I Got A Fever! And The Only Cure Is More Olympics

I watched Beijing and I got hooked and bought into the whole Summer Olympic experience. I watched all I could and enjoyed most of it. Sure I am not going to watch the 3m springboard or the 200m backstroke again until the London Olympics but for those 2 weeks I was in. The same looks to be holding true for the Winter Olympic in Vancouver. I knew that they had me when I watched the entire ski jumping completion including the qualifying. After the announcer explained how they generated the speed and power to launch themselves down the hill, I began to try to break it down myself to see if I could tell if it was a good jump or not (I will admit that I am still no further ahead but that isn’t going to stop me). Luge-cool.....alpine-sure why not....speed skating - close so it is compelling...snowboarding- gnarly. The only thing so far that just isn’t holding water is cross country skiing. They don’t even race. There is a staggered start and they race the clock and then just sit back and hope that their cardio brethren doesn’t match their time. Then at the end to drop like they were hit by a sniper. Yeah, your tired, you sold out and left it all on the course...we get it, so does just about every other athlete in their sport. Marathon runners manage to stay on their feet you’d think that these guys could do the same.

The only down side is just what a Cluster F%#@ the first few days of the games have been. When you start off with a tragic storey like the death of a Luger even before the Opening Ceremony that casts a pretty somber shadow over the games. Then you go to the Opening Ceremony itself it was not as big a success as it could have been. All in all the show was great but there were a few exceptions. The singing of O Canada was sung by a girl with a great voice but she butchered the anthem. She tried to over "Pop" it like she was at the Grammy’s or something. Bryan Adams? Really? Where was Rush? The giant falic symbols were interesting and got some snickers from our brothers to the south. Couple that with the hydraulics not working and only 4 of the 5 sides of the Olympic Indoor Flame structure coming out of the floor.
The Electric "Green" Zamboni that kept dropping hot water on the ice at the long track oval causing countless delays (It didn’t help that the racers kept kicking chunks of ice up). Thankfully a gas one is on the way from Calgary.

Then you have to look at all the events out at Whistler where events are being postponed on a daily basis. Practices, qualifying and finals are being put on hold due to rain, fog, warm weather, snow...pretty much whatever happens it is bad for the hills. Some Snowboard competitions have been postponed as well and spectator tickets have had to be refunded.

Yep That is right people, pack your winter jacket and head to Canada’s warmest city!! Good for golf in February maybe not the best for Nordic events.
Either way I will watch the filler material and catch whatever events come up first.

Go Canada Eh! I’m OOOUT!

Quick Hits

USA A-OK: Martin Brodeur embraces the Stars and Stripes. Anyone else concerned that the potential number one goalie at the Olympics this February for Team Canada just passed his test to become an American citizen? Nothing like having the pride of wearing the Maple Leaf on the chest of your jersey that was brought to you by a Bald Eagle. I know the dual citizenship thing is just a paper and legal issue but the timing could have been better. Maybe doing this after you play for you country would look a little better. There is no question that he is a true Canadian but this close to a major international competition is questionable. Either way we will see Marty in Vancouver this winter.

Tiger accident over and done with: All Tiger Woods has to do is pay a US$164 fine and accept the deduction of points on his licence then case closed. What led up to this point is nobodies business but he and his wife. The only thing that we should be concerned about is when this affects his play. Since he pulled out of his own tournament we as fans deserve to know the extent of the injury, but the events that led to the situation is a private issue and that should be respected. Gossip is so big in our society and always has been and as much as we all like to hear the dirt there needs to be some level of privacy involved. If there are issues at home, lets hope it gets worked out, nobody wants to hear a Phil Hartman type story. Maybe there is no fire near this smoke and it is just a misunderstanding. Only real issue is that keeping quiet only fuels idol and damaging speculation.

Jets bring in Yanks manager Girardi to teach Mark Sanchez how to slide: Seriously? There is no one in the Jets organization that knows how to slide correctly. And even if there isn't the best you could do is Girardi? I guess Jeets is busy with his Sportsman of the Year award but there must have been someone better. Even in media driven New York this is a weak attempt to get a good public relations story...this is not good PR it is just weak.

Take that! Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun had to leave the game on a stretcher after his teammate, Keith Ballard, whacked him across the head with his stick in frustration after an Ilya Kovalchuk goal. If that hits Kovalchuk and not his teammate he would be looking at a 20 game suspension. I don't think that he should be let off the hook. The league wants players to be responsible for their sticks, should it matter who gets hurt during a reckless and careless act? What if it was the ref? At the very least the team needs to do something publicly to show that that kind of behaviour is not to be tolerated.

Around The Horn

Chris Bosh is facing a child support suit in the US.

I just hope that this is just an isolated incident and isn’t the beginning of The Shawn Kemp Story Part 2.

World Baseball Classic is now over and Japan is 2 for 2 and defended their title.I must say for a game that I had little invested in it was a great game and very close and exiting all the way and the last 3 innings were as intense and interesting as any MLB playoff game that I have seen since the 1995 World Series with my Braves in it.
a) Starting the game at 9:30 est and going into extra innings and ending after 1am is not going to be good for ratings...especially if the US arn’t going to be in the finals.
b) Is it actually the Asian Baseball classic?
c) will this ever become as big as say the Rider Cup in 20 years or does the US not care enough about it?
d) If Japan won this versus S. Korea, can we really call a Red Sox vs Braves final a “World” Series Matchup? At least each of those 2 teams has a Japanese player on the roster.

Jennifer Jones and Team Canada are 9-1 at the Woman’s World Curling Championships.

This is only mentioned because I am a fan of Ms. Jones and am always rooting for her to do well and move forward.

Pierre Lueders should be very careful if he wants to make it to the Vancouver Olympics.

With the injury history of Jesse Lumsden maybe he may net be the best person to hurl yourself down a hill of ice with.

Q: What do you call a Soccer fan with an IQ of 10?

A: Supremely gifted!