The 2010 Vancouver Olympics Thread

I'm amazed there aren't more people on this thread.

Lucky wipeout in the short track last night - lucky for US - and moguls - unbelievable.

I had a sobering moment this morning - the first Olympics I ever saw on TV were the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics in 1960 - that's fifty years ago! They were so awe-inspiring and the thrill hasn't decreased over the years.

I'm looking forward to the pairs short figure skating programs today and keeping my fingers crossed for Denny and Barrett (and Evora and Ladwig but I don't think they have as much of a chance - but I'm tickled they're there.) Puma

Finally! I finished my upteen hours of work a day for two weeks, and in a little while I'm vegetating on the couch to watch the Olympics. I LOVE the Olympics. I heard of the luge crash. That made me sick for sorry for the athlete and the Georgian team.

NOW: to the couch!

Olympic coverage

If you are near enough to the Canadian border to pick up Canadian signals, "CTV" is the Canadian Olympic provider this time. They outbid the national network, CBC, which will still put on daily highlights, I imagine.
CTV will provide constant reminders of how much gold we haven't won yet, and sneer at the woman who won silver, who was trying to be all up-beat and "I didn't lose gold, I won silver".
"Own the Podium", motto of the Canadian Olympic movement, is about the tackiest, win-at-any-cost motto, ever!

Some sort of questionable judging in the pairs figure skating last night - even the commentators remarked about it. Sounds like the "new" judging system has problems just like the old 6.0 system. It's too bad they can't figure out how to take the "human factor" out of evaluation of sporting events. Puma

I was surprised and upset to learn Dale Begg-Smith was a spam mogul (NPI). I wonder if that's why he had to move out of Canada? Well, maybe not...I don't know if anyone has ever been arrested in the Olympic Village but that would be fun to see.
And it made me happy to see the kid from Canada beat him.

Puma said:

Some sort of questionable judging in the pairs figure skating last night - even the commentators remarked about it. Sounds like the "new" judging system has problems just like the old 6.0 system. It's too bad they can't figure out how to take the "human factor" out of evaluation of sporting events. Puma

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Yeah, the commentator said she wanted to see the "master sheet" I think she called it. I was surprised by the higher scores on those questionable pairs.

For those skaters that fell during their routines, I just don't understand why they allow themselves to display a body language of: "I blew it, let me just flop my arms and legs to finish the routine." I can understand their disappointment in themselves for the fall, but to go through the motions of the remaining routine by flapping around with a hangdog expression just makes the scores go even lower and probably makes themselves feel worse.

I love the Olympics, but the commercials are killing me. The wife and me started keeping track after a while, and it was close to half the programming. I'm hoping it'll wane a bit as it continues, but I doubt it.

Its a shame, because I'm losing interest.

The CTV coverage seesaws between sappy and hilarious. I love the fact that Alex Biladeau won but I hope we get another gold soon so we don't have to see his heart-melting profile over and over.

Last night they had his family in the studio & one of the sports hosts brought in some champagne for a toast. They giggled and shushed when the mom mentioned her daughter was too young to drink.

The early morning crew is relaxed and sometimes they say stuff they wouldn't ordinarily say. Like when the host mentioned news anchors doing body shots off each other. Ew. Hahaha!

I'm so tired of NBC's lousy coverage. They have 4 channels. Do they use them like they said they would? No. And then when they only have one channel showing, what is it? Figure skating. Please. Give us an alternative to that!

And please, I don't care about backstory. Its enough for me to know these athletes have trained all their lives for this moment, I don't need to know or even care that they have an aunt in Poughkeepsie dying of ringworm.

And it was funny, last night we had the pairs figure skating on (I was flipping between that and the much more interesting Westminster) and my 9-year-old comes in.

"Put on the Olympics."

"This is the Olympics."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Really? This is the Olympics?"

My thoughts exactly.

