How much of his training, travel, and expenses budget did the US olympic committee pay for? I bet all of it and then some. These guys are not amatuer athletes, they are paid the same as the rest. He got paid to compete in the relay and decided not to. He should be called Keeshan Davis, he has almost as much class.

He didn't have a problem taking the money and spending it, he just had a problem carrying out his duties because the colflicted with his personal adgenda.
Next time he can pay his own damn way.

I think you guys are misinformed. From what I read in the papers today, he didn't back out at the last minute. He had decided all along to concentrate on his individual events, not the team events.

Now, I'm not defending that decision, I'm just saying that he didn't change his mind at the last minute and leave the team hanging.

He seems like a real jerk. But he didn't go AWOL either.

The deal is, the guy doesn't want to be a media pawn. He doesn't give interviews, other than those he is absolutely obligateted to do, SO, the media spins the story to MAKE HIM PAY!

The real story here (of piss'n and moan'n) is the media itself. Or maybe the "SPIRIT of the Olympics" is to demonize anyone who doesn't give a good story. . . . The poor media; having to quickly try to shift and create a story of "an angry angry man, and his angry mother" :rolleyes: what a bunch of tools for buying that crap.

The "SPIRIT" of the Olympics is said to be about the athletes. . . NOT corporation who want to look good; NOT about "teams" that exist with only a ringer.

The fact of the matter is, any "team" sure the hell can not lay all blame on their ringer, should he decide to pull out. The US "team" is not out of some piddly land-locked country in SOuth America . . where the rollerbaldes on dirt is the practice course for the four guys from the local village.

If the US "team" can't scrounge-up an alt, then boo hoo.

I don't know what newspaper you read that in, but that differs from what I have read (not on this BBS btw) and seen on television.

I think if what you read was true, there wouldn't be such a big firestorm. His teammates are all upset that he left them hanging and they had to scramble (when they got to Torino/Turin) to replace him. The kid's obviously good, but like fellow skater Casey FitzRandolph was quoted as saying "If he feels it's him against the world, then it's him who pitted himself against the rest of the world."

With Davis, the relay team was considered a favorite, without him, well we all saw what happened.

If he wasn't part of the relay team to begin with, nobody would have cared (outside of the US team who maybe begrudgingly would be upset) and it would have been a non-issue in these games.

It was unfortunate though that the dirty laundry had to be aired through the media, who just circle like vultures waiting for juicy gossip to exploit. Speedskaters don't get much press (other than Ohno every 4 years), and here they got some but the wrong kind...

It should have stayed within the team and dealt with internally, just like any good organization does...

I can understand Hedrick being upset, because it cost him a somewhat realistic chance to win 5 gold medals like Heiden did many years ago, but the 1,000m event yesterday was his weakest event and he didn't have much of a chance to win it anyway. He did well to finish 6th imo...

Ralph

Well, maybe I understood it wrong. The WaPost said that after he didn't get called when he was an alternate in 2002, he vowed never to take any other skater's spot, or something like that. I took that to mean that they knew all along that he would not skate the relay.

I read three papers on line today and not one of them explained exactly what happened, so I'm kind of piecing it together.

If he got there and changed his mind, he should have been kicked off the team, period.

I am not sure what you are getting at with the "corporation" comment above. Other than that, this is not about a "ringer" nor is it about not scrounging up a alt. They do have an alt as I understand it and they will probably do just fine without Mr. Davis. I believe this is about a guy not keeping his word and not representing his Country appropriately. I don't think anyone can condone his behavior after winning the gold last night.

NBC . ..are they owed a fluffy story from each athlete?

"I don't think anyone can condone his behavior after winning the gold last night."

His behavior!? . . .did I miss something? . . .did he spike a small child? . . .throw the flag on the ground?

What struck me was NBC's interview. He was maybe a bit cold /quiet with the interview, so the NBC interviewer blurts "are you angry." (!?) I'm surprised that she didn't follow up with another question; 'how hard does your mother beat you.' :rolleyes:

I interpreted his behavior (and I don't think that I am alone here) as having a bad attitude. I respect the fact that you do not agree with my view, but I think you do have to at least acknowledge the fact that there are others out there that think this guy has an attitude problem. The very nature of this thread proves that others are concerned about his behavior.

again, what behavior did I miss that was so unacceptable? Too cold? . . void of celebration . . . was that it?

