Old Glory

I wrote this post after Rebekah's 1st 4th of July a year ago. I hesitated to post it at that time because I felt that we had become self-indulgent regarding our adoption and experiences while in Russia. Now that some time has passed I thought people wishing to properly celebrate their country's independence might enjoy it or find it inspiring. Happy 4th of July.

Vitali, our driver, parked the car on a busy eight lane street in Moscow, we grabbed our backpacks, and he pointed us to our destination. "It is that building there, I wait here for you." he said. When I pictured what the United States embassy would look like, it was hard for me not to imagine something similar to the Emerald City in the wizard of Oz where everyday is the fourth of July and every night the sky was lit up with fireworks and a message of freedom. But, instead, we walked up to an rather unassuming, government building surrounded by an iron gate. Allison and I had to divulge the entire contents of our bags at the entrance and get a metal detector waived over us... They even waived it over Rebekah. We gathered our things and went inside. We were there for one purpose only, to get Rebekah a Visa to enter the United States of America.

As we walked inside, there it hung, Old Glory. The stars and stripes so bright they hurt my eyes.

I hadn't seen a single American flag in nearly a month. And after a steady diet of unintelligible, propagandized Russian media, frankly, it was breathtaking. I resisted the urge to stop and stare and we wound our way down crowded hallways and up some stairs until finally we reached the place we would receive our immigration papers and Visa for Rebekah to come home. We waited there with several other American adoptive families, we met a nice couple from Charlotte who was adopting a little boy that wasn't nearly as cute as my daughter, a single lady from New York who was traveling with her mom, and several other adoptive families working to get their children home. We were a humble platoon, battle weary and worn, all of us ready to cross the finish line into the greatest country in the world. It was nice to stand on American soil four thousand miles from home, if only for two hours. After receiving the papers that would gain our daughter entry to the U.S., we stepped outside to the city street and back into the country that we grown to both love and hate...

A few days later, on the long journey home, we landed in Miami. We walked for what seemed like forever, on our way through the international terminal and eventually into a little customs office full of people red and yellow, black and white... and us. A customs agent reviewed Rebekah's documents and then stamped her passport, and when ink met paper, it was official. Not only was she our daughter, but she inherited the rights, liberties, and privileges of a United States citizen.

God Bless America. The country that swung wide its doors to welcome my immigrant daughter. Let freedom ring.

Favorite Strongman: #7 - Phil Pfister

If you look at Phile Pfister's strongman resume you'll notice that he was most often the bridesmaid and never the bride throughout most of his strongman career. Numerous 2nd place and 4th place (just off the podium) finishes. He's competed in 8 WSM's total, in a fistful of Arnold Classics and except for a miraculous finish in 2006, only has one other 1st place finish in international competition.

Why I like him:

The rain was coming down in Sanya, China in 2006 as Phil Pfister stepped onto a slippery platform with the reigning World's Strongest Man, Mariusz Pudzianowski. Earlier, on the first event of the finals, the car deadlift, Phil finished a disappointing 5th place, giving him 6 points, digging himself a hole early, he never was a deadlifter. On the power stairs he faired a little better at third place, but still the contest now belonged to Mariusz. His fourth WSM title was now looking like a formality. Phil Pfister's only chance was to win the five remaining events, and not even the super strongman from Poland had ever done that, I don't think anyone ever has.

But then a funny thing happened. Phil won the over head stone lift, narrowly edging out the Pol.

And it didn't stop there. Then he won the Fingal Fingers. Then he beat Mariusz on the bus pull, and then by fractions of a second on the car walk. And now he was five stones away from becoming the first man from the USA to win World's Strongest Man in 24 years. All he had to do was beat Mariusz one more time.... Watch the Video and enjoy.

For the official results sheet from this contest, click here. [editor's note, the only reason the margin of victory is so high for Pfister is b/c Pudzianowski never placed his last stone, he gave up once he saw Pfister had won, had he completed the last stone the final score would have been Phil Pfister 61, Mariusz Pudzianowski 60.5 - War Damn Pfister]

Favorite Strongman: #8 - Derek Boyer

He's never won World's Strongest Man. In fact, he's never gotten close. But I can't help but like Derek Boyer. A journeyman strongman from the Island of Fiji, he competed in every WSM from 1996 to 2002, then made an appearance at the 2007 competition. He has won Australia's Strongest man from 2000 to 2010. And had the privilege of competing at the 2009 Fortissimus.

Why I like him

• Never won much of anything on the international scene but still showed up and gave it his all
• Had a rocking mullet in the 90's
• Face paint
• At the 2009 Fortissimus offered help to a very sick dehydrated Derek Poundstone the night before the competition. Here is a quote from Kristin (Mrs. Poundstone) "Oh and by the way, that night Derek Boyer came to our room. He heard Derek (Poundstone) was sick and wanted to check on him and see if he needed any flu medicine. I thought that was so nice of him! When I peeked around the corner to meet him I couldn't believe how big he was! He looked like Tom McClure's shorter brother! So kudos to Derek B for being so generous!"
• He sumo wrestles (I've always had a fascination with sumo wrestling)
• He is a type I diabetic (insulin dependent)
• He is on the Australian version of American Gladiators (he is known as "Thunder")
• Kisses babies
• Holds the bar and does a lot of talking after completing a heavy deadlift.

Favorite Strongman: #9 - Jouko Ahola

I cut my strongman teeth as a 18 year old watching a lean mean Finnish man named Jouko Ahola win WSM in '97 on ESPN. Jouko was compact and lean before Pudzianowski made it mainstream.

Why I Like Him:

• Seems like a nice guy
• Was known to deadlift until his nose bled.
• Made it look easy, and at least by some of his training videos, really worked to master the events.
• Could dominate crazy heavy atlas stones before it became cool to do so.

Career highlights:

'99 WSM

'97 WSM

Other resources:

• 1999 interview done with (I guess, the now defunked) World Strength Legends website
• In that interview it references a Sports Illustrated article on strongman "Titans of Testosterone" - You can read that article here - It is a good read on some of the sports history as it relates to the television production.