Men's Night: Secret Recipe
Take a few guys. Put them next to a pool. Place the time at Seven in the evening in early July. Add a Hibachi grill, Italian Sausages and Brats, Potato salad, marinated mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, and Barley Soda. Throw in a bikini clad hottie or two to walk by or even play in the pool. Add some great stories, told in very elaborate detail, by members of the group. There. You have it. No video games, no television, no pop music. Just guys eating, drinking, and swapping stories. The perfect men's night. All for the nominal fee of fifty dollars for groceries for the entire group. A video game costs fifty bucks. A DVD costs twenty bucks. A night out at a restaurant for four people costs about one hundred and twenty. A night grilling, scoping the scenery, and swapping stories: cheap and at the same time Priceless.
Athens 2004
Opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece are scheduled for the Thirteenth of August. This one is a tough one for me. They have already discovered one bomb at the venue. If I were a competing athlete, I would do an eight-ball before the perfunctory urinalysis just to get sent home, where it is relatively safe. These are strange times. Going to this event, at this venue, seems like a suicide mission.
The motivation for competing in Athens transcends all of the threats and fears associated with attending an event of this magnitude, with such wide open avenues for terror attacks. Here is why they, the athletes, are going to do it.
I have never been paid to be an athlete. I have been an amateur in every athletic endeavor I have ever undertaken. That puts me on the same level as the Olympic Athlete(you notice how I write Olympic Athlete with a capital 'A' the same way I write Marine with a capital 'M'? Gives you an Idea of where I'm going with this.) What separates them from me?
I was a distance runner. Cross Country, Track, and the Road Race Circuit. Track-wise I was an 800m, 1600m, and 3200m specialist. The Road Race Circuit was a ton of fun, but with no real glory. I once made it on television being filmed with the lead pack in a ten kilometer race in Tyler. In a local race I finished behind the female competitor who won the top Women's spot. On a side note, she broke the tape, passed through the chute, took on fluids, and then dragged me to the beer table, where she downed one in a matter of seconds, and coerced my impressionable nineteen year old self to do the same. Hot, older, hard-bodied women. Got to love them. Back on track, was I ever invited to represent the U.S. in the Olympics? No way. Not even close.
I was a footballer(soccer player for you kids in the U.S.). At the top of my game I touched the ball every day, and was one of the best around, even garnering the most hallowed invitation to the Marine Corps Western Region Soccer Squad. Was I ever invited to to represent the U.S. in the Olympics? No way. Not even close.
I was, and still am, one of the best pistol shots in this hemisphere. That's a family trait, as everyone in my family is a natural at it. My great uncle was an Olympian at it. The one thing I regret is being too busy and too valuable to be detached to compete in the Western Division Matches, where the best compete against the best. My one serious rival, my twin brother, has met with the same bad fortune. In our community of shooters, though, we can be proud of a very lethal reputation, X-Ring every time. Combat or match format. Was I ever invited to represent the U.S. in the Olympics? No way. Not even close.
My Point
The Olympic Athlete is the best his or her country has to offer. They may be a sprinter from Nicaragua, with a snowball's chance in hell for winning, but You-Know-What? They are going to the games to represent their country and do the best they can. That is the difference between them and me: Joey Bagodoghnuts from the U.S. They have proven themselves the best at what they do in their country, and their country has seen fit to send them to Athens with the honor of representing that country as it's finest. Do you remember Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards from England? The ski jumper? He went to the Olympics as his country's only ski jumper. He was lousy. He landed without a crash only a quarter of the time. He was the best England had to offer, went to the Winter games, gave a lion's effort, and failed. The masses LOVED him. Why? Because he was the best his country had to offer, and he accepted the invitation and tried his best. He was so much a hero, that the serious competitors pressured the IOC to block him from further competition in later Olympics because he was stealing all of the press.
These men and women, no matter how good they are, have been chosen by their nation to compete with the best of all other nations. Set aside politics. Set aside chances for victory. They are there to do their very best, because their nation has faith in them to do just that, no more. That is the Olympic Games.
