posted
I'm a terrible person. I'm tickled that Bode Miller didn't win gold and even MORE tickled that another American (whom I didn't really know existed because of all the Bode hype) won it. I don't know why Miller rubs me the wrong way; his pretentious Nike ads, the swaggar, all the smack he talks...it all just made me glad that someone else won.
I am a terrible person.
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Narnia, I was the family physician for Ted Ligety's grandfather for a couple years and they were constantly showing me his picture and telling me how he was doing. I was so happy he won the gold!! They kept showing his parents at the Olympics and I've met his mom several times. So cool.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
That's neat. He really did seem like a mature and down to earth guy. I'm glad he won too (especially since it was such an upset. Those are always fun).
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
Bit of a letdown in Men's Moguls, where a deep four man US team should and could have taken gold or more, but achieved only a bronze by Toby Dawson.
Women's alpine downhill left US favorites Lyndsay Kildow and Julie Mancuso in the top ten, but not with a medal in the event. Her injury during the training run was just too much to overcome during the actual race, but she will have a couple more chances at a medal.
Men's hockey Prelims:
Czech Republic vs. Germany: 4-1 Win for Czech Republic, but at a price, Dominic Hasek was injured, which, if a tear and not a pulled groin, will really hurt the Buffalo Sabres' chance for a cup. Slovakia vs. Russia: 5-3 Win for Slovakia, a bit of a surprise that Russia lost. Sweden vs. Kazakhstan: 7-2 Win for Sweden. Canada vs. Italy: 7-2 Win for Canada. Finland vs. Switzerland: 5-0 Win for Finland. United States vs. Latvia: Tie, surprisingly, this was supposed to be an easy win for the US team.
Short track relays saw the men's team advance to the next round, and US women failed to take a medal in the 500M.
Tomorrow
Men's long program in figure skating is tomorrow. Evgeni Plushenko is sitting on top with a 10 point lead, and barring a major mishap will take the gold. American national champion Johnny Weir is in position for a silver medal, but the space between him and the four or five people behind him is tight. He'll need a great skate to bring home the silver for America.
Tomorrow's feature hockey prelim game is Russia vs. Sweden. Several of the Swedes are players on the Detroit Red Wings, and Pavel Datsyuk is a star young Russian forward. See these team mates square off against each other in what should be an explosive matchup. I predict the Swedes win by two or three.
It is also the first of two nights of Skeleton. Tomorrow will be the women's skeleton.
Tomorrow's Feature Event for me though, is the debut of men's Snowboard Cross. Four boarders all race down a tough track at high speeds. It is marked by high jumps and some spectacular crashes. Scott Wescott is the reigning world champion, and fellow American Lindsey Jacobellis is the reigning women's world champion. Tomorrow is the start and end of the men's, with the women's to follow on Friday. Should be a lot of fun to watch!
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
It should HELP the Sabres. Mike Tyson facemask or not, Ray Emery is no Dominator. Though I will miss the opportunities to taunt Dom if he can't play.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Not like it really matters anyway since the Wings are going to win the cup. But hey, they can always be excited for second place.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
The Sabres' sweet spot is next year...but watching the way they played the Sens recently, I give them a fair shot against ANYONE in a seven game series.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's just as much a sport as bowling is....and it's cooler because it's outside in the snow. Literally cooler. *hides head becasue of terrible pun*
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Curling is confusing. I've watched the coverage on USA, and I still don't think I have it figured out.
I don't like Jonny Weir's attitude at all. Is it a bad thing that I'd rather see Plushenko (sp?) win rather than the American?
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't like it either Belle, but his skating was just so beautiful I couldn't help but cheer for him. I know, I'm terrible. I'm interested to watch how it goes tonight....
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Curling good... I think the Brits should make the semis in both men's and womens, which will be excellent! We now have our first medal of the Games! Shelley Rudman managed to take a silver medal in the skeleton bob - it was a very impressive slide. I'm also quite impressed with the whole idea of snowboard cross - that was cool to watch!
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by pH: I still say that curling is not a sport. Why does USA devote entire days to it?
Bring on the SVU!
-pH
When you get right down to it, curling doesn't need to be a sport (though I believe it is). It only needs to be a game. These are the Olympic Winter Games.
As for why USA Network devotes so much time to it, I would imagine it's the same reason that ESPN covers a lot of poker - enough people want to watch it to make it worth their while.
