In the opening scene of his 1970 Oscar-winning performance of Gen George S. Patton, George C. Scott seeks to whip up the morale of the troops about to square off against the Nazis.
“Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle,” Scott’s Patton said. “When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ballplayers, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time.”
Yet a new generation of Americans is not getting that message – or if they are, rejecting it.
Time magazine last week announced that U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was its athlete of the year for 2021 – despite the fact that Biles quit during the Olympics. She claimed she needed to do so to address her own mental health.
In its announcement, Time, as liberals broadly did this past summer, cheered Biles for reportedly putting herself and focusing attention on mental health issues – while also abandoning her commitment to her teammates and her country during the Olympics. As Time noted, Biles “made clear the importance of prioritizing oneself and refusing to succumb to external expectations” – such as those put forward by teammates, coaches, and fellow Americans.
And the favorable coverage continued last week, after Time’s announcement. For instance, the left-wingers at Deadspin.com said Time “has blown out Sports Illustrated in ranking its athlete of the year by a score of 45-10,” after SI went with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady for its “sportsperson” of the year. “She taught us that we need to be okay with people not being okay,” Deadspin noted.
Well, some on the right were not OK with Biles, Time, and her sycophants at places like Deadspin.
Fox Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb said of Time, “You are a bunch of idiots. You are embarrassing. This is why people who don’t understand sports shouldn’t cover sports. … I can pick about 15 that are more deserving. Do you know why? Because they actually performed their sport. ”
“She didn’t ‘turn up the volume on mental health’, she made a mockery of mental health, you idiots, you imbeciles,” Gottlieb continued.
Gottlieb noted that Biden cost the U.S. team an opportunity to find a substitute, and cost a possible sub a shot at the Olympics.
On Newsmax, host Greg Kelly also belittled Time for its choice.
“Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year is Simone Biles. Remember? She quit, she quit in the middle of the Olympics,” Kelly said. “Time made her ‘Athlete of the Year.’ The world has gone mad!”
At Outkick.com, columnist Bobby Burack wrote, “Some called Biles a quitter, while others deemed her a hero. And that’s the issue with TIME naming her Athlete of the Year.”
“People attacking Biles’ character were grandstanding, but so were those pretending her decision was an act of heroism. … At the Olympics, Simone Biles should have done whatever was in her best interest. And she says she did. However, that does not make her the top athlete of 2021.”
“The sports world has weaponized mental health like it has weaponized racism, turning it into a conversation-stopper to separate one team from the other, the good guys and the bad. Meanwhile, some athletes have used mental health to excuse their poor behavior.”
“Do you see what’s going on here?,” he continued. “Sports pundits and athletes have calculated that they can use mental health for protection and social gain.”
So much for the old saying that winners never quit, and quitters never win.
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