“Rio 2016:
The Experience”
8/4/16, “Team
USA”
John F.
Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK)
I suppose
there is a saving grace to the fact that the Olympics always occur right before
our Presidential Elections. For a 16 Days
every summer, we put aside our political differences, we bridge the racial
divide, we forget about who should use what bathroom, and we all unite behind
Team USA. Left or right, black or white,
male or female, none of that matters for these 16 Days, as we all cheer on our
athletes who are competing under one flag, the red, white, and blue of Team
USA.
Even in 1932, when Jesse Owens disproved
the ideas of Aryan supremacy in Berlin, he was not a black athlete. He was a member of Team USA. Whatever he discrimination he faced when he arrived
home was unforgivable, but everyone had forgotten their prejudices while he
raced. We have advanced far, though not
far enough, but one thing has not changed.
For 16 Days, the only colors that will matter are red, white, and blue
and gold, silver, and bronze. We will
unite as a country to cheer on Team USA, as a whole. The most fervent Trump supporters will be
right with the people who said “Bernie or Bust” when, for 16 Days, we are one
team, Team USA. That is just one of the
many reasons why I love the Olympics so much.
I follow the political coverage as much as anyone else, more than most,
so I get wrapped up in this, and I see how these elections tear our country
apart.
That is why I love seeing our
country unite for 16 Days to cheer on Team USA.
I will go into more detail in other entries about the other things I
love about the Olympics. “Go for the
Gold” and “Citius, Altius, Fortius” will have their own entries, but this
entry is about Team USA. We are a divided
nation, this election cycle perhaps more so than ever in recent memory, so it
is a good thing that we will be fielding what may be our strongest Team of all
time, and I can’t wait to see them in action.
It will be a Games to remember.
We will be boarding soon, so I want to recount Day 00 as quickly as
possible before I board. My astute
reader will note that I am calling today Day 00 when I would typically call the
departure day Day 0. That is because I
want to line up the numbering of this trip with the Olympic Days. Day 1 is the first Day of competition, but I
will be landing in Rio the morning of Day 0, so I need to call this Day
00. I packed last night, later than I
intended, which mostly consisted of tearing the tags of my new Team USA gear
and Ralph Lauren wardrobe. I had a whole
new outfit. A new suit, a new shirt, a
new belt, and even new socks, all courtesy of Ralph Lauren. I also had cargo shorts and polo shirt, along
with some new Team USA t-shirts. That
all went in my new luggage.
Along with
my newly cleaned up apartment, it felt like I had reset my life. I got to work, and everyone loved my new look. It would be a short day, mostly consisting of
making sure my teammate was ready to take over all of my tasks when I
left. I didn’t have my usual slew of
paperwork to print out, seeing as I was staying in one city the whole time, and
I had bought a package that included my hotel and airfare. All I printed out was the inscription photo
for the WHS that marked Rio’s cultural landscape.
I realized that I had left my Kerri Walsh
photo at home. I would need to race home
at lunch. It would be a whirlwind lunch
break. First I went to the cleaners to
see if they could hem my pants. The
tailor wasn’t there today. I then went
to Duane Reade to get all the Olympic-sponsored products (toiletries and
beverages) I would need for my first day back.
I then went for my traditional pre-departure lunch at Hop Won, boneless
spare ribs and sesame chicken. After
that, I lit up a Cohiba and biked home.
I couldn’t find the picture, despite looking all over. I also needed to take out the trash, which I
forgot to do. I raced back to the
office, dejected, and finished up what I needed to do at work. I realized I hadn’t packed my yellow
button-down shirt for the plane ride home.
After work, I headed the cigar store to meet my friend Raymond,
retrieved my cigar, biked back to my apartment, looked again for the Kerri
Walsh photo, failed again, found my yellow shirt, touched up my hasty shaving
from this morning, and raced back to the apartment, another whirlwind adventure. I got to the cigar store, and we said our
goodbyes. I ditched the cigar, and we
went to wait for our car, which was late.
We almost had to take a cab, but it showed up. He was a terrible driver (service-wise, not
as in actual driving), and we got to JFK right before 6 PM.
His flight was at 8 PM, mine at 8:30 PM. There as a huge line to check-in, and it was
7 PM by the time we had our tickets. I
paid an upgrade fee to get some extra legroom, which was quite an ordeal to do,
but it all worked out. We then went
through security. Raymond wasn’t wearing
socks. Did I mention that Raymond has
never flown before? He was disgusted
with the whole TSA bureaucracy. It was a
hassle, but we cleared security and headed towards our gates. “Catch you on the flipside,” I told him as he
headed to his gate, as he is connecting in Chile. I’m flying direct.
I headed to my gate, pleased to see so many
people in Team USA gear. I then sat
down, where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, as we are
about to board. When I next write
(unless I write en route), I will be writing from Rio de Janeiro, where all
subsequent entries of this trip (prior to The Return Journey) will be
written. That will be such an unusual
experience for me, as will be staying in the same hotel room for so many
nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment