The Kerrigans: A Family Shadowed

And so it began again this past week for Nancy Kerrigan.

A violent attack. Acute pain and suffering. Questions—so many questions, at least to the rest of the world. Maybe this time, the family itself already knows the answers. Maybe, in a way, they’ve known for a long time.

Daniel Kerrigan, Nancy’s father, was laid to rest this week at age 70 under circumstances still under investigation. We know this because it made headlines—about 500-600 of them, according to my last Google check. Had he simply passed away without incident, it likely still would have made headlines, particularly in the Boston area. But there’s much more to this story—things that aren’t really anyone’s business, but have become our business because of Nancy, a lady who once upon a time just wanted to do her best at the 1994 Olympics.

She did just that, but surely never anticipated the media feeding frenzy that followed… not then, not now… over things way beyond her control; things that are hard enough to deal with as is without the public eye staring her down, sensing a family tragedy too “well-timed” (because of the Olympics, and Nancy’s association with them) to be overlooked.

What do you do in a situation like that? Well, if you’re the Kerrigan Family, you issue a thoughtful statement like this one, highlighting some of the most memorable things about their beloved patriarch, and hope it will overshadow some of the other things being reported.

We already know how strong Nancy can be in times of stunning pressure and adversity… let’s all pray that the lessons she’s been forced to learn in the past will somehow help her family in the present.

4CC’s UPDATE: This year’s Four Continents Championship is now in the books; big props to those that brought home medals…

MEN: Gold- Adam Rippon, USA
Silver- Tatsuki Machida, JPN
Bronze- Kevin Reynolds, CAN

LADIES: Gold- Mao Asada, JPN*
Silver- Akiko Suzuki, JPN*
Bronze- Caroline Zhang, USA

PAIRS: Gold- Zhang/Zhang, CHN*
Silver- McLaughlin/Brubaker, USA
Bronze- Duhamel/Buntin, CAN

DANCE: Gold- Weaver/Poje, CAN
Silver- Hann-McCurdy/Coreno, CAN
Bronze- Hubbell/Hubbell, USA

*= Also scheduled to compete in Vancouver.

I’ll be trying to watch some of these performances in the next couple days and provide more details; to my knowledge IceNetwork has no plans to add this to its archives.

For now, here’s Rippon’s EX to Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” as the Clip of the Day.