February 19, 2006
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SUNDAY GOOD NEWS
I have to say I haven’t been following the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy so closely that I actually saw the 1000 meter speedskating
competition from start to finish. In fact, I didn’t see it at all yet, but I wish I had. I HAVE been hearing lots of flack on the media about the winner. Born in Chicago 24 years ago and raised by his mother, Shani Davis started skating in south side roller rinks at age 2. At 6 he switched to ice and (one of those quirks of fate) when his mother started working for an attorney whose son was a speedskater, Shani was
encouraged to try it too. By age 8, he was winning regional competitions. Twelve years and many competitions later, he was part of the US Olympic team in short track speedskating in 2002 in Salt Lake
City as the #6 competitor and he didn’t get to compete. In 2003 and 2004 he won the North American championship three times in long-track speedskating, which made him able to compete in the World Championship where he won the silver medal, losing the gold to Chad Hedrick. In February 2005, he became the first black American speedskater to win the World Championship all-round. He qualified for the current Olympics in the long track, winning his gold medal in world record time and
became the first African-American athlete to win an individual gold in Winter Games history.So what is the flap? Apparently, US teammate Chad Hedrick (out of Texas) had a chance to win a record 5
golds if Davis had agreed to skate with a three-man team in a different speedskating event. Fact is, he was only asked to join the team a week in advance and was never formally part of the event. He also didn’t want to shove aside skaters who were chosen specifically for that race when he wasn’t. And he had focused on winning the 1000-meter all along, which would have kept Hedrick from getting his 5 golds anyway. For sticking to his long-term dream, he’s been called unpatriotic and selfish and been the brunt of racial epithets. The good news is a young black man from humble beginnings worked hard for years to make history as an athlete and did, possibly inspiring others in the field of winter
sports. The bad news is his victory is the target of a snipefest. Fortunately, he didn’t get this far by being intimidated.
Deep Thought: “Let’s be honest: isn’t a lot of what we call tap-dancing really just nerves?”
Today I am grateful for: Being able to watch my grandson experience being 14 and never having to go there again myself
Guess the Movie: “Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” Answer: Back to the Future, 1985.
Winner: Eliminate_the_Impossible.
Feingold Blasts Failure to Investigate Domestic Surveillance Program
WASHINGTON
- February 16 – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold released the following statement this afternoon following the Intelligence Committee Meeting. “The Intelligence Committee’s failure today to begin an investigation of the administration’s illegal domestic surveillance program is inexcusable. The Senate Committee charged with conducting oversight of intelligence matters has a responsibility to look more deeply into the President’s illegal secret wiretapping of Americans. The President has broken the law and Congress needs to hold him accountable.” (Rest of article here.)
Comments (25)
Ugh, of course it would be far too simple to give him the credit he’s due for winning the race and they have to build it into this big controversy.
Annnd Back to the Future is the movie.
Are we on for coffee? Judi
Back to the Future – sure nuff!
I saw his mom interviewed. I could see where he got the nerve to stand up for himself.
Congrats to Shani a true southside Chicago guy!
I’m jealous. You’re having coffee with Judi? And I was pretty sure of Back to the Future, but I don’t have to win every time. But I want coffee with Judi. I do. I do.
I completely agree that the controversy surrounding Davis is ridiculous and unnecessary. I feel it’s most unfortunate because it is detracting from the fact that he has just accomplished this amazing feat and all they want to talk about is the inner snarkiness on the team. I hope he realizes that there are many Americans that acknowledge and applaud his win.
Okay, now you’re just taking it easy on us with the BTTF movie quote. Why not use this one: “Luke, I am your father.”
Here’s a deep thought or perhaps I should say a deep question: What color is time?
Here’s a quote for you:
When asked: “I need to ask your advice. Now I know you know a lot about love and women and all that sort of thing…” this character responded, “Oh yeah, my wife left me for another woman and my girlfriend forced me to leave at gunpoint. Does this qualify me?” Name the actor’s name, movie, and his current hit TV show.
My sports loving family is all behind Shandi. He was focused on what he needed to do and knew enough not to throw distractions in his path. My dad was a track coach and my son runs track. It’s a very common race strategy to lay low on one event to save yourself for something you want and need more. It works too.
Shani Davis is amazing. I heard about the flap last week and couldn’t believe the fuss.
