I'll keep my fingers crossed. Lots of people seem to be falling tonight. Of course, they work their way up in the rankings, so I suppose it might get better as they go, but so far...lots of falls.
I'm looking forward to the snowboarding...... Hidden may love Ohno, but I love Shaun White. Hopefully the US can hold onto its medal lead. In the '08 summer games we won 110 medals and had the highest medal count; in '06 we were 2nd behid Germany.
The snowboard cross was awesome. It's one of the most entertaining events. Yesterday's race was tense, the American boarder Seth Wescott just edged out Robertson from Canada at the end. Today, Ricker won Canada's second gold, none of her races were really in doubt. It is like moguls replayed themselves, in snowboard cross form. Men's hockey started today. I missed the opening game, but as expected the US cruised to a 3-1 win over Switzerland. Of course the event I'm most looking forward to tonight is Canada vs. Norway. Should be a blowout, but Norway, once or twice a decade, plays Canada really tough and has even squeezed out an upset before. Men's hockey tends to be more balanced and competitive than women's hockey, so this should be an amazing tournament- if you've ever wanted to get into hockey, this tournament might be the best chance you have, especially if NHL players aren't permitted to play in the 2014 games. Big game on Sunday, with Canada vs. USA. Should be tense and emotional.
It was a pretty good game between USA and Switzerland. I dont really understand the sport, but it looked like a good game, at least. Figure skating is on again in about an hour. I'm quite excited for the mens' competition, especially the long program tomorrow (short program is tonight). I really hope Johnny Weir does well, as he's my all-time favourite skater evereverever. Everybody root for him. I'm sure Lysacek and Abbott will deliver as well. I actually dont know much about the other mens' teams. But the rumor is that it's going to be a competitive evening. I dont know what else is on this evening. Mens' programs are all that I care for at the moment.
Yeah, I'm surprised and a bit disappointed that two of the biggest events are on the same night at the same time. Figure skating is still being shown here, but on a different channel. Remotes will be fought over in many Canadian homes tonight.
I used to love watching the mens figure skating and the pairs. Briaan Orser, Kurt Browning and Elvis Stoyko were great. Chris Wirtz is from the town I live in and his mother taught my two boys in school. His father is a great athlete and can still do things most men in their 20;s can't When his sons all showed skating desire and ability there was no skate sharpener other than hockey skate sharpening so Gunter set about being trained for it and bought the equipment for skaters in town. He did it for years. It makes it more interesting when you actually know some of the competitors and it is great for home town spirit when the sports bars are full of family friends cheering them on. Hockey and curling I also watch. Just wish the weather was co-operating a bit more.
This game has not gone well. Getzlaf has been awful. Canada is tied to a team composed largely of amateurs, including their starting goalie. I'm getting worried, especially after the disastrous showing in 2006
with all the bad reports about how Canada is humiliating the competition this might take some of that talk out of the air waves. I am getting fed up with the reporting from some countries and even the CBC. I am almost glad I don't have TV this time. But I still love it when Canada does well.
3-0 after the second. Much better period for Canada, though there's still a lot of room for improvement. The team got into some penalty trouble, which is something they are going to have to work on.
Agreen announce who wins for me. after all you are only 15 hours south and west of my location. practically next door. go Canada. just found the game on computer not too keen on the power plays but at least we are learning how to kill them.
Well, at least for now the worries were somewhat premature. Going into this game, I anticipated about a 6-0 win for Canada. The final was 8-0, and Canada was more dominant as the game progressed. Considering the limited practice time they've had so far, I think the slow start can be attributed to adjusting to new teammates and strategies. We'll know more Thursday when they play a Swiss team that is significantly better than Norway's. In 2006, they pulled the upset of the tournament and beat Canada 2-0, so while on paper Canada are heavy favourites, it's going to be a huge game up here. I think we'll take it, but it will be much closer. Like 5-1. All of the games, and most of the other events are being streamed on CTV.ca's website. I think for Americans, NBC is showing most events online, and I believe the BBC maybe as well.