Posts: 241 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I grew up in Canada and part of the physical education curriculum invovled learning to play curling (*is that correct, "learning to curl", "learning to play curling"?). It is great fun and if anyone has an opportunity, I'd recommend doing it. (Of course, I don't remember much by way of rules but it's still fun to watch IMO)
Posts: 697 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh my stars, Plushenko was unbelievable tonight! What a skate! It seemed like by the end he was doing jumps for fun. Fabulous. I couldn't believe he's only 23, though I do remember him as a gawky 16-year-old so it shouldn't come as a surprise to me. I wonder if he'll carry on competing till Vancouver.
I was a bit disappointed in Lambiel. He easily matched Plushenko for skating quality, and his interpretation and spins are better, but he didn't land the jumps and his last 30 seconds or so had just gone flat. I still love to watch him skate.
Someone explain to me why Jonny Weir was marked as low as he was?! I still don't get the new scoring system, but even then it didn't seem right to me.
I do like to watch Jeffrey Buttle, I think he's really enjoyable to watch and I like his character on the ice. I'm glad he got a medal, although I think he was lucky, as indeed he was at worlds last year.
Joubert was also a disappointment... as at worlds, he had a medal there for the taking and just couldn't do it. I loved his routine, it was just such a shame he couldn't nail the jumps.
Still, the whole evening was great to watch! Can't wait for the ladies and the ice dance still to come!
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't know why I read that... skating doesn't even start here for over 2 hours and already I know more than I wanted to. That's my fault, though, for looking.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Don't worry Amira, I have to avoid MSN and the news too because I'm on the west coast of the US. We get everything LAST! Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
Jonny Weir only completed 7 jumps, 2 of which were combinations. You're expected to do 8 jumps and 3 combinations. It was really clear to see him set up for a jump about 3/4 of the way through his program that he didn't wind up attempting, and that cost him the medal.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged |
In what was a surprise to no one I'm sure, Evgeni Plushenko took the gold back to Russia in his last Olympic performance before retirement at the ripe old age of 23. Americans were close to medaling as well, but just couldn't seem to find a smooth program between then, despite the hype and early second place lead for Johnny Weir, and a strong free skate from Evan Lysacek.
USA women failed to take a medal in Skeleton, which again is a surprise to few given how the US skeleton team has been gutted in the past couple weeks.
Men's Prelim Hockey scores:
United States vs. Kazakhstan: 4-1 Win for USA. Latvia vs. Slovakia: 3-6 Loss for Latvia. Russia vs. Sweden: 5-0 Win for Russia (Boy was I ever wrong, but I certainly didn't envision a shutout for the Russians) Canada vs. Germany: 5-1 Win for Canada Switzerland vs. Czech Republic: 3-2 Win for Switzerland (Easily an upset victory for the Swiss, the Czechs are expected to go far) Italy vs. Finland: 0-6 Loss for Italy.
US Men's snowboarding cross came out strong at Turin. Seth Wescott, heavily favored to win the gold, lived up to the hype and took home the gold in this rip roaring winter game. It was a fun race to watch.
Tomorrow
Women's hockey semifinals start, with US women facing off against Sweden.
The women's combined (even won by US Ted Ligety) will feature Lindsay Kildow and Julie Mancuso, who both failed to medal in the downhill. The US women are still a deeply talented team, but against the Austrians, Germans, and the ever dangerous Janica Kostelic, who is possibly the best female skier in the world at the moment.
For those that like figure skating, the compulsory ice dancing will begin as well tomorrow.
Also look for men's skeleton, which will complete that event for the 2006 Olympics.
My Feature Event for the day however will be women's boardercross, to see if Jacobellis can make a gold medal sweep of the snowboarding events so far.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
<-- Wishes I learned curling in PE. I get into it every time the winter olympics comes around. And to whoever that said that only old ladies curl, have you SEEN the US women's team?! Very cute imo.
As for figure skating, I just can't watch it anymore. It's like the talent pool gets worse every time. Also, there really aren't any advancements in the sport. I agree with you, Belle, johnny weir's attitude is terrible. He comes off as such a jerk. I find myself rooting against people like that. I feel the same about Bode Miller. On the other hand, there are people like Seth Wescott who won the boarder cross event. He seems very down to earth.
