Olympics

I have been off from work for awhile and have been taking the opportunity to watch TV all day. Can I just say that Chad Hedrick has totally ruined the Olympics for me? He is such an ASS! I have watch him shun Shauni Davis, African American Olympian, act like a spoiled, penchulant child. All because Shauni said no to him and his team event. I couldn't believe Chad said that he was upset because, "Shauni didn't discuss it with him first before withdrawing from the team event. I am the team leader so he should have discussed it with me." Well, who the hell is he that Shauni had to discuss his decision with him?!! I am ashamed to say Chad is from Texas (Houston...YUCK!!), but he must have forgotten he is NOT in Texas right now. He went to Turino with the goal of winning 5 gold medals. Did he not think Shani had goals too? Shauni had much more at stake than Chad did.

I don't blame Shauni in the least. The USOC skating federation dissed him, by not giving him endorsements, allowing him to train with the rest of the team, just overall nasty to him. He had to go to Calgary to train. His mother worked 2 jobs for him to be able to fulfill his dream. He didn't have the cushy training facilities that the other speed skaters had, nor did he have the sponsorship to pay for his training, so he could focus on training and nothing else. I am so proud of Shauni for beating Chad AGAIN, even if it was with the Silver medal. I just wonder how many commercials in the US will Shauni have after the Olympics? Ummm...I am guessing none, because of this controversy that Chad started. Is that a new form of sportmanship?

Well I am going to just put it out there. It is because of his race. I am so not about the race card, but this is so obvious. The American Media has shown the world that America is still a racially divided country. It is crazy how the Canadian and Japanese speedskating teams came up, hugged and congraduated Shauni, but the US Speedskating team has yet to "recognize" him. Shauni has done the Jackie Robinson of the speed skating world, broken the racial barriers. Even though we are in the year 2006, it might as well be 1946 as far as speed skating is concerned. I am so ashamed by this whole thing. It has marred the Olympics for me, just as the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding incident did when I was a teenager. But the difference in that is it was two WHITE girls.

I have to say that I have found the Olympics overall to be boring and uninteresting. I don't know why. I just hope this controversy doesn't make us look worse in the World's eyes...not that the Iraq War hasn't already!!