Leave Spitz Alone

Some newspeople are quick to forget that the reason they have other people's quotations to critique is because their colleagues go ask those people questions. Most of the time, the reaction that's being dissected is exactly that -- a reaction to tiresome questions by pesky media types. Mark Spitz was not seeking out the microphones; they came to him.

I was getting along just fine in the world, not really hearing anything about the 1972 Olympics superstar. But as this summer's games drew near and Michael Phelps appeared poised to break Spitz's record for most gold medals in a single Olympics, naturally, Spitz returned to the spotlight.

Reporters disrupt his life by asking questions, Spitz gives them answers. A centuries-old practice.

People cannot control their feelings. We can control what we do or say, but there's no way to force a feeling. If Spitz feels like he's been slighted by not being asked to join a U.S. contingent in China and support Phelps' gold rush, then he is plenty entitled to feel that way.

Americans celebrate so many things and so often in over-the-top fashion, that it's indeed a surprise that the USOC didn't extend such an invitation to Spitz. It wasn't too long ago that we made a big deal about Hank Aaron not getting too involved in the Barry Bonds hoopla when the surly slugger was chasing down Aaron's all-time home run record.

Though 36 years have passed, Spitz still feels strongly about his contributions to an otherwise tragic Olympics in Munich. I've always been a sucker for passion, especially when for years it's tactfully kept quiet and only brought to the surface by an annoying television reporter whose colleauges later sit on their air-conditioned sets and ridicule a man who accomplished in one week more than we'll achieve in a lifetime.