In his opening jump, Mroz nailed the quad lutz at the NHK Trophy (a figure skating competition which I just found out happens).

The 20-year-old would go onto finish third in the competition, making me wonder if he spent the rest of the time sliding around on his belly or making snow angels. Either that or the Japanese competition Daisuke Takahashi and Takahiko Kozuka teamed up to perform the famed Iron Lotus without beheading one another.

What exactly does one have to do to win the NHK trophy? Fly away? Perhaps he opened too quickly, you know, like coming out with your best joke first and then making fart noises for five minutes. Finish with the quad lutz, Brandon, and add a vowel between the first two letters of your last name. Mroz. Takahishi and Kozuka should not be easier to pronounce. I don’t know. Something is wrong when you perform the best move ever and lose.

Well, I imagine it will be some time before someone nails the quintiple lutz, so you’ve witnessed both the birth and death of my interest. I wish Brandon the best, congratulate him on doing the coolest thing you can do on skates without rockets, and when the Olympics arrive, I’m sure I’ll hear something about him on Sportscenter.

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Anyway, I’m tired of talking about it. Short of analyzing the chemical composition of the plastic on their cleats, this game has been dissected in every possible way. That’s why I’m now going to talk about curling.

One thing I like about curling is that there is literally no difference between the men and women playing it. I also think it’s neat how they glide, one leg extended behind, sliding across the ice with what looks like a big, alien teapot.

And then those nuts with the brooms! Sweeping furiously as the thrower of the stone yells inaudible commands before the rock slides to a stop on the button. There’s no doubt about it, curling is fricking awesome.

When I think back to the great moments in curling, I really can’t remember any. But it’s so damn relaxing watching these people slide around and play shuffleboard. You might think I’m mocking this sport. I’m not. I love watching it and I wish it were on more.

I remember it like it was yesterday. Curling up next to the fire, watching two teams compete for the gold, one of them was probably the Canadian team because they excel at ice stuff… then I awoke from a peaceful slumber. On my television was now that sport where they ski and shoot stuff, which in my book is way more interesting than skiing and not shooting stuff. I happen to think all Winter Olympic sports could use the addition of a rifle, but that’s just me.

So there I lay, wrapped in a blanket watching Hans something shoot something, and I remembered I had missed the entire gold medal match. Oh no! Which team won? Which ones were playing? I’m sooo hungry. How long was I asleep? Did I DVR House? Was it even new this week? Then I went back to sleep.

Is a curling player called a “curler?” Is a German male player called “Herr Curler?” So many questions left unanswered from adoring fans who want to know the intricacies of the sport.

There’s really only one thing we can do to get curling in the mainstream where it needs to be, and quite simply, that is to promote it. It’s up to us, the media, to shine the spotlight brightly on this sport and spark the fire of interest that’s already been lit. And obviously, like everything else, I have to do it. I’m so tired of changing the world. It’s like, hello, little help over here? If I had some assistance, not only could we build an America where kids were wearing curling jerseys with the names of the greats like… Smith… and Jones… but one day we could have every Winter Olympian bearing arms. Give me bobsledders wielding AK 47′s and I’ll give you the greatest sport ever conceived by man.

We can do anything we set our minds to. That’s one of the great things about having a mind, you can set it to stuff and it happens sometimes. We make our fate. The world is our oyster, and we are its pearls. I don’t even know what that means or how it applies here, but metaphors inspire people, right? And they like it when the world is compared to mollusks. Or when they’re compared to pearls. I can’t remember, but it’s not important.  Stop being so difficult and just be inspired.

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Long time ago. Snow and things.

But the part you might remember is Vancouver’s Olympics. Hockey. Ryan Miller vs. Roberto Luongo. Overtime.  Sidney Crosby dumping it in the net. And an entire nation going completely insane.

Now, I’m not trying to rub that whole Canada-USA thing in. (Although I totally could.)

But here’s a question: Would you have cared as much if the game was being held at 4 a.m. in Russia instead of prime time in Vancouver?

The NHL is pretending you wouldn’t have. The NHL says it’s too disruptive to shut down for two weeks. The NHL says it’s too hard on their players. The NHL doesn’t want to let their players play anymore.

