Monday, August 18, 2008

Good On Ya!

One quick story about Saturday night:  I actually got to touch a gold medal.  We were in a bar when the Australian rowing team came in.  They won both the gold and the silver and they were there to celebrate.  The bar gave them all free bottles of Johnny Walker scotch and they were literally sucking it down like water.  This was, clearly, the greatest night of these guys’ lives, and it was cool to watch them enjoy their victory.  Everyone was giving them high-fives, and they were being cool and let everyone look at the medal.

It’s weird.  I only held the thing in my hands for three seconds but I could feel the awesome symbolism attached to it.  You could tell you were a part of something amazing.  Well, these guys won those things, I can’t even begin to imagine what that must feel like.  My three seconds was mindblowing.

The club we were in was a total sweatbox, I guarantee it was over 100 degrees in there.  Everyone was sweating like crazy, so these guys all took their shirts off.  Male readers, let me tell you something.  You don’t know the meaning of the word emasculation until you’re standing next to a group of five half-naked 25 year old Australian gold medal winners.  I mean, they were rowers, you can imagine their physique—they looked like Greek sculptures.  One guy was fully tattooed, he had a huge tribal going from his waist to his neck.  I swear, every woman in the bar got moist the moment he went shirtless.

There were about fifty girls who wanted to get their pictures taken with the guys, and probably thirty of them who wanted to have sex with them.  It was a great thing to watch.  I just smiled and thought, enjoy it guys.  You earned it.  These are the spoils of war, and you’re entitled to them.