The Olympic Issue

Just when my seat got rocky on the Laker Bandwagon, I found window seats on Stub Hub for the Olympic Swimming, Track & Field, Women’s Softball, Gymnastics, US Basketball bandwagons amongst others. Nightly, Bob Costas will guide my pre-determined whims that ignite my game day sports patriotism. I have never watched a swim meet, gymnastics competition, or diving event that was not in the Summer Olympics. But when the Summer Games commence, I am as ardent a fan as John Nabor, Mary Lou Retton or Bud Greenspan.

The Summer Olympics are the soft edges of my eternal carbon calendar. The Winter Olympics are fun and enjoyable. The Summer Olympics are historic and epochal. Seminal moments from each generation have been cauterized by the quadrennial summer games.

Before TV, the internet and You Tube, the age of the modern era of the Olympics was hatched at the freshly minted Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1932. Thirty Seven nation competed and eighteen world records were set. Seventy-Six years later,the LA City Council is trying to get the NFL to use this historic facilitiy with its sturdy design and trough urinals but that is another blog. Babe Didrikson won Gold medals in the Javelin and the 80 Meter Hurdles during these games. I did not see any US women attempting that double this past weekend. Between her soy, no foam lattes, she won a Silver Medal in the high jump. There were only five women's track and field events and women could only compete in three individually. My father was born in January the following year.

In 1936, with the US at the brink of WW II, Jesse Owens drove a stake or three into the heart of the Aryan Nation. Jesse won gold medals in all four events he entered while Uncle Adolph’s Boys of Summer won three gold medals in the seventeen events that they participated. My Father and mother are growing up in post Depression LA.

In 1956, Russia invaded Hungary, France got involved in world politics for the second to the last time in Suez and Rafer Johnson won the Silver Medal in Melbourne. My older sister is born.

In 1968, Bob Beamon became the first athlete to jump past 28 feet and 29 feet on the SAME jump. He shattered the world record by an unbelievable 21 ¾ inches. The record was the oldest standing record in Track and Field when it was broken by Mike Powell in 1991. Powell broke Beamon’s 23 year old record by two inches. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists in protest during the medal ceremony for the 200 meters in Mexico City. My 5th grade teacher blows but girls are becoming kind of cool.

Munich 1972, High School freshman year under my belt and my ethereal world of the Olympics and the political mayhem of the rest of the world, collided. My faithful LA Times had always provided Sections B and C as my personal firewall from Section A to protect my Dodgers, Lakers, Rams and Bruins from those pesky world events. Athletes died and I watched the world become a very scary place from the comfy confines of my family room.

Whenever the Sports page ends up on the front page as the lead story, I have come to learn, it is never good news. Sports can be referenced on the left or the right or at the bottom in that box that says ”What’s inside”. But if Sports is the lead article on page one, someone is testifying or driving a White bronco. On September 6, 1972 while Jim McKay informed all of us about terrorism, about Black September and about the end of Olympic innocence, the LA Times breached mine.

In 1980, we were pissed at the Russians for invading Afghanistan so we stayed home. 1984, Russia was pissed at us for being pissed at them and they stayed home. So now, we’ve invade Afghanistan, and now the Afghani are pissed at everyone and they are boycotting the Olympics for the 100th consecutive year. The 1984 Olympics were great without those pesky, still got my empire USSR-ites. I got to go to the Olympics and who needs those Russians! More gold for me and Flo-Jo!

So what does this history lesson mean and who cares? We all care! World moments mark personal milestones for each of our lives. There is a lot to be miserable about during these miserable times. The Olympics do not shape world events, it reflects them. This year, let us all pray for a warm, positive glow bouncing from Beijing. Let us hope for a Story on Page 1 that warms our hearts and tempers our wounds.
I hope there will be a young man from a small town in America who will snare our attention and capture our hearts with a surprising performance. The first place winner will finish less than a second ahead of the 4th place finisher. By a mere second, heroes will be created and legends written. Hopefully, we have another Dream Team in Basketball for both the men and the women. Softball is not on the schedule beyond this year and the US has won every gold medal anyway. I hope we win again. I hope I hear the Star Spangled Banner 86 times in 13 days.

And in pure bandwagon tradition in 2008, the Yard is sponsoring Dara Torres. She is not allowed to wear our logo but she it totally on board and just the kind of person, the Yard embraces. She should be and I hope will be that story on the Front page. She is a local girl who attended Harvard-Westlake and set numerous records including world records when she was just 14. She is competing in her 5th Olympics and she has already won nine Olympic medals. She was the oldest swimmer on the US team at THE 2000 OLYMPICS in Sydney. And she is the oldest swimmer ever, this year. She is training for the 50 and two relays. She bagged on the 100 meters even though she could have gone for four events. She has a two year old daughter so she has been busy. I know given the choice of 5:30 AM workouts, weight training, rigorous diet or raising a two year old, I am so in the pool with Dara.

“Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”