Hockey is great this Olympics. I'd be surprised if the Canadian men's team doesn't take gold. From Group A, I expect Finland to be in medal contention as well, as they have dominated the competion thus far. Switzerland is capable of a medal if Aebischer keeps up his goal tending and they can improve their offense. From Group B, Russia and Sweden have a chance. Sweden wants it bad. They just need to pull together and bring their A game. The US also has a chance if they can focus their aggressive style and play even better than they did against Kasakhstan. I'll be rooting for Canada all the way, but will be happy for any team with Avs, Wings, and/or 'Canes players. [Is it legal to like both the Avs and Wings??]
Btw, thanks Lyrhawn for the daily updates. Posts: 298 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
It's legal to like the Avs and Wings now, as far as I'm concerned. The Avs aren't half the team they used to be during the height of the rivalry. And for that matter, their roster has changed so much since then, it's really not even the same team, especially with Sakic retiring soon.
I think the new rivalry will be the Wings and the Predators. They've improved immensely since last season, and make our division more competitive (lord knows the Blues and Blackhawns aren't doing anything to help in that situation). They're the only real roadblock to the playoffs for us now, the Avs don't even matter anymore.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I might add, about Curling, if that's an Olympic sport, then so is baseball and softball, and they should be added back in. I really fail to see why it doesn't count as a feasible Olympic game.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think my current favourite figure skater (in all areas) is Evan Lysacek. He's just fun to watch.
I watched a bit of curling the other day and got really into it, even though I had no clue what was going on. Days later, I think it had something to do with angles and hitting stones, but that seems too much like pool - and I suck something awful at pool. Posts: 3932 | Registered: Sep 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:As for figure skating, I just can't watch it anymore. It's like the talent pool gets worse every time. Also, there really aren't any advancements in the sport.
No advancements? Have you watched old tapes of Dick and Peggy skating? How can you say there are no advancements? Every year there's something crazy and new that's more athletic, more demanding. The athletes up the ante from competition to competition!
Anyway, about last night's skating. I'm finally aware of how the new scoring system is a handicap to delightfully graceful skaters like Weir, Savoie and Stephane Lambiel who don't cram their programs full of jump after jump after jump. Personally, I thought Plushenko's non-program was ugly to look at. I don't buy into all of his arm gyrations. But he gets the points because he jumps and jumps and jumps and jumps. Grace was not required, neither was good choreography or even an intelligent musical selection. So he wins. According to the rules, he should have won.
Weir was definitely off his game last night. He seemed really tired. Even so, I loved his program and that of Stephane Lambiel. I'm glad he won the Silver, he looks good and is fun to watch out there. I was so proud of Lysacek as well. I'm glad that we had two of our US guys in the top 5.
[edited to stamp out and eradicate superfluous redundancy.]
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree - I did not like Plushenko's program, Savoie was much more entertaining.
If the scoring stay like this, we may as well just line them up and have them jump across the ice until someone falls and declare the last one standing the winner.
They either need to de-value some of the jumps or increase the value on the artistic side or figure skating is going to be nothing but jump-a-thons from now on.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I agree. With the focus on jumps, much of the show ends up looking exactly the same. There's no individuality or flare to each person's show, at least, that part of it isn't scored. It's all based on the same identical elements that they have to fit into their shows, and the parts around it don't matter so much.
The grace, the style, really the ballet on ice part of it, is more important than jump, jump, jump. They need to fix the scoring again.
Also, anyone see the women's boardercross? I don't want to spoil it for anyone waiting until tonight to watch it, but, huh, that was really something to see. A lot of people really have mixed opinions on it too.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Narnia: No advancements? Have you watched old tapes of Dick and Peggy skating? How can you say there are no advancements? Every year there's something crazy and new that's more athletic, more demanding. The athletes up the ante from competition to competition!
I'm sorry. I should have specified, as compared to the previous three or four Games. Its definitely a more artistic event and partly due to the new scoring system, they have made the artistry aspect worthless. Browning, Hamilton, Stoyko, Bayul, Yamaguchi, even early Kwan... there was character to their performances. Now they might as well save time and just have the skaters line up and do jumps sans the music and tiresome skating in between.
Posts: 298 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I liked it when Scott Hamilton said "I have never seen a man do a spiral like that." Highly amusing.
Also, I know I'm deaf and I use closed-captioning a lot. But apparently I'm blind and color dyslexic too.
