OK — I know the Olympics are pressure-packed. You trained for years and years for this moment. You wanted to quit a million times. But you didn’t.
Finally, you’re here. The Olympics. Yay! You’re the best of the best. You’re way fast. Way strong. Way good.
You have a job: Take a stick from someone who hands it to you, run 100 meters, and hand it to someone else.
Unfortunately, this was just too much to ask.
I can see losing a race because the other team’s faster. Losing it because you dropped the darn stick is just lame.
Yeah, I know you feel bad. I’m just saying…
Sports is human life in microcosm.
~ Howard Cosell
Writing by Ear 
robbie said,
Friday, August 22, 2008 at 4:34 pm
It’s more than lame. The same woman dropped the baton in the same race in the last Olympics. Why the hell would she be back this time???? She was interviewed afterward and she just couldn’t admit she screwed up.
WritingbyEar said,
Monday, August 25, 2008 at 11:56 am
We actually learned in junior high or high school gym class the “proper” way to pass the baton in a relay race. It involved moving it upward into the next runner’s hand, which was outstretched behind as he/she ran forward. I guess that method has fallen out of favor — in favor of the “just toss it at them and hope they catch it” method.