Your Flag, Your Colors

Hey All.  To my numerous readers in Russia, I hope you're all enjoying the Olympics!  I commend your Olympic organizing committee in presenting a dark portion of your country's history in the most positive light possible during the Opening Ceremonies.

The Parade of Nations is always something I look forward to seeing in every Games.  It's the athletes' chances to introduce themselves to the world before beginning their quest for a medal, or even just to say that they arrived and competed.  It's also a chance for lesser-known nations to introduce their country to the world, even for a just a short time.

Most people well say that their favorite part of the Olympics is seeing Team USA enter the stadium.  Yes, we sometimes joke about how horribly lame their uniforms are, but it gives us a huge kick.  Since it's our country, it makes us feel like we're right there in the stadium with them.

I disagree though.  My favorite parts of the evening are, in reverse order (3) the singing of the Olympic Hymn and presentation of the Olympic Flag; (2) lighting the torch after its long journey from Athens; and (1) watching nations represented by only one athlete.

I don't know about you all, but watching just one person carrying a flag, smiling and waiving, with a small entourage consisting only of a coach or trainer, or possibly a family member, is special.  It sends a stronger message to me than all of the rah-rah talk coming from countries with 200+ athletes.  It tells me that this is a person so dedicated, so disciplined, and so focused on their chosen event that they're able to go it alone.

Alone.  Without a "program" to measure up to in order to compete.  Without a "system" that demands what to say, do, and wear.  Without a corporate sponsorship.  Just him, or her, and a dream that became reality.

So while current and former Today Show anchors provided factoids about each of these bold individualists (they have dual citizenship in that country, they really live in Montana, etc.), I found myself cheering for them regardless of their backstories.  Most of them do not expect to win a medal.  Appearing in commercials and becoming famous are most likely not the reasons why they are there.  They are there only to be the best they can be at their events, and to proudly represent whatever flag they fly.

And most importantly, they are their for themselves.  Because they've already proven so much to themselves, and they want to prove more.

We are better served to follow their example than we are to keep mindlessly chanting "U.S.A." for every event.  Far too many of us are weighed down by expectations, groupthink, and confirmity to be independent enough.

Make your colors, and fly your flag.  Compete for yourself, and not for anyone else.  Show that flag to the world, and be proud of it, no matter what.  By standing alone and playing by your own rules, instead of answering to some superhuman machine and all its rules, you have already won victories that the "home team" can never win.

I EXIST.  I MATTER.  I BELONG.  I DESERVE.

I AM BULLETPROOF.

Fly your own flag.  High.

More Prizes To Be Taken and Glory To Be Found

For many Olympic athletes, tonight is the end of a lifetime of training and focus towards victory.  Some of them met and exceeded their own expectations, and some came up slightly short. We did have Ali Raisman win a gold medal and dedicate it to the memory of the fallen Israeli athletes of 1972 -- showing more class than the administration even attempted.  We also had Michael Phelps finish off his career in style, the women's soccer team avenging last year's World Cup loss, and the Redeem Team -- well -- redeem itself!  Not to mention, our super-amazing track & field medalists!  :)

But we also had Mackayla Maroney come so close, but just not have her best day.  And we also had Marathon Meb Keflezighi come just short of medaling behind two Kenyans (expected) and a Ugandan (huh?).  And on his way to the history books, our boy Phelps also wound up collecting two silvers and failing to medal in one event.

As I stated at the start of these Games, the honor is not actually meant for the eventual winners, but for those who competed at their best level.  So for all those who did, much respect and admiration.

But as is the case with the rest of us, life goes on after the torch is extinguished and everyone packs up and moves out of the Olympic Village.  Back to their home countries, back to their families, back to start their lives again.

(holy hole, I think I'm morphing into my parents -- this is exactly what they would tell me whenever something was over.  NO chance to post-mortem, NO review and recap, NO post-game show, NOTHING of the sort, when it was over it was OVER, stop talking about it and go to bed.)

Well, without morphing into my folks, it's better to move on from these experiences, win or lose, before they hold you back.  Yes, our Redeem Team will brag about their gold medals throughout the NBA season, much to the chagrin of their teammates from other lands.  And yes, Phelps still needs to make $$$ from his endorsement deals.  But since these games only happen every four years (every two years, counting the Winter Games), they're forced to move on to other pursuits.

And so must we.  As sports fans, we must switch gears to the pennant race in baseball (Let's Go Yan-Kees!), the start of the football season (J! E! T! S! JETS! JETS! JETS!), and training camp for hockey (Go Isles, Please Don't Move)!

In my game, once a case is over, it gets closed up.  That's not including the question of whether something can be appealed, or whether settlement negotiations are needed.  I mean when it's OVER, it's over.  It's not kept in a library for reference, it's not left in an office taking up space, it's OVER.   Taken to storage, maintained for record keeping purposes for seven years, and then shredded. 

And so it should be.  This weekend, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he was "so detached from the past & so focused in the present moment, that it almost feels like my past was a 'past life.'"  I've blogged before about moving on, etc., but that quote indicates that the speaker no longer needs to keep reminding himself to do so.  He's already gotten his head screwed on straight, and is looking at what's on his plate in front of him, that whatever was on his place yesterday is a nearly-forgotten fantasy.  If my folks ever met this guy, they'd shake his hand just for saying that!

Obviously, our lives are going in one direction, much like athletes running a marathon or a tri -- if you turn around and go back towards the starting line, you will not finish.  Much like our athletes who did their best and came home empty-handed, now is the time to learn and reinforce the lessons learned from what happened, and not to bemoan what might have been and wasn't.  Rather than kicking yourself for zigging when you should have zagged, for choosing this move instead of the other, or not being cool and smooth enough so that pole vaulter from New Zealand would've gone on a date with you, just don't repeat whatever mistakes were made. 

