Posts Tagged ‘olympics’
Life Lesson From Team USA Curling Skip John Shuster
Team USA Curling won a Gold Medal at the 2018 Olympic Games. Their skip (team captain, kind of) is John Shuster. Shuster had a pretty rough go of things the past several years, losing a lot of games and even being told to step aside in favor of another player. Then he battled back with a different group of guys and made it to the Olympics again. Once there, he wasn’t doing well. In fact, he was losing a lot. Then, after losing another game, this happened:
“This is silly,” he told himself. “I’m getting my heart broken, I feel like, by this sport — and this is silly. Seriously, this is the Olympics.”
He slept soundly that night for the first time in a long time. His team did not lose again.
His team did not lose again. Got that? They just won, baby. Why? Because their skip was LOOSE. That’s why.
Obviously that’s not the only reason why. But it’s hard to argue with the evidence. Feeling like the world is ending? LOSE. Having fun, feeling loose? WIN.
Move this to your life. Do you feel like everything is going bad bad bad? And as a result, ARE things going bad bad bad? Odds are, yes. Yes they are. So why not try to do like the shoo? (Ster.) Have fun!
Is it that easy? It isn’t. And yet… it is. Instead of worrying yourself into a hardened paste, loosen up. Then apply that looseness to whatever it is you were worrying about. Do you feel better? Is the thing you were worry about less worrisome? If so, rinse and repeat.
The article below, from the New York Times, is a fun recap of the Gold Medal game, which I watched on delay. The game aired at 1:30am EST, and while I am a big curling fan, I am not a fan of being awake at that hour if I don’t have to be. I did get up somewhat early so I could watch the game before looking at the internet and having the results spoiled. Congrats to the Team USA guys on a great win. And thanks for the life advice, John Shuster! Go cash in and write a book. I’ll read it.
Source: John Shuster and the U.S. Curling Team Win First Gold Medal – The New York Times
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Kikkan Randall, Team USA’s only mom, wins a gold medal in PyeongChang – The Washington Post
This is a nice story from the Olympics – there’s only one mom there, and she won a gold medal.
Photo from Randall’s Instagram.
Also, this medal was a surprise. Cross-country skiing isn’t an event Team USA wins all that often. The last time was 1976 and it was a silver medal. (Which is still good, but gold is better.) The end of the race was, well, a race to the finish. Watch it here. There’s something extra fun about watching athletes surge for the finish line when they have skis on.
Source: Kikkan Randall, Team USA’s only mom, wins a gold medal in PyeongChang – The Washington Post
Related articles (Note: These are offsite links; DaddyTips takes no responsibility for outside content.)
What The Hell Is Up With That Robbery?
If you’ve been following the Rio Olympics at all, you likely have heard about Ryan Lochte and his teammates being robbed at gunpoint.
(Note: the photo above is a taser. It was in the DaddyTips image library. It has nothing to do with the story. But it is a gun, albeit not a deadly one.)
Unless it never happened. Which is not what we’re saying AT ALL. This is just reporting what others have reported and adding some musings about the “Dad is my Spokesperson” thing.
According to the AP, two of Lochte’s teammates were pulled from a plane and had their passports seized. That seems odd to me. Here’s some details:
USOC spokesperson Patrick Sandusky said Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were released by local authorities after being pulled from a flight at the Rio de Janeiro airport, with the understanding that discussions would continue amid uncertainty over what truly took place during a late outing the night Olympic swimming wrapped up at the Rio Games.
Fellow teammate Jimmy Feigen also plans to talk to officials, Sandusky said, as he navigates a judge’s order that keeps him in Brazil. The order similarly called for Lochte’s passport to be seized, but the star swimmer had already returned to the United States before authorities could enforce the decision.
A lawyer for Conger and Bentz said Thursday that they won’t be allowed to leave Brazil until they provide testimony to investigators. The swimmers didn’t speak to reporters as they left the airport, shuttled away by a black car waiting outside. They departed for an unspecified location in Brazil and had yet to testify, said attorney Sergio Viegas. (emphasis added)
Kinda bizarre, right? Is it possible that they made the whole thing up? Apparently accounts of the details of the event have changed, which is less surprising when you read that Lochte and his teammates were, according to published reports, inebriated. What is very strange to me is that the athletes aren’t being allowed to leave the country. That feels punitive.
