Sportsmanship

Currently Reading: I'm up to chapter 12 on Sandeflay, and boy is it good! Linda contacted me about changing the font size; it never occurred to me I could do that. So I increased it, and had to force myself to stop; otherwise, nothing would have gotten done yesterday. Plus, I was fighting with my internet connection; it's still throwing a fit, but as I'm multi-tasking again (have to take a side dish tonight for the BSA Court of Honor plus doing D's laundry since I'll be gone tomorrow), it's not throwing me into panic mode like yesterday.


A person's character is defined by how one acts when no one is looking.

Did anyone else notice this last night? Dara Torres held up the meet when she realized a rival was having a swim suit issue. The woman was late to the starting blocks; yet only Dara realized they were short one competitor and went to the officials to explain the problem and ask them to wait for the swimmer. That's sportsmanship. She didn't have to; it would have eliminated another rival in that heat. But she gave the swimmer a fair chance to prove her ability.

Contrast that with what happened in the Women's All-Around Gymnastics.

Was anyone else appalled by what the commentators reported about Nastia's dad said to her? "Gold is the only color to bring home; 2nd place is still failure..." or something to that effect, anyway. Why put that much pressure on your own kid? If she'd fallen, or slipped, how would she have felt? I think that had a great deal to do with what else I observed.

Nastia and Shawn didn't appear to be friendly to each other; even in the team competition. Sam and Alicia were more enthusiastic in their show of support for their team mates; Nastia looked as if she couldn't be bothered. And last night, Nastia deliberately chose to sit behind her main rival during the balance beam competition, and I swear she was thinking, "I wonder what would happen if I de-pantsed her?" The look in her eyes...the way they shifted toward the camera and the crowd...it looked to me like pure hate. Correct me if I'm wrong; this is how it looked to me. And after she won the gold, she visibly unthawed, but not much.

Can hardly wait to see what happens in the individual events, now that the pressure is off. But will Dad say the same thing about the individual events? Or will she feel like the Swedish wrestler, who tore off his medal and kicked it across the room because he felt he deserved better?

Switching gears, I received an email yesterday. And it took a while to sink in. Why? It was addressed to my other pen name! It was like opening someone else's mail! Go ahead, laugh at me. It's the first communique' I've had in this name. What was it? An apology for taking so long to get to my submission; she's reviewing it now, and will get back to me in a few days. So keep your fingers crossed.

I also received a phone call from Florida an hour ago:) Another one of my friends finally got around to ordering my book, and she called me to tell me how much she's enjoying it:) Made my day. Yes, she's biased, but I've not seen her in a year and a half.

I'm off to the fair tomorrow; don't know if I'll post or not. Everything depends on how tired I am when I get home, or if I'll have time in the morning before church. I've only got 5 copies of my book left; if a couple of friends show up, I'm guarrenteed three sales. But with the Fish Fry the following week, that leaves only 2 copies, and not enough time to order more. But I can always take orders and send them when my shipment arrives! I'll have a 2-week break between signings.

So enjoy your weekend:)