Bobby Kennedy (the Senator, not the current, wacky, candidate) used to quote an old Chinese curse: \u201cMay you live in interesting times.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As he said; \u201cLike it or not, we live in interesting times\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s for sure.\u00a0\u00a0We have a former President running for election after his defeat of four years before (a loss that this week he denied multiple times).\u00a0\u00a0We have a present President who determined not to run for a second term.\u00a0\u00a0(Probably the right thing to do for the oldest serving President in history).\u00a0\u00a0And 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week President Biden executed an impressive prisoner exchange with Russia.\u00a0\u00a0While everyone is busy running for President, he\u2019s still running the country.\u00a0\u00a0He even \u201cstayed up late\u201d to greet the returning Americans at the airport, making sure they knew how important their homecoming was to our Nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are on the verge of an all-out war in the Middle East.\u00a0\u00a0I guess it\u2019s \u201cbetter\u201d that Israeli intelligence managed to plant a bomb in the apartment of a Hamas leader in Tehran, the capital of Iran.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBetter\u201d than firing a missile at him from outside the country, which they did do against a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon.\u00a0\u00a0A secret bomb is \u201cless\u201d provocation to Iran, I suppose.\u00a0\u00a0We have to wonder, what did Biden know before the attacks, and maybe just as important, what did Trump know.\u00a0\u00a0Before 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the Democratic candidate for President is also on the verge of picking her Vice Presidential candidate.\u00a0\u00a0Will it be the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro?\u00a0\u00a0He the popular leader of a state absolutely critical for a Democratic victory in November.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s also a Conservative Jewish man (religious conservative, not political), with a clear pro-Israel stance.\u00a0\u00a0Does choosing him in Pennsylvania mean losing the Islamic vote in Michigan, also a critical Democratic state, part of the \u201cBlue Wall\u201d that failed Hillary Clinton and gave us Trump in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or does she pick Pete Buttigieg, the 2020 Presidential candidate and current Secretary of Transportation?\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s shown his governing ability, with the Baltimore Harbor cleanup, the Philadelphia I-95 bridge collapse, and holding the airlines accountable for customer failures.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s from Indiana, a state that will never vote for Harris.\u00a0\u00a0He hasn\u2019t been in his new home state of Michigan long enough to make a difference there.\u00a0\u00a0And, by the way, he\u2019s gay.\u00a0\u00a0Is 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:\u00a0\u00a0a First and Second Gentleman along with Madam President?\u00a0\u00a0Does it make a difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what about the Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s a \u201crookie\u201d Senator, only on his first term.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s won statewide election in Arizona (another critical state) twice.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s strong on gun control issues; married to former Congressman Gabby Gifford, who lives with the damage of an assassination attempt.\u00a0\u00a0And he\u2019s career Navy, a fighter pilot who joined the Astronaut Corps and piloted four Space Shuttle missions.\u00a0\u00a0But Kelly is critical of the current border policies, a \u201cconservative\u201d on that issue.\u00a0\u00a0That would help Harris with the \u201cNever-Trump\u201d Republicans, but might hurt her with her further \u201cleft\u201d base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harris promised we\u2019ll 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”. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While politics are non-stop, twenty-four seven this time of year, there is another huge distraction.\u00a0\u00a0The Olympic Summer Games (not the Summer Olympics anymore) are also on, virtually twenty-four seven.\u00a0\u00a0The gymnastic competitions, women and men, were compelling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s all the sports I don\u2019t usually see, rowing and canoeing and badminton and archery.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, track and field started this week.\u00a0\u00a0I found myself awake at 4:45 am on Saturday, watching a split screen of the two runway of men\u2019s pole vault qualifying. (Just a note:\u00a0\u00a0I can\u2019t watch pole vault laying sideways in bed.\u00a0\u00a0Two vaulters going at once, sideways, is just too much for my brain to analyze.\u00a0\u00a0I had to sit up to keep from getting confused).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there\u2019s the controversy of the men\u2019s shot put.\u00a0\u00a0After the first three throws (of six) the rain began.\u00a0\u00a0They continued\u00a0\u00a0competition on a slick, wet throwing ring.\u00a0\u00a0The officials pushed forward, forcing the throwers to deal with the slippery concrete.\u00a0\u00a0The throwers complained; slipped, fell, skidded out of the circle:\u00a0\u00a0but the competition went on.\u00a0\u00a0As a coach, I kept thinking \u2013 don\u2019t you have grippier shoes?\u00a0\u00a0As an official, I felt bad.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the Olympics; the time schedule trumps almost everything but lightning.\u00a0\u00a0But the officials looked bad as an amazing competition deteriorated into a shot-put follies contest of giant sliding bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cput\u201d was over seventy-five feet).\u00a0\u00a0The drama was with the second best shot-putter of all-time, Joe Kovacs from right here in Columbus, Ohio.\u00a0\u00a0He is great \u2013 but overshadowed (literally) by Crouser.\u00a0\u00a0His first couple throws were too tight, not good enough to get him in the medals.\u00a0\u00a0Then the rain came, and Kovacs, like the rest of the field, struggled.\u00a0\u00a0But the \u201cdry\u201d throws count as much as the wet:\u00a0\u00a0Kovacs had one throw left, wet ring and all, to get another Olympic medal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On his last throw Joe pulled it together on the slick ring in the rain \u2013 throwing seventy-two feet, eight inches to tie, for second. He got the Silver Medal on the tiebreaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, instead of twenty-four seven news and commentary, last week was twenty-four seven Olympics.\u00a0\u00a0This week will be too, except for tonight.\u00a0\u00a0Tonight I get to be \u201cthe ghost of coaches past\u201d at the Watkins Cross Country Team camp, one of my favorite talks of the year.\u00a0\u00a0I 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.\u00a0\u00a0It was twenty-eight years ago that we first went to Camp, sleeping in the same bunkhouse and meeting in the same dining hall.\u00a0\u00a0The kids may be different, but the team is much the same.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So\u2019s the food \u2013 hopefully it\u2019s taco night!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We will all go down \u201cmemory lane\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I hope they enjoy it, learn from the mistakes of the past, and catch the point \u2013 Watkins Cross Country is a family that\u2019s gone on for decades, and they are part of something larger than themselves.\u00a0\u00a0We compete: for our teammates, our extended family back generations, and for the “Black and Gold” of Watkins; as well as for ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, like Joe Kovacs, we compete best in the worst weather \u2013 “Watkins weather”.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s our tradition.\u00a0\u00a0I hope they use my \u201cstories\u201d to make the 2024 team better.\u00a0\u00a0Have I told you the one about the race across \u201cLake Watkins\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"