Favorite Moment of the Olympics

I am going to apologize in advance for some non-poker commentary; nothing drives me crazier than to visit "DegeneratePokerRiverStories.com" to find cat videos and meatloaf recipes. You knuckleheads start a poker blog but can't wait to enrich our day with what the bank teller said to you this morning? What gives?

Anyway, here's my version of the same. I'm going attempt a connection by playing the "competition" card because I'd like to talk about my favorite moment of the Winter Olympics so far.



I'm a middle-aged dude ***pause***

I think that's the first time I've ever said that.


...and I'm back. I still play sports a few times a week and I'm not really even all that good. Winning is cool, it's better than losing, but for me playing is it's own reward. I just really like it. And I'm not talking about something stupid like golf.
Fuckoff golf! (make sure you click that link, way more entertaining that than my stupid post.) The harder I can try, the more I like it. Soccer, racquetball, basketball, you get it.

The sports you watch everyday have certain athletes that truly love their sport but for many it's just become their job. For every shot of Michael Jordan hugging his first championship trophy you have some idiot like Michael Vick admitting (just this week) he didn't even try all that hard with the Falcons. It's just not as easy to share the joy of the individual in the regular sports you see on TV.

The Olympics are very different. Generally speaking, I don't give a flying F about speed skating and have worse things to say about ice dancing but I really do enjoy watching the emotion that the athletes are so obviously feeling. In many cases, they have put their lives completely on hold to compete and do it simply because they love it. It's pure sport. And it's rare.

The first great example this year is the first US Gold - Hannah Kearney in downhill moguls. I barely know what that is and had to look up the spelling of moguls (and am now wondering if you can have a mogul, singular. anyone?) not to mention the fact that it hurts my knees just to watch. But how cool is it to watch this tiny 23 year-old athlete doing what she loves to do, the thing in this world that she is best at, in front of the whole planet? The double-arm fist-pump she gives as she crosses the finish line - I just don't think you can find it in pro sports. Here's the video.

It made me search for Thomas Hill's hands-on-head reaction to Leatner's shot to beat Kentucky in the March Madness quarterfinals and Derek Redmond's father running onto the track to help his son finish the 400 meters in the 1992 Olympics in which he was favored to win Gold and was devastated.

And if you watched all three of those with dry eyes, I submit you don't love playing sports and have not felt the thrill of competition for yourself. Simply put, that's what's great (and unique) about the Olympic Games. And there of course are have been other moments than the ones I mentioned; I even cited an amateur event that wasn't the Olympics. We all have our favorites - but you understand my point. So hopefully we'll get to see more of these little glimpses into athlete's souls before these Games come to a close.


P.S. YouTube has all kinds of Derek Redmond videos; VISA even made it into a commercial with Morgan Freeman narrating, who I love. The best version is the one I posted, with no announcers, no BS, just simply what happened.