After an hour of it yesterday I've turned it off You're right Ferret, between the interviews and the commercials, I can't do it. I'll watch the highlights on ESPN.

Curling is a funny sport. They even dress in bowling clothes.

I kinda like Begg-Smith. He and his brother run a legal and very profitable business which is not actually spam-based. From what I have seen of the Canadian sports infrastructure I think he did the right thing. They said he couldn't run a business and be a world-class sportsperson--and guess what, they were wrong. I suspect that if he had stayed in Canada his placing would have been worse, not better.

Watching hockey reminds me of how much I miss seeing it on a regular basis. Now I only get to see it every 4 years. I wonder when the NHL will come back from strike?

I'm enjoying Curling. The mens team from Germany looks awesome. I wish I understood it better

Its like table shuffle board. Didn't you ever hang out in bars?

And I have trouble respecting the snowboarders. They seem to not have the level of respect for the games that most of the other athletes have. And they seem too much the burnout, surfer dude, you know?

Shadow_Ferret said:

Curling is a funny sport. They even dress in bowling clothes.

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I consider curling to be the bowling of the Winter Olympics. No insult intended because I love curling.

I pulled up the rules on the Internet so I can learn about it. Like golf, just to watch it in ignorance is booooring. Learning about it makes it even more enjoyable. Now it's fun to yell at the TV and armchair QB.

aaaaand Congrats to Apolo Ohno for his record breaking 7th medal. Cheered on by his new pal Michael Phelps

The US women had a great come from behind victory against Great Britain in curling yesterday, and the Switzerland Norway hockey game was great.

These people put a lot into this, so I'm still watching.

Quick note though. NBC is a cowardly organization. If they're going to interview every athlete who is getting married, I'd like to see one interview of an athlete who wants to but is forbidden by hate and discrimination by their government.

The men's curling match between Canada and Great Britain was AWESOME! For a while there, I was wondering if the undefeated Canada would go down, but they pulled it out. I laughed out loud when the announcer talked how one of the curler should "throw a howitzer." Those men can really make those rocks go screaming down the sheet, can't they?!

ETA: I though it was really cool that "The Great Skate" Gretsky was there rooting for the team. Did you all see the Canadians bust out in their national anthem? I thought it was inspiring. I have to pity the other teams playing matches on other sheets. That had to have been really distracting.

Why does NBC seem to think America is going to embrace curling the way Canada has? And really, if you're going to broadcast it, EDUCATE us. The announcers discuss it as if we all know something about it. Don't just tell us what they did or need to do, tell us WHY.

And again, can I complain about NBC's lack of coverage? They have four channels dedicated to it. Today, USA will be showing movies all day long, and CNBC has paid programming on. WTF?

I noticed the announcers explain some things in the beginning of the match, not so much as the match goes on. There is one male announcer (I don't know his name) who is good about explaining things. The players have microphones and they'll listen in on their discussions. This announcer will explain what the players are talking about. But, yeah, Shadow Ferret, I wish they would explain even more than they do.

I think curling will pick up in the US, though likely only in the northern tier. I can't remember the NFL's San Fran 49er player who was elected Honorary Captain of the US men's curling team. I think interest is growing.

I have to laugh about your comment (at myself, not you) about lack of TV coverage . I'm so close to having my WIP fully edited, ready for printing or sending to beta readers. I'm an Olympics addict, and this coverage is a huge distraction! Or, my WIP is a distraction to watching the Olympics. I'm not sure which ...

The USA Canada hockey game will be on cable. NBC sucks.

50,000,000 Americans won't be allowed to watch their team play as these douches yap about patriotism. The greed in this country is getting out of control.

What do you mean 'getting'? Oh well, I don't really like hockey and I have to admit US vs Canada was a fantastic game. Riveting!

I will never get curling, but that's OK. You know what oddball sport I like? Biathlon. Gotta love a game where the announcer says "Any moment now the contestants will start shooting." Usually it's the spectators who start shooting, but they don't plan that.