If you read between the lines, what the millionaires running the NHL are really saying is that they don’t feel like there’s anything in it for them. The pinnacle of sportsmanship, sure, whatever. The real point is, they didn’t get paid enough.  Nobody gave them one red cent to shut down for two weeks with four years’ notice. Nobody gave them a cut on the ticket prices or the merchandise prices or the overpriced concessions. Nobody let them control anything. The nerve.

So the NHL’s stance really is, if you want professional hockey players in the Olympics, if you want the guys we own in the Olympics, then we need to run the show – and you have to pay us for it. Never mind what the players want. You need to line *our* pockets first.  But we don’t want to come right out and say that because that would just be rude.

Instead, the NHL has a brilliant idea:  resurrect the World Cup. Which would take their players out of the NHL for weeks, would be played on the other side of the world, would be hard on the players, and – and this is the crucial part – would allow the NHL to call the shots and reap the profits.   Sure, nobody around the world really cares about the World Cup and viewership for a tournament like this would be lukewarm at best without an entire Olympic juggernaut behind it. This does not matter. We all know Gary Bettman and his penchant for expanding in to areas that have lukewarm support for hockey but great big deep city pockets to build arenas and pay franchise fees. (See: Phoenix). He’d love to charge obscure European cities obscene fees to host World Cup events that will then be played in the middle of the night watched by nearly nobody.

People watch the Olympics. People take time off work for the Olympics. People have Olympic-watching parties with couches and wings and beer. People talk about the Olympics and tune in to games surreptitiously at work. The Olympics is where people watch sports they only watch every four years – hockey included. Yet another tournament isn’t going to give the NHL more exposure.  As much as Bettman would like it to be, hockey isn’t football.  People love the Olympics. And you can guarantee that even if the next Luongo-Miller grudge match is being played at 4 a.m. EST on a frosty Siberian plain, we’ll be tuning in. Because for any athlete anywhere, the Olympics is the pinnacle. The best. If you win there, you win it all. Why steal that from both the fans and the players, just for the sake of profit?

Seriously, Bettman. Go charge another $3 for a bottled water, if you’re that hard up for cash. Leave the Olympics alone.

It reminded me – along with millions of other people watching – why I love hockey.

You know how people say they love things like it’s their job? I could easily have a job loving hockey. A lifer Capitals fan who happily supported the late, possibly-lamented minor league Dayton Bombers when I lived in Ohio, one of the great joys of my life has been watching my home team rise to playoffs (and I believe Stanley Cup-contender) level since I’ve been back.

Today, while I rooted for Team USA to beat Canada in the Olympic gold medal game, I realized around about the middle of the second period when USA got off of its collective ass and made it a real contest that this is why people who love hockey so much know that it’s such a great game. This is why, no matter how much old-time hockey fans complain about bandwagons and newbie fans, I think it’s cool that so many people have been sucked in by a growing NHL and this well-played North American Olympic contest.

I got fired up. As a fan familiar with the varying tempos of games I felt the situation change from a back and forth snoozer to a toss-up in a way that got me up on the edge of my seat. I thought my team might have a win in them yet, and even if they didn’t it at least wouldn’t be a giveaway.

That feeling lasted through an exciting third period and a literally last-minute goal by Zach Parise that sent this already epic Olympic medal game into almost eight minutes of overtime until Sidney Crosby’s goal (she writes with great sadness) gave Canada the gold medal.

“A great player made a great play and found a way to finish us off tonight,” said U.S. head coach Ron Wilson. “I think both teams are winners, but more importantly I think tonight the game of hockey is the real winner.”

Both teams played a great game, but Canada won, fair and square, 3-2. We lost.

And perhaps most importantly to me, especially because my team lost so I’ve already had time to move on to the existential conclusion, hockey won.

I’m a sap and a sucker and I’m oddly pleased for Canada, although my required Caps fan disdain for Pittburgh Penguin Crosby makes me rather bitter about the vehicle.

(If you are new to all of this, just Google “Patrick Division NHL hockey” for the backstory on that. Also ask any hockey fan who is not from Pittsburgh, excluding the Canadians who are only now vowing not to talk smack about him ever again. I know at least one, and I believe she will crack in short order.)

