Hating the Game
Dec. 14th, 2008 06:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."
- Arthur Ashe
Michael Phelps seems to be everywhere right now. He's shilling for video games, he's popping up on talk shows to hawk his new book and he's claiming a spot on all the most superficially subjective 2008 Top Ten lists.
Maybe he's not as overexposed as he was during the Olympics, but at least I could sort of control my exposure. He was in his element, so to speak, and I didn't have to worry about him milquetoasting up my Colbert Report.
What is consistent with this summer's PhelpsFest is the lionization of this 23 year old athlete. He's a great swimmer -- quite probably the best ever.* But is he our national savior? "Michael Phelps, American Hero" generates 454 Google hits. "American Hero Michael Phelps" comes up with another 850 hits. "American Hero Barack Obama"? 310 hits.
*But I have a little problem calling him the "greatest olympian ever." Okay, fine, he won all those medals. But he was able to win all those medals because swimming is one of those sports where there are like 50 different medals available, for swimming in medleys, swimming backwards, swimming with your legs kicking in a specific motion, etc. All that metal is great, but if we were having an all-time olympian fantasy draft, Jesse Owens is my No. 1 pick. Owens, by the way, was a hero.
Look, I don't begrudge him his success or his fame or his book deal. I don't want to be a hater, because I would probably do exactly the same thing were I in his Speedos. (Note well: I do not want to get "into" his Speedos.) I don't want this to be another screed against the inequitable esteem afforded athletes and entertainers. But let's maintain some perspective, here.
By any reasonable definition of the term "hero," Phelps falls short. It's great that he stayed at home on Friday nights so he could train, that he eschewed pepperoni pizza in favor of Powerbars, that he made sacrifices in the service of personal excellence and patriotic glory. But real heroism is about more than personal excellence and patriotic glory. It is about giving of oneself to make the world better -- a malleable concept to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that swimming really, really fast doesn't qualify. And it certainly doesn't entail appearing on The View.
For every multiple-gold-medal-winning olympian, there are thousands of beat cops, free clinic physicians, cancer researchers, armed forces servicemen, reading teachers and loving parents out there who are actually making differences -- real, big differences. They don't have time to dictate a book because they work for a goddamn living, every day.
I'm just saying, this has been a rough year on just about allof us, and this is supposed to be a season of giving. It would be nice if Phelps -- and all the people paying him so much attention -- gave a little more credit where credit is due.
- Arthur Ashe
Michael Phelps seems to be everywhere right now. He's shilling for video games, he's popping up on talk shows to hawk his new book and he's claiming a spot on all the most superficially subjective 2008 Top Ten lists.
Maybe he's not as overexposed as he was during the Olympics, but at least I could sort of control my exposure. He was in his element, so to speak, and I didn't have to worry about him milquetoasting up my Colbert Report.
What is consistent with this summer's PhelpsFest is the lionization of this 23 year old athlete. He's a great swimmer -- quite probably the best ever.* But is he our national savior? "Michael Phelps, American Hero" generates 454 Google hits. "American Hero Michael Phelps" comes up with another 850 hits. "American Hero Barack Obama"? 310 hits.
*But I have a little problem calling him the "greatest olympian ever." Okay, fine, he won all those medals. But he was able to win all those medals because swimming is one of those sports where there are like 50 different medals available, for swimming in medleys, swimming backwards, swimming with your legs kicking in a specific motion, etc. All that metal is great, but if we were having an all-time olympian fantasy draft, Jesse Owens is my No. 1 pick. Owens, by the way, was a hero.
Look, I don't begrudge him his success or his fame or his book deal. I don't want to be a hater, because I would probably do exactly the same thing were I in his Speedos. (Note well: I do not want to get "into" his Speedos.) I don't want this to be another screed against the inequitable esteem afforded athletes and entertainers. But let's maintain some perspective, here.
By any reasonable definition of the term "hero," Phelps falls short. It's great that he stayed at home on Friday nights so he could train, that he eschewed pepperoni pizza in favor of Powerbars, that he made sacrifices in the service of personal excellence and patriotic glory. But real heroism is about more than personal excellence and patriotic glory. It is about giving of oneself to make the world better -- a malleable concept to be sure, but I'm pretty sure that swimming really, really fast doesn't qualify. And it certainly doesn't entail appearing on The View.
For every multiple-gold-medal-winning olympian, there are thousands of beat cops, free clinic physicians, cancer researchers, armed forces servicemen, reading teachers and loving parents out there who are actually making differences -- real, big differences. They don't have time to dictate a book because they work for a goddamn living, every day.
I'm just saying, this has been a rough year on just about allof us, and this is supposed to be a season of giving. It would be nice if Phelps -- and all the people paying him so much attention -- gave a little more credit where credit is due.
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Best Olympian
Date: 2008-12-15 10:29 pm (UTC)Re: Best Olympian
Date: 2008-12-16 04:18 am (UTC)Re: Best Olympian
Date: 2008-12-16 02:56 pm (UTC)Re: Best Olympian
Date: 2008-12-16 04:19 pm (UTC)As much as I love team sports, I'd find it difficult to give "Best Olympian" to someone who relied so much on others to win their medal.
Re: Best Olympian
Date: 2008-12-16 06:35 pm (UTC)Also, I'm pretty sure Thorpe could beat Jesse Owens in skeet shooting. He could also beat him in everything that's actually in the pentathlon and decathlon (other than the running parts). And he professional played football, baseball, and basketball.
Michael Jordan couldn't hit a curve ball.