The Games of the Winter Olympiad

Did you see that counter on the right of the screen? You know, the one that's been there since the day the Summer Olympics ended two years ago. It now shows less than 24 hours until the start of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. I'm so excited!!!


I feel like this Olympics has gotten very little hype and publicity until just this week. I find that very disappointing but probably a sad indicator of the fact that we don't have a whole lot to be excited about in this country. Our medal hopes aren't real high this year, unfortunately. But I can't throw stones. My blog has been silent on the subject as well. But never fear, I have all of your 2010 Olympic predictions for you today....just in time.


I predict......


....that not a single American male wearing skis on his feet will medal. Our best hopes are Patrick Deneen in Freestyle Skiing and Bode Miller in the Downhill Combined. Bode is certain choke and cause a media circus in the process, that's just how he roles. Deneen can kill the moguls but I don't know if he can take out the awesome Aussie Dale Begg-Smith.

I thought we had a great chance of capturing gold in the new sport of Skicross until I saw Darron Rhalves carried off the course on a stretcher two weeks ago at the XGames in Aspen. I don't think he'll be up to snuff enough to contend.

I don't think we have any chance of beating the Nordic countries in Ski Jumping, Biathlon, or Cross Country Skiing. But that doesn't mean they won't be exciting to watch....well as exciting as watching men ski for 3 hours with frozen snot hanging from their chins can be. Remember Ole Einar Bjorndalen from Norway? He is the most dominant Biathlete in recent history. He is absolutely amazing and will likely win the gold for the third time in a row. I don't know much about Nordic Combined, since it is never televised outside of the Olympics, but I do know that it is a team event that is a combination of ski jumping and relay cross country skiing. Sports Illustrated says that the US has a good team this year and may medal in this event for the first time ever, but it will be a hard podium to top, I'm sure.

Pop off those skis and strap in to a snowboard though and US guys have a much better chance. Of course Shawn White is the favorite in the Halfpipe event but Americans Scotty Lago and Louie Vito may be on the podium with him. In the hazardous sport of Snowboardcross there are two very dominant guys wearing the red, white and blue: Nate Holland and Graham Watanabe.


On skates our men may bring home a little hardware. I'm really pulling for Evan Lysacek and Jeremy Abbott in singles figure skating (thank goodness Johnny Weir won't be an issue), but the real star of that show will be Evgeni Plushenko (Russia) who won in Torino, retired for three years and is now back, supposedly at the top of his game again. We'll see. For the first time in years, and I mean a lot of years, the US could have two, count 'em two, medals in Ice Dancing. Both Belbin and Agosto and Davis and White have won numerous competitions over the last several months and they are favorites to win in Vancouver as well.


In Speed Skating you can bet that Anton Apolo Ohno will be burning up the track, but he'll have a hard time getting past the always dominant South Koreans for the gold. As much as I hate to admit it the anti-establishment, anti-social, anti-authority figure of any kind distance skater Shani Davis will probably end up with a medal or two as well. I won't be cheering though. Hockey players wear skates but they just can't compete with the hometown Canadian boys (or the Russians or Czech teams).

Unfortunately we probably won't be able to hang with the big boys in 2 man bobsled, luge or skeleton either. Our only real chance for a medal on the sleds will be with driver Steve Holcomb leading our 4 man bobsled team. If he brings home the gold it will be the first time since 1948. We really need to break that losing streak!!


So, what about the women? Well, I had high hopes but they are growing slimmer every minute that passes and every news story that comes out. Lindsey Vonn was supposed to be the gold medal winner in two out of five Alpine Skiing events. Now she supposedly has a huge bruise on her shin that makes it too painful to even put on ski boots, let alone ski. I say supposedly because the day before this news broke I read two different articles about Vonn that portrayed her as the toughest and strongest and most physically fit woman on skis...in any country.

