August 24 2008: Rude Sarcasm and Choking
You know what? After two years of blogging in the same style, I would have thought that at least one thing would have been clear - if at any time you think I’m being remarkably insensitive or unPC, chances are, I’m being rudely sarcastic. Call it a personality trait.
To take yesterday’s entry as an example as apparently, I’m “angry” at the athletes (an emotion far beyond the amusement I find when they choke - e.g. the comment about the American gymnastics team faceplanting):
- The Australian team were clearly only in Beijing to take advantage of the cheap souvenirs at the silk markets, because they obviously weren’t there to actually compete…the Australian team are on the express train to the land of fail and choke.: Yes, because despite 14 gold, 15 silver, and 17 bronze, I seriously mean that the entire team is made of fail. For the record? Exaggeration for comedic effect. It’s the “cheap souvenirs at the silk markets” and “express train to the land of fail and choke” that give it away. Or, in this case, which didn’t give it away.
- it’s obvious that the reason China’s excelling is because they’re drug cheats. We certainly shouldn’t give those dirty yellow bastards the benefit of the doubt: Because I’m seriously calling all Chinese people (myself included!) a dirty yellow bastard. Doesn’t sound right does it? Could that possibly be *gasp* sarcasm?
I stand by my use of the term ‘choke’. Leisel Jones and Libby Trickett? They did choke on the final stage after four years of taxpayer-funded training for that moment. In her own words, Jones “forgot to breathe” in the last 50m of her race. Four years of training and they couldn’t cover something as simple as breathing? Trickett only scraped into the final after another competitor was disqualified, all because she swam a second and a half under her personal best (a second and a half is a big deal in a 100 metre event) due to bad pre-swim planning in her first semi-final. They are the dictionary definition for choke - mental issues affecting their physical performance.
They’re world-class athletes, but they’re human with human foibles, blah blah blah. Yes, and? Four years of tax-payer funded training, and multiple chances to ‘test the water’ before the Olympics (World Championships, Commonwealth Games, etc.) to make sure they were mentally prepared, and they couldn’t spare an hour or two each week to learning how to breathe and how to ensure that one gets a place in the final by swimming one’s own race rather than judging the people in the lanes next to you?
Australian athletes have a long history of choking at the crucial moment. I’d suggest that the Australian Institute of Sport aren’t paying enough attention to the mental and emotional development of their athletes. They might be physically perfect in their respective fields, but if the mental and emotional strength isn’t there behind the physical abilities, it all means shit. It already costs taxpayers about $700,000AUD per Olympic medal (when calculated in terms of funding to the AIS), so why not chuck on an extra $100,000AUD per medal into the funding, and hire a couple of sports psychologists to help athletes overcome any mental barriers?
I mean heck, we sure don’t need those millions invested in the education system, or the health system, or in social security, or anything like that. Winning medals is clearly more important than any of the above, so you might as well go further and throw more money at athletes. (Oh, and by the way? That was sarcasm.)
In any case, perhaps I ought to stick a big red disclaimer up: Never read this blog literally. In fact, just take everything I say and turn it backwards. That might make more sense to those without a sense of irony.
Welcome to the internet: where everything is open for interpretation and sarcasm is difficult to detect.
Nevertheless, sarcasm or not, you’re still being negative about two women who ‘choked’, despite still doing pretty well. That was the point of both my comments and the thread on Snark.
Nellie on August 24 2008 #
Man, all I can say is ouch, you have some guts girl haha. You’re not afraid to post your opinions, even if controversial, even if sarcastically (sarcasm on the internet is such a variable… I mean, I can say “haha” and you don’t know if I’m really laughing or if it’s a sarcastic-whatever-mate-haha).
Back in the days though, Olympics used to just be a hobby that people were particularly good at. People would go to the events, beat their personal best, perhaps beat a few other people, and then go off to their regular work the next day. Now there’s athletes who’s sole purpose and career is to train and compete.
Personally I think we’ve gotten to a stage where, there’s not much more to beat. Sure, you can still win above other people, but human bodies can only ever run/swim/whatever so fast, and those records are pretty much set. Beating the record by a few seconds, can you really account that to the training (and then, if they have trained up to that level, shouldn’t that then be what they get consistently?) or perhaps some damn good luck on the day? I guess I’m just a bit of a downer on the Olympics, eh. I just don’t see the point anymore.
Jess on August 24 2008 #
Well I see nothing wrong w. your last post. Sarcasm or not, I don’t see why people are making a big fuss b/c *I* at least rather enjoyed it.
Hehe the Japanese gymnast IS adorable (or in the words i used in an msn convo “cheek-pinchable-cute”!)
Can’t wait for closing ceremony! Go China hahah… Canada is such a loser w/ no medals for like a week
Crystal on August 24 2008 #
I’ve always thought the sarcasm was pretty obvious..? And, compared to most of your visitors, I’m relatively recent.
Anywho, Puerto Rican athletes are actually the royalty of choking! This is especially true of the national basketball team… they blow out the competition during non-crucial games; but come the games that actually matter, and they crumble!! The mentality tends to be “beat the USA, and our mission is accomplished.” Look at how far THAT got them… they didn’t even make it to the Olympics this year. Our representation as a whole is pretty much in the dumpster right now, anyway. We didn’t even win Boxing, which is where it’s usually at for us. Oh well… maybe next time *sigh*
Robmarie on August 24 2008 #