Karma

According to Merriam-Webster:


Karma:  noun kar·ma \ ˈkär-mə also ˈkər- \ 1.  often capitalized : the force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence; 2.  a characteristic emanation, aura, or spirit that infuses or vitalizes someone or something.

What does that even mean?  When I thought about this post, I wasn't thinking of transmigration, aura or vitalizing someone or something.  I was thinking about the consequences of hubris.


Perhaps a better word would be:

jinx:  noun \ ˈjiŋ(k)s \ one that brings bad luck; also : the state or spell of bad luck brought on by a jinx


Call it whatever you want, I guess.  A couple days ago, a certain Olympic blogger suggested that his 8 loyal readers be prepared to laugh a little at the unpredictability that trying to achieve great athletic feats on snow and ice could cause.  This same Olympic blogger had the audacity to suggest that people falling could be quite funny, under the right circumstances.  I was thinking about the multi-car pile-ups that occurred during the cross country skiing events in Sochi.  Those were funny.  Well, Karma came and smacked me right where I deserved it.  On night one.

The Pyeongchang Olympics began with, among other things, the men's short program of the team figure skating competition (which is the longest name of a competition in the world).  I finished a particularly brutal Rich Williams workout, ate dinner and sat down, with my blanket and the cat, prepared to enjoy the beginning of the Olympics.  I was not expecting the carnage that befell us before the torch was even lit.  For the final group of the Men's portion of the Team Competition, 6 men competed.  That is six of the best male figure skaters in the world.  Four of them fell.  If not for the bookended performances by the South Korean and the Japanese skaters, I would have called this posting "Carnage".


As I sat in my chair, with my blanket and the cat, anticipating a phenomenal performance by Nathan Chen, I did not laugh.  With each fall, I worried more.  By the time the 18 year old American was on the ice, all I could think was, "please don't fall, please don't fall."  Not only did Chen fall, he had what Johnny Weir called the worst performance he had seen Chen skate.  At the moment when Chen's face showed the anguish of not performing his best on the biggest stage and feeling like he let his team down, I thought of Karma.  I thought of my advice to laugh at the falls.  I thought, wow am I a jack-ass.


The word "hubris" used earlier in this post may not be exactly correct, but you may think it applies now.  You would be wrong.  Yes, I can cause the opening marquee of the Winter Olympics to turn into carnage.  No, I do not have that power.  But you can't deny the power of the internet.  I put it on the internet.  Be prepared to laugh at the occasional misstep.  The internet sent it into the ethos, the ethos wrapped it in a pretty package and tossed it onto the ice in Pyeongchang, and we all got to witness fall after fall after fall.  Culminating with a guy who clearly has some wicked talent on some awesome ice skates having a horrible (for him) performance.  I take responsibility.  For all the falls, but particularly for Chen.  My bad.  We may have to revisit the Rules.  Not Rule #1, but the others.


However, I was not the worst jinx of the night.  That goes to Tara Lipinski.  Despite how Chen felt and what he said about letting his team down, he did not.  He finished fourth, so the US was still in decent shape.  Then came the Knierims, Alexa Scimeca Knierm and Chris Knierim.  They put on a magical performance, made all the better by skating to Come What May from Moulin Rouge.  I loved everything about the performance and I am dedicated to learning how to correctly pronounce their names (which may take a couple months), because they have vaulted up my list of favorite Olympic athletes.  I loved Alexa throwing her arms up in the air after landing the throw.  I loved how Chris nailed the jump right after Tara said he struggled with the jump.  I loved everything right up until Tara (who is still great) said "I am feeling this guys" at the exact moment that Alexa bobbled on what is apparently a fairly easy move.  That was one of the best jinxes I have ever seen.  I love Johnny and Tara (yes, it is Day 1 so I am feeling the love) and one of the great things about them is they know when to be quiet and let the action speak.  Unfortunately, Tara spoke at exactly the wrong moment.


Despite my hubris and Tara's jinx, the US team sits in second place after night 1 of the Team Competition.  Now, no more laughing.

Reflections on What Has Happened (Focus for this will be on US sports and medals, but we will touch on other stuff as time permits)


1.  The Chinese Mixed Double Curling Team lost their first match when they couldn't determine if their second stone was closer to the middle than Switzerland's stone in the last end and had to go to overtime (or whatever you call it in curling) after possibly moving one of the stones trying to determine which was closer.  Then they blew a 5-1 lead over South Korea.  That is a tough first day.
2.  In his first Mixed Doubles match, US Curler, Matt Hamilton, fell on the ice.  That was funny.
3.  Tess Johnson, all of 17 years old, had an incredible save after over-rotating on her first jump of the Women's Moguls Qualifying.  That was athleticism.
4.  The Winter Olympics have some really long sports names (Men's Short Program of the Team Competition, Mixed Doubles Curling, Women's Moguls Qualifying).
5.  Johnny and Tara were in mid-season form with the outfit coordination.
6.  The political sideshow of the Olympics in Korea is already boring and overplayed.


Predictions Recap


Haven't given any, so I haven't been wrong yet.


Predictions


1.  Mikaela Shiffrin will be the US Darling of these Olympics (as she rightly should be).
2.  Nathan Chen will nail his short program in the Men's Competition.
3.  The US breaks through with a biathlon medal.  Any biathlon medal will do.


What to Watch For


1.  The Opening Ceremony, which, of course, already happened.
2.  My live diary of The Opening Ceremony, which I plan to do tonight.
3.  Biathlon, which starts tomorrow, or tonight, or today or...how does this whole time zone thing work again?
4.  Curling.  Then more curling.  Then even more curling.