What does Simone Biles quitting mean about our country and the "woke" revolution. It means a lot.

I know, this is mean. I know, I couldn't get over a pommel horse with a trampoline to jump off of - so who am I to say anything? Well, I'll tell you, I'm not an Olympic champion. I'm not the greatest female gymnast in history - maybe just the best gymnast in history - or even one of the best athletes ever period. She is. And it means something that she quit today. I know we will hear about depression and all that stuff, maybe even Larry Nassar (I'd never make fun of anyone for being molested, but I've already seen reference to him today hinting he was to blame this - come on), but for an Olympic athlete . . . the greats overcome. What did Deflategate do to Tom Brady? Think that was easy for him? Well, he came back like a house on fire, didn't he? How much pressure was it when the Patriots were 25 points down in the Super Bowl? What did four years off from boxing do to Ali? Came back. Became champion again. That applies to all of athletes. The great champs come back and they don't quit. 

Aly Reisman said it was too much pressure on Simone. Well, how much pressure was there on Aly when she came back and her coaches wouldn't initially look at her right in front of them. Was it too much pressure for Dan Jansen who humiliated himself Olympic game after Olympic game to suck it up and win the Gold in his last race? Was it too much pressure when Dave Wottle was so far back in the 1972 men's 800 meters that even I thought he should just stop, but he went on to win with an amazing kick? Was it too much pressure when running a marathon Hayley Sutter collapsed before the finish line and crawled across to qualify?   

We could go on with these stories because the Olympics are full of them. These amazing athletes are all under tremendous pressure - it's always too much. Even their families are under tremendous pressure just watching. But, they persevere. In 2012 these words from Tennyson were put up in the Olympic Village for all to see - "‘To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield’ – was selected as the inscription for a wall in the athlete’s village at the 2012 London Olympic Games." 

Baron de Coubertin, who founded the modern games said - "The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; the important thing in Life is not triumph, but the struggle; the essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well. To spread these principles is to build up a strong and more valiant and, above all, more scrupulous and more generous humanity."

That's not what Simone seem to believe when she sat down. Not in the individual competition. The team competition. I expect more to come. The U.S. team seems to be mentally beaten as a group, even though we will win many medals.  

Am I being too hard on this young woman? Horse feathers! She's operated under unbelievable pressure so many times - she's ten times tougher than me. That's not why I think she quit. I'm going to get to that. And I know some of you will think, now he's gone too far. Not everything is about our problems. Well, not everything is, but if you read the words I have been writing here, I am not unclear - we are a sick nation undergoing the institution of fascism. Fascism is viral and pretty much smears everything with its filth.

I know it seems unrelated, but as soon as I saw it I thought about Naomi Osaka, who I rooted for like crazy against Serena at the U.S. Open several years ago, quitting at the French Open and not attending Wimbledon, citing mental issues. I know, who am I? Maybe she does. I don't think so. I think she is an amazing athlete who has been taught when you are upset, even in sports, quit. And, now Simone quits too. Completely different circumstances? Nothing to do with each other? I don't know. I do notice that Naomi, who competed in the Olympics for Japan, just lost to someone way below her own talent level.

I have no proof of what I am about to say and feel free to consider me the worst person in the world if it hurts your feelings. This is what happens when you take a country and tell everyone that they are racists, that the way to succeed isn't through education and effort, you know, at first you don't succeed try, try again, but to riot and blame it on everything but what the problems really are. This is what happens when we tell people that it's okay to get people fired by saying "I don't feel safe," and get people fired. This is what happen when half of the country thinks it was okay for people to show up at Kavanaugh's hearing and shriek or others to pretend to be so upset that they claw at the doors of the Supreme Court (with a completely unmolested security guard standing nearby). This is what happens when people start believing what is important is an offended person's feelings and not the intent of the speaker. This is what happens when the youth in your nation are propagandized into believing that our country is systemically racist and look the other way or even cheer when they disparage their own country while competing on the team.

Yes, we've completely forgotten the idea of team. I'm not watching (I'm boycotting all tv anyway - but if I wanted to I'd watch). I still remember the one time this year I agreed to watch a few hours of tv on New Years Eve to be sociable with friends, and got treated to a BLM commercial complete with some poor little girl marching who glared at the tv as if to say - I'm oppressed but I hate you and will fight you. A little girl. Those bastards. They really don't care what happens to kids, including minority kids, if they can ride this hate to power. 

How do Olympians who are proud of their country, want to fight for glory and wave a flag, feel when they see others protesting it? I bet it intimidates them. People don't like being called racist and they don't like being politicized against their will. Who is going to grab the flag à la George Foreman and wave it around (days after the Tommie Smith, John Carlos protest)? George is still proud of it and knows he is free. Great interview with him at George Foreman: ‘If I had to do it all over again, I would have had two flags’ (theundefeated.com). That's right - he said if he could do it again there would be two flags waving. Guess that go over well with our woke friends.

As usual, I want to make it as clear as possible what I am saying because someone can always misunderstand, misinterpret or twist it into something else. I don't know Simone Biles. Maybe she is patriotic. But she has signaled she is about the me-too movement (a great idea that almost immediately went off the rails and became about politics) and BLM. She had no problem with all those supposedly for George Floyd but somehow was terribly disturbed by the January 6th riot at the capital. Fine, what can we expect from her when even an all-time great on the brink of retirement like Drew Brees embarasses himself by walking back his support for his country. 

Wait a second . . I just had a great idea - 

Why can't she just blame Trump? I mean, the Biden administration blames him for everything that goes wrong. Am I being silly? I don't know. These stories usually have another shoe to drop. Sometimes excuses take a while to roll out. Let's see if this becomes about other things, Nassar, racism, Trump. I hope not, but its almost subliminally there. We spent four years with people saying they couldn't have relationships or babies or stay out of therapy because of Trump. Why not this? 

It would be really nice, an Olympic sized story, if Simone came back and kicked ass in the individual competition. Personally, I don't think after quitting on your team even the peerless Simone should get that chance. But, the coaches want to win (I think) and she is still absolutely the best chance. It would be nice if other athletes, instead of saying, well, if even best in the worldsies like Naomi and Simone can quit, how can I stand the pressure? This is, I'm afraid, the lesson to all the little kids out there. 

But, don't worry, Simone, Kerry Strug is pulling on her gym outfit one more time right now just in case the team needs her.