Congrats Seth Wescott! Gold medal in the snowboard cross! You even got interviewed by Bob Costas!
Here’s a hint for next time. If you win the gold, they play your country’s national anthem. Cameras these days have zooms, we can see you lamely faking up-close. Maybe you should a) learn you own nations FUCKING NATIONAL ANTHEM (since you’re there representin’ us and all), b) mouth actual words instead of looking like a trout out of water, or c) just stand there and smile (maybe people will think you know the words and are singing them in your head). Okay, don’t do b, that’s like answering “c” for every question on a test and getting some credit.
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Maybe he should learn the other 3 as pennance. Nobody knows those. Honestly I didn’t even know they existed until now. They are here in case anyone’s interested.
Strangely enough, in high school a friend’s dad swore up and down that when he was young, according to his brother, one night, apparently fast asleep, he sat up in bed and sang two complete verses. So once upon a time people knew about the rest. I’m not sure I knew myself until I heard that story.
You might be surprised how many people don’t know the words. Especially the number of people who are actually publicly singing the thing who don’t know the words.
I love the Anthem and sing it proudly, but seriously, do you think more than 1 of every 5 18 year old know all the words? No effin’ way.
This isn’t surprising, and really I just don’t see getting worked up over it. I prefer to give the guy credit for winning the medal for us in the first place.
I don’t care that he didn’t know the words to a song. Few do. I care that he was responsible for one of the most exciting wins I’ve ever seen at the Olympics, coming from behind to take the lead when all you have is gravity and technique. I’d been watching the earlier heats and it always seemed as if the one in front ended up winning. There’s no such thing as being able to put on the heat and overtake the person in front of you, like in running. I’d never even HEARD of Snowboard Cross before, and after tonight it’s my favorite sport ever. It’s at least as if not more nail-bitingly exciting than Short Track Speed Skating.
Seth Wescott! Damn. He is IT! Btw, he’s not the stoner type. According to the short feature they showed, he’s building his own log home in the woods of Maine. Cutting down the trees himself. He also goes snowboarding in Alaska, on mountains that have never even been skied. He may be a daredevil, but he’s not a stoner or a slacker.
While I’m here I’ll Pit NBC’s camera placements and the commentary. Lots of exciting passes and wipeouts* happened and we didn’t get to see a lot of them because the cameras weren’t positioned well. The commentary bugged me because they perverted the meaning of the term “photo finish.” Twice races ended very close, but still within a half-board’s length, and the commentator was whooping about “basically a photo finish!” Um, no. Photo finishes are where it’s hard to tell who got over the line first, and the photo (still frame, nowadays) makes it clear. Twice he said there were photo finishes and and they weren’t anywhere near a photo finish. I wanted to smack him.
*I’m not into seeing wipeouts because they’re funny or cool, although they sometimes can be both. I just like to know what happened to cause it.
That was stupid. I meant, the one in front at the start of the race. The only time I saw someone who came out of the guardhouse in 2nd actually win was Wescott. He stayed in 2nd for most of the race, then somehow, I’m still not sure how, but it didn’t have anything to do with the lead guy messing up, he got into 1st place and won the first ever Gold in the event.
Or maybe, since he just won gold, he can just stand there if he fucking wants to. Is every American citizen obliged to participate when the anthem is played?
Hell, I’m Canadian and I know the words to The Star Spangled Banner. Of course, I’ve attended about a hundred hockey games and they play it at virtually every one of them.
Really? Didn’t you have to sing it at least once in a while when you were a kid? I think we sang it once a week in elementary school. Everybody had it drilled into their heads by the time they were 12.
Once a week? Sheesh, we sing it every damn day at our school with a lady playing the out of tune piano about a half octave too high. When we hit the high note for “land of the free”, those kids could almost shatter glass.
I take it that you must be one of those folks who lounges in front of the television, rather than representing your country in international competition.
