Politically Correct Olympics

I can't stand to see grown people cry.

First, the BCS whiners who didn't win and/or felt they were cheated of their chance at the Crystal Football Coaches Trophy... now the world competition whining about their Gold Medals at the Olympics.

Sickening.

We can't be happy for anyone else's success. After all, they didn't really deserve it because we should have won. Right?

There is even some jackass out there posting a 'real medal count' for the Olympics which says that events should only count for medals if there are no judges. Sure, and only calories that taste good should add up around your hips so if you eat food you hate you'd be thin as a rail.

Grow the hell up people!

We can't all win every event! And to offer 'feel good trophies' is to cheapen the accomplishments that others have made to even get to the big show.

When everyone is made to feel good instead of basking in the warm glow of actual achievement, we turn real skill into something to be scorned instead of celebrated.

I'm not spending a whole lot of time crying in my beer when someone else's national champ walks away with the medal in a sport in which the American team didn't win, place or show. The reality of it is, no matter how good you were yesterday, or how exemplary your performance will be tomorrow, in the Olympics and in all of life, the only day that matters is the day that the competition is actually held.

Sure, we might be able to whip your ass with our exceptional skill on Monday, but on Tuesday your team may very well have your best day and send mine home in tears. It's called LIFE. Competition isn't about how well you did in rehearsal, but how well you do when it's time to throw down for the Gold (or crystal).


Frankly, I don't care if your quarterback, speed skater or electric waffle iron is better than sliced bread 9 times out of 10. The only thing I care about is that 10/10 shot where the one I'm rooting for triumphs. That's all that it takes when the chips are down anyway. That one perfect moment when the big "W" is chalked up in the column. And for whiners, there is another unpleasant truth - IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THE WIN IS BY ONE POINT OR A FRACTION OF A SECOND. IF YOU LOSE, YOU LOSE.

If all this is about is the never ending satiating of whiners, then the Olympic Committee and the BCS, and indeed every organization that awards anything from a pencil with a feather on it to multinational contracts for billions of dollars should be more 'feel good' oriented and let everyone win.

Imagine the chaos in the record books if everyone is the winner. Talk about wars and rumors of wars in diverse places!

It has been said that history is written by the winners from their particular point of view. While that in large measure is true, the fact is that those who stand atop the heap of successful endeavor are to be lauded, they got there on the mangled dreams of the losers.

In order to have a "W" there must, by default, be an "L".

Opposition in all things is a dandy concept when we are applying it to SOMEONE ELSE. When it's applied to us personally, it's an inconvenient truth that hurts. We should have won. But we didn't. And it sucks to be the loser of anything from a game of jacks to the Olympics.

But poor sportsmanship just makes us look more and more like losers with that big old "L" stamped on our foreheads and less and less like the loyal opposition that offered a competition through effort and sacrifice.

I'm not sorry that people lose. I'm sorry we don't learn from losing. The fact of the matter is most of us lose more than we win. It's the nature of life on earth. If all we see in our lives is and unmitigated string of "W" in our totals column, then we can't say we understand how the other guy lives. Because in the world I inhabit, the other guy is usually on the bench wiping tears away with a sweaty, dirty towel and wondering why they couldn't manage to pull it all together.

I'm not sorry that the best team or individual collects the medals and trophies. Those who win SHOULD get to be recognized in a tangible or intangible way for what they have done and for what they have sacrificed to get there.

To the degree that we decide that everyone is a winner without real effort and sacrifice and toil on their part is a racket.

Can you imagine riding in a car where everyone was a winner on the production line? Just how safe would you feel knowing that the car wasn't made to any standard of professional effort but rather a 'feel good' mentality that let unskilled hands and minds determine what you rode around in?

I'm not sure I'm interested in the kind of world where "feel good" takes over "performing well". I don't care how good my surgeon feels about his class attendance before he slices into me... I'm far more interested in whether or not he has had real training and application of that training instead of whether or not he feels like he has been rewarded for just trying!!

If our world is devolving into the 'feel good' show for politically correct purposes, please count me out.

While I am not a happy loser in the games and events of life, I do hope I have learned enough during this free ride around the sun to be gracious in those ever present moments of loss to those for whom this is a victory lap event.

And another thing... if the athletes representing my nation cannot manage to even sing the national anthem's words, they shouldn't be on the podium accepting the award for my nation! I don't care if they can't carry a tune. This isn't about them making a personal political statement. This is about them representing the weekend warriors, the third graders, the happy homemakers and the down and out bum on the corner of 5th and Market.

To those of us who watch them and support them emotionally, if in no other way, they owe us the courtesy of acting like what they have done matters to us all. Because whatever the outcome of an event, we DO care about our national pride.

Stand up and sing the Banner, O Canada, God Save the Queen or whatever song is the one your nation celebrates with on the big stage! I applaud the efforts of all who make it to the top - to be king of the hill for at least one moment.

The people I loathe are the ones on the sidelines giving soundbytes to the press about how they have been cheated by not getting the win.

Suck it up, people.

Some gotta win, some gotta lose...

Today may just not be your day. So try not to ruin it all for those who DID win.