Gooooood Morning Potty People!
Well, its official – as of Thursday night… the Winter Olympics are back!
We figured in honor of the Winter Olympics, we would make our blog dedicated to event!
This year’s 2022 Winter Olympic Games are being held in Beijing and features events like Ice Skating, Speed Skating, Snowboarding, Skiing and of course… curling.
Ahhhhhh Curling…. The sport for those people that love the game of Shuffleboard… but prefer to play it in the Frozen Foods section of Costco
There is simply nothing like, watching people “sweep ice” with a broom… in 4K image quality
Curling… for those reasons we are out.
We always thought, just for fun, there should be someone with a dust-pan following the action… frustratingly following the action cleaning up the shaved ice
However, for this week’s Main Story, we take you back to the 1988 Winter Olympics, where we get to share with you the incredible true story of “Michael Edwards” … or as he is better known as… “Eddie The Eagle”
Michael "Eddie" Edwards grew up in working-class Cheltenham, England where his mother worked at an aluminum-door factory; and his father, his father’s father and his father’s father’s father were all plasterers (or contractors).
Eddie was clearly next in line to follow his family legacy of plasterers … but that is until he was 13 and strapped on skis during a school trip to Italy.
He caught the Skiing Bug… Within four years he was racing with the British national team.
Unable to afford lift tickets, he switched to the cheaper sport of ski jumping.
During the summer of 1986, eighteen months before the Olympics, the 22-year-old resolved to take time off from plastering and try his luck and pluck against the world’s top jumpers.
“When I started competing, I was so broke that I had to tie my helmet with a piece of string,” he says. “On one jump the string snapped, and my helmet carried on farther than I did. I may have been the first ski jumper ever beaten by his gear.”
He had no money, no coach, no equipment and no team—and England had never competed in the event.
You see… Eddie wasn’t a good Ski Jumper…
Of the 58 jumpers in the 70-meter event, he just missed being 59th.
Short on talent but long on panache and derring-do, he had no illusions about his ability, no dreams of gold or silver or even bronze. Eddie knew he wasn’t good… and embraced it!
“In my case, there are only two kinds of hope—Bob Hope and no hope.”
“People who tuned in to the ’88 Winter Olympics saw me grinning and joking…They thought, He’s laughing, he’s human” Edwards said.
When asked what he prefers to be called, “Doesn’t matter,” says Edwards, smiling indulgently. “Over the past 25 years, I’ve been called all sorts of things.”
Here are just a few: Fast Eddie. Slow Eddie. Crazy Eddie. Unsteady Eddie. The Flying Plasterer. Mr. Magoo on Skis. Inspector Clouseau on Skis. The Abominable Snowman. The Champion of the Underdog. The Unconquering Hero. A Lovable Loser. A Half-Blind Clot Having a Bloody Good Laugh. The Quintessential British Sportsman.
Undeterred, Edwards carried on.
Still broke, he was training in Austria with his coach – and couldn’t afford a Hotel room… so he stayed at a local mental institution… for 4 weeks.
While living there… he got the call that he had made the Winter Olympics
Edwards arrived in Calgary—where the Italian team gave him a new helmet and the Austrians provided his skis
Wearing six pairs of socks inside hand-me-down ski boots, he stepped onto the slopes, pushed off down the steep ramp and rag-dolled through the air.
Others flew, Eddie plummet like a rock.
“I was a true amateur and embodied what the Olympic spirit is all about,” he says. “To me, competing was all that mattered. Americans are very much ‘Win! Win! Win!’ In England, we don’t give a f*&k whether you win. It’s great if you do, but we appreciate those who don’t. The failures are the people who never get off their bums. Anyone who has a go is a success.”
By taking a huge leap of faith, Edwards captured the world’s imagination and achieved the sort of renown that can only come overnight.
As his story and his loveable personality gained media attention… “Eddie The Eagle” quickly became a worldwide sensation.
There was an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, a huge non-victory parade in Cheltenham and a sponsorship deal with Eagle Airlines. There were even Eddie the Eagle T-shirts, caps, pins and key chains.
Watch this fantastic video here:
For those interested in learning more about this story, it was made into a Bio-Pic starring Targon Egerton as Eddie and Hugh Jackman as his ski coach called “Eddie The Eagle”
Let’s jump into this week’s Potty Picks!
We will keep this section shorter than usual, because this week’s video of the week needs very little explanation!
Jimmy Kimmel… take it away!
(its hysterical… we promise)
While we love sharing these stories with you – we have to selfishly admit… Potty Picks is truly a treasure trove of incredible music.
For those of you tired of listening to Harry Style’s “Watermelon Sugar” for the 56th time today…
In Potty Picks we choose 5 songs each week that are added to shared playlist, and we include it each week below – be sure to stay on top of all our picks by liking and following the playlist!
This week, we feature these 5 songs:
- “You’ve Got To Let Go If You Want To Be Free” - Disclosure and Zedd
- “Juice” - Lizzo
- “Tonight You Might”- Synthia and feat (Lady Wray)
- “Warm Water – Snakehips Remix) - BANKS, Snakehips
- “Can’t Hold Me” - Emily King!
While this story may not have happened this week… we assure you – you are going to want to read this story.
We have spoken in our past episodes about sharing a bathroom with no partition… and this week we were reminded of another shared Bathroom…
Back in 2014, the Winter Olympics were held in Sochi… everything was going according to plan when…
A BBC Moscow reporter Steve Rosenberg tweeted a picture of two toilets situated side by side in one cubicle at the cross-country skiing and biathlon center.
While this would have been enough on its own to be our Bathroom Moment of the Week… we present to you a corresponding video we found online…
Simply put… this needs to be seen… We present to you our Bathroom Moment of the Week:
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Well… that’s one way to end a blog…
Thank you all so much for joining us for another Potty Time with POTTMINTS!
As always, we love sharing these stories, videos, music and bathroom moments with you each week!
We would absolutely love it if you shared this with someone, perhaps someone that loves the Winter Olympics…
Or strange animated videos depicting sharing a bathroom with a Russian bear… either one!
This February, in honor of Black History Month – we want to feature quotes from inspirational Black Woman, and this week, once again is no exception
This week’s quote is from American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author, Angela Davis.
“I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change...I'm changing the things I cannot accept.”
Angela Davis
Thank you all for joining us this week, and we look forward to seeing you again next Monday for our Valentine’s Day episode!
Have a great week!
POTTYMINTS
