In case anyone at all is interested, here is my recap of the 2016 Summer Olympics

Hundreds of athletes and thousands of visitors were decidedly NOT done in by mosquitoes, raw sewage and desperate violent criminals. In fact, the crime and the deplorable conditions were much more on display in Sochi Russia than in Rio – but Russia is far whiter and therefore it’s a lot easier to forget about squalid conditions in a European setting than in a South American setting.

Speaking of Russia – yes the state sponsored PED cavalcade of that nation was a huge story going into Rio, but then again, so was the more subtle hues of drug-enhanced individual athletes by their coaches and teams (USA included – I’m looking at you Justin Gatling!) who proved once again the universal truth about competition fueled by money and fame: If your aren’t cheating, you aren’t trying.

Being an American and watching NBC coverage of the Olympics reminds me of that famous New Yorker cover that shows how Manhattanites see the word – 9^th Avenue looming large in the foreground while China and Japan appear as mere blips on the map. Just like that illustration, NBC execs think all we see or want to see is gymnastics, swimming and beach volleyball, while all the other sports are tiny far off islands of not-worth-our-time outliers.

Charisma counts – big time. Yes, Michael Phelps is technically the greatest and most decorated Olympian of all time, but he simply cannot carry the jockstrap of Usain Bolt when it comes to commanding worldwide attention. Phelps has the backing and support of the world’s only superpower and a sizable army of marketers, image-makers and publicity folks, yet Bolt, from tiny and poor Jamaica is far, far more of a cultural, social and sporting icon then Phelps will ever be. Michael seems like a nice enough guy, but his vanilla personality fades like a Bulgarian weightlifter running the 100 meters against an athlete built to streak across the track and also streak across every newspaper, magazine, computer and TV screen in the world.

Ryan Lochte is THE American athlete for our Post-Trump era. He possesses real talent, but it’s not nearly as potent as he thinks it is. He’s dripping with white male privilege and bro-centric douche-baggery, yet he can really turn on the charm when needed. He has the functional IQ of a house plant, yet he’s smart enough to know how effective thinly veiled racism can be as a cover. After these Olympics, Lochte in US sports, like Trump in US politics, has become the living embodiment of American confusion and angst before the rest of the world. We can’t explain either of these men and we feel someone dirty even having to try.

The Rio and Sochi Games both proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Summer and Winter Olympics should be forever tethered to a permanent location – Greece in Summer and Switzerland in Winter. The corruption, cost overruns, colossal waste, and financial ruin that haunt the host cities has become an almost masochistic ritual in civic emolliating. It’s no longer interesting to wonder about which Olympics was best, but rather more fascinating to ponder which city lost the most money. Please, let’s all band together and force the IOC to anchor future Olympics to two sites. Let’s save billions, crush graft and cronyism and simply enjoy the athletic completion – in two really nice places!

Finally, while men are still stronger and faster, these Olympics demonstratively showed that women athletes are just much more compelling. Because their sports are not huge money-makers, women athletes aren’t coddled brats with an Olympic-sized sense of entitlement. They often work harder because they don’t have the same money-fueled support system to pave their way. They routinely demonstrate gold medal-worthy levels of sportsmanship that is almost unheard of in the male sports. And more often than not, women are WAY more balanced and grounded then their male counterparts. Need proof? Don’t make me bring up Lochte again.

CLINT EASTWOOD: “GET OFF MY LAWN MINORITIES!”

This was mildly disturbing, yet wholly predictable. A decrepit old white actor who’s lived in a platinum-plated bubble for more than 60 years decides he is going to tell minorities and women to get over this whole discrimination thing.

Basically Clint Eastwood’s entire interview can be boiled down to: “Hey look, Trump says some pretty bad things, but c’mon, making fun of blacks and dames was fine when I was a kid, so let’s just go back to the days when a privileged famous white guy could yuk it up with his buddies and tell off-color jokes and spew sexist rhetoric, safe from the persecution of political correctness. Whatdaya say?”

Don’t you just love it when someone who is literally and figuratively separated from the wrath of racism by bullet-proof glass, concrete walls and – probably – a moat with crocodiles, tells blacks, Hispanics, Muslims and women to stop complaining? Don’t we all feel better knowing that Dirty Harry is on the case making sure that minorities and women don’t get too big for their britches!

Of course being a loyal democrat, I am kind of glad Mr. Eastwood is wading back into the presidential election.  I think we all remember his great foray into the 2012 campaign when he snagged the best actor nod for playing a beloved senile has-been, delivering a cringe-inducing monologue to a piece of furniture.

