Wanna toss the winter Olympics around a bit?

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Barrett50

Line Up and Wait
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Barrett50
First Olympics since retirement, and I admit to a certain amount of sedentary winter sports watching. I've been an avid skier for 40 years, and works PT as a patrol at Monarch in CO. Curling, wow - It's slower than watching Chess but with big ass rocks. The women's hockey games were darn exciting! US gold in a playoff with Canada. I thought Canada out-played the US in two periods. Now I'm watching something called the sprint. They put on one type of ski and go through a little maze, then up a hill, then change skis which they are carrying, and go blitzing down a similar hill. Whole course runs three min, and they have six girls on the run at once.

One of the more hilarious facets of these games has been the ski jump 'crotch-gate' scandal. NBC riffed on it rather well with some good one-liners. I saw Vonn's crash on the Super G. Grabbing a gate while flailing is a rookie mistake. Busted up her leg bad, bad. My few trips to Italy were long ago, but I recall it as a pretty fun and friendly place. Looks like they are doing the job very well as hosts. Heavy snow coming down today, and more snow in the forecast. We're about in the middle of the whole thing, and so far I'm rating a qualified A grade. Check it out on NBC and Peacock or USA network.

See something good?
 
I don’t have a tv or internet other than phone data… looks like I’m living vicariously through you. Keep it coming!

Your curling announcer skills suck… ha!

Could almost hear the binders clicking in the sprint event. Bravo!
 
Luddites of the world - unite! Hey, I hear there a FB group just for the Luddites. Oxymoronic, oui?
The US is in second place in the medals count. Norway is in first, and Italy is a close third. The Norway tall slender guys and girls excel in the skiing stuff. 10KM was between the Norse or the French and in the 5km was just as tight. Of course, Norwegians come out of the womb with XC skis already on.

I was watching the luge and bobsled, those guys and girls are going down the hill at 80MPH. No thanks. Double luge looks, gulp - a bit to friendly. The competitors from Italy are putting it all out there. Winning in things that are unexpected. Some controversies over scoring on the snowboard events. Any time 'points' are involved there's going to be some shenanigans. Memories of Tonya Harding, the GOAT in her prime but never got the scores due to her station in life.

As a small kid, I recall times in Wisconsin in winter. There was a curling rink in town, and I watched some curling when I was maybe 9. Most of what I recall was a lot of drinking, smoking and sometimes someone would score a point, maybe two points. The rock would accidentally get 'kicked' in the right direction oops.
 
Barrett50 said:
Now I'm watching something called the sprint. They put on one type of ski and go through a little maze, then up a hill, then change skis which they are carrying, and go blitzing down a similar hill.
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That's ski mountaineering, or skimo for short. There are two skimo events in the Olympics: the men's and women's sprint, and a mixed gender relay on Saturday.

They don't change skis. They use the same skis for uphill and downhill, and sling them on their back during the stair climb.

I do backcountry skiing at least once a week, so I was really excited to watch this event.

Women's biathlon is oddly satisfying to watch. I tell my wife the shooting is interesting. It's totally not the rock hard Scandinavian chicks in skin tight suits with blond ponytails and guns. Nope.
 
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I feel bad, the only event i tried following was the curling, looks so fun
 
I caught some of the Slopestyle event.

"Ski backwards. I've done that."
"Ski on the rail. I've done that."
"Nosebutter double cork 1620...
1771600493861.png

Super-G:
"I've skiied like that on slopes that steep."
"I've done high speed jumps like that."
"Radar speed gun readout on the corner of the screen...
1771600590425.png
 
I told my wife while watching skating that while I do skate, pretty much the only moves we see that I can do are right at the beginning when they stand still waiting for the music to start, and right at the end when they stand still and blow kisses to the crowd.
 
I really do love the Olympics. Both seasons, but I enjoy winter a bit more now. It's mostly people at their absolute best.

The coverage is nausea generating though. I blame women.

I have been lucky enough to visit two Olympics in person. Atlanta in summer '96 and Lillehammar in winter '94. Just a cool atmosphere. Except for the bomb in the park, which I left an hour before.
 
I’ve been in Canada a bit. Last time @ Bombardier working at the factory for 6 months.

Everyone said the same thing: What is the highest priority item to get done when you set up a curling event?

Set up the bar. Apparently curling is more about drinking liquor than anything else. IMG_2364.jpeg
 
This season I’m renting a room in Steamboat for a few weeks. The son of the lady who owns the house is a member of the USA Snowboard Team. He competed in Parallel GS and Slopestyle. Didn’t make the finals but his Mom was there to see him. It was his second Olympics and he been on the Podium in at least two World Cup Events.

Snowboarding is not my thing since I’ve been on skis for 50 years or so. Never even tempted to be on snow with both feet strapped to one board.
 
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I think it was 4 years ago I read an article about the curling teams having a smoking area.
 
GaryM said:
I told my wife while watching skating that while I do skate, pretty much the only moves we see that I can do are right at the beginning when they stand still waiting for the music to start, and right at the end when they stand still and blow kisses to the crowd.
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Yeah, I don’t think I could do this even in tennis shoes
 
Ed Haywood said:
That's ski mountaineering, or skimo for short. There are two skimo events in the Olympics: the men's and women's sprint, and a mixed gender relay on Saturday.

They don't change skis. They use the same skis for uphill and downhill, and sling them on their back during the stair climb.

I do backcountry skiing at least once a week, so I was really excited to watch this event.

Women's biathlon is oddly satisfying to watch. I tell my wife the shooting is interesting. It's totally not the rock hard Scandinavian chicks in skin tight suits with blond ponytails and guns. Nope.
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From NBC Sports, last-minute racer at womens XC, sorry it's on Instagram but worth just to watch the video and commentary. Someone at NBC has a great sense of humor. Fortunately, neither of the women in the race were in medal contention.

