Jesse Owens and Joey Chestnut
The Train Daddy is back, bringing sports news, life lessons and politically incorrect talk. All aboard! It’s July, Middle Tennessee, and that means it’s time for my over-the-top American pride article. It’s tradition. I love this country and I love sports, and I love entwining the two while giving my opinions.
Every July 4 there are two guarantees for me. I watch Independence Day and pretend to be Will Smith, my hero! I am a man who gets jiggy with it, blows up aliens, saves the president, marries a stripper and shows the world how badass America is.
The other guarantee is watching the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN. In this case I pretend to be a man named Joey Chestnut. Joey doesn’t know how to get jiggy with it, but he does know how to stuff an insane amount of wieners down his throat in 10 minutes. He is a superhero who is set to eat more than 70 dogs and buns this year. Some say hot dog eating is no sport; I say smack the naysayers with a wiener! Competitive eating is a very physically demanding activity. They call the new LA Laker King James of LA. Please? Joey is a man who has eaten 15 pounds of shrimp, 13 pounds of fried asparagus and 141 boiled eggs (each individually, each done in less than 10 minutes). So raise a wiener and let’s say a toast to the greatest American athlete ever, Joey Chestnut!
July is a month to celebrate freedom and The United States of America’s birthday. In 1776 the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, marking this year as America’s 243rd birthday.
Independence Day is America’s top beer-drinking holiday, with over $1 billion spent on beer. Let me be serious now! Don’t drink and drive or you’re dumb. Let me remind you: the average DUI will cost you $10,000.
Now, back to not being serious. Delaware and Massachusetts suck—they ban all consumer fireworks. Did you know we have a 41 percent decrease in air quality due to fireworks, and it’s estimated that Americans spend close to $900 million on fireworks? Who needs air when we can have fireworks?
In 1941 Congress made Independence Day a paid federal holiday. Screw Congress, it should be a day everyone gets paid to drink and eat all day, not just federal employees. Enough nonsense, it’s time to give you something worth reading. Here are some examples of America’s greatest patriotic moments throughout sports history.
I have given love to Pat Tillman in every patriotic article for the past decade. Why? He made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Pat was an Arizona Cardinal, an NFL safety, who turned down $4 million to join the Army after 9/11. Pat was killed in Afghanistan in 2004 and became the face of heroism for so many. God bless you, Pat.
The U.S. hockey team pounces on goalie Jim Craig after a 4-3 victory against the Soviets in the 1980 Olympics, as a flag waves from the partisan Lake Placid, N.Y. crowd, February 22, 1980. (courtesy AP Photo)
Do you believe in miracles? I wish I could have celebrated with America in 1980 but I wasn’t conceived until 1984, so all I have are numerous movies, stories and documentaries about this event. Few believed a group of goofy college players from America had a chance against the beast that was Soviet hockey, comprised of men who were professionals and had played together for years. This game was played in the height of the Cold War and there were rumors that the US would boycott the Moscow Olympics. Yet somehow they did it, and maybe the most iconic call of all time was when Al Michaels shouted, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
Many give President Reagan credit for ending the Cold War, but it was really the 1980 USA hockey team that took down the USSR. Many forget this was only a semifinal game. The US had to come back and play Finland in the gold medal game. They were down 2-1 heading into the third period when Coach Brooks walked into the locker room and said, “If you lose this game, you’ll take it to your grave . . . your [expletive] grave!” The miracle continued and USA came back to beat Finland 4-2, to win gold.
Vince Carter
Remember the 1992 Dream Team? A complete domination machine, they beat teams by an average of 44 points to win a gold medal for USA basketball. Names like Jordan, Bird, Magic, Barkley, Ewing, Malone—those guys could suit up in 2020 and probably win another gold.
USA basketball lost its luster after that amazing, superstar-filled team, yet Vince Carter reignited talk with one amazing teabag dunk in 2000. Carter, known for his dunking, dunked over a 7-foot-tall player for France and all the world gasped. His junk skimmed the top of the Frenchmen’s head as he flew like a bald eagle to score and help win gold for Team USA.
Let’s also not forget the perfect pitch during game 3 of the 2001 World Series. Just 49 days after 9/11, George W. Bush wore a bulletproof vest and stood alone on the mound, head held high in Yankee Stadium. Many say he looked like an unbreakable statue that night. Bush threw a perfect pitch from the mound. I admit I can’t do that. You attempt throwing a ball 60 feet down the strike zone? The crowd went wild, and it was a feelgood moment for America when we needed it.
