Olympic Spoiler Alert
Julia Mancuso‘s dad went to prison for dealing dope.
Now if that ain’t an American story…
Too hot for the American press.
Not that Ms. Mancuso cared. Hell, she even posed as a Lange girl. Check her out here:
http://www.thesnowjunkies.com/2009/11/06/vintage-lange-girl-gallery/
But there was no backlash, unlike with Lindsey Vonn‘s bathing suit photos in “Sports Illustrated“. Because no one was paying attention.
Now everyone’s paying attention. Because Julia medaled again today. Ascending to the podium after fully and speedily executing the slalom portion of the Super Combined, difficult for someone who focuses on speed events like the Downhill and Super-G.
I’m just saying there was no hype about Julia Mancuso prior to the Olympics. Hell, she was injured last year, she was shunted aside in favor of America’s sweetheart, Lindsey Vonn. Who DNF’ed in the slalom portion of today’s event.
The media loves a pre-delineated story. But real life ain’t that way. You’ve got to play to find out the results. Which are oftentimes surprising.
Truth is stranger than fiction?
Absolutely.
Used to be the mainstream media controlled the narrative.
Now, online, the picture is much hazier. You’ve got full time fans defining the story for their brethren, and then when the occasional lurkers weigh in, they show their lack of knowledge.
So let’s say Lindsey Vonn doesn’t win another medal. She probably will, she should triumph in the Super-G. Odds are much lower in GS, especially slalom. But let’s say Lindsey does not. And Julia Mancuso ends up with her two silver medals. Does she become the story? Can she become America’s sweetheart?
Or does the fact that her hair veers towards brunette instead of blond and she didn’t grow up with all the advantages mean that we can’t rally around her?
P.S. I found out Lindsey DNF’ed via Twitter. Google News had nothing. nbcolympics.com wasn’t even up to date. And up to date is how we like our information. Twitter might not be the final answer, but if you want to know what’s going on right now, it’s the go to site.
