Somebody is floating the idea of a reality show that can actually produce - as a winner - an Olympian.
So... what kind of sport would work for that? How about... curling!
Now, it has turned into a American Idol reality thing with five male and five female slots to produce the entries to the Olympic tryouts.
The cool thing, that was unfortunately false, is that at one time they were talking about "closet curlers" that are rockstars would be involved - specifically John Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen. How cool would that have been? How cool would it have been for those guys to expose more people to the sport?
]]>I love HDTV.
Why American 70's/80's music to march the teams into the stadium?
Did Luciano Pavarotti actually sing or was it tape? He sure wasn't straining at all. There wasn't enough close-ups for a definitive answer.
IT'S OVER... the closing ceremonies just wrapped, and I'm still feeling melancholy about it. I know I don't participate, but I'm just sad to see it end. Again I found myself yelling at the TV to get the NBC commentators to STFU! I want to watch and listen to the ceremonies. (I think we lost the whole concept of the dinosaurs because of the talking and commercials.) I'm also still trying to figure out who the hell invited Christina Aguilera to sing at the ceremonies... Seeing fireworks all over the Wasatch valley was pretty cool, and I hope that all the neon paint that they sprayed all over the ice at the arena isn't permanent - I wouldn't want to wear a leather coat (like Team USA) only to get paint all over it!
Last medal update - nothing in Women's 30 km Cross Country. Canada just outplayed USA in Hockey, beating us 5-2. They get the Gold, we get the Silver. Could have been because the ice guys at the E Center were Canadian and before the Olympics they burried a Cannadian coin at center ice. I don't know, maybe we should protest...
Total Medals for the US 34!!!. (Germany was in 1st with 35). Very cool.
One of these years I gotta make it to an Olympics...
]]>The 46-year drought of no medals in bobsledding is over for the US after taking both Silver and Bronze in Four Man Bobsled! Russia won the Bronze medal in Ice Hockey after beating Belarus 7-2. Of course, Russia complained yesterday about the refereeing in yesterday's game against the US and now the International Ice Hockey Federation is pissed-off about the comments that were made by the Russians. Great... let's keep stirring that pot...
Hmmm... somewhere, there's a South Korean feeling like justice was served (though a bt late)... Apolo Anton Ohno was disqualified for a collision with Japanese skater Satoru Terao on the next-to-last turn in a preliminary heat in the Men's Short Track 500m Speed Skating. Ohno had another chance for a medal in the Men's Short Track 5000m Relay, but Rusty Smith clipped a lane marker and fell with 26 laps to go and Team USA finished 4th. We didn't qualify in Ladies 1000m Short Track Speed Skating. Nothing in Ladies 5000m Speed Skating. And if it's Cross-Country skiing, you know that we didn't win anything in Men's 50 km Cross-Country Skiing. Nothing in Men's Slalom (Bode Miller fell twice and finished 25th).
]]>USA Men's Hockey beat (barely) Russia 3-2 to advance to the Gold Medal round. USA was leading 3-0 after 2 periods when Russia scored just 11 seconds into the 3rd and then again just 3:10 later. USA looked absolutely stunned, like they didn't know who was on the ice - like it was a totally different team they were playing against. They looked bad, like they were struggling. They looked so good during the first two periods. Man, I wonder if this is going to piss off the Russians some more... All of this on the 22nd Anniversary (to the day) of Team USA beating Russia in Lake Placid in the "Miracle on Ice"...
Things are looking pretty good for the USA in Four Man Bobsled (sorry, I just can't get myself to say bobsleigh) after two runs - they're in First with two more runs tomorrow.
The rest, well, not so good. Nothing in Ladies Giant Slalom. Nothing in the Men's Nordic Combined Sprint 7.5km. Nothing in Men's 10,000m Speed Skating, though I did see somebody (forgot who) who forgot where they were and just changed lanes because he thought he forgot to do it, then realized that, no, he wasn't supposed to be in the lane with the other guy so he changed back. Weird. Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands set a Olympic and World record with 12:58.92 - the first skater to break the 13-minute "barrier". And Canada lost to Norway 6-5 in an upset in the finals for Men's Curling.
This evening was a non-medal event - the Skating Exhibition with all of the winners. Nice to see everybody just skating for the hell of it without the pressure of competing.
When watching this, you realize that the Olympics are finally winding down.
]]>Crazy news day, though. The Russians are threatening to pull out of the Olympics and possibly the 2004 Athens Summer due to judging improprieties (the Pairs Figure Skating debacle) as well as in protest over Cross Country Skier Larissa Lazutina being disqualified for having high levels of performance-boosting hemoglobin. The team leader said “This is a scandal. They are specifically hunting out Russian sportsmen”. Right after the Russian Press Conference, South Korea announced it is threatening pulling out of the Olympics and possibly the 2004 Athens Summer Games because of the DQ to their skater Kim Dong-Sung last night in favor of "the crowd favorite" Apolo Ohno. They are threatening to sue the Australian judge in US court and have hired a Salt lake City law firm. (It's the same Australian judge from Ohno's other race that he won Silver after the big wipe-out and the Australian skater breezes to Gold.) Jeez.
