Vonn: A Re-visitation of Old Wounds

Here's what I had to say about this whiner Lindsey Vonn a few days ago:

"Has anyone heard about this injury to American superstar skier Lindsey Vonn. As US Americans, we're apparently supposed to be expecting her to utterly destroy the competition in some skiing competition. Or rather, we were supposed to be expecting that. Now we're just hoping she can compete. It seems she has suffered some "injury" that she immediately reported to Matt Lauer and the good people at NBC. The injury is described as a "deep muscle bruise," and she feels quite a bit of pain when she wears her boot. There is no damage to any muscle or bone, nor is there a joint involved. She has some pain when she skis (is that how it's spelled? Ski-s). And her reason for reporting this to Matt Lauer on NBC morning news or the Today Show or whatever it is? To make sure we, the viewers, know that if she fails to impress at the Olympics, she has a valid excuse! Hahahahahaha! I'm a hater, and this is just the sort of thing that makes me think our superstar athletes are whiny babies. Note to self: to create an "American Olympic Dream" story, make up some ailment that most athletes have been dealing with throughout their career with no complaints (you play a sport for a living, how can you complain about a bruise, however serious?!), then report it to the news as a possible tournament wrecker, then do reasonably well in your competition, then write the book about how you overcame all that adversity to bring new Glories to the US Olympic Team! Go Team USA!"

Please refer, now, to the following stories of her amazing gold medal performance (I googled Vonn a couple hours after the event ended). Make sure you look for phrases like "0vercoming adversity" and "against all odds" as you peruse these idiotic stories. Then go back in time and have as little respect for this athlete as I do.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/olympics/2010/02/17/lindsey.vonn.ap/index.html
(same AP story here:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-features/news/newsid=424774.html#american+women+good)

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20345163,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+people%2Fheadlines+%28PEOPLE.com%3A+Top+Headlines%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2010-02-17-lindsey-vonn_N.htm

http://www.sunherald.com/mlb/story/1960000.html

Retch. Things people will believe coming out of someone's mouth. Well, Vonn's "injury" has done nothing to hurt this admittedly excellent skier's chance at some medals. The only question that remains is why she thought she should make such a big deal of this thing to begin with. I say it's all mind games and gamesmanship, with perhaps a hint of self-preservation and deflection.

Good times, no? Go USA, win me something for being a citizen of the same country as you!

Oh, and lest I leave you with the impression that the entire press has bought into this idiocy, please finish things off with this story, which has only a passing reference to the (supposedly catastrophic) shin injury:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703444804575071801533053806.html