channel wasn't a concession I was willing to make during a year when all of our excess money will go toward moving expenses. I wonder though, is relegating Olympic coverage to 3 hours each night indicative of a shift in attitude? We only want to see the highlights and only after dinner? That makes me sad. So much work by each and every athlete all over the world and we only want to see the ones who win it all. But what a perfect euphemism for our distracted, 140-character attention span culture.
If you missed the last 2 weeks, you missed a lot. But here are 18 things I've learned over the 2018 Winter Olympics:
1. Sometimes you can do everything right and still get third place.
2. Sometimes you can do almost everything right, end disastrously and still get first place.
3. US women hockey players should be on every box of Wheaties from now until 2022.
4. Bode Miller is a bit of a sexist egomaniac and I wouldn't be surprised if he and Shaun White were big buds with Ryan Lochte.
5. When you fall, get right back up again and finish that race. Even though you aren't going to a win a medal. And always hug the winner. It's called sportsmanship and it shouldn't be dismissed.
6. It's OK to cry when you are disappointed, but collapsing from shear despair at the bottom of the half-pipe will get the medical team called. It's OK to say "What the f*ck" on national TV when you've just won a gold at the ripe age of 17 years old. (It's also OK to say "What the f*ck" to yourself when you realize Red Gerard was 1 year old when 9/11 happened.)
7. Wardrobe malfunctions during the Super Bowl can turn us all into 13-year old boys but when it happens during the Olympics it can destroy the chance for a medal.
8. Anyone who decides to take up Skeleton is a lunatic who only has 2 desires in life: to win a gold and die. That song about mamas not letting your babies grow up to be cowboys is warning against the wrong vice. Nevertheless, I couldn't look away. It's exactly the same instinct that results in rubbernecking.
9. The "Big Air" sports that were added this year are breathtaking to watch. I literally held my breath until each athlete landed. I can't wait to see what they add in 2022.
10. There is a lot of calculated precision that goes into being a curler. It looks like a lot of math and physics but very little possibility of dying by blunt force trauma to the head. This is what I'm going to guide Blue toward should he assume some Olympic aspirations.
11. The easier the sport looks, the better the athlete. I was convinced that I could compete in the 2022 speed skating event until I saw that Alexa commercial where the guy falls backward over the ice skating rink wall. I'm just going to assume that I will always be an athletic supporter.
12. Cross-country skiing uphill has to be the hardest event ever. I thought that even before the commentator mentioned that the TV tends to "flatten" how the hills look to the viewer.
13. I don't love Tara Lipinsky or Johnny Weir, but listening to them commentate ice dancing gave me new appreciation for the nuances of the sport. A tiny error can be costly. Thank goodness ice dancing is not a euphemism for life. (Although as is true in life, I do not need people on TV stating the obvious just to fill up dead air. I would much rather hear them sing Shake If Off or recite The Road Less Traveled.)
14. The Koreans tapped into a universal truth: everyone loves to get a stuffie. Here's your medal...and here's a stuffie. It's probably the only thing our 5-year old will remember about the Olympics this year.
15. Whether it was simply symbolic or the foundation for change, when North and South Korea entered the stadium together and played on the ice together, you would have to be dead inside not to feel the smallest glimmer of hope. Time will tell but they were able to hold it together for 2 weeks. Just maybe...
16. When you run out of money halfway through a major project, the answer is not always "let's just forego the roof."
17. If you can watch bobsledding without thinking of Cool Runnings the entire time, I'm not sure we can be friends.
18. Everyone goes bananas over China's pandas. Dancing, lit-up pandas is probably the best way to build anticipation for 2022.
NBC reports that Olympic viewing, even just the highlights during prime time, was at an all-time low. I know we are now even busier with marching for rights and keeping kids off laundry detergent and monitoring social media for Russian trolls, but this is important, too. We need to stop every couple of years and come together as a world. We need to be reminded that not every Russian wants to hijack our Facebook account, not every North Korean wants to drop a bomb on us, not every Brit still sees us as the colonies. We need to see the good in the world and we need to be a part of it, at least for 2 weeks every 2 years. Thank you, Olympic athletes, for showing up and doing your best and making us all proud, regardless of what corner of the world you call home. We'll see you in 4.
If you want to see a pretty entertaining wrap-up of the 2018 Winter Olympics, I suggest reading this Sports Illustrated piece by someone who is better at this than I am. I didn't even know about Mexico's Alpine Ski Team uniforms. Just don't read it on your laptop because it will lock that mother up faster than Fort Knox.
I am so jealous!! Having watched as many hours as possible of every Olympics since 1968, my TV-sharer decided this year that he was not interested, so instead we have binge watched Shameless and House of Cards. Loved the former and am still loving the latter,but have seen none of the competition at all. A huge hole in my TV heart! (I will fill a bit of it by learning about the Mexico Alpine Skiing uniforms, tho.)
ReplyDeleteHope you are both feeling better by now.