Ok, I'm about to jump right into a boiling cauldron of steaming vapor here.
Yanno, it is better to be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Anyhow, here goes.
As I watched the American women skiers last night on NBC, I had my first real chance to take a good look at Lindsey Vonn, and her compatriot, Julia Mancuso.
Jaunty, attractive without being threatening, bright-eyed and exuding confidence, there is a style about Mancuso and Vonn that makes them wonderful representatives of America on a world stage.
And as I say that, I realize how anachronistic in some ways that sounds.
For in some ways Vonn and Mancuso define that old fashioned adjective "all-American." They were the girl jocks that you envied in high school because not only were they athletically gifted but they got the guy.
They could have been cheerleaders, but they had the chutzpah and the talent to get out of town and aim for the mountains. They have a desire to beat out the competition that is as real as their grace when they don't win.
They have both had to deal with the sadness of having had estranged parents (I believe that Mancuso's dad has spent time in jail).
That being said, it would be great to have some representation from African-American and Latina skiers -- and skaters and half-pipe specialists.
Didn't it raise your spirit to see skater Shani Davis, from the South side of Chicago, a gold medalist in the white-on-white sport? Yep, as he said, he earned the right to dance if he wants to. Davis is a phenomenal American success story.
With their lack of ethnic and racial diversity, many of the teams don't represent American pluralism.
But they do represent America -- and they are doing it with joy, elan, and heart.
I haven't experienced that kind of life.
But I sure as heck love seeing those young men andwomen on the platform, white teeth gleaming, driven by an American dream. In those moments, we can, without ambivalence or envy, take a stand right up there alongside them.
3 commentaires:
Alpine skiing is a very expensive sport (cross-country somewhat less so) as are skating and so many of the sports highlighted in the winter olympics -- that's automatically going to limit who can afford to participate.
It is the energy, the enthusiasm, and the positivism that is so "American." And something we still manage to muster, even during difficult times.
All good.
I don't know big little...I agree with everything you said, right up to it being so "American". All the athletes, regardless of country, religon, ethnicity...come together in a spirit of competition. Yes with eachother, and for thier country, but I think just as much it is a competition with themselves. To do thier best ever. All feel the honor equally. Not meaning to critize at all, but this is one big problem we Americans have...that somehow, our ideals, our "spirit" is loftier than everone else on the planet, and therefore....everyone would be better off if they were "us".
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