I have developed a phrase over the last year or so that simply states, “We live in a world gone mad,” mainly due to how the cancel culture has invaded our lives and how we can no longer trust what we hear on the news. All the craziest goes beyond that however, because the human race sometimes acts like they have no sense at all.
What does all this ranting have to do with sports, you ask? I came across a poll the other day that said that 60% of Americans believe they could compete in the Olympics, and most of that 60% thought basketball would be the route they would go.
We live in a world gone mad if those folks really believe that. I do not know a single person in my realm of personal contacts in which any of them could compete in the Olympics. I have played a lot of basketball, and for a short guy, I could once shoot the rock fairly decent. If I had been 6’4”, for example, who knows where my career would have gone. But as it is, I am a normal human, and normal humans like me were the people that were polled. And I couldn’t even start on my high school team.
I watched the Olympics, but not to the degree I have in the past. But the times I have watched, I continued to admire the work ethic and athletic ability of those competing in the Olympics. These are athletes that have trained for years day in and day out to be successful in whatever sport in which they are participating.
I watched the 10,000-meter run for the women over the weekend, and I was amazed. That is 6.2 miles for us non-metric uneducated Americans, and it was run in humid conditions in Japan. I know a lot of people that run in our area and compete in marathons of this length, and regardless if it is a man or a woman, the average person would have finished dead last to all the woman that ran.
I am contesting that a normal person could not compete in the Olympics, but only if they continue the normal path. Yes, they could work 24 hours a day at a certain sport and improve their chances of making the Olympic team, but then there is still the issue of qualifying in a particular sport. It takes a lot of dedication and work just to make the Olympic team trials, and then you have to beat out some stiff competition to be placed on the Olympic team, and that is a huge hill to climb.
On a more positive note, if anyone knows what kind of Kool-Aid that 60% of those people polled are drinking, send me a message so I can check into that.