Seriously, I believe in sports as a reflection of personal and local pride. In a classily-run and contested Olympic Games that saw its share of pain and loss, I think a hard-fought win for the host country in a sport that means so much there that it has its own national holiday is actually a beautiful thing.

As someone on Twitter said, a Canada loss would have been like the U.S. losing to Canada in football.

But for a few minutes there, there was that amazing Parise goal that put U.S. goalie Ryan Miller back into the net where he belongs and took it to overtime. My Twitter stream blew up. I exploded out of my chair and screamed in my living room.

And I said, “This is why I love hockey,” once I sat down and stopped screaming.

It is a maddening game and it can make you crazy if you care about it, really. It moves so fast. It’s  high-pressure and it can turn on a dime. It’s excellent if you’re into that sort of thing, and once you do get into it, just try to quit it, I dare you.

And on many occasions in my life when I’ve been watching great hockey, I know there’s nothing like it, and it’s just cool to enjoy something that much. The two U.S. – Canada games at the Olympics really were some of the most exciting hockey I’ve ever seen.

In the end the U.S. was the only team in this Olympics that was undefeated in regulation. Miller was named the MVP of the tournament, deservedly so, with 36 saves. The guys on both sides will head back to their NHL locker rooms today, while I bet a lot of Canadians are calling in sick from the looks of the streets in Vancouver after the game.

As for my team, they play the Sabres on Wednesday, so I’m hoping Buffalo gives Miller the week off. Otherwise I’m going to be a little confused, and more than a little nervous. He may have let the last one in, but this guy knows how to stop a puck.

Congratulations, Canada. Well-played, USA.

[Photos courtesy of Reuters]

[Source]

Oh, how wrong I was.

So here I sit on the last morning of the games wondering if we’ll get ANY COVERAGE AT ALL. You see, according to the KNBC website and the listings guide on cable, Olympic coverage came on at 9 am. Really? Because all I’ve seen is Access Hollywood (rerun) and Monk (also a rerun.) The hockey game-GOLD MEDAL GAME AGAINST CANADA is supposed to be on, as well as a few other events that are having their final rounds today.

This is absolutely unacceptable, NBC. You say that your ratings are high? Honestly, it can only be because we have NO other options for viewing. Have you polled anyone lately? And, quite honestly, I think I’m done with you as a network, local and national. This has been the final straw.

Here’s how I think national Olympic coverage should look from you, NBC (and CBS, ABC, and FOX should take notice, should there be a change in networks for the next games. Please?!)

Morning show- Fine. Cute stories about athletes, whatever. Depending on the time zone of the actual games, I get this. (The morning crew has actually done a great job of interviewing the athletes.)

Just after the morning show: LIVE COVERAGE

Noon: 30 minutes of local news.

Afternoon: LIVE COVERAGE

5 or 6 pm: 30 minutes of local news, 30 minutes of national news.

Evening: LIVE COVERAGE

10 pm: 30 minutes of local news

THE END.

Seriously, it’s only two weeks out of every two years. There is nothing that can’t be put on hiatus for those two weeks. With everyone having digital television now, if a network or local affiliate feels the need to air their regular programming they can now create a digital 2.0 channel for those programs and leave the regular channel for people to find the coverage of the Olympics easily. If you really need your dose of pop culture and celebrity news there are plenty of other networks and online outlets for that.

Here on the west coast we have had to wait until 11-12 pm to watch the medal rounds and races. Why is this if we’re watching it taped? If we tape it to watch later, the morning shows ruin the results. Watching is just not the same if you already know the outcome.

As for the actual coverage? It, too, has been horrendous. Someone actually made a chart of the time that was dedicated to each category: advertising, special stories, Bob Costas, medal ceremonies, etc. Costas is getting more coverage than replays and medal ceremonies COMBINED. The Olympics are not about you, Bob, they’re about the athletes, their competition, their competitors, and their medals. Last night he actually said “If you’re in the central or mountain time zone you can figure it out for yourself,” which I found pretty lame. I tweeted “Bob Costas is a douche,” and I received the following reply from Glennia: @HeadlessMom Amen to that. A botoxed, toupee-wearing douche at that. #shutupcostas.