How bad is it that I thought the last skater of the evening was Canadian? When whatshername said that he was only 19 and too look out for the Vancouver games in 4 years, I thought, "Cool, prime age and home field advantage." But at the end of the routine, when Scott Hamilton said something about what they were doing in Japan to have such talent and depth, it occurred to me that the guy was Japanese.
Hey, white flag with a red thing in the middle, red flag with a white thing in the middle. I can't tell them apart, I guess.
The only good thing I can think of is that even though the guy was obviously Asian, it never occurred to me that he might not be Canadian.
I am such a complete dork.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Anyway, about last night's skating. I'm finally aware of how the new scoring system is a handicap to delightfully graceful skaters like Weir, Savoie and Stephane Lambiel who don't cram their programs full of jump after jump after jump. Personally, I thought Plushenko's non-program was ugly to look at. I don't buy into all of his arm gyrations. But he gets the points because he jumps and jumps and jumps and jumps. Grace was not required, neither was good choreography or even an intelligent musical selection. So he wins. According to the rules, he should have won.
I watched quite a bit of the men's skating, and I remember the commentators saying over and over again how the new scoring system helped the skaters who were more like dancers and had great choreography.
Posts: 1658 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
And I wish to God I could mute Dick Button. Just him. The other ones I can tolerate, but he drives me crazy.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Maybe instead of just saying "it don't" you could explain why. I just searched for information on the scoring system, and here's an excerpt from a Yahoo article:
quote:The new scoring system has kept the sport from becoming a jumping contest, a growing fear before the Salt Lake City Olympics. The tough jumps are only worthwhile now if they're done well, and spins and footwork have been given added importance.
"The skill level will increase," choreographer Lori Nichol said. "We are entering an artistic age, kind of a revolution in that sense. You're seeing great skaters, even though they're missing jumps, they're still winning because of their artistic ways."
But skaters have to pack so much into their programs now to maximize their points that there's little room for originality. That wonderful moment in Alexei Yagudin's short program in 2002, when he appeared to pick up snow and toss it in the air? It might not happen now.
If spins and footwork are gaining in importance and skating is becoming more artistic, why is there "little room for originality"?
Posts: 1658 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think they were saying it is harder to be original but the best ones are managing it. At the Olympics and in January the commentators kept making remarks about how the skaters were picking the moves with higher points. So we are seeing more death spirals, more of spin X and combination Z and less of certain other things that are as risky but worth less points. I'm not good at remembering the actual names. I remember in January at Nationals there was some spin that practically every single skater did. The commentators were groaning everytime someone did it again.
I kind of wonder if they'll revise the rules a bit in a year or two to even out some of these risk versus points issue.
Posts: 1014 | Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Plushenko deserved the gold medal, but simply because almost everyone was horrible. His "program" lacked any semblance of choreography; it was jump jump jump jump, then a couple spins.
It was hardly up to the level of the past Olympic mens' gold medalists' programs, including Alexei Yagudin's and Ilia Kulik's. Yagudin's program in 2002 had everything - jumps, spins, actual choreography. I miss him so much!
I felt Evan Lysacek's program was very well done though, especially after his disastrous short program. His was actually inspiring, unlike Plushenko's. He couldn't even bring himself to smile when his anthem played during the medal ceremony!
Posts: 155 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan: I watched quite a bit of the men's skating, and I remember the commentators saying over and over again how the new scoring system helped the skaters who were more like dancers and had great choreography.
I'm sure I heard the commentators say several times that they get points for attempting the harder moves even if they mess up. So it's worth more to try the harder jumps and miss them than to do easier ones perfectly? How does that help artistically...? I guess I'm confused.
Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
"And I wish to God I could mute Dick Button. Just him. The other ones I can tolerate, but he drives me crazy."
But Kayla, listening to Dick Button is my favorite part! I think someone should develop a Bick Button drinking game, like there is for Bob Newhart Show and Hawaii Five-o.
Every time Dick is disgusted or comes out with some assinine comment, you have to take a swig.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I don't know why Miller rubs me the wrong way; his pretentious Nike ads, the swaggar, all the smack he talks...it all just made me glad that someone else won.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
I know, I'm terrible. I'm interested to watch how it goes tonight....
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
I watched quite a bit of the men's skating, and I remember the commentators saying over and over again how the new scoring system helped the skaters who were more like dancers and had great choreography.
