I am going to step aside from what I normally talk about in the Cubs (who smoked the Braves yesterday) or the Houston Texans and NFL football. I would like to talk about swimming and the Olympics.
Yes I normally would never think of watching swimming but last night found myself cheering hard for Mike Brown of Perth, ON and hoping he could bring Canada home their first medal. As we all know at this point Mike was unable to pull off the feat and now on news sites all over Canadians are posting that he choked and that the Candian Olympic team is a joke.
Lovely stuff. Way to show how we are such a wonderful and supportive country. These athletes go over and bust their ass, never see a pay cheque and we complain when they are 4th best in the world. 4th best in the WORLD! Imagine being 4th best in the world! hell Canadians go to the Candian Open and cheer on Mike Weir who not only can’t win the Canadian Open but isn’t even near being 4th best in his sport in the world….Imagine how happy we would be if Mike Weir had of came 4th at the PGA Championship last week! Hell he had the place cheering because he was in the 2nd to last group of the Canadian Open a few weeks back!
It makes me very sad to see these athletes feel like they are dissapointing all of us by coming 4th and 5th. I once was an athlete and realize how bad it stings to lose and can’t imagine what it feels like to not bring it home for your country…I can’t imagine it helps when your country is all over you for not winning.
Canadians need to remember that these are amateur athletes! A large majority of these folks will go on to be stock brokers, teachers, everyday people like you and me. I am not dissapointed in these atheletes at all..in fact I am proud that we have the 4th best swimmer in world in that race, I am proud we have the 5th best female fencer in the world, most of all I am proud to be Canadian…
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Tags: Olympics, Team Canada
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10 Responses to “My Call to Canadians”
Posted: 08/14/08 at 8:38 am
I actually briefly talked about this in my last blog entry, however it was in regards to the US female gymnastics team. Its sad to think that people sit in their homes and rip these athletes who aren’t even 21 (well most of them) and call them a disgrace for something only about 1% of the population can do. It’s okay to be disappointed but to call some one out is sad.
Calling out a professional athlete who makes millions of dollars is one thing, but an amateur who doesn’t make squat (salary wise) is pathetic.
Posted: 08/14/08 at 11:10 am
Sorry Joe I missed that.
I totally agree. US athletes likely aren’t getting dogged as much as Canadians right now. I read a comment that said call Donovan Bailey because nobody deserves to carry the flag for closing the Olympics…like are you serious? this is probably from a guy who can’t get off his couch.
The only good comment I read was someone said “Freeze the pool dammit”….that was good for a chuckle at least
Posted: 08/14/08 at 1:21 pm
Freeze the pool…now thats funny. I wouldn’t be so upset if I were Canadian. Aside from a few track and field events, what other events do Canadians usually medal in? Everyone knows the Winter Olympics are their thing, so I don’t get why this is such a big deal.
I used to get really into it, but I can’t anymore. Its too commercialized now. I still enjoy seeing the events and the athletes who want to win despite little national exposure, but I don’t get worked up over the medal count. So China has passed the US, does it make my life any better or worse? no, then why should I care. Just don’t do anything over there to give American’s a worse name then we already have, lol. Thats all I ask.
Posted: 08/14/08 at 1:44 pm
Sandy - I respectully disagree with you.
The Summer Olympics are the only opportunity for each country to showcase itself for the rest of the world. Significantly fewer countries participate in the Winter Games, so the exposure isn’t quite the same.
Canadians should be embarassed. As much as you say that Canadians should be proud that their native sons/daughters are 4th or 5th best in the world, you don’t go to the Olympics to finish 4th. You don’t train to finish 4th. There’s no sense of even going unless you’re going for the podium.
Stubby Clapp said it best. When asked what he expects from these games, he answered with four letter G-O-L-D. He’s not there to attain a personal best result. He’s there to win.
The Canadians who are participating and have blown it thus far have blown it because they lack killer instinct. They’re too passive and are afraid to go for it. Even worse? They’re not going for the gold. They’re going for personal bests.