Really Bob? As the announcer it’s your JOB to be able to tell the viewers when their national coverage begins and we only have four time zones. I guess we’d really be in trouble if we had something like 11 like Russia does.

Thank goodness today is the last day. I honestly don’t think I could take much more. Here’s to a new network getting the rights for the next Olympic games. One that will commit to getting it right.

(Cross posted at The Adventures of the Headless Family and Inland Empire Family)

I love the Olympics. So much.

I really was hell bent on writing about the drama that becomes the stuff of Legends at the Winter Olympics (Italian Ice Dancing Death stares in Torino! Jonny Moseley and his amazing Never Ending Dinner Roll! ALBERTO TOMBA). Like, remember last time when Lindsey Jacobellis decided to show off during her winning snowboard cross and then LOST her gold medal spot and OH MY GOD CHILD, what was WITH the HOT DOGGING?!  But as I’ve been watching the 2010 Winter Olympics lo these last two weeks, I’ve been stuck on exactly how to capture the drama. To do it justice. The legendary bitch face (Barbara Fusar-Poli, I’m looking at you. But now I’m looking away because YOU SCARE ME), the gold medal promise that never was (ahem, Bode Miller. Way to rebound there in Vancouver, dude), The Jamaican Bobsled team (you guys, Jamaican Me CRAZY. In a good way)…..and yet, despite all of this amazing material, the post wouldn’t come.

I think it’s because this year, with my three children and my fourth on the way, I cannot get past the Parent Factor. These Olympics in particular have been tugging at my heartstrings left and right. I find myself completely unable to stop watching these games AS A MOTHER. Perhaps it’s because of Proctor & Gamble and their salutations to all of the mothers (and fathers) out there who sacrificed, and encouraged, and supported on the way to helping their children reach their ultimate goals, or even just on the way to letting their kids have a whole bunch of fun playing the sports they love. At five o’clock in the morning. An hour away from the house. Uphill both ways. Maybe it’s because every time the Olympics are on, no matter what sport, my three year old grabs the nearest pirate sword/ruler/drumstick and ball/lego/magnet and starts a pickup game of hockey complete with an imaginary team of players that he encourages to “Skate faster buddy! you can do it” It could be that these Olympians keep getting younger and younger, while I stay exactly the same and do not age at all.

I’m not sure.

As the skiers wipe out, I think OH MY GOD, it is a good thing you are WEARING YOUR HELMET.

As the skaters twirl around backwards and do their loopty spins, I think, YOUNG LADY we need to get you more coverage if you are going to be skating ass first like that. And then I get teary and clappy when they finish their hard fought routines.

I hop up and down out of my seat cheering for Apolo Anton Ohno who may not be crossing the finish for gold, but is setting an Olympic record for medals won in a sport so volatile that even a skater at his level may not medal at all if it’s not his night. And then I think of his Dad who encouraged him to find a sport he loved, and who as a single parent raised a son so mature and determined and focused and GRACIOUS that it makes me hope that I can somehow raise children as grounded. His father must be so proud.

And then that makes me think about Shaun White who isn’t only a kick ass snowboard trickster, but an innovator. Did you know he built his own mad science lab of a half pipe in a secluded location so that he can get away from everyone and cook up all sorts of insane new tricks? I didn’t know that until the other night. And DAMN, but that’s impressive. He is 24 years old. At 24 years old I was someone’s lowly assistant flattered for the chance to share an idea in a client meeting. Shaun White is working on ways to revolutionize his sport. I’m impressed.

It takes a special parent to recognize a talent and a passion in a child and to help foster that interest into something that can be a life fulfilling experience. We get to see a lot of the best of that on display during the Olympics. It ALSO takes a pretty special parent to be able to help their children recognize their own particular strengths without blowing smoke, so to the parents of these elite athletes, I say kudos.

Also, could like a bunch of you get together and write a step by step guide to raising an incredibly confident and well grounded Olympian? Someone needs to balance the Lynne Spears book movement is what I’m saying.

