If this weren't a family newspaper, we might say something like "Hot Damn!" People all across Arkansas were stamping their feet and punching their fists about the biggest thing in Arkansas sports last week, and it's not even football season.
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Kayle Browning.
The young lady from Greenbrier, Ark., went to Tokyo's Olympic Games--with a shotgun. She won the silver medal in the women's trap shooting competition Thursday.
Of course she did. It's been a long time since we've seen a covey of quail--that's another editorial--but Arkansas still has ducks and doves to be had during season. And for those who like the feel of a shotgun without the messy work of cleaning birds later, there are plenty of gun ranges that will sell you a bunch of clay targets and set them flying. When the weather cools off, we'll see you at the range.
The point is, lots of Arkansawyers do what Kayle Browning does expertly. There aren't a lot of us who can tread water for an hour (water polo) or throw a shotput across the pasture (track & field) or do a backflip on a balance beam four inches wide and several feet off the ground (congratulations to Sunisa Lee!), but we know what to do with a 20-gauge.
And we know how difficult the blasted things can be. How many of us have used up a whole box of shells to get a couple of doves? Those birds move in ways that defy physics. And if you can hit a wood duck coming in hot and fast as it zips above the tree line, you're a better shot than most.
In short, we relate to Kayle Browning, and stand in awe at her success. (This is her first Olympics.)
Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova of Slovakia won the gold medal. But she had to do it with an Olympic record. She hit 43 of 50 targets in the final round. Ms. Browning came in one behind at 42.
This has been one strange Olympics. Fans are minimal. Competitors are sent home with covid. Parents have to talk to the papers from their living rooms rather than be with their kids during what is likely the best time of their lives up to now.
But sometimes there's good news. Kayle Browning brought that home to Arkansas.
Along with the silver.