Lessons, Good and Bad, Will Hit Home for New Father

An open letter to my new son:

Dear David,

Your first Olympics have come and gone. One blessing about being 5 months old is that you’re one of the few people at home who hasn’t been irritated by CBS’ television coverage. Remind me to tell you some day about Jim McKay.

When Michelle Kwan wasn’t too many years older than you are now, she heard about the Olympics and thought they were a place. She later learned they are a sporting event, like the ones she would compete in so often in figure skating but involving more sports, athletes and national angst.

In a way, though, she had it right the first time. For 16 days every two years, the Olympics do become a place apart from the rest of the world, one where, as Pope John Paul wrote last week in a letter to International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch, the reigning sentiments are peace, fraternity and solidarity among all peoples and all nations.

When I first started watching the Olympics on television, I had a similarly idealized vision of Olympians. I thought they were more valiant and virtuous than most other athletes.

After covering my 10th Olympics, I can tell you definitively that those were unrealistic expectations. Olympians are superior athletes, but that does not necessarily mean they are purer of mind or body than anyone else.

Your conduct is something we no doubt will discuss often in coming years. An Olympics like this one, in which more athletes than I can ever remember misbehaved, will give your mother and me a chance to explore with you what we know about the hazards of illegal drugs, not respecting those whose role it is to judge us and respecting other people’s property.

I don’t care if you are 34, a millionaire and have children of your own. If you vandalize a room in which you are a guest, as some U.S. hockey players did in the athletes’ village, you will answer to me.

That, however, is not my message.

These Olympics produced infinitely more good moments than bad ones. Likewise, more athletes than not did exhibit those values I have always considered Olympian, and each time I watched them compete, I made a mental note of the qualities that I would like, if it were within my power, to bestow upon you. You might not believe it now, but that would be an even more valuable gift than a Snowlet.

I wish for you:

* The strength of downhill skier Hermann Maier. Austria’s “Hermannator” tumbled down a mountain at 65 mph and got up smiling to ski, and win, another day.

* The commitment of figure skater Tara Lipinski. She stood on a Tupperware bowl when she was 5, acting out her gold-medal ceremony, then worked religiously to make sure it happened for real.

* The grace of Kwan. Even though she also had dreams of winning a gold medal, she proudly accepted silver because she skated her best.

* The perseverance of Masahiko Harada. The Japanese ski jumper failed in 1994, failed again in his first competition here, managed a bronze in the big hill, and then, when it appeared that he might fail again, sailed 137 meters to give Japan the team gold medal.

* The persistence of the U.S. women’s ice hockey players. Most of them were told from the time they first laced on skates that they shouldn’t play a rough sport better suited for boys. Fortunately, they didn’t listen, becoming Olympic pioneers and gold medalists.

* The indomitable spirit of goalie Dominik Hasek. Battling suggestions that he wasn’t a pressure player and the slap shots of world’s best players from the United States, Canada and Russia, he conquered all in leading the Czech Republic to the men’s ice hockey gold medal.

* The adventuresome spirit of Jennifer Rodriguez. An in-line roller skater from Miami, she had never been on ice skates until two years ago. Or seen snow. Desiring nothing more than to become an Olympian, she moved to Milwaukee and started speedskating. She had a fourth-place finish here.

* The spontaneity of Picabo Street. Even if she hadn’t won here, she would have been a joy to be around. She embraces all experiences, even ones that don’t bring her a gold medal.

* The freedom of expression of the halfpipe snowboarders. The moves they create while trying to bring out the best in themselves can only be described as art. They rip. They rule.

I also want to make a point about the politeness of the Japanese people. They are facing economic difficulties, which the $10 billion they spent in improving the Nagano prefecture for the Olympics, is certain to compound.

They could have found us a pain, which no doubt we were on occasion. Our hosts, however, were unfailingly gracious. We can all learn from them.

Finally, I must tell you about the wisdom of a 9-year-old boy in Evanston, Ill., named Nicholas Hersh. His father, who works for the Chicago Tribune, and I have covered numerous Olympics together. I have never seen him prouder than after the opening ceremony here, when he learned that Nicholas had watched on television, seen a Japanese child sitting in the stands and said, “That boy is just like me.”

You will find throughout life that there are people who don’t look, speak, think or worship the same as you do. But there are many more ways in which you are alike than different. That, ultimately, is the lesson of the Olympics.

I must go now. I have been working long and late hours here for the last three weeks and am looking forward to coming home so that I can catch up on my sleep. I trust that I can count on your cooperation.

Your Loving Father