Anyone Who Doesn't Believe in American Exceptionalism Wasn't in Boston This Weekend

There are times when I feel like an anachronism. A man out of his time. A product of a bygone era. Of cultural norms and attitudes that went extinct years ago, and I have not kept up with the zeitgeist. 

But I offer no apologies. I grew up in an age where we were taught to believe there was nothing America could not do. And we were right. As John Winger put it, we're Americans, with a capital "A." That means our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. The underdogs. Mutts. Mutants. But the mutants who tamed an impossibly vast wilderness to build a shining city on a hill for other nations to behold and aspire to.

We built cities. An industrial might that became the envy of the world. Innovated new inventions that changed the course of human history. Created a machine that allowed man to fly, and a mere 66 years later, had him on the moon driving golf balls into the vastness of space itself. And no one's been back since. Who gave the human race blue jeans, Rock 'n Roll, the 1968 Ford Mustang GT 2+2 Fastback and Baywatch? These guys.  

But somewhere along the way, this whole concept of American Exceptionalism fell out of fashion. Worse, it became ridiculed. Dismissed by our supposed political and cultural leaders. Denounced by our academics as xenophobic. (As if the nation that defeated global tyranny on two fronts twice in a row was somehow afraid of xenos.) Our ruling class decided we needed to accept that we were no better than Luxembourg, Burkina Faso or (shudder) Ireland. 

Well if that describes you, if that's your attitude, then explain what we just witnessed in Boston this past weekend:

Four events at the Figure Skating World Championships. And we took three of them. THREE. Not the Russians. Not China. Not Canada. Not Japan. Not France. All these skating powerhouse nations were forced to bend the knee and acknowledge that Figure Skating is America's sport, once again. The way it was in the glory days of Dick Button, Tenley Allbright, Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, and all the other greats who have come before. A JFK once put it, the torch has been passed to a new generation. Skating legends whose names join their mighty company.

There were so many great moments on the TD Garden ice, one barely knows where to begin. So let's take them in chronological order. 

Alysa Liu, after taking a couple of years off, laced the skates up again. Skating to "MacArthur Park" by Boston icon Donna Summer, no less:

 And in doing so, dethroned threepeat World Champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. Which led to this unforgettable moment of grace and classiness:

Let's see the Russians show that kind of sportsmanship. Forget it. It'll never happen. They're too busy trying to cheat drug tests, giving each other side-eye and starting wars to ever bring such dignity to a worldwide event such as this

Next was Ilia Malinin, who is quite simply dominating his sport like no other athlete in the world today. He is to Skating in the mid-2020s what Mike Tyson was to boxing in the late '80s. Going undefeated and beating everyone by knockout:

Finally, there was the continued dominance of our top Ice Dance duo, the ever-steady Evan Bates and the luminous Madison Chock. They made history by becoming nothing less than the first US pair to win three Worlds:

And as if all this wasn't good enough news (note that it is), let me remind you that we are heading into an Olympic year. So these are the athletes we are sending to Milan next winter to represent us. So Liu spoke for all of us when she took to the rink with this little bit of patriotic fervor:

So sorry to all you elites. But not sorry. America is BACK, baby. Doing the things we do better than anyone else. Taking back what is rightfully ours. 

Here's to the Army and Navy and the battles they have won. Here's to America's colors, the colors that never run. May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.