Have a good night, all.  Don't forget to comment!

The Olympic Ideal

The Olympics are well under way, and medals have already been awarded.  Looks like these Games will be remembered favorably.

This would be a fine opportunity to remember the words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the IOC and of the modern Olympic Games.  He is quoted as saying:

"The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle, the essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

Given how advanced each athlete must be at their chosen event, it's obvious that every Olympic athlete would have had to earn several triumphs in order to compete to begin with.  Nevertheless, the Baron's philosophy still holds water. 

Too many people think that winning is all that matters, and nothing less is acceptable.  To adopt this as your reality means you have committed yourself to the self-fulfilling failure known as perfectionism, which is a complete fallacy.  Winning is obviously the goal of every game, sport, endeavor or venture that is undertaken.  But that doesn't mean that you can never lose, and it doesn't mean that losing is a failure in and of itself.

The Baron didn't say this directly, but since he was an educator, I think he may have been implying that to lose is to learn a lesson.  It is only from failures and setbacks that we learn about ourselves. Good judgment comes from experience, and experience must follow from bad judgment. Also, to know that you've given everything you could give towards your goal is already a victory, even without the prize being awarded.

Maybe he was also implying that even when you perform your best, your opponent might still know something you don't, may still be a little faster or stronger than you, or maybe just wants it a little bit more than you do.  Given that, there's a chance that your opponent might win and you might lose, but that doesn't mean you give up the ship so soon.  You still play as hard as you can, and go for a win anyway.  Even if you come away with the silver medal, even the winner gets all the "spoils," and even if the crowd forgets your name as soon as they leave the arena, you still know deep down that you've won anyway. 

The quote, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" was incorrectly attributed to Vince Lombardi, Hall of Fame football coach.  This was later found to be incorrect because Lombardi did not want his players to rely upon opponents' mistakes to coast their way to "ugly wins."  He actually told his players that nobody can achieve perfection, but "when we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."  This means that you prepare the best way you can, train as hard as you can, and envision yourself winning, even if you might not. 

Record books and historians are not kind to those who don't win, but you still can be.  Maybe there's a game that you've played recently that did not result in the victory you wanted.  Maybe there's a prize you wanted that went to someone else.  Or maybe there was something that you wanted so bad that you did everything to get it, and you still failed somehow.  Forget that result, and congratulate yourself on what you did to try to achieve it.  You did everything in your power to get it, and it simply wasn't meant to be. 

Don't post-mortem.  Don't second-guess.  And PLEASE do not beat yourself up no matter how bad you feel!  That was your opponent's job, and they've finished doing it.  They won a prize for it, but  you won't!  Why add to their work at your own expense?

So even though we all want Team USA to win gold in just about everything, they won't.  And even if some of our athletes are not on the highest rung of the medal stand, remember their efforts anyway.  The fact that they competed for our country to begin with already makes them winners.  And don't forget those athletes from other nations who complete against Team USA -- they might not all be NBA All-Stars, but they've made it their central goal to win anyway.  Respect that.

Enjoy the Games, peeps.  Comments welcome.

The Munich 11

This summer will be 40 years since the 1972 Israeli Olympic Team was massacred at the hands of Palestinian terrorists in Munich.  While the world stood by, seemingly helpless, an entire national team was wiped out for the sake of a misguided message.

Today, the President of the IOC hosted a ceremony at London's Olympic Village, in which a moment of silence was observed in honor of the murdered athletes.  This may or may not have been a concession to public pressure after he refused to allow for such an acknowledgment during the Games' Opening Ceremonies next week.

The fact that this anniversary would not be acknowledged in "prime time" speaks volumes about the world's attitude about Israel.  Apparently, the governing body of this event is cowed at the prospect of "offending" several other countries who continue to have issues with Israel, notwithstanding what those athletes endured.  The fact that it could have been any other country that suffered the same fate at any time is apparently lost on the IOC, because Israel has never really been thought of as any other country.

So if Mr. Rogge won't stand up and do the right thing for all to see and hear, I'll just have to do it instead.

I'll acknowledge the fact that in 1972, 11 young men and women sought to honor their country by developing their bodies to perform great feats of strength and speed, and not to be tossed from an apartment window in order to meet the demands of a group of murderers.

I'll acknowledge the fact that one country has always been forced to militarize its entire citizenry, despite the fact that it is the Holy Land, merely for the sake of its survival.  Its attempt to join the international community as an equal nation was met with disaster, because the world chose not to accept it as an equal nation.

I'll acknowledge the fact that since that time, Israel has returned to the Olympics, brave as always, and that its athletes have earned medals for their performances.

And I will also acknowledge the fact that Israel has more than earned the right to be respected as an equal nation, at the very least at the Olympic Games, and should receive more than mere lip service from a committee that is so easily pressured.

In the interests of disclosure, in case you haven't already learned from my prior postings, I am Jewish, I am Zionist, and I am proud.  It's not my style to blame discrimination, real or perceived, for any disadvantages, or to use it as a crutch or an excuse.  However, if it looks like discrimination, sounds like discrimination, and smells like discrimination, you have to form a conclusion.  I dare the IOC to say that they would refuse a moment of silence if the athletes murdered by terrorists had been Belgian, Bolivian, Okinawan, or any other nationality. 

Feel free to comment, whether you agree or disagree -- provided you choose your words wisely.