Keep talking Clint. Your status as a fallen A-lister who has the power to crush republican presidential dreams is secure.

 

OF COPS AND FISHERMAN

This story troubles me. Police waited three hours to take out the Orlando Nightclub shooter?  Three hours in which he shot more people and also allowed some wounded people to bleed out and die?

Obviously, the whole terrible ordeal bothers me. It was gut wrenching and almost impossible to imagine.

 

But the fact that police officers waited and waited to engage – seemingly with no real negotiations going on. Seemingly with no hope to get him to surrender. Seemingly, the cops waited because they didn’t want to engage with an armed man in tight quarters.

Now of course that makes sense.  I wouldn’t want to engage with an armed man in tight quarters – but here’s the thing.  I’m me. A civilian. I’m not supposed to engage with an armed man in tight quarters.

Police are.

We are told time and time again that police risk their lives every day to protect us. We hear that from cops, the media, senators and the president.  We are told that the cops are brave men and women who risk their lives to protect people.

But do they really? 

Let’s unpack the blanket statement that cops risk their lives to protect us.

·         On one hand, of course they do. They wear a uniform that identifies them as police. If you are a bad guy, that uniform can certainly look like a target.

·         The carry guns and Tasers and mace and are sworn to uphold the law and go after the bad guys. That is inherently dangerous and therefore meets the test of someone who is a life-risker.

·         They also engage in high-speed pursuits, domestic violence incidents and traffic stops – all considered highly unsafe events.

But on the other hand, do cops inherently go above and beyond their sworn professional duty to risk their lives for complete strangers?

·         I would love to see legitimate stats (say from the FBI) with painstakingly detail about how many hostages, or injured shooting victims have died in the last ten years because cops were prohibited from directly engaging a bad guy in order to keep themselves out of harm’s way.

·         I would love to see legitimate stats on how many people have been killed or injured by accidental police shootings because the cop’s training and personal decision prompted the use of a gun over non-lethal methods.

·         I would love to see an exhaustive investigation into the possibility that systemic fear of black men by white cops leads to the over-use of deadly force in such encounters.

First caveat: I’m not a cop, never have been. I can only imagine their job. Second caveat; I’m not a cop hater and am profoundly glad they do their jobs and protect people. Third caveat: I don’t want cops taking unnecessary risks in order to stop bad guys.

However, my point of this post is as follows:

Do we overdramatize the role of “hero cop” to their detriment?  If we constantly hear from our leaders that, “our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives every day,” isn’t it inevitable that we feel let down when they don’t? I read the above mention story and wondered: did those poor souls in that Orlando nightclub bathroom go to their deaths believing the cops abandoned them?

I was a lifeguard in high school.  The first thing they teach you in lifeguard school is this: never go into the water unless you know for sure the drowning person is not going to drag you under. If it’s a choice between saving them and risking your life, back away and let them drown. 

Let’s be honest. Cops are taught the same thing. AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. I believe that the only way you can have an effective police profession is to mostly guarantee cops that they get to go home at night unscathed.

I’m just advocating that we stop with this unattainable level of hero worship that revs up the expectations far beyond the ability of cops to save everyone.

In Orlando, people died who otherwise might have lived because the cops were not going to risk their lives to save them. That is horrible to comprehend and horrible even to write, but it is the truth. No hero cop with a lantern-jaw and rugged good looks shouted to his brothers in blue: “damn the regulations, I’m going to save those poor people!” and stormed that bathroom in front of a hail of gunfire. The cops waited until a relatively safe tactic was found and then they executed.

Cops have a dangerous job. It turns out however, theirs is not the most dangerous job - that belongs to loggers and commercial fisherman. Cops rank 15^th in most dangerous professions.  Yet we don’t lionize guys who cut down trees or haul in fish. Hell, probably 99.999 percent of all Americans don’t even know those ARE dangerous jobs. And no politician stands before a crowded arena shouting about our nation’s patriotic duty to blindly support the brave men who chop down redwoods or reel in halibut.

And as far as I know, the loggers and fisherman of the world don’t have union leaders, senators and mayors decrying any person who dares criticize their tactics, mistakes and judgements. Nor is there a huge competition between Republicans and Democrats to show which party is more supportive of tree cutters and fish gutters.

Cops deserve our respect and support – no question. However, let’s show them respect and support by accurately acknowledging who and what they are: professionals who do a job and then go home, just like the rest of us. Can cops be heroes? Of course! But so can the logger who risks his life to feed his family or the fisherman who risks his life to pay for his daughter’s education.