She trains more and trains harder than anyone else. They actually showed pictures of her standing on two jump ropes that were hanging four feet off the ground, simulating balancing on skis for 2 minutes while she visualizes the course at Whistler. Remember how she nearly broke her back in training in Torino and still got up to ski (with poor results, but still a valiant effort) the next day? I have a feeling that while she is truly bruised and battered she is mostly a) taking this opportunity to psyche out the competition and b) get more media attention now, and after she wins a couple of medals. (Just think of the drama that story would make. After all, she is the only really marketable athlete at these games. If she wins gold look for her to be the Michael Phelps of Vancouver.)

Maybe all of this is wishful thinking on my part, but women's skiing has had such a pitiful showing in the last couple of Olympics that I'm hoping Lindsey can help us redeem ourselves to some degree. If she can't at least we've got three great moguls skiers that might make it to the medal stand. Be watching for Heather McPhie, Hannah Kearney and Shannon Bahrke.

Once again we seem to be stronger on snowboards than on skis. Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler and Lindsey Jacobellis all have good chances of winning top spot....if Jacobellis can keep her ego in check and her board on the snow this time. (Her little stunt in Torino is still one of the worst moments in Olympic history in my opinion and a sad testimonial to the mindset of Olympic athletes since "professional" (paid and sponsored athletes) were allowed to compete.)

As with the men, the Nordic women will most likely continue to dominate Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon. But unlike the male Americans, our women's hockey team is supposedly very talented again this year and is predicted to meet up with the Canadians in the gold medal game. Sadly, we have no real contenders in women's figure skating or the pairs competition. Gone are the days of Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi. Maybe 2014 will hold some special promise for us.

In speed skating the Chinese and Canadians will probably dominate all of the medal podiums and our women will be left in their proverbial dust. The only name I have heard mentioned in American women's speed skating is Katherine Ruetter. Of course speed skating is famous for spills, chills, disqualifications and upsets....so anything can happen. Don't blink, or you'll miss it.


On the sleds our women have a couple of slim hopes for medals. The driver of our two woman bobsled team won silver in Torino, but she has a different partner this year. We'll see how they do together. And Sports Illustrated predicts that Erin Hamlin has a good chance for at least Bronze in the singles luge. Skeleton will likely elude us and women are not allowed to compete in Nordic Combined or Ski Jumping.

So that's about it. Oh yeah, except for my new favorite Olympic sport. As a kid I always had Olympic dreams. First it was gymnastics and then figure skating, but by the time I got really interested in the Olympics (7 or 8 years old) I was already too old to get started in a sport and train long enough to be competitive on the Olympic level. Its sad to be too old to pursue your dreams when you haven't even hit double digits yet. But 8 years ago I fell in love with a new Olympic sport. One that I could still compete in today if 1) I trained every day for the next 4 years, 2) I moved to Minnesota and 3) I had even ever played it or watched a match in real life.

The sport? Curling. I love it. It is so competitive and interesting. It always comes down to millimeters on the final throw. The athletes are incredibly intense and yet.....OLD. They are like 40!!! It's crazy. If you haven't watched it before you really should. (It is usually on all night long on MSNBC or CNBC.) It is easy to learn and the skill and strategy are very impressive. The US probably won't have a chance at a medal but our neighbors to the north, the Canadians should be right up there at the top. And here is some behind the scenes drama for you. A Canadian curler went to China and got a women's team together. This will be their first Olympics but they are already so good that they will likely threaten the Canadian women for the gold.

Well, that's the summary. By all means watch the always entertaining, if rather long-winded, opening ceremonies. Admire the Canadian fashions (which are always the best at the games) and listen to the inspiring stories of the flag bearers. Rock out to Nickleback and stare in suspense as the lighter of the flame is revealed (my bet is on Wayne Gretzky). But don't stop there. Watch the events....even the obscure ones. (Trust me, biathlon will amaze you. You've never seen marksmen like this.) Cheer for the underdogs, the favorites, the lone skier from Ghana, whoever you like. Join with the world and celebrate athleticism, dedication and, truth be told, obsession. Enjoy this incredible festival of sports.

