Selfish or Selfless

During these cold Detroit days, I have nothing but sympathy for those that participate and lose in these Winter Olympics! However, on Sunday The American Ice Skating Team stirred a lil controversy among teammates. Chad Hedrick accused Shani Davis of being a selfish teammate for not participating in the team relay event. Instead Shani Davis, choose to bypass the relay to focus on his individual event so he could win gold. Although, when one would initially hear this story the selfish accusations would start to fly direct at Mr. Davis being just that, a selfish person!

However, when taking a closer look at the situation I think I would have made the same decision. First and foremost, Mr. Davis was selected to the Olympics based on his individual performance, not the teammate based relay event! Although his speed would have definitely been a huge help for team America winning a gold, it would have been a hindrance in helping Mr. Davis reach his goals of winning a gold in the event in which, he was eventually named the Gold Medal winner!!

Also, when you look at the individual who brought the controversy to light, Chad Hedrick, who had already won his individual event medals, 4 to be exact, does not have a friendly relationship with Mr. Davis at all! Another one of the people that brought about the selfish controversy was Bob Costas of NBC, whose only competition remains to be Katie Couric, which apparently he’s still losing!! For Mr. Costas to call the actions of a man who valued being the first African American man to win a Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics selfish, then I think Mr. Costas needs to look at the trail that Mr. Davis has just blazed for another aspiring African American Winter Olympian!

until next time...