Medal count rankings so far: 1) United States D) 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 4 Bronze. Total: 10 2) Germany 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze. Total: 9 3) France 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 4 Bronze. Total: 7 Hopefully the US pulls a little more ahead. Germany and France are too close for comfort IMO. But everyone is doing very well, and I love watching the Games.
Canadian women's hockey up 10-0 over Sweden. This is a bit of a surprise- Canada were heavy favourites, but as Sweden beat the US in the 2006 Olympics, and even somehow beat Canada in a 2008 game, it was supposed to be competitive. At this point Canada is just waiting for the gold medal game.
I've never cared for counting medals... dont seem to understand the point, I guess. Celebrate what you have. Besides, if USA got a pairs skating medal, it would have been worth six or seven golds, in my opinion. The jumping out of your seat, for your country and for everyone around the world, is the best part. I was so happy when Shen / Zhao won, and that's what matters, I think. Global giving, global caring. And it's fun.
Yeah, fun as it is to root for your country in each individual event, it's just as satisfying seeing great athletes from other countries compete to the best of their ability. For me, the overall medal count isn't all that important, I'm just extremely excited to see a (well, two now) Canadian gold medalist. Except hockey. Objectivity and global community building go out the window when it comes to Canada and hockey Also, I enjoyed Johnny Weir's performance last night. I'd love to see him find his way into the medals.
You can keep the hockey medal. And I'm really glad you watched and enjoyed Weir's performance! He's amazing. Some of the other skaters (Plushenko and Takahashi in particular) had technically better performances, but I see Weir as a much smoother skater and he puts things into his performances that arent judged as well. It's one of my criticisms of the International Skating Union's current judging system (although god knows it's improved since the last Olympics!). For example Plushenko, while technically fantastic, is a very stiff and "ugly" performer. Although I will say that in his short program yesterday, his spins were much cleaner. Weir may still have a shot at the bronze if a few people slip up... I hope so. His free-style program for this season (if you didnt know, skaters generally use the same program for an entire season) is beautiful. He'll max out on the performance, choreography, and interpretation components for sure, and it's technically a very difficult performance, so if he skates a clean run, he should score high there as well.
Shawn White (sorry, Gi, if I misspelled his first name, not sure which spelling it is ) was amazing tonight! I love that his second run was just a victory lap, and he still blew everyone else's score away. Epic snowboarding right there. I'm bummed that I missed the short track relay semi-finals. I had to work.
I bet it took me less time to google the name and find out it is Shaun White than it took you to type the disclaimer. And I'm a slow typist Just sayin', google is your friend.
Personally I am so happy with Lindsey Vonn's win in skiing. Just hearing all of the injuries she gone through to get to this point, and being able to ski that well through another injury just blows me away. Plus you could just see how much getting the gold meant to her. Also I can't wait to see the short track finals! The qualifiers were intense! I thought Celski wasn't going to make it, I was so relieved when he did! Who knew I be into speed skating
You know, that's usually what I do, but this time it didn't even cross my mind. I guess that's what happens when you post while you should be sleeping. Short track is my favorite! I didn't get to see the qualifiers, but I should be off for the finals. So excited!
Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. Men's long program tonight. It's the best day of the Olympics!
That was definitely my--ahem, the USA's--Shaun last night. p) Conservative qualifier, wasn't even fully bringin' it and still finished 1st by a mile. 2 amazing runs, a well deserved gold medal and of course, the victory lap with the double mctwist 1260. Every time I see the Double McTwist 1260 (or the Tomahawk as Shaun calls it) I wonder "How does he DO THAT?!" at the same time I'm screaming "GO SHAUN!!!!" and thinking "Wow, how good does he look in that uniform?!" Every time people do something truly amazing in the Olympics, I wonder how they do it. So impressive. And I agree, Merc. Global giving and global caring is the best part of the Olympics, besides your country winning well-deserved medals.
Just ordered pizza, sent my brother out for drinks. I am ready for some Olympic hockey Canada plays Switzerland tonight. If only for symbolic value this is a huge game. Exactly to the day 4 years ago Switzerland stunned Canada in Turin 2-0. I believe there will be a different result tonight.