I'll be watching every second of coverage and sitting on the edge of my seat for most of the next two weeks. I'll be a sucker for all of the sad underdog stories and I'll be laughing at the wacky stuff Mary Carillo digs up. I'll be drooling over Bob Costas and rolling my eyes at Bode Miller and the Russian ice dancers (just on principle). We'll be humming the theme song all day long and letting Ryker stay up late every night just to watch "one more race".

It's the Olympics! It's only here every 2 years and we wouldn't miss it for the world.

P.S. The big story of course will also be the weather. Vancouver has a climate similar to Seattle. Yeah. Rain, rain, fog and more rain. It's altitude and proximity to the Canadian Rockies provide some nice snow, usually. This year it is warm, which is very bad for skiing in particular. Officials are actually hauling in snow from nearby mountains and dumping it on the slopes necessary for the competition. There isn't even a dusting of snow in the Olympic village or around the media center. On the Today show this morning, live in Vancouver, the reporters were sitting outside in long sleeved sweaters, no coats, hats or scarves in sight. According to reports I've read Vancouver was already the warmest place the Winter Olympics have ever been held and they are currently experiencing the warmest winter ever on record in British Columbia. That is not good. Not good at all.

Only 365 More Days

That's right. Only 365 days until the Olympic torch burns once again over the world's athletes...and I get bed sores from sitting in front of the TV for 527 hours straight.

Can't wait!

You can count down with me by watching the widget on my sidebar.

Whoooo Hooooo!

The End

Well, the Olympics are coming to an end. It is always a sad time. Now we have to wait for 2 more years until we can have another two full weeks of thrilling competitions in Calgary. (Thank goodness there is only a one hour time difference for us to deal with in 2010.)



As the games come to an end I actually have new hope for my own Olympic dreams. At age 33, despite Oksana Chusovitina's and Dara Torres' amazing medal wins, I've known for quite some time that I have no chance to ever make an Olympic team...not to mention the fact that I am not athletically talented in any way, shape or form.



I've always thought that curling, equestrian and sailing were my only chances. But since I don't own a horse or a boat or have the money to buy either, that pretty much just leaves me with curling. But before we pick up and move to Wisconsin and become cheeseheads I've found a new hope...Rowing.



Did you watch the rowing? The USA women won the Eights. In rowing there is this little woman that sits in the front and says "stroke, stroke, stroke". That's it. That's what she does. You basically have to have good rhythm. You don't even need a loud voice because they give you a microphone. I could do that. How hard could it be? London 2012 here I come!



What? You have to be 5' 2'' and 100 pounds so you don't weigh down the boat too much? Oh. In that case....Oshkosh here we come!

On second thought maybe I should turn to track and field. Although I have no real speed to speak of I'm pretty sure that I could hang on to the baton. So no matter how slowly I went I would still finish better than we did this year.

Four Questions

#1 Why isn't golf an Olympic sport?

(I'm not saying it should be. I don't like golf and I wouldn't watch it even if it was an Olympic sport...but if badminton is an Olympic sport....I'm just saying. It seems to have worldwide appeal and I'm sure most cities already have a big golf course where the tournament could be played. Just a thought.)*

#2 Where is Michael Phelps' dad?

(Is he dead? I don't think so. Is he totally estranged from his son? Maybe. Is he totally oblivious as to what is going on in Beijing? He can't be that dumb. Has the media just not succeeded in finding him, be it at home or abroad? No chance. Is he like Ashley Judd's dad...just hanging out behind the scenes as an unseen supporter? Could be.)**

#3 What happened to the one armed giant swing in men's high bar?

(Did I miss it or was Igor Cassina, the Italian gymnast, the only one who did a one armed giant swing? That used to be a standard in Olympic highbar routines. I'm sad to see it disappear. It must not carry enough of a difficulty rating.)***

#4 Why is Australia the only team that does not use the colors of their flag as their team colors?

