Sunday, August 29, 2004

26.2 Miles of Mahler Yesterday, I attended the Gustav Mahler Society's annual Mahlerthon.  Once a year, a group of die-hard Mahler freaks convenes to listen to as much of the master's music as we can cram into an afternoon and an evening.  It's as close as I've ever come to joining a cult.  Given the fiasco that the Olympic men's marathon became (see my commentary below for more on this), perhaps the Mahlerthon should be substituted for it in the 2008 Beijing games.  It would require evaluating which country's symphony orchestra turned in the best Mahler performance, but the judging couldn't possibly be any worse than it was for the men's gymnastics. 10:24:02 PM

Men in Kilts Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for the Catholic Church, along comes a new scandal: ATHENS, Greece -- A defrocked Irish priest bolted from the crowd and grabbed the marathon leader about three miles from the finish Sunday. The Brazilian runner wound up with the bronze -- and a special award for sportsmanship -- and the former priest was arrested. Cornelius Horan, 57, was wearing a green beret, a red kilt and knee-high green socks when he attacked Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima, knocking him into the crowd. De Lima was able to recover and finish, but was passed by two runners about a mile after the incident. Before the Olympics began, there were endless terrorist threat warnings and billions spent on security, but it turned out that all we really had to worry about was some deranged religious fanatic dressed like a bad Irish folk dancer.  At least he could have worn a Greek theme costume -- maybe a red cap, white socks with black garters, and a khaki kilt, like one of those Evzone Guards in Athens.  9:53:20 PM