Sunday’s Olympic Gold Hotties
I have some catching up to do, as pointed out in an earlier post.
First, big time props to Shani Davis, the Gold Medal Champ of the 1000m Speed Skating race. He became the first African-American man to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history yesterday. Despite the controversy between Davis and Hedrick earlier in the week, this was a great race for the Americans and for Davis yesterday. Congrats! Oh, and Davis now exceeds the Gold Medal demographic expectations of an African-American on an USA team. If you consider that blacks make up about 11% of the population, Davis is ahead of that target making him represent 14% of the Golds acheived by the USA. Take that, Bryant Gumbel!
And I missed skiing hottie and Gold medalist in the men’s combined downhill contest last week, Ted Ligety (a PatriotPartner favorite.)
By the way, watching bobsledding in HiDef was really cool. And skijumping last night…. very cool. I love the Winter Games!
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
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There is no “I” in “team,” but there is one in “Shani.”
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — February 19, 2006 @ 10:06 am - February 19, 2006
Some might say that what Davis did was selfish, but I think that doing things like hitting all the bars and then blowing all of your performances (a la Miller) or losing a gold medal because you want to do a cute trick (whatever that girl’s name was) is much more selfish, because so much money and time has been spent on making you into a star, and then you go out there and you make a fool of yourself.
This is an important lesson that the media can’t make stars, stars make themselves. I don’t know if anyone went into these Olympics expecting Davis to be so important. I doubt NBC did.
Comment by Carl — February 19, 2006 @ 10:14 am - February 19, 2006
Carl…. did you mean that Bode was hitting all the bars “ON” the slopes, or hitting all the bars “BEFORE” the slopes? Good call either way!
Comment by Jim — February 19, 2006 @ 11:17 am - February 19, 2006
okay, count me in the Bryant Gumbel camp – i rarely watch the winter olympics, they simply hold no appeal as they were not sports i was exposed to as a ute. i would disagree on bryant that these are not athletes and to say that they are not the best is a bit unfair, in that, a number of competing athletes could theoretically have more potential and ability than any of the so called champions, but if they don’t practice they will not be recognized as the best, Gabe J and the Goat come to mind. Where Bryant’s argument has some merit, MLB before intergration, but I digress.
That said, I always thought we African-Americans given the chance should rule the speed skating. By the way, unless were diluted in the past 4 years, the 2002 Census report has us at 13%. So Shani is essentially par.
Comment by ralph — February 19, 2006 @ 2:18 pm - February 19, 2006
“Big props”??? You’re kidding, right? This post comes across as very bizarre and entirely misplaced on this site, as if it could’ve been written by a leftist advocate of Affirmative Action more interested in the end rather than in the means. GP, I didn’t realize you were so interested in emphasising the “hypen” instead of the much more important “American” part and in counting people like they were beans according to which demographic group they happen to fall into. What’s next…a head count of medal winners according to who’s gay, tall, brown eyed, bald, a single parent, over 30, etc., etc.? Seems like you’re moving backwards, to me.
His status as the first black American to win a gold in winter Olympic history notwitstanding, this Shani character will and should mostly be remembered for winning a spot on the 4-man U.S. speed skating TEAM and then deciding to pull out because he’d rather focus on his pursuit of individual glory. Selfish? To say the least. Not the kind of “American” who should’ve been given a spot on the TEAM to start with and I frankly don’t understand why you’re so quick to praise him, Bruce. Is it OK for a black athlete to F*** over his teammates – and his country, even – just because he’s black? He won’t get a free pass from me just because of his skin color.
The real question should be whether leaving your 3 fellow TEAM members and countrymen hanging consistent with the concept of sportsmanship. And of course it isn’t. That Gold hanging around your neck looks pretty tarnished to me, Shani, and hopefully there’ll always be an asterisk by your name whenever it appears in print. And moreover, hopefully you won’t engage in any further weak justifications for bad behavior just because of the perp’s skin color.
Comment by glisteny — February 19, 2006 @ 2:53 pm - February 19, 2006
But Shani wasn’t skating for a spot in the four man pusuit, he was skating for a spot on the 1000 and 1500 meter races, and he managed to do both. He has set world records in both (although I think Hedrick broke the 1500 record).
One thing I like about Davis is that when he was a kid, and went to the ice rink to skate short track (where he also excels, and he could have competed in the Olympics in both but opted to focus on long track) his peers made fun of him, because he wasn’t playing in one of their “approved” sports for an inner city youth.
Was he selfish for not competing in the pursuit? Possibly, but that shouldn’t diminish what he has accomplished.
As for the Gumbel issue-most winter athletes come for Northern climes and mostly rural areas. There just aren’t many African Americans living in rural Maine, NH, Minnesota, or Alaska.