(Where do they get the yellow and blue...which at times is yellow and green or yellow and turquoise? Why don't they use red, white and blue like half of the other teams on the planet? Are they thumbing their noses at the British in their refusal to acknowledge their flag? Are they just making a fashion statement? Are yellow and blue the national colors of
Australia?)****

* I know it shocks some of you...but I don't watch EVERY Olympic sport. I don't do basketball, tennis, soccer, field hockey, handball or badminton. Golf would fall on this list too if it were ever instated as a sport.

**Yahoo actually did an article on this after I wrote this post. You can read about it HERE. No real answers exaclty, though.

***On a similar note I was sad to see that the big flying scissor legs were not very prevalent on the pommel horse (except for the American) or floor routine for the men. I've also always thought that a woman that could do a few spins of those on floor would be a show stopper. Maybe next time in the gala someone should try that. BTW...the gala was a let down. The ice skating exhibitions are always so great and entertaining. The gymansts could learn a lot from them.

****I must admit that I did not recognize this disparity. Brian noticed it and brought it to my attention. Now I'm really wondering about it. I applaud them for being unique. Maybe the Germans should try some random colors too. That black, orange and yellow is really not becoming on most people.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

One of the big stories of the Olympic games is the fact that this may be the last time that baseball and softball are contested. The irony is that they are being removed for opposite reasons.

Softball has been in the Olympics only since the 1996 games in Atlanta. The US has won gold every time. So the IOC says that we are too dominate and it isn't a competitive sport for the rest of the world...therefore not worth continuing.

Isn't that the point? Shouldn't we be trying to win every year? What is stopping the other countries from putting teams together and working hard to beat us? Have we ever won a medal in badminton or handball (which by the way looks nothing like the handball I've seen before...it looks more like soccer played with your hands instead of your feet)? Should those sports be eliminated because they are dominated by the Asian countries?

Now baseball is in a different boat. The IOC says the competitors are not good enough. They want professionals, MLB players, big name stars, similar to the Basketball and Hockey teams which are usually a NBA and NHL all star team. The problem of course is that the Summer Olympics take place during the MLB season and no pros can come compete. (I doubt MLB is going to take a break like the NHL does for the Olympics.)

Personally I'm thrilled that pros can't play in Olympic baseball. I think the acceptance of professional athletes into the Olympic games was one of the worst things to ever happen to events like basketball and hockey. To me the Olympics are about "average" people. Working people. Not professional atletes. It is about guys that work at Home Depot during the day and then train for 6 hours at night because they love the sport...not because they are being paid millions of dollars. Baseball is one of those sports where the US has a tryout and anybody can make it. Guys who have never been able to break through to the majors or even guys that have never been able to break in to the minors can make the team. Which makes for pretty even competition with the rest of the world. If we allowed MLB players in wouldn't baseball be dominated by the US and then eliminated anyway.

It makes no sense to remove one of the most popular sports in the world from the Olympic games. Sure soccer has more fans world wide but baseball is big in America, Canada, Japan, China, Central America and the Carribean. The decision to eliminate the sports will be appealed next year. We'll have to wait until then to see what happens.

My vote is to keep them both and wait for the competition to catch up.

Long Live DVR

How did we live without the ability to record live TV?

I've filled my DVR twice (25 hours X 2) trying to keep up with the Olympics while being in Mexico and our family reunion weekend. Do you know how many VCR tapes that would have been? Not to mention all of the time wasted waiting for them to rewind and fast forward.

There is no way I could have caught all of the equestrian and synchronized swimming on Oxygen and the triathalon and weight lifting on MSNBC while watching the late night coverage of the track and field heats from the previous night without my DVR. Plus, my reality TV shows are still airing new episodes despite the Olympics (if you can believe it) so I have to tape them overnight too.

DVR definitely works for me...BIG TIME.

Trashy?

Brian and I are having a little disagreement about an article we read on Yahoo.

