Eric Heiden-Back at the Olympics at age 51

Generation Joneser Eric Heiden (born in 1958) is one of the most recognized names when it comes to winter Olympics. If you're reading this and have no idea who he is, check out his impressive list of world records. In the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics he won EVERY speed skating event - the only skater to have ever won all of the men's speed skating races.

AP File

I didn't realize he was an orthopedic surgeon, like his father. And his wife. He's back at the Olympics, serving as the team doctor. That's just cool. If you haven't heard of him it's probably because he didn't jump on the endorsement train. He preferred finishing school and staying out of the spotlight.

Photo from MSNBC

The Lake Placid Olympics was arguably the most important Olympics for Generation Jonesers. At the very least it's probably the most memorable. As young adults we were the same age as many of the competitors. It was the Olympics that brought us the Miracle on Ice, when the USA, clearly the underdog, beat the Soviet Union in a medal round ice hockey game and went on to win the gold medal. It really was a miracle!

Thirty years have flown by since the Lake Placid Olympics. Records set during those games are only yawn-worthy now. The Olympics are no longer for amateurs only. Million dollar endorsement deals await the photogenic winners. They might even be invited to compete on Dancing With The Stars!


My own children are now young adults. I'm wondering if the Olympics hold the same place of awe in their minds as it did for us. Will there emerge any clear role models from these games? And one more question. Why, oh why, does the USA always have the worst looking outfits? I'm just not a fan.

Easy Come, Easy Go

If you happened to sign on to Yahoo.com this morning you might have been tempted to click on the Smartmoney.com article "10 Things Not to Buy in 2010".

Is it just me, or does Yahoo employ an extraordinarily talented headline writer? I promise myself I'm just going to pop in, check my email, and pop back out, and E.V.E.R.Y. time I get snagged by some intriguing headline.

Anyway, what I was saying was that this article is fairly painful for us Generation Jonsers. We've said good-bye to the LP record, 8-track, cassette, Walkman, video tape - all accompanied by expensive hardware. Now they want to pry our fingers off of our land-line phones, DVDs and external hard drives? I admit, my family hasn't owned a land-line phone for about seven years and hasn't really missed it. And we just cancelled our online movie rental membership in favor of the less expensive options of Hulu for missed television programs, and On-Demand cable movies. So if actions speak louder than words, we're modeling exactly what the article recommends.

Still, it's hard to let go of things we so badly wanted once-upon-a-time. Plus, what exactly are we supposed to do with all this stuff? Maybe just stash it somewhere until 2040 when it will suddenly be valuable as an uber-cool retro item?

And another thing - why, in 2040, will I not be an uber-cool retro item?