I suspect if they developed an interest and had opportunity, African Americans could and would compete just like they do in other sports. I think a good bit of it is where a person’s passion is. In Canada they are passionate about curling-and I still don’t even know what that sport is supposed to be about, or why anyone would want to do it.
Comment by just me — February 19, 2006 @ 3:18 pm - February 19, 2006
glisteny – i could wrong but i think bruce was taking a bigger swipe at bryant. As to celebrating first, it is important – it lets others know it can be done. like it or not, the images children see resonate. if you never see or hear of someone like you succeeding, there is a tendency to think it is not possible.
i’ve no idea how skaters get team appts in skating, but the press, i’ve read, indicates that shani doesn’t do the team stuff. i can think of a number of reasons why he wouldn’t do the team stuff and all quite legit. but more importantly, if u think u were f-ed over b/c he single-handedly “deprived” u of a country gold u got bigger issues. i don’t suppose u consider that even w/ his presence a gold is not assured. prime example, track relays, the 4 fastest sprinters don’t guarantee a medal.
Comment by ralph — February 19, 2006 @ 3:33 pm - February 19, 2006
-be remembered for winning a spot on the 4-man U.S. speed skating TEAM and then deciding to pull out because he’d rather focus on his pursuit of individual glory.-
Wasn’t he asked to be on this team like a day before the event? They only asked him because they thought they couldn’t win without him. The events are mainly individual, so I can see why he chose to take the individual over the team. It’s not like this was hockey or something else known as a big team sport. He never seems to have been that close to his team anyway.
-Carl…. did you mean that Bode was hitting all the bars “ON” the slopes, or hitting all the bars “BEFORE” the slopes? -
I meant either, but his going around boozing before the events bothered me more.
Comment by Carl — February 19, 2006 @ 6:34 pm - February 19, 2006
Uh, am I missing something here? Shani Davis might well be the first “African-American” man to claim an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics, but more appropriately, he was the first BLACK MAN to achieve this — regardless of nationality. Using PC terms like “African-American” undercut his achievement. He wasn’t the first black man in this country to win the gold….he was the first black man IN THE WORLD to do so.
Comment by Patrick — February 19, 2006 @ 7:03 pm - February 19, 2006
Bruce, do you really prefer the winter games to men’s swimming and diving during the summer games?
(Shani Davis didn’t need to be so rude to the NBC reporter trying to interview him after his gold medal performance. I felt sorry for her. If he didn’t want to be interviewed he should have told NBC before the camera was turned on.)
I get so tired of political correctness. NBC is showing the medal ceremony for Shani Davis. Bob Costas referred to him as the first African-American to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics and silver medalist Joey Cheek as “his fellow American”. If Davis is an African-American, isn’t Joey Cheek properly called a European-American?! I think it’s time to forget the damn hyphen and call Americans Americans.
Comment by Jack Allen — February 19, 2006 @ 8:53 pm - February 19, 2006
BTW, Carl, I’m with you on Bode Miller’s behavior. I’m not a prude, and I do my share of social drinking. But an athlete is a role model — whether he wants to or not — especially when he takes big bucks to be a corporate spokesman. Young athletes weren’t getting a good message from Miller when he’s pictured, while still in competition at the Olympics, looking intoxicated, with a beer in one hand and a Playboy Playmate in the other. Until he leaves Turin he ought to focus less on booze and babes and more on skiing. I sure don’t care anymore whether he wins a medal.
Comment by Jack Allen — February 19, 2006 @ 9:04 pm - February 19, 2006
The media will fall all over themselves in self-congratulation of this guy Davis’ feat just like they rose to the so-called defense of Philly QB Donovan McNabb after Rush Limbaugh correctly pointed out that the media wanted a black quarterback to succeed. He’s the latest “liberal feel-good story” to come out of Turin.
And put me in the camp that says fie on hyphenated Americans. We may be a melting pot, but some of us are still getting burned by PC run amok.
Regards,
Peter Hughes
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 20, 2006 @ 12:42 am - February 20, 2006
Oh, and #10, I fully agree with you. Give me Summer Olympics any day – men’s gymnastics, men’s water polo, men’s diving, men’s swimming…
Let the games begin!
Regards,
Peter Hughes
Comment by Peter Hughes — February 20, 2006 @ 11:07 am - February 20, 2006
[...] The sublimely ridiculous Bruce Carroll, a/k/a The Gay Patriot Idiot, took some time off from his school-girlish fawnings over male “Olympic hotties” yesterday to alert us to a “shocking mirror image” of the Jeff Gannon business. One wonders whether Bruce looks in the same mirror that the rest of us do. [...]
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#14 – He’s Outside the Tent and it’s raining….
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I read the Blog Nice site I found and I bookmarked the site… Plan on coming back later to spend a little time there.
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