Alison obsesses over parenting and sometimes what to cook and/or to do with the house at ChattyCricket. She has three kids aged 4 and under and is expecting her fourth in June, so you should cut her some slack because she is very tired and only sort of paying attention to what you are saying, you understand. Frankly, she can barely hear you over the yelling. Actually, can she talk to you when they go down for naps?

At the time, I argued that it wasn’t as subjective as he thought, since clearly the skaters are rated on required elements that definitely have a proper way to be performed. After a few days of thought, I concede that figure skating is quite subjective in comparison to many of the other winter sports. There’s not much need for opinion in speedskating or cross-country skiing, for instance. Apolo Ohno either crosses the line first or he doesn’t; Johnny Spillane either lays down the second-best finishing time or he doesn’t. This subjectivity combined with the new scoring system can make it hard for the average viewer to figure out what’s going on with the judging. I’m still trying to figure out how Johnny Weir placed behind both Patrick Chan and Stephane Lambiel.

I find I’m not much for the frippery and froufery of skating. Wave your arms around as gracefully as you want and bedazzle your shirt to within an inch of its life if you please, but I’m still going to find that I want to watch the jumpers and spinners. That said, I admit a little bit of presentation is really necessary. The guys who are only good jumpers do as little for me as the ones who are graceful as all get out but can’t land a lutz. My favorite skaters this year were France’s Florent Amodio and the Japanese trio of Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda, and Takahiko Kozuka. All four are compact, speedy jumpers with just the right amount of showmanship.

Of course, the big story now that it’s all over is silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko’s less-than-gracious behavior toward gold medalist Evan Lysacek. Now, there’s no doubt that Plushenko is one of the best jumpers in the sport, maybe even the best. He lands a quadruple toe loop in combination, which no other competitor did during this Olympics. Apparently Plushenko has complained that Lysacek won on artistic rather than athletic merits. Surprisingly, even though Lysacek’s program was much more fluid and heartfelt, the two contenders earned identical artistic marks in the long program.

To my admittedly untrained eye, it seemed clear that Lysacek skated a superior program on the final night. His jumps were spot-on, his footwork and spins were precise, and he skated with passion. Plushenko, on the other hand, executed his jumps but didn’t seem to infuse his routine with any joy at all. Granted, there’s probably no mark for enthusiasm, but let’s be honest. In figure skating, showmanship counts nearly as much as being able to land a triple flip. If you go out onto the ice and skate like the medal is owed to you, don’t be surprised when it’s given to someone who skated instead like he wanted to win it on his own terms. For all his impressive and well-earned victories of the past, Plushenko showed a sad and distinct lack of sportsmanship in Vancouver – and that was before he awarded himself a platinum medal.

If he does skate for gold again at the 2014 Games, let’s hope he brings a bit more humility and fire to the ice.

Velocibadgergirl’s skating experience is limited to doing a lot of rollerblading in middle school, being able to skate carefully around and around on an ice rink without falling down, and watching several Olympics’ worth of figure skating competitions (bouts? matches?). She lives in the Midwest with her husband, baby son, and handsome dog, and blogs at Pardon the Egg Salad.

Nay, they demand it, eh?

All the same, the U.S. hockey program seems to be improving. Team USA did defeat the Canadian national team in the World Junior championships in January. The U.S. did defeat the the Canadians in the preliminary rounds of these Olympics 5 – 3. And the U.S. is far past the days of fielding (icing?) a team of true amateurs, as in 1980. This year’s edition features an entire roster of all NHL players. This team is solid. Brian Burke assembled a lot of fresh faces for these Olympics, focusing on young, high-energy and smart hockey players complemented by a few unflappable Olympic veterans. The U.S. is definitely deserving of being in the Gold medal game.

But make no mistake; the Canadian team is stacked. It features scoring leaders up and down the roster, on every line. It’s so deep Team Canada benched perhaps the greatest goalie of all-time when he lost the aforementioned game against the US and have responded by playing better. They are angry about dropping a game to the U.S.. They are upset their Juniors muffed their championship. They are hungry to secure a Gold medal on Canadian ice. They will be ready and they will be frantic.

Can the U.S. win? Sure. It won’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be a miracle either.