Here’s what Lochte’s father Steve had to say (this is why I’m writing about the whole thing on DaddyTips):
Lochte’s father told The Associated Press by phone from his Florida home that his son called him Tuesday after arriving in the United States. The 32-year-old swimmer was going to pick up his car and buy a new wallet to replace the one that he said was stolen.
“I’m just happy he’s safe,” Steve Lochte said. “It was an unfortunate experience for him and the other three. I don’t know what all the controversy is. They were basically taken out of the taxi and robbed. The main thing is he’s very lucky that he’s safe and that all they got was his cash and wallet.”
So Ryan Lochte was allowed to leave Rio.
A brief word about the whole “Dad as Spokesperson” phenomenon.
This is something that I continue to be fascinated by. Why does a 32-year-old need his father to speak on his behalf? Athletes in particular seem to have their Dads talk for them, especially in situations like, say, the NFL draft. We saw that in Jerry Maguire; the father of someone Jerry is trying to represent is clearly running his kid’s life. In that case it makes a bit more sense. The kid is young, impressionable, possibly not that great with money. That was the case in Jerry Maguire. It’s probably a little less true today. But Dad as head of the Athlete Brain Trust? OK. I can work with that.
It’s “Dad as Spokesperson” that I get stuck on. It happens more often in sports than anywhere else, but it also occurs in entertainment. At a certain point, I would think that one wouldn’t want want to have one’s parents speaking for you. (I apologize for that sentence.) It just feels weird to me. I love my kids but I want them to be able to speak for themselves, especially at the age of 32.
This should in no way be construed as a dig at any athlete, nor should it be seen as shedding any doubt on the story that U.S. Olympic athletes were robbed in Rio. The story is bizarre and doesn’t seem to be getting covered the way I would like, which is to say that this seems like a straightforward series of events — guys get robbed at gunpoint, police investigate, they get to move on. People not being allowed to leave the country? That’s odd. Bottom line: we’re just reporting what other outlets have reported, outlets with actual reporters doing journalism. If you want to read more about the whole mess, there are links below.
Three American Olympic swimmers planned to meet with Brazilian law enforcement Thursday to discuss a reported robbery targeting 12-time medalist Ryan Lochte and his teammates, a U.S. Olympic Committee official said.
Source: Ryan Lochte’s swim teammates to meet with authorities on robbery – Chicago Tribune
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Picture of Mom Watching Daughter Win Olympic Gold
As Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted, “This will put good feelings right in your face.”
This is what watching your daughter win an Olympic gymnastics gold looks like https://t.co/PwzRAzynpK pic.twitter.com/9v0wRVVXCs
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 10, 2016
From The New York Times, h/t Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor at P&G Family Home
We know the Olympics are over but we couldn’t resist posting these pics of Gold Medal Beach Volleyball winners Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor enjoying themselves at the P&G Family Home.
Kerri and Misty are particularly fun to watch. No, not because they compete in bikinis. The Gold Medal three-peaters have a rare combination of enthusiasm, competitive spirit, and… let’s just call it “yeah!”
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cujy7JKENjo]
They look like they’re pumped up in the most positive way possible. It’s awesome.
We don’t know what the pair plans on doing next, but we’d like to suggest motivational speaking.
Kerri and Misty happen to be moms as well as big-time Olympic athletes, both having gotten married and started families since their last Gold Medal win in 2008.
Here is a gallery of Misty and Kerri pics, along with some info about the P&G U.S. Family Home. Photos and text were provided to DaddyTips by a publicity representative. Read more »
Olympic Athlete Goes Independent, Lost 28 Family Members To War
Deadspin has a story about “Independent Olympic Athletes,” of which there are four according to Barry Petchesky’s article. This particular tidbit caught my eye.
But Marial didn’t have a country to represent. He hasn’t obtained U.S. citizenship, and while Sudan offered him the chance to compete for them, he turned them down, citing the 28 family members he lost in the war. “It’s not right for me to do that,” he said. “It’s not right for me to represent the country I refuged from.”
Always good to have perspective.
via There Are Four Olympic Athletes Without Countries To Represent.
Captain America Does Gymnastics (Olympics)
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSjzd8JsVj4]
If you happen to be watching the Olympics with your children, and said children happen to be fans of superheroes, you may want to point out that Captain America does gymnastics.
The above video is from a videogame I think. My knowledge of Cap’s gymnastics training comes from reading comic books. I know that shocks you. Much like I was shocked when Read more »
