A smattering of headlines from this past week reinforces a statement once made by a friend of mine, “Why be surprised when the world acts like the world?”
- “Ain’t no party like a gold medal party” – Account of the Canadian women’s hockey team celebrating their gold medal victory by drinking champagne and beer and smoking cigars on the ice. It’s curious to see the varied responses–from the SI reporter saying it’s no big deal to Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of the Olympic Games, saying, “It is not what we want to see. I don’t think it’s a good promotion of sport values. If they celebrate in the changing room, that’s one thing, but not in public. We will investigate what happened.” Ron Judd of the Seattle Times made one of the more insightful comments, “However you feel about the celebration, note the non-apology apology: We’re sorry if anyone was offended by our actions. Translation: We’re not sorry, get over it. It’s all the rage these days.”
- “Woman fatally shot outside Tacoma school; gunman killed by police.” and “Teacher tackles gunman suspected in school shooting.” Has it ever been more dangerous to be a child and attend school?
- “SeaWorld: Whale show to resume after trainer death.” Truly a tragic story, but it highlights the myth that nature is a safe place and animals and humans can coexist in peace and harmony.
- “US emerges as winter Olympics behemoth.” Does anything promote nationalistic pride like the Olympic Games? Steve Kelley made one of the funnier statements as he took a swipe at the Canadians when he said, The USA “is leading the medal count. Maybe it doesn’t own the podium, but with a week to go, it has a signed a lease and has an option to buy.”
- “Plushenko spoilt my moment: Lysacek.” Has anyone ever shown less of the Olympic spirit and more of a sour grapes attitude than Yevgeny Plushenko did when he dissed Evan Lysacek following the men’s ice skating final?
What a strange world we live in!