ICE STURM UND DRANG
More Olympic, and Olympic-size, snippiniess, plagued what was heralded as, and what nearly ended up playing out as being, the most exciting showdown of the 2006 Winter Olympics:
In one corner, the tall, 28 year-old Texan from Houston, Chad Hedrick, who was the first American to win a gold at these games, in the mens' 5000 m. Hedrick was described coming into these games as "the exception" (no, not to being either a steer or queer - I've figured out that if you're from Texas, you can be neither, but that the expression "steers and queers" may stem from the fact that both are storngly associated with the emission of shit, as are Texans generally - just kidding!!) because he skates neither by the rules of the ice rink nor the rollerblade arena. (He was given this nickname by mens' 2002 1500 gold medalist Derek Parra, whom we now know to have inspired Hedrick to become an Olympian). Hedrick was also described as a "loudmouth Texan" (he was not the one who came up with this seemingly redundant name - kidding again!) Finally, he has een described as intensely driven, a scrapper, extremely competitive (these words seemingly would be de riguer labels for Olympians, but given some of the performances we've seen thus far, one is not sure), and is described with one of the most despicable phrases in the English language, other than "they hate us for our freedom": "he works hard and plays hard."ac Assuming, arguendo (for the sake of argument) that a person can do both, such a person is to be properly loathed, because in order to work truly hard and to play truly hard - to become ritualistically shitfaced and oversexed - two activities neither of which have met my acquaitance - one must be able to get by on little sleep. Such people are, as a favorite film critic once said about dinosaurs, "Of this earth, but out of this world" - I cannot relate to them, and am frightened and repulsed by them, and am insanely jealous of them, all at once, assuming their hard work and their hard playing eachieves the results they intend them to.
Hedrick is lily-white, and while I knoweth not his socioeconomic status, can make the following observation: Olympic commentators have noted, without exception, when an American Olympian is poor. Therefore, I am quite assured that he is not. He also already has numerous endorsement deals from the usual sports companies the significance of which athletes poo-poo when they are not actually saying things like "Fuck Reebok. Never supported me. Never have." (Y'all know what movie that line's from, right?)
In the other corner: 23 year-old African-American Shani Davis. His name is pronounced "shaunie." He grew up on the south side of Chicago, and his mother, who raised him alone, still lives there. His affection for her and for her nurturing his ambitions seems genuine (as much as can be discerned through the ether). I like how he recounted how he took in stride the catcalls and jeers of fellow students growing up when they saw him wearing a sweatshirt with Bonnie Blair's face on it. I get the sense that Chad Hedrick would never do something so "uncool" (although Hedrick did cry the day before his first race because he knew that the day of that race would be the 13th-year anniversary of his grandmother's death from cancer. These tears, too, displayed on the date of the race -that he won - seemed genuine, and I could not help but cry, either. Of course, if, shall we say, someone not as, erm, cool as he were to cry over something like this, that person would be, erm, questioned for why he/she was crying, I digress - but not for long). Since his seeming displaying of hostility after winning the 1000m, Davis has shown signs of life and pride. Davis, as far as I know, is not rich, perhaps is not even middle class (he certainly was poor growing up), and I am not aware of any endorsement deals he has yet to secure.
Tonight, the two squared off (indirectly) in the 1500m.. Davis came in second, Hedrick third. An Italian won the hold. The cat's meow between the two, which is about how each believes thatis the cat's meow, bubbled up to a roar: Hedrick did not congratulate Davis when Davvis won the 1000m; tonight, neither congratulated each other; after the 1500, the two were at a press conference, sitting at opposite ends of a dais - the two politely fielded questions, managing to avoid overt displays of hostility - until the very end. I do not recall what prompted the remark, but right at the end of the conference, Davis said, while Hedrick was looking right at hin, that it was extremely rude of Hedrick to not congratulate him when Davis won the 1000m. Davis then walked out, not giving Hedrick the opportunity to respond to him to his face. How prissy. Or, in the current Olympic vocabulary, "princessy." Just like nothing exceeds like excess, nothing prolongs an artificial conflict like artifice.
