With the Olympics in full swing I'm trying to get into it the way I use to. Growing up has brought with it the realization that these "amatures" are one syringe away from being put out to pasture but still, I watch. With that, I'll begin this trek down the Great Wall with some of my favorite Olympic memories.
5) Charlie Simpkins winning silver in the Triple Jump in Barcelona '92.
Ok, this really isn't that big as Olympics go but he's a former CSU'er so it has to count for something.
4) Bruce Jenner in the decathalon in '76. This is probably my first Olympic memory. Now I see him on some vapid E! television crap-a-thon.
3) The Dream Team, 1992. With each year this loses some of it's allure but it still fun to look back at that team of now "old-schoolers".
2) Carl Lewis winning 85 Gold medals in L.A. This guy can't sing but he could sure run and jump. This was the first Summer Olympics that my generation could really get into.
1) Miracle on Ice, 1980. This may be the Winter Olympics but it doesn't matter. Still the best sporting story ever.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some really good ones but the editors would only let me choose 5.
I'll do better next time.
3 comments:
Here's a couple of my favorites that didn't make the list:
Eric Heiden's 5 speed skating golds in 1980. As a 10 year old I thought that dude had the biggest legs in the history of the world.
A 235 lb.Charles Barkley elbowing that 110 lb. player from Angola in 92. Nothing embodies the Olympic spirit of harmony more than a bow to the chest during a 75 point blowout.
Also, great use of the word "vapid". Tunis Romein would be proud.
2004... I was watching baseball in a hotel bar in Havana. Report came on that USA basketball had lost and would compete for the bronze medal. A man in the bar starts yelling at me, "Why don't you send your best athletes to the Olympics??" I wanted to start an "international incedent", instead I just cried a little.
Excellent. I'm not sure Barkley has 235 pounds since 8th grade :)
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