You may have seen the women's pole vault competition between the Russian diva Elena Isinbaeva and the American Jen Stuczynski. Isinbaeva slept through the whole competion because they weren't even jumping heights that could challenge her and then after she won the gold medal...after only two jumps....continued jumping alone until she could break the world record...again.

In contrast Stuczynski had to jump at 3 heights and took 3 tries to pass the last height that put her in place for the silver medal. For her efforts she got basically chewed out by her coach for not being as good as Isinbaeva.

But the story comes from some comments that the American made before the competition. She said, and I quote, "I hope we do some damage and kick some Russian butt."

Brian says that is trash talking and inappropriate for the Olympic games. He also thinks it shows the prejudice of the American media in their lack of coverage of the exchange. He sites the wide coverage of the anti-american comments by Alain Bernard in the relay and the Brazillians kicking May and Walsh off of the #1 practice court as examples of the way comments made by foreigners are splashed everywhere but not comments made by our own athletes.

On the other hand I feel like Stuczynski's comments were the equivalent of "I hope we win. We'll have to beat the Russian in order to do that." No big deal. It's not like she was saying anything negative about Isinbaeva or her skills. She was just naming her biggest competition and her desire to beat her.

What do you think?

Side Note: Any of you that know Brian know that he is the biggest trash talker in all of his fantasy leagues...even taking time out from work to craft carefully worded sarcastic comments to post to his fellow competitors. Is this a double standard? I think so.

Hip Hip Hooray!

She did it! She did it!

Corey Codgell, the young trap shooter I told you about here, has done it. She won the bronze medal! The first time an American woman has ever medaled in trap shooting at the Olympics!

Congratulations, Corey!

Olympic Updates

Well I'm back. I had a great trip to Mexico which I'll tell you all about later...but for these next two weeks its all Olympics all the time at the Grove home. I had 13 hours of coverage to catch up on Sunday when I got home and I still haven't watched the opening ceremonies yet. Ahhhhh! But never fear I'll get to them eventually.

In case you aren't a sporty person and haven't been following the games you may want to tune in just for the stories. It's reality tv and soap operas all rolled in to one.

Take for example the story of French swimmer Laure Manaudou. She met and fell in love with hunky Italian swimmer, Marin, who she met at a meet (no pun intended). Fed up with her coach's brutal training tactics she went to Italy to train with her boyfriend. While there she became great friends with another female Italian swimmer, Federica Pelligrini. Italy didn't like the idea of her training with their swimmers so they forced her back to France and a new coach. Then she had a bad and public break up with Marin who is now dating her "former" friend Pelligrini. Weeks later some not very nice photos of her appeared all over the internet and most people believe that Marin and Pelligrini put them there. To top it all off Manaudou's old French coach moved over to coach the Italians and Manaudou and Pellegrini raced head to head at the Olympics. Poor Laure came in 7th out of 8 swimmers. Wow, you can't make this stuff up.

Maybe you've heard by now of swimmer Dara Torres who is 41 years old and the mother of a 2 year old and competing at her 5th Olympics. But did you know there is another mother competing in gymnastics? Yes, gymnastics. Oksana Chusovitina is a 33 year old mother of a 6 year old boy. A Russian gymnast she put her career on hold when she found out that her son had leukemia. Knowing that Russia did not offer the oncology specialists that could save her son she called on an old friend...the German Women's Gymastics coach. Working together they moved Oksana and her son Alisher to Germany where he successfully completed chemotherapy and Oksana began training with the German team. So now she competes in her 5th Olympics as the oldest woman ever in gymnastics competition at the olympic level.

One more story to pull at your heartstrings is that of US Swimmer Eric Shanteau. One week before the US Olympic Trials in Omaha he found out that he has testicular cancer. He didn't tell anyone on the team until after the trials and got permission from his doctor to go ahead and compete in Beijing. He will undergo surgery as soon as he returns to the states after the games. Watch for him in the finals tonight.