This provided Hedrick with the proverbial golden oppotunity, which, of course, he couldn't resist not taking up: he chuckled for about twenty seconds, bobbing his head, making incoherent mutterances, and then finally said something to the effect of: "Well, I came here to have an Olympic experience. I attended the Opening Ceremonies (did Davis not?), and came here to represent the United States (he also said on numerous occasions that he "came here" to win gold," which is fine, but can't we keep the blustering straight?). I am the team leader (I'm not quite sure what this means in terms of what this means - is it like being a team captain in baseball? Is it a ceremonial title? I think so), and Shani didn't even tell me when he decided not to participate in the team pursuit, which we lost because he did not compete in it. I feel that this was a betrayal (Enter Hamlet, or enter laughing?)."
Curiously, the other two members of the team pursuit have not expressed any offense at the non-participation. They both have won two medals, just as Hedrick has.
Would Davis' having told Hedrick that Davis did not want to participate in the Team pursuit made a difference? Probably not, since Hedrick has stated that it was the "principle" - i.e. the "principle" that an athlete should represent his country in as many events as possible - that Davis first and foremost violated, giving rise to the brunt of the offense. One does not know whether Hedrick generally believes in this "principle," (which is a characteristic, neither a virtue, nor vice) or if he just wanted to rack up another gold via Davis' participation in the team pursuit.
Likewise, when Davis said that he did not want to participate in the pursuit, one does not know if his stated reason of "wanting to focus on his individual events" (which is, again, a characteristic, neither a virtue nor vice) was what solely, if at all, motivated him, at least when he made the very final decision to not race in the team pursuit, since by that time, Hedrick had already made comments critical of Davis' apparent desire to not participate in that event.
Well, Davis is done competing in these games, and Hedrick has the 10,000m left to skate. The immediate events that prompted the spat of hate that are gone, but as General MacArthur might as just as easily have said, "Old hatreds don't die... They just fade away..."
These athletes may come from very different worlds, but they share the same passion for the love of hate.
In one corner, the tall, 28 year-old Texan from Houston, Chad Hedrick, who was the first American to win a gold at these games, in the mens' 5000 m. Hedrick was described coming into these games as "the exception" (no, not to being either a steer or queer - I've figured out that if you're from Texas, you can be neither, but that the expression "steers and queers" may stem from the fact that both are storngly associated with the emission of shit, as are Texans generally - just kidding!!) because he skates neither by the rules of the ice rink nor the rollerblade arena. (He was given this nickname by mens' 2002 1500 gold medalist Derek Parra, whom we now know to have inspired Hedrick to become an Olympian). Hedrick was also described as a "loudmouth Texan" (he was not the one who came up with this seemingly redundant name - kidding again!) Finally, he has een described as intensely driven, a scrapper, extremely competitive (these words seemingly would be de riguer labels for Olympians, but given some of the performances we've seen thus far, one is not sure), and is described with one of the most despicable phrases in the English language, other than "they hate us for our freedom": "he works hard and plays hard."ac Assuming, arguendo (for the sake of argument) that a person can do both, such a person is to be properly loathed, because in order to work truly hard and to play truly hard - to become ritualistically shitfaced and oversexed - two activities neither of which have met my acquaitance - one must be able to get by on little sleep. Such people are, as a favorite film critic once said about dinosaurs, "Of this earth, but out of this world" - I cannot relate to them, and am frightened and repulsed by them, and am insanely jealous of them, all at once, assuming their hard work and their hard playing eachieves the results they intend them to.
Hedrick is lily-white, and while I knoweth not his socioeconomic status, can make the following observation: Olympic commentators have noted, without exception, when an American Olympian is poor. Therefore, I am quite assured that he is not. He also already has numerous endorsement deals from the usual sports companies the significance of which athletes poo-poo when they are not actually saying things like "Fuck Reebok. Never supported me. Never have." (Y'all know what movie that line's from, right?)