And Canadians wonder why Michael Phelps will outmedal the entire Canadian Olympic Team.
Posted: 08/17/08 at 7:33 pm
Dave I can’t believe you just wrote this crap, because it really is.
I use to be an elite athlete that was on a full scholarship at DePaul University. Do you know how hard it is to make it to the Olympics? To say Canadians should be embarassed is totally uncalled for. You obviously don’t know what an athlete does just to get to the Olympics. They live off basiscally nothing especially in Canada and don’t have the best coaches or good facilities. It just like Joseph said about Mike Weir, and would be the same for hockey. To be the fourt best in hockey would be amazing and you would be making a ton of money. All athletes have that killer instinct just to make the Olympics. The difference is that might not get them gold, if might bring the 4th or even 10th. I am sure Mike Brown gave it 110% and will always think about how close he was to an Olympic medal. Not something I would wish upon anyone, even you Dave. I am extremely proud of all the athletes just for making the Olympics. This is how you get better. Donovan Bailey certainly didn’t come first in his first Olympics. He did not even make it out of the heats. You need to build on something, not everyone does, but that is why the have 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the rest of the places.
Comments like the ones you are making Dave are obviously coming from someone who does not know much about being an athlete and is why you probably only watch these athletes every four years.
By the way Canada has seven medals now and I am sure they will get more than Phelps eight medals.
Honestly Dave, if people knew what went into even one day of an amateur athletes life nobody would be down on our athletes.
Posted: 08/17/08 at 8:33 pm
Honestly Dave, I am surprised you made these comments as you are well versed in sports and seem to know what goes on in the sports world.
But honestly, if you dont know what these athletes do on a daily basis, it’s not your fault but I would hope you would not be one of the people who call themselves sports fans but know nothing about the Olympics yet make unwarranted comments.
You see there is NO WAY IN HELL that any athlete goes over there that doesn’t have a killer instinct. Just to make the A standard and to qualify for the Olympics makes that athlete SUPER ELITE and they need to have that killer instinct just to make it.
Do you honestly think that Mike Brown tried to lose the bronze by one hundredth of a second in the 200m breast stroke.for Mr.Bradley tried to lose the bronze by one cm in the Shot Pot? NOT a chance in hell!!
Most Canadians don’t know what sacrifice is when it comes to what these athletes do on a daily basis. Heck the majority of them sink their own money into their travel, extra coaching, etc…because our damn Canadian Government doesn’t give enough for carding. An “A” carded athlete gets $1800 a month, that is an athlete who is top 8 in the world, either from the World Champs the year before or in the world rankings if their sport had no WC that year. Alot of the meets these athletes go to unless they have a MAJOR sponsor they are paying for everything, hotel, meals and travel. If OUR almighty government would allow our athletes to compete at other MAJOR meets that other countries allow their athletes to do then we would be a little more international ready for this type of meet, but again our Government fails our athletes.
How does an athlete that is only 18 or 19 and close to being Top 24 in the world only get $750 a month to train? Are you kidding me? These young athletes that are close to achieving some major accomplishments when they hit their peak in their mid-20’s depending on the event/sport they compete in will never get there without some major funding. Yet so-called experts try to tell us all our athletes are failing us and not trying their best. Well quite honestly, it is the biggest crock of SHIT ever! The fact even any of our athletes achieve top 10 finishes or even an medal is phenomenal considering our own government is against us before our athletes even start their respective training/seasons.
As well, many our talented athletes leave the sport at a young age because they are better off just starting a career in the business rather than delaying their lives 8 years training only to put themselves further into debt.
Bottom line is, WAY too many Canadians don’t know the first thing about our amateur sports let alone the way the system works.
I was at Clemson on a full track scholarship and competed Nationally and Internationally. So my rant comes from my own personal experiences and that of many others that tell me their stories on a monthly basis about how hard it is to be an amateur athlete in this country!
Posted: 08/18/08 at 6:53 am
Guys,
I appreciate your passion and I know all about how the Canadian government hardly funds amateur athletes and how hard it is to get to the Olympics.
