Tonight at 7pm EST you can view the tape-delayed closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Despite the controversy, utterly moronic statements made by some members of the US Press, and Olympic-sized whiners, they were very entertaining. Again, I love watching the actual athletes who are NOT professionals -- they really do work hard and put it all on the line.
The US finished in second in the medal count, with 25, 9 of them gold. Germany owned the games with 11 gold medals and 29 total. I didn't watch all of NBC's coverage, but I sure racked up the hours.
And since the US has NEVER won a medal, EVER in the biathlon, I think I need to start training for the 2010 games. Heck, who wouldn't like skiing and shooting? And so what if I'm just using training as an excuse to ski and shoot?
I haven't seen a whole lot of blogging on the Olympics. I've mentioned them quite a few times, as I've watched TONS of coverage. I'm not saying there isn't anyone covering them, just that I haven't seen a lot.
Kender really let Gumble have it for his racist comments that haven't gotten him fired (you can't be racist if you're black) -- and The NeoCon Blogger doesn't like Curling:
Curling! Where to start. First, this is such a Canadian event (it ain’t a sport if you can’t hit anyone or travel faster than you can run!) Curling is said to be a ‘thinker’s game full of strategy and precision.’ Well, so is estate planning but does it need to be an Olympic event?
I wasn't aware that pornographic dancing was an event at the Olympics. Obviously it is.
Ok, some commenters here (Stevin, Trench) have suggested a few new sports for the Olympics. So...do you like their suggestions, or do you have some others?
The USA team has it's first gold of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Chad Hedrick won gold in the men's 5000m speed skating. Damn, those guys are fast. I went ice skating (in Florida -- don't ask) a few months back. I could stay on my feet without a problem, but speed was nowhere in my thoughts...
More on the women's hockey. So far the US team really looks dominating. 12:09 into the 1st period and they're up 1-0, but they're really owning this game.
One of the reasons I do watch women's ice hockey is because these are amateurs. They are college students and the like who are playing their hearts out for a dream. They're NOT professional athletes -- I strongly believe that no professionals should be allowed anywhere near the Olympics.
And "elbowing?" That's illegal? The Swiss had a penalty called on them because one of them elbowed one of the US team in the head and knocked her down. I thought that was encouraged in hockey. I wonder if that's an Olympic rule.
Update: Domination by the US team, winning 6-0. VERY one-sided game. At one time, the US team had two players in the penalty box and STILL scored a goal. Very dominating.
Go ahead, call me sexist, but women playing ice hockey still seems odd to me. Don't get me wrong, they can certainly play, but it's still just not "normal."
That said, the Russian-Sweeten game is not too bad. It appears slower than the men's game, and there's certainly drastically less contact. Nice shooting by the Sweeten women, though. The Russian goalie is pretty good, but the Sweedes are really tossing that puck into the goal.
It's currently 2-0, Sweden leading, in the 2nd period.
Update: Sweden wins, 3-1. Not a bad game -- in the last period it got pretty competitive!
Next up (12:00pm EST): USA vs. Switzerland. The US is heavy favorites, but the Olympics are full of upsets...
The coverage was also very deceptive. At 8:00pm EST, they said the ceremony would start in 40 minutes. It was 9:00pm EST before the ceremony started. They had nice coverage of the athletes, some practices, and the stories.
The ceremony was VERY long and drawn out. I was watching with a couple others, and one by one they gave up as the next commercial delay showed up. We all wanted to see the torch lit, but damn. Next time you want to run so many damn commercials, start at 5pm instead of 8pm.
The delays and commercials really took away from the ceremony itself.
I'm excited though, and ready to watch tons of sports by AMATEUR athletes (sorry, I don't watch the pros in the Olympics)!
It's time! The opening ceremonies for The Winter Olympics is today at 2pm EST! Yes, that's 8pm Italy time (I think), but they're starting! I wonder if there's a tape-delay so I can see it when I'm not working...
I like winter sports. Of course, the Olympics pretty much stinks since they allowed pro athletes in, but many of the winter games don't have professionals, so I still like them a lot. And these worldwide games were designed to promote global harmony and a spirit of global peace. Let's see how many countries use this time for peace, shall we?
Oh, you're talking about those games that NBC wouldn't allow anyone, including sports channels like ESPN, to show.
Usually, I am interested in the winter games, but, not on mostly tape delay, and with the way NBC ran it.
Go for it! NBC coverage left much to be desired on the network, but if you had cable, you could find some of the less "glamorous" coverage on in the afternoons on CNBC and USA. I really got into the Curling.
I liked the tape delay because I couldn't watch at 1 and 2pm EST while at work...
I saw some of it, but was only allowed to catch a little of the USA Hockey (they lost to Finland, I believe), and none of Super Marty Brodeur (Devils fan) with Team Canada. Of course, offense was non existant for them.
I think I would have been more into it if I could have just seen the highlights on ESPN and their other channels. No fashion news, no silliness, just the events. On NBC et all, I had to wait through 10 pounds of fat to get to the meat.
And the commercials! That was my biggest complaint -- hours and hours of commercials.
Hey Ogre..jus dont ski n shoot at the same time eh?..lolz
You ruin all the fun!