We’re in the home stretch of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and one thing is certain: The United States is number one…in mediocrity.
At this writing, we are tied with France for fifth place in the medal count with 13, behind Norway (30), Germany (23), Canada (19) and The Netherlands (14). This is a far cry from the U.S.’ record-setting 37 medals in Vancouver in 2010. ...
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It’s sturm-und-drang time in figure skating at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, not that there hasn’t already been enough drama with the flameouts, the dark horses, the falls, the wardrobe malfunctions – and Tara and Johnny’s excellent “Will and Grace” adventure.
But tonight begins what for many figure skating fans – and, indeed, Olympic viewers – is the glamour event of the Games, the ladies’ championship. ...
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Seventeen people were killed by a gunman in Florida and I feel – nothing.
No, that’s not exactly correct. I feel a certain righteous indignation. The Republican governor of Florida, Rick Scott, thinks FBI director Christopher Wray should resign, because the Bureau got a tip on gunman Nikolas Cruz and didn’t follow it up. Oh, please. The Broward County sheriff’s office got numerous complaints about this guy. Listen, it’s always the same story – young white guy with a disproportionate rage at the world. And it’s always the same result. And the same response. Thoughts and prayers. Nutjob. ...
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One of the things that has always fascinated me as an arts writer and singer is performance anxiety. Why do some people rise to an occasion when others, perhaps more talented, shrink?
Nerves have a lot to do with it and, as with most challenges, only you yourself can overcome them. No one can do it for you. Indeed, others, however well-meaning, may only make it worse.
In the men’s figure skating free program, Nathan Chen – who had turned in disastrous performances in the team competition and short program – put on a skating clinic, executing six quad jumps and earning the fifth highest score in Olympic history. What made the difference? ...
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When we were casting about for a cover for February WAG, American Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin seemed like a natural. Wine & Dine columnist Doug Paulding, an avid skier, had seen Shiffrin – the best slalom skier in the world – in action at Killington in Vermont on Thanksgiving weekend and agreed with the experts he talked to: This was her moment.
She delivered in the giant slalom – an event she has wrestled with – with an aggressive, technically proficient, come-from-behind victory that is a testament to her talent, discipline and hard work.
But then she failed to medal in her best event, the slalom. Illness, nerves, a combination of both? ...
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Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes a poignant story in The New York Times about Nigel, a gannet, a type of seabird, who fell in love with a decoy bird placed on New Zealand’s Mana Island for the very purpose of attracting many of his kind. But he loved only one. He presented. He preened. He attempted to mate. But the stone-cold beauty remained unmoved. And, in the end, the island caretaker found him dead, which just about broke his heart.
It reminds you of Hans Christian Andersen’s story of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” and the little one-legged tin man whose love for a ballerina seals his doom. (Not a huge fan of Andersen’s downer stories and even less of a fan after learning that some scholars believe Charles Dickens based the creepy Uriah Heep in “David Copperfield” on him.) Anyway, the George Balanchine ballet version makes the soldier’s unrequited love more apparent.
Love is blind. But then, so are politics and selfishness. ...
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On Oct. 25, 1995 – one day after the United Nations turned 50 – then New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani threw Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat out of a concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall that ironically featured Ludwig van Beethoven’s great ode to humanity, his Symphony No. 9. The Clinton Administration then criticized Giuliani for an egregious breach of international diplomacy, but Giuliani said he could never forgive Arafat’s terrorist past, even though at that point he had been praised by both the Americans and the Israelis for his role in the Middle East peace talks.
It’s an age-old problem. We have our values. Do we cast them aside in social situations? We do not. But neither do we make a mockery of our values by punctuating them with rudeness.
Impolite behavior seeks to ridicule and humiliate others. But it is really only a reflection of those who advocate it.
I thought of this while watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang as Vice President Mike Pence avoided contact with Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, even though he was sitting right in front of her and the president of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, had shaken her hand. ...
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