Everyone loves a winner

Three years ago when Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister he could do no wrong. He was Mr Popular. He had the t-shirts, he was high fiving nannas, he was kissing babies. K Rudd was the man. He was a winner.

A little over twelve months ago Tiger Woods was the best golfer in world. He was unrivalled in his dominance in world sport. If he didn’t win a tournament people were surprised. He was winning.

Four years ago Australia’s cricket team won the Ashes 5-0 against England. You get the picture.

Flip forward to late 2010 and things have changed. Although he and his party won the last election, Kevin is not in style. People have chucked their Kevin 07 tees in the Salvos bins and moved on to Jules. Now people just wonder, “How did he screw that up?” When people think of Tiger Woods they’re probably thinking the same thing, but just with a different connotation. I don’t want to talk about the cricket right now.

Yesterday I went to the Birds of Prey World Cup ski races in Beaver Creek. And people there certainly do like a winner. Every racer who looked like they would take the lead the crowd would go nuts for. Cow bells would ring and feet would stamp. No matter who was winning, the crowd loved them. At one stage Frenchmen filled the two top spots. It was not that long ago that the White House replaced French fries and French toast with Freedom fries and Freedom toast for three years. Nonetheless, the crowd went wild. Each time someone new took the lead, the last racer was happily forgotten.

The best was saved for last though. An American, Ted Ligety, was in first place going into the last run. His was the final run of the competition. Ted came through with the goods, giving the home crowd something to really cheer about. In that moment I was able to experience American patriotism at its absolute best. And it was a sight to behold. Fist pumping, wooping, flag waving. I couldn’t help but smile and join in with some good, old fashioned showboating. I was only two knuckle pounds short of getting my face painted with the stars and stripes.

Everyone does love a winner. I just hope Ted Ligety has a bit more discretion than Tiger.