A Friendly Contest on the Korean Peninsula

The opening ceremonies for the 2018 Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday in South Korea. 

Countries from all across the globe descended on the ancient-as-it-is-modern city of Seoul to compete… but first there was the pageantry.  

Each country walked equal and proud onto this stage.  

So it brings me joy… if only for a moment that the Korean Peninsula is competing as a united team behind one flag. This is good sport.  

An elder sings a 600 year old song shared by both North and South Korean culture.
This elder sings an unofficial Korean anthem: A 600 year-old song shared by both North and South.

Good Sport and Competition

An old mentor of mine once suggested to me that a good competition can ultimately be broken down into three parts:

  1. The Rules
  2. The Players
  3. Chaos/Luck

I remember that he included “The things that happen” as a 4th metric.  But I leave that off because time and consequence is already implied.  The three that I have kept are all that we need to consider.

These variables allow for both perfection and disaster at a measurable rate.  Disaster is OK because this isn’t a war.  But experiencing a perfect game-winning moment is almost a religious experience. 

…I want to start talking about Kerri Strug right now, but I should save that retrospective for the Summer Olympics in 2020.  Then again… does anyone really like the staggered years?  I think it takes the wind out of the Olympic sails.  I think that I preferred when they were 4 years apart….

OK here’s Kerri Strug, in one of Sport’s greatest moments:

Kerri Strug 1996 Olympics
Boom! Kerri Strug lands it in 1996… click the image for the finale. Nothing beats when it happened though.

Back to Winter Games, there’s this:

Miracle on Ice
HEINZ KLUETMEIER/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY

“Perfection. That’s what it’s about. It’s those moments. When you can feel the perfection of creation. The beauty the physics you know the wonder of mathematics. The elation of action and reaction.”

That’s Anders from Battlestar Galactica talkin’ about sports.

I don’t think he’s exaggerating.  I think that perfect moments can occur given a clean rule-set even while considering player state and the simple truth of chaos.  But that perfect walk-off home-run, that flawless OT goal, the comeback, the big stop, a full second off your fastest time all the way up to the The World Record…

Well – these things essentially can feel like blowing up THE DEATH STAR.

But why are Rudy and Rocky winners?  Because they were competing against themselves and they crushed it!  Same thing.

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!
Rudy…

A Global Culture

I always watch the Olympics.  These were my sports growing up just as much as baseball and basketball were.  I love this stuff.

There will be drama … some good, some bad.  But if the rules are enforced, and the players came to play then we’ll probably see a few perfect moments.

We usually do at this level of competition.

I’m looking forward to Bobsled, Skiing, Skating and Curling.

-idh