The big deal of the Night - Ladies Free Skating. Oh, man. Sarah Hughes skated her ass off tonight! I thought she was great! Fell into first place with her skate! Sasha Cohen - well, not so good - she fell. Then Michelle Kwan - wow, she fell, too, but never gave up. I'm looking at the board - it's Hughes-Kwan-Cohen on the board when Russia's Irina Slutskaya comes out to skate. Wasn't clean, but no falls and maybe not as technically difficult as the others. Oh, man. This is actually suspenseful! Her marks go up - they look high. Then when the Ordinals come up they cut to the locker room to see a screaming Sarah Hughes and her coach! So the final is Hughes/Gold-Slutskaya/Silver-Kwan/Bronze! Cohen finished fourth. Boy, I wonder if this is going to piss-off the Russians some more. Slutskaya looks pissed. Michaelle looks like she wants to cry. Bad. Or maybe hide somewhere. Sarah just looked so damn happy in the medal ceremony! Slutskaya didn't look as pissed on the stand - she actually looked happy.
Bode Miller won his second Silver Medal, this time in Men's Giant Slalom (he was 7th after his first run). He's the first USA man to medal in Giant Slalom.
We finished 13th (LAST) in Women's Cross-Country 4x5 km Relay. The Women's Curling team lost to Canada 9-5 in the Bronze Medal Game. No medal. Bummer - I was hoping that USA would get something in Curling. Great Britain won in an upset. The Women's Hockey team Lost to Canada 3-2 in the Gold Medal Game, breaking a 35-game winning streak. (Sweden beat Finland 2-1 in the Bronze Medal Game.) I thought Team USA looked pressured during the game. Things were looking a little chippy and they were just all over the ice - I'm not sure how much under control they were.
]]>The world has turned upside down this afternoon. First I hear that kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearlis dead - at least he looks that way on a videotape that the US has. And I'm sorry, but I don't trust the Pakistani police to find everybody involved. I saw a show on DirecTV the other day, I think it was on the WorldLink channel, called "Karachi Kops". Let's just say it wasn't as good as Fox's "Cops" and it sure was suspiciously edited. I don't trust these guys.
Then I hear that the US Olympic Committee has turned over all of fthe evidence they have to the FBI on death threats against Apolo Anton Ohno. It started after his first race, and after the disqualification of Kim Dong-Sung last night, the death threats apparently really escalated. Jeez. Oh, and there's increased security around the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia because of a possible attack. It's not over - a US Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in about 120 miles northeast of Mindanao in the Philippines with 12 aboard. This is all part of the war against terrorism - this time it's Abu Sayyaf, an offshoot of al Qaeda. What the hell is going on today?!?!?
]]>In Ladies 1500m Speed Skating Jennifer Rodriquez won Bronze, and Chris Witty came in fourth. In the Men's 1500m Short Track Speed Skating, well, Apolo Anton Ohno won Gold - only after Kim Dong-Sung of South Korea - who crossed the line first - was disqualified for something called "crosstracking" and interfering with Ohno. Great - another skating controversy. In Men's Hockey Play-offs Quarterfinals, USA shutout Germany 5-0. The real upset in Hockey today was unbeaten Sweden being beaten by Belarus 4-3.
Today's downsides - nothing in Ladies Short Track 3000m Relay Finals, nothing in Ladies Slalom, nothing in Men's 4x7.5 km Biathlon Relay (but Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Noway won his 4th Gold Medal of the games) . In Women's Curling Semifinal USA loses to Switzerland 9-4. Nuts. But I think we might still be in a Bronze medal hunt.
]]>OK, well, let's see the not so good news... Team K120 Ski Jumping - 11th place. Women's Aerials Freestyle Skiing - 14th & 17th. Women's 4x7.5 km Relay Biathlon - 15th (LAST). The Men lost in curling against Great Britain 7-6 and are now in a three-way tie for 7th. Ice Dancing - 11th (Gee... the French took Gold... who would have thought...)
On the plus-side, the Women's curling team whipped Norway 11-2, who conceded after 7 ends. The women are now in Third Place going into the medal rounds. Men's Hockey beat Belarus 8-1 and advance to their medal rounds.
]]>No medals in Ladies' Super-G, Two-Man Bobsleigh (when did it go from Bobsled to Bobsleigh?), Men's 4x10 km Relay Cross-Country Skiing, or Men's Nordic Combined Team 4x5 km Relay. Now in Women's Curling, USA beat Great Britain 6-5, and are now tied for Third. The men just lost to Finland 6-4, and are still tied for 7th.
In Ladies 1000m Speed Skating, Chris Witty set a new World Record (1:13.83) and won Gold and Jennifer Rodriguez won Bronze.
]]>HEY! The Men's Hockey Team didn't win! OK, it was a tie with Russia - 2-2. If it wasn't for Brett Hull scoring with 4:30 left in the third, it would have been very disappointing. Russia outshot us 35-25. Didn't think it was going to turn into a tie.
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