 
GaryM said:
I told my wife while watching skating that while I do skate, pretty much the only moves we see that I can do are right at the beginning when they stand still waiting for the music to start, and right at the end when they stand still and blow kisses to the crowd.
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In my much younger days I skated...Best option in Phoenix when the temps were 110+. I never got the axel (and have the scars) but did manage single toe loop and flip.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
Best thing---Wolf dog
Worst--no Eddie the Eagle, but watching Quad Boy choke was close.
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At least QuadBoy is showing a level of maturity by admitting he screwed up and not running home but staying to support the rest of the US figure skating team. He'll be in the exhibition Sunday night as a US Team Gold member, in addition to the 3 Mens individual medalists.
 
Ed Haywood said:
The coverage is nausea generating though. I blame women.
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Before I am accused of misogyny, let me clarify. I find women athletes like Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsay Vonn, both of whom live 15 minutes from me, to be beyond inspiring. I enjoy the talent of Asian munchkin girls doing insane freestyle tricks and the sheer willpower of Viking princesses collapsing at the end of Nordic events with heart rates of 220 bpm.

But the announcers trying to get women athletes to emote for the housewives watching at home? Uggh. Snack break.
 
X3 Skier said:
This season I’m renting a room in Steamboat for a few weeks. The son of the lady who owns the house is a member of the USA Snowboard Team. He competed in Parallel GS and Slopestyle. Didn’t make the finals but his Mom was there to see him. It was his second Olympics and he been on the Podium in at least two World Cup Events.

Snowboarding is not my thing since I’ve been on skis for 50 years or so. Never even tempted to be on snow with both feet strapped to one board.
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Years ago we did a family vacation to Copper Mountain. We got our two kids and our nephew signed up for beginner ski lessons. My nephew’s older brother had grown up in the mountains and pretty much had never been below 5000 msl his whole life. I think he was born on a snowboard. He was about to give his brother and cousins some tips but he realized he’d never been on skis, only snowboards.
 
I played hockey back in the '70s. Haven't paid much attention to the game since Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe.
Watched the Men's gave vs Sweden. Wow, has the game changed. What these guys can do on their skates and how they stickhandle is in another world from when I played.
 
The one I don’t really get is ski jumping.

You’re jumping. Oughta be a gonzo “jump as far as you can” contest. Forget a smooth landing, symmetry and all that. Go for it, bubba!
 
Hang 4 said:
I played hockey back in the '70s. Haven't paid much attention to the game since Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe.
Watched the Men's gave vs Sweden. Wow, has the game changed. What these guys can do on their skates and how they stickhandle is in another world from when I played.
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Yabbut you guys won the toothless smile contest
 
kyleb said:
My neighbor is Dan Bouchard, long time NHL goalie. Nice guy. I think he even has all his teeth.
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The goalies now have better masks. Gerry Cheevers, goalie for the Bruins, painted stitches on his fiberglass mask that were supposed to represent the actual stitches he would have gotten without the mask. Bouchard started in 69 IIRC, so he might have played a few years without a mask. Those guys had brass balls to play goalie barefaced.
Forwards and defensemen today mostly wear a plexiglass face shield that only covers the eyes. Sticks and pucks can still do a job on jaws and teeth.
I've recently started playing beer league hockey. I have a full face cage. I've had a couple pucks bounce of it that would have hurt a lot.
 
Lovin' the commentary! I was wrong about them swapping skis in the sprint. They do just drop and re-fit. I was ready to hate the NBC coverage, but so far they are doing ok in my op-ed. That quad-god was doing great - right up to the point where it counted for real. I've skied for a long time. I used to do those $20 run slalom at the local hill against my kids. When they were under 10, I'd win every time. After about 11-13 I was hopelessly behind, but we all had fun. For those that don't snow ski, 45MPH on skis feels like 0.85M and the trees are going by like a green river. The guys/girls going 70+ are just unreal.

Agree on the ski jump. Fuggeeddaabouddit with the scoring, just see who goes the furthest. as long as the skier lands on skis, and doesn't do a yard sale, I would just go by length in the air. Still watching. Grab a cigar and a frosty malted - curling is all over the tube tonight.
 
kyleb said:
My neighbor is Dan Bouchard, long time NHL goalie. Nice guy. I think he even has all his teeth.
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Bouchard played for the Atlanta Flames when I was in high school there in the early 80's. My buddies loved him. They used to go to games and hold up a banner saying "only God saves more than Bouchard."
 
Norway king Klarna(whatev) six golds in XC skiing. Woof, the guy is a ski maniac. Mens US hockey 8am eastern on Sun. I might get up. Canada province opening bars at 6am for proper lubrication to cry in their beer after the walloping. Aerials, yeah - just no effing way. Guy just landed short and went nose over ass. Yikes. Italy still showing strong in some places. First and second in the ski-cross. Havin fun now!
 
US getting outplayed by CA in two periods. America making dumb puck handling mistakes and wingers out of position. The dump and chase is coming up against controlled and accurate passes. I doubt the US can hold off the better stick work.
 
Barrett50 said:
US getting outplayed by CA in two periods. America making dumb puck handling mistakes and wingers out of position. The dump and chase is coming up against controlled and accurate passes. I doubt the US can hold off the better stick work.
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Yeah but, that goalie tho.
 
Wow, what a game. Yeah our goalie saved it. Amazing finish.
 
Seeing the wolfdog incident makes me wonder whether they should add a dogsled event. It would be wildly popular.

I’m also beginning to think the summer olympics should add some roller skating and water skiing competitions.
 
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