Steve Re: Just Blather

I have always enjoyed the Olympics a great deal. The rapid improvement in scores and times surely is proof of human evolution in action.

It was probably Jack that got me so interested by recounting his witness to stars such as Jim Thorpe, and later, Jessie Owens. I just go back to Bruce Jenner, Bob Hayes, and Peggy Fleming. (Not to mention that guy that fell off the ski jump!)

My most memorable Olympics was in 1972 in Munich. The U.S. Basketball team was robbed by the Russians. Mark Spitz won those seven gold medals. And of course, the Munich massacre. The Bader-Meinhoff gang of terrorists had bombed several American hangouts in Germany at that time. I was stationed in Stuttgart at the time as an MP at the European Command Headquarters. They directly threatened to bomb us, too. We really upped perimeter patrols and fully inspected each car that entered. One day while I was inspecting underneath cars with my mirror a German National entered on foot and jokingly showed me the underside of his shoes by reflecting them in my mirror, I flashed him the American ‘OK’ sign. In German I was calling him an asshole. Things were a bit awkward, but he backed off at the business end of a .45.

One of my friends pulling temporary duty in Munich was a bodyguard for Spitz since he was Jewish.

My little bar in the barracks basement, called The Cave, sold a lot of 15 cent 1/3 litter bottles of Schwaben Brau. I had a few myself.

Come to think of it, we also had a lot of race riots on posts at that time, too, so we spent a lot of time in full riot gear readied to go quell the uprisings.

You know, I originally had orders for Viet Nam, but they were changed just as I was ready to ship out of Oakland. Crap... I know Kerry was long gone, so I expect there may have been a Purple Heart or two left to be won. It probably would have been less dangerous than Germany.

Oh, yeah, Olympics. Yes, the female beach volleyball uniforms are a little bit over the top. (Pun intended) It probably is California beach tradition more than anything.

Gymnastics. Since the gymno- combining form means 'naked', I perish the thought. However, we may have found out exactly why the Hamm twins have such high voices. One false move on those parallel bars... Besides, I can’t bear the thought of a bunch of old farts, like Jack, ogling 13 year-old girls!

The USOC actually voted against allowing professionals to compete in the Olympics. But since many of the competitors were already pros...

And I don’t really care if the NBA players are a bunch of overpaid, coddled babies. I still hope they kick butt, if for no other reason than to shove it in the faces of all the high faloottin’ American critics. (Overpaid, babbling talking heads with little to say.) I’m not a big fan of ressentiment.