Supporting Our Athletes

 

I LOVE the Olympics.  For as long as I can remember, every two years my family has tuned in every night watching sports I had never heard of before that night to cheer for one thing -- USA.  From the opening ceremonies to the passing of the torch, my family loves the Olympics.

This year has been no different and I joyfully have our television on all day when I am home with the little ones keeping my eye on events like archery, beach volleyball, waterpolo, equestrian events and table tennis.  To me, it doesn't matter the event as long as the US is competing, I am engaged and cheering.  Some of them, I don't know any of the rules, but I am cheering for Team USA pretending like I know what is going on.

I am not on twitter -- I have an account but I have posted less than five tweets in my life, and even then, they were mostly, "Testing... testing."  I still don't really know how twitter works and the more I see it used for communication, the more I am comfortable with not really knowing how it works.

Why can't we, as a nation, simply support our athletes?

These Olympics have been less than 48 hours under weigh and every time I log on facebook, I see headlines alluding to athletes being attacked via twitter.

Our first gold was won in the event of air-rifle shooting and apparently twitter takes off with political propaganda about this girl's win.  A great beach volley ball player gives an interview mentioning how much she loves being a mother and that she feels that becoming a mother has made her more focused, and a better athlete, and twitter takes off challenging her priorities and calling her old-fashioned.

Why can't we just support our athletes?

Do I think all of the athletes in Rio on our team agree with all of my political points of view?  Absolutely not.  Do I respect them and support them in their representation of our country in their respective athletic sports?  ABSOLUTELY!

Good luck, Team USA.

You all have worked so hard to be where you are, and my family and I are incredibly proud of you.  We are cheering for you and we appreciate your representing our country with dignity, class, and excellence.