After attending his daughter’s swim meet, Paul Daugherty decodes the Special Olympics in a witty and wise column for the Cincinnati Inquirer.

There are a few small, subtle differences between Olympians and Special Olympians that only a trained, veteran sports journalist such as myself would notice.

Olympians do not yell “I love you” to their mothers in the stands 10 seconds before they are to swim in the 200-meter medley relay. On occasion, Special Olympians have been known to do just that.

… Here’s what’s special about the Special Olympics.

… It’s a few hours of people being good to each other. It’s an interlude of consistent decency. Humanity is front and center, in all its fragile glory.

… I refuse to make this into syrup. The Special Olympics aren’t a Hallmark convention, OK? Please do not use the opportunity to applaud for one of these children as a reason to feel good about yourself. Applaud them because they deserve it. The only thing worse than patronizing Special Olympians is ignoring them.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 10:19 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, commentary, exercise/sports, humor, public attitudes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post