Interesting Times
Bobby Kennedy (the Senator, not the current, wacky, candidate) used to quote an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” As he said; “Like it or not, we live in interesting times”. That’s for sure. We have a former President running for election after his defeat of four years before (a loss that this week he denied multiple times). We have a present President who determined not to run for a second term. (Probably the right thing to do for the oldest serving President in history). And we have a Vice President running in his place, who when elected, will be the first woman, the second Black person, and first American of South Asian descent to lead the Nation.
This week President Biden executed an impressive prisoner exchange with Russia. While everyone is busy running for President, he’s still running the country. He even “stayed up late” to greet the returning Americans at the airport, making sure they knew how important their homecoming was to our Nation.
We are on the verge of an all-out war in the Middle East. I guess it’s “better” that Israeli intelligence managed to plant a bomb in the apartment of a Hamas leader in Tehran, the capital of Iran. “Better” than firing a missile at him from outside the country, which they did do against a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon. A secret bomb is “less” provocation to Iran, I suppose. We have to wonder, what did Biden know before the attacks, and maybe just as important, what did Trump know. Before Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu raced back to Israel after a dozen children were killed by a Hezbollah missile, the last person he talked to was the ex-President in Mara Lago.
Veep
And the Democratic candidate for President is also on the verge of picking her Vice Presidential candidate. Will it be the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro? He the popular leader of a state absolutely critical for a Democratic victory in November. But he’s also a Conservative Jewish man (religious conservative, not political), with a clear pro-Israel stance. Does choosing him in Pennsylvania mean losing the Islamic vote in Michigan, also a critical Democratic state, part of the “Blue Wall” that failed Hillary Clinton and gave us Trump in the first place?
Or does she pick Pete Buttigieg, the 2020 Presidential candidate and current Secretary of Transportation? He’s shown his governing ability, with the Baltimore Harbor cleanup, the Philadelphia I-95 bridge collapse, and holding the airlines accountable for customer failures. But he’s from Indiana, a state that will never vote for Harris. He hasn’t been in his new home state of Michigan long enough to make a difference there. And, by the way, he’s gay. Is America ready to elect a gay man, married with two kids, to the Vice Presidency, along with the first woman, Black and South Asian, as President: a First and Second Gentleman along with Madam President? Does it make a difference?
Rather Be in Philadelphia
And what about the Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly. He’s a “rookie” Senator, only on his first term. But he’s won statewide election in Arizona (another critical state) twice. He’s strong on gun control issues; married to former Congressman Gabby Gifford, who lives with the damage of an assassination attempt. And he’s career Navy, a fighter pilot who joined the Astronaut Corps and piloted four Space Shuttle missions. But Kelly is critical of the current border policies, a “conservative” on that issue. That would help Harris with the “Never-Trump” Republicans, but might hurt her with her further “left” base.
Harris promised we’ll know on Tuesday, and will have her new running mate at her side at a rally in Philadelphia (whoever it is, all her roads to the Presidency run through Pennsylvania). The possible “Veeps” are saying what WC Fields liked to say, “Frankly my dear, I’d rather be in Philadelphia”.
Paris
While politics are non-stop, twenty-four seven this time of year, there is another huge distraction. The Olympic Summer Games (not the Summer Olympics anymore) are also on, virtually twenty-four seven. The gymnastic competitions, women and men, were compelling.
There’s all the sports I don’t usually see, rowing and canoeing and badminton and archery. And, of course, track and field started this week. I found myself awake at 4:45 am on Saturday, watching a split screen of the two runway of men’s pole vault qualifying. (Just a note: I can’t watch pole vault laying sideways in bed. Two vaulters going at once, sideways, is just too much for my brain to analyze. I had to sit up to keep from getting confused).
Shot Put
And then there’s the controversy of the men’s shot put. After the first three throws (of six) the rain began. They continued competition on a slick, wet throwing ring. The officials pushed forward, forcing the throwers to deal with the slippery concrete. The throwers complained; slipped, fell, skidded out of the circle: but the competition went on. As a coach, I kept thinking – don’t you have grippier shoes? As an official, I felt bad. It’s the Olympics; the time schedule trumps almost everything but lightning. But the officials looked bad as an amazing competition deteriorated into a shot-put follies contest of giant sliding bodies.
Two-time American Gold Medalist Ryan Crouser defended his position. His first throw was good enough to win the Gold for his third Olympics (his winning “put” was over seventy-five feet). The drama was with the second best shot-putter of all-time, Joe Kovacs from right here in Columbus, Ohio. He is great – but overshadowed (literally) by Crouser. His first couple throws were too tight, not good enough to get him in the medals. Then the rain came, and Kovacs, like the rest of the field, struggled. But the “dry” throws count as much as the wet: Kovacs had one throw left, wet ring and all, to get another Olympic medal.
On his last throw Joe pulled it together on the slick ring in the rain – throwing seventy-two feet, eight inches to tie, for second. He got the Silver Medal on the tiebreaker.
Camp Night
So, instead of twenty-four seven news and commentary, last week was twenty-four seven Olympics. This week will be too, except for tonight. Tonight I get to be “the ghost of coaches past” at the Watkins Cross Country Team camp, one of my favorite talks of the year. I get to share cross country stories and traditions from the last half-century (forty-six years to be exact), and let the current runners know they are part of a long tradition. It was twenty-eight years ago that we first went to Camp, sleeping in the same bunkhouse and meeting in the same dining hall. The kids may be different, but the team is much the same. So’s the food – hopefully it’s taco night!!
We will all go down “memory lane”. I hope they enjoy it, learn from the mistakes of the past, and catch the point – Watkins Cross Country is a family that’s gone on for decades, and they are part of something larger than themselves. We compete: for our teammates, our extended family back generations, and for the “Black and Gold” of Watkins; as well as for ourselves.
And, like Joe Kovacs, we compete best in the worst weather – “Watkins weather”. That’s our tradition. I hope they use my “stories” to make the 2024 team better. Have I told you the one about the race across “Lake Watkins”…
