The other night in the Olympics the men's swim team won a relay over France by like a split second. I had to go to bed so I missed it, but I already knew what happened because every freaking body was talking about it, including Yahoo who had it on their front page so when I went to check my email - there it was.
Okay look, East Coast. We in California, Oregon and Washington have to wait for that shit. And that incredible moment of suspense was robbed of us by your ignorance of our time zone's difficulties. So stop spoiling shit, okay?
Because Olympics is just one cool story after the other. Like that little kid at the opening ceremonies who rescued other kids from the earthquake because he was the hall monitor and "that was his job."
Or the guy from Togo who beat all odds and expectations to win the bronze medal in white water rafting, or the chick with an amputated foot who still managed to make it to the games.
My favorite story ever you may remember. In Sydney there was a guy from Equatorial New Guinea who was not only not an Olympic level swimmer, but he could barely swim at all. He was swimming in his qualifying heat one early morning with a smattering of people in the crowd and the other two unimpressive swimmers jumped the gun so they were disqualified, which meant he had to swim alone.
So the guy started down the lane okay but gradually started to get slower and slower. And as he came to the middle of the lane it was obvious he was hurting. The people in the audience started to cheer him on. He kept swimming against his body's will. The people began to stand, chanting and yelling. He made it to the end of the lane.
He slowly turned his body and started the long swim back. By now the audience was entirely on its feet hollering, excited. He stalled in the middle of the lane and it looked like he wouldn't make it, then he mustered up the energy and pushed his body for one last half a lap. And he made it. And the crowd went wild. It was one of the best things I've ever seen in sports.
Personally I only like watching the sports that come with stories. And I wouldn't be surprised if six months from now we start seeing a bunch of sports script pop up all over town. On the WEST coast.
Here's an Olympic Moment.
ReplyDeleteAnd people think that attitude only happens in Hollywood.
During the last Olympics Yahoo spoiled everything for me because they put up the results on their front page. No SPOILER warning, nada. Just the results of everything that happened hours before the event was to be played on TV. This year I changed my Home page and have a no-yahoo policy for browsing. I also don't turn on the local news - those bastards will ruin it too. I also told my friends that do look at the results not to tell me. Really, I'll watch it myself and tomorrow we can discuss it.
ReplyDeleteSo I definitely feel for you. It sucks having what should be memorable Olympic moments ruined. It is just another reason to hate the idiocy of time zones.