Frank Bruni and Maureen Dowd both had columns in Today's Sunday Times. Dowd spoke about the removal of Joe Paterno's statue in front of the Penn State football stadium and Bruni of the increased presence of American women in the Olympics, starting out by celebrating Kerri Strug, who helped win a gold medal for the American gymnastics team by jumping on a broken ankle. Although I appreciate the spirit in which Bruni wrote his column, I disagreed with his celebration of Strug, seeing a strong resemblance to the win-at-all-costs spirit that caused Paterno to look the other way when Jerry Sandusky was abusing under-age boys. Here's my comment to the Times:
The juxtaposition of this column with Dowd's column on Joe Paterno says it all for me. That a young woman, looking for Olympic glory and also not wanting to let down her coach or the team, risked permanent injury is not something to celebrate. Women are as tough or tougher than men because of the roles they play in society, raising children, often without partners, taking care of their elderly parents without complaint, shopping, cleaning and maintaining their homes while working 40 or more hours a week. Whatever his good intentions Bruni is feeding into the American sports mania, where winning is what counts no matter the injury to the athlete or those on the periphery, like the young boys that Sandusky abused. The best times I had as a child were roller skating in the street and playing Double Dutch and potsy with my friends. There were no winners or losers in those days, just good fun.
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