Olympic Dreams & Accidental Shootings

I'm sad this morning. Grandma Luge, a.k.a. Anne Abernathy - a 52 yr. old woman who was to compete in her 6th Olympics, yep, 6th - and my favorite slider, has had to withdraw from the games with a broken wrist. She crashed badly in a training run yesterday. She's the oldest female athlete at the Olympics, she's a cancer survivor, she wears a red helmet to signify her membership in the "red hat society" and she's a hero to a lot of sports fans. She's never really been a medal contender, but her participation in the games is truly admirable.

She competes for the Virgin Islands, but a good portion of the year she lives in northern Virginia. She rollerblades the rails-to-trails in the NoVa area for cardio training. Years ago I managed a sports complex located right off the trail. She'd blade miles and miles, then come to the park to hit golf balls and use the batting cages... to relax. The woman is a beast. She is tough as nails and a truly nice person. I watch her race whenever I can. I hope she recovers well from this broken wrist.

Onto skating for a minute: Michelle Kwan, what were you thinking? I understand you thought you could do it, but I also understand you had to jump through hoops to get on the team this year (petition, board review, etc.) because you didn't qualify through competition. If you didn't have total confidence in your ability to compete you should have bowed out to preserve your health and to give someone else a shot. I know you have an old groin injury that you aggravated in training. I know this was your last shot at Olympic gold. I also know you had to have known the state of your injury and whether or not you could hack it this go 'round. Emily Hughes is no medal contender, but I hope she has a good time and can live the dream like her sister, Sara. 2 sisters on the Olympic skating team. That's pretty freaking cool.

Men's downhill - Bode, Bode, Bode. I was pulling for you, you rebel. That Frenchie just had the run of his life.

Alright, let's talk about Cheney for a sec. The Vice freaking President shot a dude. He shot a dude. By accident. As in not-on-purpose. As in how-the-hell-do-you-accidentally-shoot-someone? And tell me, who the hell goes quail hunting anyway? Quail hunting? I guess the answer is the veep and a 78 yr old lawyer. My question is this: do we really need another reason to make the world laugh at our country? Our goddamn Vice Prez shoots people when he's supposed to be shooting quail. Or is it quails. I think it's quail. Like deer, not deers.