The Shani Davis Chad Hedrick feud

Started by Sportsdude, Feb 21 06 03:21

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Sportsdude

Davis is a black man from Chicago[/DIV]Hedrick a redneck from Houston[/DIV]Its not racism that divides them in my opinion but its this:

Hedrick trains and lives in Salt Lake City

Davis trains and lives in Calgary Alberta Canada.

Hedrick has used this opportuinity to do flag waving.And in my opinion Davis should do what the dancing girl from kingston, ontario did:Ask for a Canadian Citzenship. (except the dancing girl did the opposite)  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

kitten

And here I thought it was just a jealous snit!
Thousands of years ago cats were worshipped.  They have not forgotten.

tenkani

Well, I guess that just[/DIV]about says it all nowdoesn't it?
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of coffee forever.

Sportsdude

No, its got to be about the residence issue. Heck, I might diss Alberta a lot (which I do) but if someone said to you if you wanted to train and live in salt lake city or calgary I'd choose calgary in a second.

But since Hedrick is using the flag waving as an excuse then he should also be pressuring:

Catherine Raney - long track - lives in Calgary[/DIV]Kip Carpenter - long track - lives in Heerenveen, The Netherlands[/DIV]Kreg Greer - long track - lives in Calgary[/DIV]Eric Cepuran - long track - lives in Calgary and goes to school at Unversity of CalgaryYuval Toren - long track - lives and goes to school in Calgary.Kira Fling - short track - lives in CalgaryRyan Bedford - short track - lives in Montreal  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

tenkani

Sportsdude, is this an olympic thing?[/DIV]Can you give a synopsis of the story for those of us (maybe just me) who have no idea what it's about? Thnx!
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of coffee forever.

Sportsdude

Yeah its an olympic thing.[/DIV]Hedrick wanted to win 5 gold medals this year. When the 1,000 meter team relays came Davis was on the squad but pulled out because he said he wanted to focus on his own races that were the next day.  Hedrick ended up losing. [/DIV]. *So what's the real story behind the first African American Olympic speedskating gold medalist Shani Davis, his devoted mother and their collective cold shoulder toward U.S. Speedskating?[P class=MsoPlainText]

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]After the 23-year-old repped Chicago's South Side Saturday (Feb. 18) by winning the 1,000-meter speedskating event and entered record books as the first black athlete to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history – Davis showed little initial emotion after it became apparent he had won the event, and followed it up with an awkwardly-cold interview to NBC's Melissa Stark. Why all the drama?

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]In a nutshell, Davis and his mother, Cherie, have issues with U.S. Speedskating dating back to his early years with the team. Cherie believes the organization did things to sabotage the success of her only child because of his skin color. The organization vehemently denies her allegations.

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]As a result of their long-running feud with U.S. Speedskating, Davis doesn't train with the national program, and frequently voices his opinion about a lack of marketing opportunities. He is also more than happy to let his mother voice her opinion of the organization – which she does willingly and often.

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]Davis has always had to battle haters who joked about his love of the sport. As folks in his neighborhood worshipped the Bears, the White Sox and Michael Jordan's Bulls, Davis was into Bonnie Blair, and proudly wore a sweatshirt bearing the face of speedskating's most famous female champion. Needless to say, he was teased quite a bit. The sport's uniform, a tight-fitting body suit, didn't help matters - and neither did the sport's domination by Caucasians.

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]Davis said he would tell his childhood naysayers, "Maybe I can be the Michael Jordan of speedskating."

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]On the flipside, Davis said he received constant ill-will from white folks who didn't think too much of him competing in the sport. He says hate-filled messages were sent to his personal Web site — "people saying they hoped I would fall, break my leg, using the n-word," he said.

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN]As for his current Olympics run, much drama has been made over Davis' decision not to compete in the team pursuit competition, and instead focus all of his energy on winning the individual races – such as Saturday's 1000-meter and tomorrow's 1500 meter race (Feb. 21). Davis' choice to forgo the team sport has some critics denouncing the move as selfish. Former speedskating champion Eric Heiden said Davis was "not being a team player."

[P class=MsoPlainText align=center](story continues below photo)

[P class=MsoPlainText align=center][img alt="" src="http://www.eurweb.com/images/shani_davis(2005-skating-med-wide).jpg" border=0]

[P class=MsoPlainText align=center][FONT size=2]Shani Davis[/FONT]

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]There is also a nasty rivalry going on with U.S. teammate Chad Hedrick, whose time Davis clobbered Saturday en route to the gold medal. Hedrick has criticized Davis' decision to forgo the team pursuit because it took away a great source of speed. The team was eventually knocked out by Italy in the quarterfinals.[SPAN]  [/SPAN]According to reports, Hedrick believed the team would've won with Davis in the lineup. The loss left Hedrick short of his goal to go after Heiden's record of five gold medals at Lake Placid.

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]Throughout his time at the Olympics, Hedrick has been bombarded with questions about his rivalry with Davis. After Davis' win on Saturday, reporters asked Hedrick if he was at least happy for the guy.      

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]        [/SPAN]"Shani skated fast today," Hedrick said. "That's about all I have to say about that."

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]Davis will face Hedrick Tuesday night in the 1500 meter race, an event Davis dominated until Hedrick snatched away a world record. Sporting a Chicago White Sox cap following Saturday's victory, a reporter asked Davis if he will specifically go after Hedrick's record during the race.        

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]        [/SPAN]"I'm not trying to beat Chad. I'm trying to beat everyone," he replied.      

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]Davis' breaking of racial barriers in the sport was downplayed when asked about it by reporters after Saturday's performance.[SPAN]  [/SPAN]"It's a breakthrough," Davis said, "but it's what people make of it."

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[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]      [/SPAN][SPAN] [/SPAN]He did, however, take note of the hard work that led to his place atop the medal stand.[SPAN]  [/SPAN]      

[P class=MsoPlainText][SPAN]       [/SPAN]"If you put your mind to it and you believe it, you can achieve it," he said. "You cannot give up — even if the road is a tough road."

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"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

tenkani

Gotcha!

Yeah, I heard about this story but didn't remember the names...[/DIV]I understand the need for teamwork, but I also understand Davis' decision, especially if he feels that he faces opposition and doubt on all sides. His answer to the haters was to excell, and become the best. He could have sacrificed his personal goals for the team, but I don't think it's hard to understand his choice, all things considered.
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of coffee forever.

kingy

davis should of got his papers from canada and competed for them, like that jamaican bobsleder.
...

Sportsdude

The funny thing is that when he talks he doesn't really talk like a black man from the south side of chicago.
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."