So my friend Jim's first cousin, once removed (I think I have that right, but it's not like I'm making the guest list for a family reunion on Belle Isle) is competing in Sochi.
Her name is Jessica Smith.She's a short track speed skater from Melvindale, Michigan. I know next to nothing about her, pretty much because she's a short track speed skater from Melvindale, Michigan.
And that simple fact is one of the greatest things, if not the greatest thing about the Olympics.
People who are the best in the world at what they do, but are more obscure than a Tom Robbins religious reference get the network cameras pointed at them for two weeks.
And first cousins once removed and third cousins they've never met and their dog groomer's kids and everyone in their picturesque or nondescript small towns go crazy, and get to brag about them on the internet. And they should.
Melvindale is a basically nondescript but certainly not charmless small town that used to have one of my favorite trucker restaurants. It may still be there, but I can't remember its name to look it up because I only ate there when my BAC was measured with a dipstick.Okay,that digression just slid through the blocks and crashed into the padding, but you get the picture.
The agony of wandering off the track
North America has thousands of Melvindales. But not every Melvindale has a Jessica Smith or someone like her. The ones that do have someone to root for who "is one of them". And Jessica's parents and brother won't be watching on TV, because people in the town did this.
Yep, they'll be in Sochi, with the hacked cellphones and the wonky toilets and loving almost every minute of it.
Just a short skate down the road from Melvindale is River Rouge, and the Port of Detroit, where cargo ships from Russia and China dock. Some of the guys on those ships might have a first cousin once removed, or their letter carrier's kid, or someone from their small town who is competing against Jessica in a sport people only talk about once every four years. But when they do talk about it, they talk with pride. Not everyone in Sochi will earn a picture on a cereal box, but they sure as hell earned that pride.
And that simple fact is one of the greatest things, if not the greatest thing about the Olympics.
People who are the best in the world at what they do, but are more obscure than a Tom Robbins religious reference get the network cameras pointed at them for two weeks.
And first cousins once removed and third cousins they've never met and their dog groomer's kids and everyone in their picturesque or nondescript small towns go crazy, and get to brag about them on the internet. And they should.
Melvindale is a basically nondescript but certainly not charmless small town that used to have one of my favorite trucker restaurants. It may still be there, but I can't remember its name to look it up because I only ate there when my BAC was measured with a dipstick.Okay,that digression just slid through the blocks and crashed into the padding, but you get the picture.
North America has thousands of Melvindales. But not every Melvindale has a Jessica Smith or someone like her. The ones that do have someone to root for who "is one of them". And Jessica's parents and brother won't be watching on TV, because people in the town did this.
Yep, they'll be in Sochi, with the hacked cellphones and the wonky toilets and loving almost every minute of it.
Just a short skate down the road from Melvindale is River Rouge, and the Port of Detroit, where cargo ships from Russia and China dock. Some of the guys on those ships might have a first cousin once removed, or their letter carrier's kid, or someone from their small town who is competing against Jessica in a sport people only talk about once every four years. But when they do talk about it, they talk with pride. Not everyone in Sochi will earn a picture on a cereal box, but they sure as hell earned that pride.
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