On a mission to destroy my federation
You may think that you have won.
Your rejection has brought on my introspection
I won't skate I'll only run.
(Do you like my song? It sounds like, "Never Gonna Find Me.")
Honestly, I don't know why people are still reading this blog, but it's very cool that you are. I think that some people who follow skating would like to think that I know what's going to happen next. I'd like to tell you all that "the 500-pound gorilla is going to fall through the ice," but I don't know that for sure. I've done my part to make sure that all of the organizations who want to come after USSPEEDSKATING will crack down on them, but it's up to those people now to make it happen.
I love how some of my friends write "USSPEEDSKATING" all in capital letters and smooshed together like that; it makes them sound so much more evil! So I'm going to write it like that on The Protocol from now on.
I wasn't going to keep posting on the blog once I started working, but I had to write about Dexter's marathon; having been surrounded by such absolute bullshit in my sport these past few years, it's been so important to me to have had a source of inspiration who never let me down. Yeah, it's punk to joke about eating a taco before a race, but at least he finished it, after hitting a wall with 10 miles to go. So, if Dexter wants to eat a taco before running a marathon, I say, "Somebody get him a guacamole-flavored Clif Shot to go with it!" He knew it was going to hurt, but he did it anyway, and I admire that. It makes him more worthy than at least one Olympian I can think of.
For me, the most anger I feel towards USSPEEDSKATING and its favorites still has to do with the women's 1500 meters in Torino: how nobody stepped up to take Chris Witty's place after she declined her spot in that event. Sure, one of the next skaters in line was injured, but for the other one, there was no excuse.
Bitch, it must be nice to be such good friends with the program director that he'll actually KEEP PEOPLE OFF THE TEAM just for you; to have the Long Track Olympic Team Selection Committee stacked 3 to 2 in the favor of you and your fellow national team skaters. Don't tell me that after more than a decade of special treatment you're "Not prepared to race." And then you can just say, "No, I don't want to skate this event;" and that's OK with them too!
USSPEEDSKATING, I hope you've learned that you can drag dead weight around, but you can't make it go to the starting line.
After a friend told me to look online at the pairings for the women's 1500 the day before that race, and to see that USSPEEDSKATING had only entered 3 women when they could have entered 4, I felt I could have come out of retirement, jumped on a plane, and flown through the night to take my place on that starting line, because unlike people who have had everything handed to them throughout their athletic careers, I UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF AN OLYMPIC RACE. But by that time, it was too late because they had already drawn the pairs.
---
Yes, sometimes I still get angry about this, but I am doing other things now. My work in a lab at the University of Utah is going great; I've helped to work out the genotyping of our mice and am now working on determining levels of proteins and RNA in different tissues. Oh yeah - and my contribution is actually appreciated, which is nice...and I just got my first paycheck. So long, $150-per month World Cup athlete stipends!!!
I'll be waiting to see what happens at the USSPEEDSKATING board meeting next month at the Hilton Hotel (No, wait, it's at the Mariott! Even though Hilton is a USS sponsor, the SLC Hilton must not have been good enough for them...) in downtown Salt Lake City; hopefully, some heads will roll. I'm thinking it might be fun to dig my swiftsuit out of storage, put it on, and go panhandling outside the hotel that weekend: "Please Feed the Starving American Speedskater!" But I'm not a starving American speedskater any more. I'm a well-paid scientist, and I can take care of myself.
You may think that you have won.
Your rejection has brought on my introspection
I won't skate I'll only run.
(Do you like my song? It sounds like, "Never Gonna Find Me.")
Honestly, I don't know why people are still reading this blog, but it's very cool that you are. I think that some people who follow skating would like to think that I know what's going to happen next. I'd like to tell you all that "the 500-pound gorilla is going to fall through the ice," but I don't know that for sure. I've done my part to make sure that all of the organizations who want to come after USSPEEDSKATING will crack down on them, but it's up to those people now to make it happen.
I love how some of my friends write "USSPEEDSKATING" all in capital letters and smooshed together like that; it makes them sound so much more evil! So I'm going to write it like that on The Protocol from now on.
I wasn't going to keep posting on the blog once I started working, but I had to write about Dexter's marathon; having been surrounded by such absolute bullshit in my sport these past few years, it's been so important to me to have had a source of inspiration who never let me down. Yeah, it's punk to joke about eating a taco before a race, but at least he finished it, after hitting a wall with 10 miles to go. So, if Dexter wants to eat a taco before running a marathon, I say, "Somebody get him a guacamole-flavored Clif Shot to go with it!" He knew it was going to hurt, but he did it anyway, and I admire that. It makes him more worthy than at least one Olympian I can think of.
For me, the most anger I feel towards USSPEEDSKATING and its favorites still has to do with the women's 1500 meters in Torino: how nobody stepped up to take Chris Witty's place after she declined her spot in that event. Sure, one of the next skaters in line was injured, but for the other one, there was no excuse.
Bitch, it must be nice to be such good friends with the program director that he'll actually KEEP PEOPLE OFF THE TEAM just for you; to have the Long Track Olympic Team Selection Committee stacked 3 to 2 in the favor of you and your fellow national team skaters. Don't tell me that after more than a decade of special treatment you're "Not prepared to race." And then you can just say, "No, I don't want to skate this event;" and that's OK with them too!
USSPEEDSKATING, I hope you've learned that you can drag dead weight around, but you can't make it go to the starting line.
After a friend told me to look online at the pairings for the women's 1500 the day before that race, and to see that USSPEEDSKATING had only entered 3 women when they could have entered 4, I felt I could have come out of retirement, jumped on a plane, and flown through the night to take my place on that starting line, because unlike people who have had everything handed to them throughout their athletic careers, I UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF AN OLYMPIC RACE. But by that time, it was too late because they had already drawn the pairs.
---
Yes, sometimes I still get angry about this, but I am doing other things now. My work in a lab at the University of Utah is going great; I've helped to work out the genotyping of our mice and am now working on determining levels of proteins and RNA in different tissues. Oh yeah - and my contribution is actually appreciated, which is nice...and I just got my first paycheck. So long, $150-per month World Cup athlete stipends!!!
I'll be waiting to see what happens at the USSPEEDSKATING board meeting next month at the Hilton Hotel (No, wait, it's at the Mariott! Even though Hilton is a USS sponsor, the SLC Hilton must not have been good enough for them...) in downtown Salt Lake City; hopefully, some heads will roll. I'm thinking it might be fun to dig my swiftsuit out of storage, put it on, and go panhandling outside the hotel that weekend: "Please Feed the Starving American Speedskater!" But I'm not a starving American speedskater any more. I'm a well-paid scientist, and I can take care of myself.
posted by Eva at 5:50 AM