Photo by John Biehler

Yep, that’s what U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team captain Natalie Darwitz said when interviewed after her team lost to Canada in the gold medal game. I can sympathize with the sentiment. In Olympic hockey, you don’t win the silver, you lose the gold. I just wish she’d said that—”it sucks to lose the gold”, or just plain “it sucks to lose”—instead of “it sucks to win silver.” It feels… unsportsmanlike, somehow.

The game itself was a thriller, the exciting matchup hockey fans like me have been waiting for since the Games began. Canada and the U.S. are by far the strongest, fastest, most skilled teams in the world, and it showed on the ice last night. Even the refs couldn’t keep up with the speed and intensity of the game, missing several offsides calls and a few more serious ones as well. (The announcers chalked this up to the single-referee system, and the fact that the pool of competitive-level women referees is small. There’s more research and another post in there about why only women can ref women’s games—but calling offsides is the linesman’s responsibility, and there were two lines(wo)men at this game.)

Announcer A.J. Mleczko pointed out a few times that you wouldn’t be able to tell by watching this game that women’s hockey was non-checking, and she was right. It was intensely physical, and there were even a few punches thrown (though there were no gloves-off fights as in men’s hockey). There was more checking, both penalized and unpenalized, than I’ve ever seen in a women’s game before. I am not a fan of checking as it’s practiced on the men’s side and recently declined to join a women’s league that allowed checking, but honestly, the level of physicality in the U.S.-Canada matchup seemed appropriate for the skill level of the teams. If I could play that well and skate that hard, I wouldn’t mind going hard at an opponent or having an opponent come hard at me.

The disappointment of the evening for me (aside from the clunky pace of the bronze medal game, which I had planned to watch first but abandoned in the first period because I knew much better hockey was being played live) was that the U.S. didn’t manage to score any goals. Yes, they only lost by two—the smallest margin by far of any game Canada *or* the U.S. was involved in this tournament—but being shut out was a big, fat bummer. The U.S. women, used to being able to get traffic in front, make trick shots, and have passing lanes and players open at all times, ran into a disciplined Canadian defense—and a goalie with a seemingly magnetic glove—that kept almost everyone and everything out of the slot, even on a 5-on-3.

A.J. suggested that the American players stop shooting high on the glove side, which Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados totally had covered, but often that was the only shot available. When a low shot was possible, it was often blocked or otherwise turned aside, and there were few rebound opportunities.

Speaking of blocked shots, Julie Chu had several, including one where she knelt to block the shot, successfully blocked it, and then popped up, took the puck, and charged the other way. It was probably my favorite moment of the game. My favorite announcer comment—and I’m sorry to say that I can’t remember who made it—was, “wouldn’t you like to see a best-of-seven series with these two teams?”

OH YEAH.

In fact, until the rest of the world catches up, how about next Olympics we just have seven U.S.-Canada games to determine who gets the gold?

Bob Costas

If you were hoping to watch sporting events this Olympics, allow me to chuckle at your cute naivete. If, however, you’re really into commercials, Bob Costas’ fireplace, and blimp shots, then you are probably in media heaven these days.

Complaints about NBC’s coverage of these games is nothing new. My Twitter friends have been pretty vocal about it and we even heard from our own HeadlessMom about the absurdity of not being able to see coverage of the Olympics, even though they’re happening in her own time zone.

But what separates bitching and serious criticism is raw data and David Bireman at the Wall Street Journal has given fuel to our fire.

An analysis of NBC’s 3 ½-hour program Friday night showed that there were 56 minutes, 41 seconds of commercials over 24 breaks—that’s three more minutes than actual event action that was showed.

Even more damning? This chart:

NBC Olympics Coverage Breakdown

By the way, charts = science, so don’t even try to question it, mkay?

Obviously, this is not groundbreaking bad coverage. Most major sports events have a similar focus on advertising dollars over actual sports. But I think people are angry because the Olympics offer a chance to see sports that you don’t normally catch. I get that it’s a rare marketing opportunity, but the fact that these events can captivate even the most indifferent viewer should be at least a little respected and NBC should let us see a little more of the awe-inspiring feats that we tuned in to see in the first place.