SO ... "Audacious/Outrageous" ?
Ok...cut to the last few days of the swimming events...
I'm in the infirmary, as I have a sore throat
in walks Mark, he's already got 6 golds in the can
BUT there's as they say...a "fly in the ointment"
Edgar, then Heidenreich have BOTH beaten Mark
setting World Records in the 100 free, trials and semis
the previous day...the FINALS...are that night...
( pretend you are Mark..you've already gor 6 GOLDs..more than ANYBODY !!!!! )
in HBS "Game Theory" terms...it's called "Fear of Failure"
( you think YOU ...for all the "glory",etc...would want to BE...in his "Adidas" ? NO )
Worlds' FASTEST "human" ....RACE ... 'cept in the water
( in FACT "HUMAN" was//Dave Edgar's "nickname" )
the "finals" ... are about 4 to 5 hrs away
so Mark and I are sitting on the couch...watching TV.
I make the "mistake" of asking Mark.."SO..why are YOU here" ?
Mark proceeds to get up from the couch
steps out of his sandals
climbs up and onto the glass coffee table
steps to the far side,curling his toes over the edge..like a "starting block
"imitates" a take off....then turns around to me ....over the shoulder "pose"
( he's got UNBELIEVABLE "hyper-extension" )
and says....EXACTLY this
"SEE..i just can't get any POWER ....in my START"
and was about to tell me WHY...when I cut him OFF
looked him straight in the eye ( left eye )
and I "stated" simply THIS
"MARK.....we BOTH KNOW....exactly what you are doing ...and WHY" !
he looked away, reached down, grabbed his sandals....
and "SPLIT" ...without even saying a word..o making a sound
THAT...I learned later did NOT "work"
He tried the same thing next with George ( I hour later )
and then with Sherm...,2 hrs later 3 to GO ?
(THAT and ONLY THAT "worked" ! )
Sherm told me 1 week before he died ...
Tuesday after our 72 team reunion )
Sherm told me, as I had already "alerted" first George
then Sherm...that Mark had "Psyched OUT" to Heidenreich )
what I said 1, and George said too... did NOT "work"
what Sherm said...3....DID !
HE said the right THING
IN HIS right EAR
at the right TIME
here's what Sherm "personally" told me
Thursday ( we talked for 1 hr 45 min )
before he died the following Tuesday
Here's what Sherm tolod me he said to Mark
"Mark....IF..you 'chicken OUT" of the 'World's fastest human" race...
NOBODY'S gonna CARE about your 6 GOLD MEDALS !!!!
ALL they will remember...IS
Mark Spitz "chickened" out of the Worlds Fastest HUMAN race"
( deliberately repeating himself for emphasis )
Sherm said he looked at Mark's face...and did NOT "feel the need" to repeat IT
a third time
As Jerry Heidenreich and I went to say goodbye to Mark
he was "sequestered".... but was sitting on the balcony out in the "open"
the last thing Jerry said to Mark, was something about his gold medals ?
and Mark turns to us and says....
"Gee ... I guess this makes me more famous than Rafer Johnson" ?
Jerry laughed and replied...
"IT sure DOES" ! and we left for downtown Munich
where Jerry's girlfriend and 2 female cousins had rented an apartment and a WV Kombi Van for the summer...we were "set" to cruise around Europe for 2 weeks...with $ 280 each in US dollars in our pockets...with..."babes" !
that morning Jerry and I got up at 9 AM....and went down to "harrass" the guy
on the balcony...with the white hood...we ARE "visible" just behind the poor German Blue squad.. .holding back the crowd... he's even waving a machine gun like he's gonna shoot us all,..but ... everybody's "attitude" was...get the F outta here... you jerks...so at 9:20 AM ... we got bored and went to breakfast
Bud Greenspan in HIS movie ... not only "nailed" the actual PLACE at the fence where we went over the wall with the terrorists ..
in the opening of Spielberg's ... "MUNICH" ... I AM theguy...
mentioning the HofBrauHaus ...
it was exactly 2:37 AM
Jerry is the other one...getting out of the taxi with me
but NOT that fence....!
we just thought they were "clever" Israelis...
in the dorm next to the US...
so we decided to go over the fence WITH them ...
rather than face...the long walk from the front gate
he and I each handled one of the black PUMA bags..nearly empty
we were a little "surprised" when we turned left to go into the US dorm..and they waved and kept walking ... instead of turning right into the Israeli dorm...
they went on to the East German dorms...where they got the machine guns
Bud also has an interview with an Olympian who "mentions" ..the "attitude" we ALL had....NOBODY..took them "seriously" as we heard ... like 20 "versions" about what was going on...and just wanted them...to LEAVE ...
that's WHY...Jerry and I went down..."penetrated the crowd...got right up front....
shouting "obscenities" as well..then got bored...and were hungry...so we went to eat....
at breakfast I learned we could CA$H IN our return plane tiickets for something like $280...so we DID..."immediately"
the Swim team was supposed to go to Regensberg to do a "show".....
instead Jerry and I were out the front gate.....
by 10: 45 or so....
it wasn't until the next day...about 10:30 or so...
on the way to Hamburg..
that I turned on the radio in the Hertz VW Kombi van....
that we learned what had happened.....
dead silence ...for 20 minutes...as we drove...ON