Another one of my favorite patriotic moments in sports dates back to 1936. Jesse Owens, an African American, shamed Hitler in Berlin. Hitler had planned on showcasing the supremacy of the Aryan race in Berlin; Jesse had other ideas. Jesse, a sprinter, ran times so fast they would have medaled for the next 30 years. Jesse Owens won a record four track golds. Owens opened many people’s eyes and, although some still shunned him, his achievements signaled progress.
This is my last patriotic moment; certain people should take a listen. It was 1976 and Rick Monday stopped two protesters from burning a flag on the field at Dodger Stadium. One unfurled the flag while the other took out a lighter, but Monday was faster and snatched the flag away before the act was accomplished. “What they were doing was wrong then, in 1976, and in my mind, it’s wrong now,” Monday said in 2006. “It was also reinforced by a lot of friends who lost their lives protecting the rights and freedoms that flag represented.”
April 25, 1976: Chicago Cubs’ Rick Monday rescues The Stars and Stripes from a planned burning by protestors during game at Dodger Stadium.
I try and understand why some groups feel the need to scream and show civil disobedience, but much of it flies over my head. When groups scream that America is racist, unfair and a place where minorities are treated as second-class citizens, that makes me sad. Send those people to any other country and most will quickly be begging to come back to America. Anyone, no matter what race or gender, can succeed, can feed a family, can make a living and can live well in America given a little hard work.
There will always be some hate and some racism, as some people will always fear what’s different, no matter where you live or who is elected President. But those people will be outnumbered by people who are willing to give a hand and help someone in need here in America. People need to stop crying about what’s fair and not fair, and live life. I will probably never understand a minority’s struggle or an immigrant’s journey, but I do understand that America, while not perfect, is one of the few places in the world where her citizens can live a life that’s free.
Transgender Athletes in Sport
If you read my articles regularly then you know that I am passionate about the subject of transgender athletes in sport. I believe it is often unfair to natural-born females and I believe it may destroy the integrity of sports history and its record books.
It’s happened again, with transgender athletes dominating the field in competitive sports. Recently in Connecticut, at the State Championships for girls’ track and field, the other females were dominated by Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, both born male but now identifying as female. Last year they competed with the boys’ track team but this year they joined the girls.
They dominated the 100- and the 200-meter dash, taking first and second and setting track records in both races that have stood for decades. In accordance with state law, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference permits student athletes to compete with whatever sex they identify with that year. This is one of the most pro-transgender policies in the country and I fear a slippery slope for new policies around the country. What’s funny is that many parents who previously kept their mouths shut have started petitions to change the rules that allowed trans athletes to dominate their girls. Anyone with sense knows what happens when boys and girls mix in sports: it’s uneven. You can call yourself whatever you want, that’s fine, but I won’t stand quiet while this goes on in sports.
Bauru’s volleyball player Tiffany Abreu
This is still a young topic, yet we have numerous examples of biological men beating biological women in different sporting events. The thing that is sad is the IOC and the NCAA first made this possible. We now have transgender mixed martial arts fighters beating women senseless, resulting in one instance in a broken orbital bone, concussion, bruised rib and staples in the head! We have a New Zealand weightlifter who once competed as a man named Gavin and recently became Laurel, and has set numerous national records in the female division. There is also a trans woman who plays volleyball for Brazil. Tiffany is one of the top-ranked players in Brazil, a dominant volleyball country. She will probably represent Brazil in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There is a Texas high school wrestler taking testosterone and still wrestling the girls—sound fair? That same wrestler is winning state titles, doped up on testosterone. We have numerous transgender cyclists with different views on what are fair regulations for transgender athletes, and it seems no one has the same answer.
I could go on, but those are the more high-profile cases. As much as I hate it, I can’t wait to see how the world reacts when a transgender athlete wins gold or helps turn a university team into an NCAA women’s powerhouse. Maybe we’ll even see some jackass who isn’t even transgender just say he identifies as a female just so he can get some attention, sponsors and a big payday. It’s possible.
I’ve said before, the only way this is fair is to have one league, gender-neutral. But it would take no time for feminists to freak out. There would be a lack of women athletes, and that is not good for society. We need a men’s league and a women’s. Simple!
Email me at titanman1984@gmail.com. I truly wish to hear from you. Who knows what you might want to say, but be honest. I am a big boy.
I welcome the LGBTQ community, I wish happiness and goodwill. But in relation to sports, sorry, people! I have become an advocate to stop the madness.
God bless America! Hope you have a great July. Remember the 5 Fs: Faith, Family, Football, Food and Friends. Choo-choo!