But to be honest with you, nobody’s holding a gun to these athletes’ heads saying they absolutely have to compete to achieve their dream of reaching the Olympics. These are personal choices and they were all fully aware of the lack of funding they would receive and the amount of pressure that comes with having to represent your country on this major, international stage.
Kevin/Chris - kudos to the two of you for being scholarship athletes. I used to be a freestyle skier when I was younger and who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t tore my hamstring into a billion different pieces. All I knew was that there was absolutely nothing I wouldn’t attempt to win every single competition I entered, including jumps I landed on a less than 40% basis. That’s a killer instinct - willing to sacrifice your body and potentially your sanity to win at all costs.
For the first week of the Olympics, I wasn’t seeing this from Canada and yes, for a competitive guy like me, that is embarassing and shameful. If you’ve read my blogs and posts in the past, I will rip anyone to shreds who I don’t believe has that killer instinct and whether you’re a pro or an amateur, when you’re in competition, you have to work that much harder and put that much more into it, otherwise, you end up complacent.
There’s nothing that irritates me more than people who hide behind excuses. It’s a personal pet peeve - one that I will never be able to tolerate. Kevin, you’re right: a lot of Canadians don’t know much about the way the amateur sports system works and you and I know both know that they will never care to learn about how it works. But any athlete who uses this as a reason to complain about why he or she has difficulty competing in events like the Olympics against other countries’ best athletes, or any athlete who complains about how hard it is to be a Canadian, amateur athlete is nothing but a SELLOUT. Just one big, useless SELLOUT.
And you know what? That, in itself, is very, very embarassing.
Posted: 08/19/08 at 2:49 pm
I am so glad that I didn’t get to read this until now, because all of the people saying that our (Canadian) athletes should be ashamed of themselves, would have made me LOOSE MY FREAKING MIND!!!!!!
Not only are we underfunded, and under populated, but we are also not placed into most of the events that are in the olympics. Think about it, what did all of you who are Canadian do when you were young? I played Hockey, Baseball, and golf, and I would bet most of you did somewhat the same. Most of the athletes that we produce end up making it into HOCKEY, and why is that? its because thats what we play!
If it is suprising that we dont do well in other things, its because there are not a whole lot of us that do it.
How many of you know someone who does the polevault? or is in fencing?
Wake up! We do what we do, and for the most part that is HOCKEY, and when we do something else, we are still really good at it, so to have people that are finishing in the top 5 in the world, that is pretty damn special.
Canadian athletes are AMAZING, and I for one, am unbelievably proud of all of us.
Posted: 08/19/08 at 6:58 pm
On another note, look at how good we do at the winter olympics.
We spend a lot of time doing winter sports and as such, we are really good at them.
If I can recall correctly, we either beat, or almost beat the US for metals in the last winter olympics. That says a whole lot!
Posted: 08/19/08 at 8:46 pm
Dave,
First you say Canadians should be embarassed, now you say the athletes are Sellouts. Come on man, you said for yourself as a freestyle skier that you always gave it your all. Canadians athletes are doing that and they don’t use funding as an excuse. All they are saying is that they could be that much better. Having proper funding and good coaching can make a difference from being 15th to getting a medal in my opinion. You mean to tell me Dave have proper funding and coaching would not have made you better? You still had that killer instinct you say. They same goes for all Canadian athletes. The difference is for some that might get them a gold and for others a 10th place finish. This is why they have these placec and more that three people compete in each event. So to say they are sellouts, you are way off. The sellouts are the athletes that take performance enhancing drugs, right?
Lee I agree 100% with your comments and last winter olympics we did almost best the US. We had 24 medals and the US had only one more. We placed third in the standings on five off Germany with 29.
We now have 13 medals Dave so we have more than your Phelps prediction and will most likely finish with close to 20, and a top 15 finish in the standing. Damn good in my books, no sellout there, nothing to be embarassed either.
PROUD TO BE A CANADIAN