I don’t think Shani is being selfish at all. I think the Texan is. What give the other guy the right to something that he hasn’t earned? AND there is no guarantee he would have been able to do it anyway. He would have just pushed other people how SHOULD have had their own chance out of the way.
I would have chosen as Shani Davis did. I believe in the rights of individuals to choose their own path, whether or not they have the approval of those who think they know what everyone else should do.
Hi. Thanks for stopping by. RYC: If you are Photoshop literate, check out http://www.earthmandalas.com Sue
P.S. Enjoy your coffee with Judi. It’s fun to see Xangans connect
Such a mess. I didn’t see him skate (I don’t watch the Olympics), but my mother watched him skate. She said he was amazing. The politics of the Olympics drives me a little wacky.
PS…if you have trouble with the tutorials, let me know. Photoshop has changed a little since they were written…and I’d love to see whatever you create.
In his interview, he was quiet and humble. That should silence his critics. I think it’s the insane need of the media to hype things up so they have something to write about and say. Why don’t they just let us enjoy the Olympics and let come what may, good or bad. It’s all about commercials and somebody making money. I’m personally glad to see all the skaters get a piece of the pie. I watched the Italians win the cross-country relay yesterday in their home country in an event that means the world to them. It was so uplifting to see their hard work pay off and to see how happy the country was because of the win. And it was great to see Shani Davis fulfill his dream.
Wow. I don’t watch the winter Olympics – glad to have read this here. Good for him to stand up for his dreams. Imagine how many people that one act is going to influence and inspire….
Are you and the critters staying warm over there? It’s 29F here!
I agree with you about the hype…it’s all so foolish. I don’t know if you remember me but I am “friends” with Jane and have been reading your site for some time. I am having iMac troubles and Jane said you are a mac user… think there’s any way you would consdier being my personal tech support person to try and get some “bugs” straightened out?
Please leave a comment on my site or email if you would be remotely willing. P.S. I still love your site, you are very insightful and interesting. (and I’m not just saying that to get brownie points either!) I’ll still visit whether you can help or not.
Always gotta be someone to stir the crap pot, one way or another…we can’t just have a joyous world event anymore…go figure! And people wonder why society has become cynical?
It would have been nice to get five golds, but like five mansions or five Cadillacs who actually needs more than one ?
Hooray for Shani Davis, he won his gold fair and square and deserves it. And super selfish are the people who tried to get him to not try for it, in my humble opinion.
Any skating thrills me to the bone, but couples skating is the epitome of grace, skill and pure love with complete trust in the partner. We were happy to see a U.S. couple get a silver for skate dancing tonight. I tried to describe my feelings in my xanga blog, and am still too tongue tied to adequately express my deep feelings.
Thanks for your comment.
Hi again. Thanks for agreeing to try to help me with my mac. I am running OS 9 and OSX, although I never use 9 that I’m aware of. I need to know how to do the equivalent of “de-fragging” and then I have serious issues with fonts. I have lots of fonts that can’t be used because it says I have no program to open them. I tried using “open with” and then picked appleworks or photoshop (which I also don’t know how to use properly), and it changes the font to a document. I don’t know how to change it back. I’ve tried downloading additional fonts for scrapbooking purposes (mac compatible) but, I can never view them. Again the “don’t know what to do with this file type” message…well, neither do I!! I have a “how to do everything with your iMac” book but, all it says is to drag the fonts into the “font folder” but, there are lots of folders and I don’t know which to use.
If you have any suggestions to get me started I sure would appreciate it. I was going to try to reformat my hard drive and do a software restore but, I have monitor issues and we hooked up a new monitor to the iMac. When I try to boot up from the restore disk the new monitor says it is “out of frequency” and because I don’t have video on the iMac itself, I can’t see what to do. It’s all very frustrating! Anxiously awaiting your reply! 
that’s really interesting…i wish i could speed skate…i think that would be completely awesome…haha
thanks for the comment!
Wow, thank you! It means a lot to me.
Your xanga is so nicely organized and set-up; I enjoy it.
Thank you and so do you!! xoxx
hey, thanks for the visit. nice site! RYC: yes, too bad it won’t happen. I guess the american people have no one to blame but themselves. my conscience is clear!
I was sure glad to see Shani beat Hedrick yesterday……..although I wish he would have done it with the gold!!