In the other corner: 23 year-old African-American Shani Davis. His name is pronounced "shaunie." He grew up on the south side of Chicago, and his mother, who raised him alone, still lives there. His affection for her and for her nurturing his ambitions seems genuine (as much as can be discerned through the ether). I like how he recounted how he took in stride the catcalls and jeers of fellow students growing up when they saw him wearing a sweatshirt with Bonnie Blair's face on it. I get the sense that Chad Hedrick would never do something so "uncool" (although Hedrick did cry the day before his first race because he knew that the day of that race would be the 13th-year anniversary of his grandmother's death from cancer. These tears, too, displayed on the date of the race -that he won - seemed genuine, and I could not help but cry, either. Of course, if, shall we say, someone not as, erm, cool as he were to cry over something like this, that person would be, erm, questioned for why he/she was crying, I digress - but not for long). Since his seeming displaying of hostility after winning the 1000m, Davis has shown signs of life and pride. Davis, as far as I know, is not rich, perhaps is not even middle class (he certainly was poor growing up), and I am not aware of any endorsement deals he has yet to secure.
Tonight, the two squared off (indirectly) in the 1500m.. Davis came in second, Hedrick third. An Italian won the hold. The cat's meow between the two, which is about how each believes thatis the cat's meow, bubbled up to a roar: Hedrick did not congratulate Davis when Davvis won the 1000m; tonight, neither congratulated each other; after the 1500, the two were at a press conference, sitting at opposite ends of a dais - the two politely fielded questions, managing to avoid overt displays of hostility - until the very end. I do not recall what prompted the remark, but right at the end of the conference, Davis said, while Hedrick was looking right at hin, that it was extremely rude of Hedrick to not congratulate him when Davis won the 1000m. Davis then walked out, not giving Hedrick the opportunity to respond to him to his face. How prissy. Or, in the current Olympic vocabulary, "princessy." Just like nothing exceeds like excess, nothing prolongs an artificial conflict like artifice.
This provided Hedrick with the proverbial golden oppotunity, which, of course, he couldn't resist not taking up: he chuckled for about twenty seconds, bobbing his head, making incoherent mutterances, and then finally said something to the effect of: "Well, I came here to have an Olympic experience. I attended the Opening Ceremonies (did Davis not?), and came here to represent the United States (he also said on numerous occasions that he "came here" to win gold," which is fine, but can't we keep the blustering straight?). I am the team leader (I'm not quite sure what this means in terms of what this means - is it like being a team captain in baseball? Is it a ceremonial title? I think so), and Shani didn't even tell me when he decided not to participate in the team pursuit, which we lost because he did not compete in it. I feel that this was a betrayal (Enter Hamlet, or enter laughing?)."
Curiously, the other two members of the team pursuit have not expressed any offense at the non-participation. They both have won two medals, just as Hedrick has.
Would Davis' having told Hedrick that Davis did not want to participate in the Team pursuit made a difference? Probably not, since Hedrick has stated that it was the "principle" - i.e. the "principle" that an athlete should represent his country in as many events as possible - that Davis first and foremost violated, giving rise to the brunt of the offense. One does not know whether Hedrick generally believes in this "principle," (which is a characteristic, neither a virtue, nor vice) or if he just wanted to rack up another gold via Davis' participation in the team pursuit.
Likewise, when Davis said that he did not want to participate in the pursuit, one does not know if his stated reason of "wanting to focus on his individual events" (which is, again, a characteristic, neither a virtue nor vice) was what solely, if at all, motivated him, at least when he made the very final decision to not race in the team pursuit, since by that time, Hedrick had already made comments critical of Davis' apparent desire to not participate in that event.
Well, Davis is done competing in these games, and Hedrick has the 10,000m left to skate. The immediate events that prompted the spat of hate that are gone, but as General MacArthur might as just as easily have said, "Old hatreds don't die... They just fade away..."
These athletes may come from very different worlds, but they share the same passion for the love of hate.
posted by EnterCenter at 6:51 PM
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