In a message dated 10/24/00 5:26:31 AM Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << As for L-F, no-one has commented for the obvious reason that very few of us has seen any TV pictures. When we do see it, I suspect that we will see spontaneous joy at the moment of triumph, rather than a 20 minute display of showboating which held up the next event by several minutes. No-one objects to celebration - the looks of crazy joy on the faces of athletes as they win (witness MJ and DB in 96) is wonderful. Where celebration (good) ends and showboating (bad) begins is a simple matter of personal taste. Justin >> Let me clarify a few points. Yes, I can be antagonizing, but truthfully I just hate misinformation, and the 4x100m debacle is full of misinformation. 1) The 4x400m was not held up!!! Nothing stopped the show in Sydney. Not even Cathy sitting on the track. That was a blatant lie. The guys were 50m from the finish when they started announcing the teams, and at that point the guys all walked to press row. 2) The amount of boos and whistles was greatly over exaggerated. The guys took so long because each section of the audience applauded and to their demise the guys responded to each section. Overall the crowd loved every minute of it, the guys had no reason to think they were being over the top. 3) Maurice sticking his tongue out has nothing to do with clowning, or even a conscious action. Some people lick their lips, some people sheepishly laugh/giggle, some look down, some simply freeze up, Maurice's tongue sticks out and he licks his lips. He was not clowning to the cameras ( check the tape). During the national anthem every one, except for Brian was singing the song, ever word of the song! The 2 moments of questionable judgement were Brian placing the medal on his forehead, and Bernard continuing his Rock impression. What I have found upon my arrival home is that many of you are operating from a point of ignorance because the coverage was terrible. All many people know of the incident is what was reported, and that is a tragedy, and a terrible injustice to all parties. People, none of it was as bad as you think, or thought. The first anyone heard of a problem was when the guys got underneath to the US press, and even then an immediate apology was issued by all involved. Personally, I thought it was terrible exercise of journalistic license. The vents of that night were so over blown in the press it was sad, and you at home had very little to go on otherwise to see for yourselves. I will move this to personal emails if the thread continues, my apologies to the list for taking this moment away from track. DGS The G.O.A.T.
