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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!mcnc!unc!bch
From: bch@unc.UUCP (Byron Howes )
Newsgroups: net.sport
Subject: Re: USSR - Alpine Skiing
Message-ID: <6779@unc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 18-Feb-84 01:22:02 EST
Article-I.D.: unc.6779
Posted: Sat Feb 18 01:22:02 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Feb-84 02:36:15 EST
References: <574@pyuxa.UUCP>
Organization: University of North Carolina Comp. Center
Lines: 28

Cheers to T.C. Wheeler.  I agree completely.  Just being in the Olympics
and finishing your event has got to be one of the great thrills of a
lifetime.  The also-rans put as much work, and heart, into what they do
as those 6 guys who get to come down the slope first and they deserve
as much, maybe more, for just doing it -- not for the medals, not for
the glory, but just for doing it.

One of the great stories ABC *did* cover was that of the Puerto Rican
Luger who had *never* made it completely down a luge run without
wiping out -- until the Olympics when he made through all four of
his runs.  True, he came in dead last among those who finished, but
he *did* finish.  Rocky Balboa couldn't have done it better.

Despite the hype and the excesses of the press and fans, the Olympics
really do represent the best of what we humans are.  You watch these
kids competing and you realize that they're not doing it for G-d
and country, but just for the competition and themselves.  Those of
use sitting in our living rooms with our beer and pretzels may get
a stir of national pride during the medal ceremonies, but it seems
to me the joy those athletes feel is an intensely personal one.  I
guess I'm glad for the opportunity to share it even a little.
-- 

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

					Byron Howes
					UNC - Chapel Hill
					(decvax!mcnc!unc!bch)