Some football players do a dance when they score . . .some do nothing of interest (like they've been there before)

I don't see that Shani (or whomever) is required to do a dance, and strut around . . maybe screach out a "I'm going to DisineyLand". . . hop hop hop "I won the Gold" smile like this is the biggest accomplishment of life...

Well he was far from that so don't carried away there. I had to sit through his 5 minute bio before the race about how he wore a Bonnie Blair sweatshirt in high school and got ridiculed (duh), how life sucks when your black and mamma would wake you up to beat yourself with laps everyday before elementary school and I'm so disadvantaged blah-blah-blah... he obviously agreed to the footage shown in his bio which NBC took the time to do (by the way a hellavu lot more people know who Shani is now because of the little bio-infomerical they ran on him), then he wins gold and gets a minute with the reporter, "yeah, no, huh-great,.. I'm just at a loss for words..."

Gimme a break. Have a little respect. You don't have to dance like a fool but don't act like an a$$.

Quote:

The most unreliable man on any mission is the ******* who's self-obsessed.

Capt. Dick Marcinko USN. Ret.

That's the first thought that crossed my mind when I heard about Davis not skating in the team event. It's called the "US National Olympic Team.

While I can respect his want to win an individual medal, there are times when you have to take the backseat to the good of the team as a whole, and this was one of those times. Shani Davis opted not to, and let the team down. In my opinion, that shows a lack of character on Davis' part, and, as Davis is a member of the US National Team, it reflects a lack on character on the team as a whole (as do a few other incidences...).

What a great image we are presenting to the world.

Quote:

Well he was far from that so don't carried away there. I had to sit through his 5 minute bio before the race about how he wore a Bonnie Blair sweatshirt in high school and got ridiculed (duh), how life sucks when your black and mamma would wake you up to beat yourself with laps everyday before elementary school and I'm so disadvantaged blah-blah-blah... he obviously agreed to the footage shown in his bio which NBC took the time to do (by the way a hellavu lot more people know who Shani is now because of the little bio-infomerical they ran on him), then he wins gold and gets a minute with the reporter, "yeah, no, huh-great,.. I'm just at a loss for words..."

What do you expect? I'm sure he felt entitled to it.

I think that many of you are buying right in to the story that the media wants to sell.

Tell me, just how do you know that the rest of the team (or some key members) wasn't acting in bad form? After all Chad what's his head refused to congratulate Davis. In fact Chad look down right pissed, as he saw Davis take the gold. WTF kind of "team representaion" was that?

Obviously there is something going on between Davis and the "team." AND, The media will build a mountain out of a mole-hill, if people are buying.

I'm giving Davis the benift of the doubt. . . not the media. (Davis doesn't play by their terms, and they are openly pissed about it)

Quote:

it reflects a lack on character on the team as a whole (as do a few other incidences...).

I'm not buying into anything the media "sells me", they can take their crap back. I'm just calling it as I see it.

Note my reference to "a few other incidences". Chad would be one of them, as would Miller, and that female snow boarder who tried to look cool, crashed, and cost herself, and America, a gold.

I am going to agree to disagree and move on. I think this argument of blaming the media for everything is just half baked and purely an attempt to divert the real problem away from the offending party.

GO TEAM USA!!!!!!

If you unilatterally "agree to disagree and move on" then why do you continue to disagree more? :cool:


I'm tell'n ya, if the media didn't plant the seed of "issues" those "horrific actions" :rolleyes: would have gone by un-noticed.

. . oh, and I'm going to agree to the fact that your wrong and move on. :D

Yes I'm sure he did feel entitled to the gold medal.... after all he did win the race!!! :D

I highly doubt the athletes get to approve the cheesy human interest bios that NBC puts together (and seems to prefer broadcasting over the actual events themselves).

Typically the network would pick over hours of tape to get the 30 seconds that they want (i.e. will entice the most viewers).

He didn't win it by himself. The US olympic team set him up in a situation where he could train free of charge, get paid to train, have professional trainers work with his free of charge, get a free ticket over there, etc.
Does he get to keep the $25,000 first place award, or does he use it to re-pay some of his training costs, or does he donate it to charity like one of his "team mates" did?
I bet he blows it on bling.

Shani Terrell Keeshan Davis.

Geeze Sammy . . . does he really have that "'n da hood wit da hommies -thang" gong on? -- That's not what I saw in the guy.

I knew nothing of this "dropping out" issue when I saw an interview with him. I was impressed with the guy. Seemed well spoken and humble. Guess I missed the fireworks.