As
I casually perused the litany of noteworthy news feeds this
afternoon, I thought I would burst a few thousand veins when I
happened upon an article regarding an Olympian. The past two weeks,
I have meticulously stayed away from ANYTHING Olympic related. Gotta
love that delayed feed tape crap NBC decided was best for us
(personally, part of the Olympics IS having to get up at ungodly
hours to watch your most anticipated events – I digress). It's bad
enough one cannot read through their messages on Facebook, lest a
certain friend proclaim the day's winner. Ahem.
Back
to this article. It seems as though there are citizens of this great
country of ours taking issue with one runner's choice to hoist two
flags during an after race celebration. One being the flag of the
United States, the other that of Mexico. Fasten your seat belts
folks, this isn't going where you think. Oh no... it isn't the white
bread folk of America, nor is it the multi-grain bread folk raising
the ruckus. Nope, it's the normal everyday folk in addition to
runmymouthformoneywriting Mexican folks raisin the ruckus. Um...
WUT? That's right, it is the people who share a heritage with this
young man (Leo Manzano) that are complaining that he should have
chosen but ONE flag to fly, ONE country to represent in his quest for
gold. Forget that Leo was the first American to win a men's medal in
the mile since '68 – that would be silver, by the way, and
absolutely nothing to sneeze about.
A
few quotes from one of those runmymouthformoneywriting Mexican folk
(Ruben Navarette) for you to digest:
“Why
would he carry a flag of the country his parents left when he was 4
years old? “
“What
am I missing? Where were the Italian-American athletes waving the
Italian flag, or the Irish-Americans waving the Irish flag? I didn't
see that. “
“That's
funny. I only saw one set of letters on his jersey: USA. “
Then
there's this one, sore thumb, quote that hit me in the gut.. HARD:
“But
the last thing the Olympics is about is the individual.
It's
about being part of a team -- the U.S. Olympic team. It's about
national pride, not ego. Manzano wasn't there to compete for himself
but to represent his country. All he had to do was decide which
country that was. He chose not to choose.”
Quite
right, Mr. Navarette. Leo Manzano DID run for the United States.
And he won SILVER – a first since '68 for this wonderful country of
ours. He represented his team quite mightily out there on that
track. I cannot say for certain, but I imagine they are quite proud
of Leo right about now. As we should all be. This is the point in
this discourse where our thoughts take totally separate paths. You
seem to think that he was being egotistical, representing ONLY
himself when he draped that American flag behind him and grabbed a
Mexico flag for the ride along. I see the situation as his choice to
INCLUDE his heritage in this celebration. Remember, it is HIS
choice. Not mine, NOT yours, not the media's... HIS. That the other
athletes representing the United States along with those representing
others have not made this choice, makes not one wit of difference.
While the Olympics are a TEAM sporting event, they are also chock
full of individual events. The individual trains for this
penultimate race, the individual runs this penultimate race, the
individual finishes this penultimate race... all the while
representing their respective countries. This might be a great time
for me to bring up the subject of Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary dogging
their OWN team mate in the press ( a golden no-no for any person who
has ever been an athlete) and your lack of full on criticism on that
particular subject. However, I will not. It would further degrade
my point.
Mr.
Navarette, and others, seem to have jumped the shark on this one.
One cannot.. as Mr. Navarette so aptly put it in his own penned
article for CNN - “But when you're an Olympic athlete, you don't
get to have your cake and eat it, too. ” Though I think people
totally miss the point on this. There is no difference between those
Olympic athletes and anyone else in this country. Simply put, if you
are going to hold Leo Manzano to the standard of making the choice of
ONE country to represent, then flippin live that by EXAMPLE. Do not
insist that this country print ALL government forms in English AND
Spanish so that those sharing your heritage who refuse to assimilate
or “represent” this country can make claims against it. Do not
make this country continue to flood the educational arena with extra
funds to hold classes in Spanish so that those sharing your heritage
who refuse to assimilate by teaching their children the base language
of the land – can assure their child learn in their native
language. I will stop with these examples, lest those thousands of
veins pop.
My
view of this whole fiasco? It's two-fold. You are either in it, or
you are not. In my book – Leo Manzano represented MY country in a
fantastic manner. I'm proud of him, proud of his accomplishment and
proud that he wore the uniform of my country. I'm equally proud of
athletes such as Kirani James and Oscar Pistorius – for their
having represented billions of people OUTSIDE of their countries
through their behavior before, during and after their competitions.
As long as I live, I do not think I will ever forget the image of
Kirani James handily winning a semifinal race and immediately
approaching Mr. Pistorius. He exchanged name aprons and proceeded to
HOLD PISTORUS' name apron to the crowd in praise of the bravery and
spirit of this athlete from another country. In short, I don't care
what flippin flag you compete under in these Olympic games. I cheer
them all, I'm proud of them all (well, okay, there are a few – need
I mention badminton badness?) for having competed at a level I could
never attain and doing so with a flair of sportsmanship the likes of
the world could learn quite a few things from. If you wanna carry an
American, French, Dutch and German flag as you celebrate your
medal... Have at it.. won't hear me bitchin.
THAT,
Mr. runmymouthformoneywriting Navarette is what the Olympics is ALL
about. It isn't about the individual countries pride. Hell, it
isn't about national pride. It is about the coming together of some
of the best athletes in the universe and the display of sportsmanship
that should be revered.
'nough
said...
