It occurs to me that as I type this, the Opening Ceremonies are 2/3 of the way over...or "at least another four hours away" if you're dependent on NBC. Do the Canadians get a live Opening Ceremony or do they have to suffer the same fate?
I watched a little of the opening ceremonies this morning, so yes, we do indeed enjoy live coverage of the event.
As for curling, Canadian skipper Russ Howard was amongst the some 190+ canuck athletes introduced to the inspirational music of the Jackson 5. I think it was the Jackson 5. There was a lot of 70s music playing, anyway, suggesting the Italians love their Motown.
So the short answer is no, curling has yet to start. But you already knew that.
As for Mark Spitz... I wonder how much faster he may have swam without that mustache creating oh so much drag.
I really don't mean this in a bad/good/indifferent(okay maybe yes on the last one) way, but when we are coming off a Super Bowl here in the US with questionable officiating how in the hell are sports that we ( read fat Americans to the non-Alpine world ) don't support to begin with, going to get ratings with a system of international officials? I am just saying that it doesn't bode well for the overall score.
Originally posted by CRZHAS THE CURLING STARTED? (No?)
The round-robins for the curling teams start this Monday the 13th, continuing on for about a week. The USA-Canada match is on Tuesday the 14th. The medal matches are on the 23rd and 24th.
I'm a big fan of Shannon Kliebrink, but I know next to nothing about the men's skip, Brad Gushue. I'm hoping it's two more golds for Canada, but it'll be competitive in both events.
Originally posted by CRZHAS THE CURLING STARTED? (No?)
The round-robins for the curling teams start this Monday the 13th, continuing on for about a week. The USA-Canada match is on Tuesday the 14th. The medal matches are on the 23rd and 24th.
I'm a big fan of Shannon Kliebrink, but I know next to nothing about the men's skip, Brad Gushue. I'm hoping it's two more golds for Canada, but it'll be competitive in both events.
I put the Curling into my Tivo schedule, but they are blocking it into 3 hour programming sections. I think I've got 15 hours committed just to get 5 matches.
That's awful. I know they don't think that these sports can stand up on their own merits, but I wish they would try it once. Just give me 30 minute segments of what I want to watch so I'm not held captive to the whole fucking ordeal.
It ends up with me not watching anything, to avoid having to watch everything. Its a shame.
Originally posted by Guru ZimIt ends up with me not watching anything, to avoid having to watch everything. Its a shame.
I think this is actually their plan. Not that viewers watch nothing, but rather that viewers are forced to watch everything. I think NBC has faith in some of the sports to draw viewers, but they want to use your desire to see curling to force some exposure the way of, say, the biathlon.
Originally posted by CRZHAS THE CURLING STARTED? (No?)
The round-robins for the curling teams start this Monday the 13th, continuing on for about a week. The USA-Canada match is on Tuesday the 14th. The medal matches are on the 23rd and 24th.
I'm a big fan of Shannon Kliebrink, but I know next to nothing about the men's skip, Brad Gushue. I'm hoping it's two more golds for Canada, but it'll be competitive in both events.
I'm surprized that Randy Ferbey isn't the Canadian skip. I mean, he's pretty much the king of Canadian curling.
Colour me excited for the curling matches. I only hope that I work some of them around my schedule.
I take back everything bad I said about NBC. I <3 NBC.
The 3 hour block labelled Curling, was actually 3 hours of curling. It's the entire US v Finland match. I would have rather seen the US victory over Norway, but I'll take it.
It would be great if various sports websites didn't plaster the results all over their home pages. I understand there will be spoilers out there since we're six hours behind, but is there really a need to put it on the front page with a big, bold headline and a huge picture?
Am I to understand that we (the US) don't have much of a chance to medal in Curling?
He's got that hand-waving deal. He can become INVISIBLE! This means MONEY, Dawg! - AWARulz on Cena.
I take back everything bad I said about NBC. I <3 NBC.
The 3 hour block labelled Curling, was actually 3 hours of curling. It's the entire US v Finland match. I would have rather seen the US victory over Norway, but I'll take it.
They actually showed the US/Norway match in its entirety, live, at 3AM. I watched a fair amount of it. I didn't understand a lot--and the commentators were NO help, speaking entirely in curling jargon as if anyone in this country knows that--but it was fun nonetheless.
I'm still trying to figure out why it ended when it did, though. They were in the middle of an end (what I would call an "inning") and then all of a sudden it was over. The US had a big lead but it didn't seem like it was mathematically impossible for Norway to come back. Any of you care to enlighten a curling newbie?
Anyway, not a bad thing to enjoy while waiting for the Olympic hockey~~!! to start.
Originally posted by Peter The Hegemon I'm still trying to figure out why it ended when it did, though. They were in the middle of an end (what I would call an "inning") and then all of a sudden it was over. The US had a big lead but it didn't seem like it was mathematically impossible for Norway to come back. Any of you care to enlighten a curling newbie?
After the sixth end or so, the losing team can decide to "shake hands" and call it a match. Usually it's when there's a differential of four or more and the losing team doesn't have last rock advantage. If the team that's winning plays their cards right, they can "blank out" the rest of the ends if they've got last rock advantage.
If you're down a bunch, the other team has the Hammer (last rock advantage), and they're good at blanking ends/good at blocking steals, sometimes it's better to hang 'em up and try again another day.
You usually don't see this in playoff/final rounds, but in the round robin it's fairly common.
Was watching the Swiss women gack in the 10th round against Great Britain this morning while working out and I couldn't help but think that the color guy on USA/NBC sounded a lot like Wally Cox.
Why'd the US skip go for the rock he did on the last shot vs. Finland? The inside rock seemed to be the logical target. Anyone have any idea what he was thinking?
Ok this is why womens hockey sucks. End of the Germany/Sweden game today, the German player is circling around just killing the final couple of seconds. Games over at this point. So a Swiss player two hand swings her stick at the other girls back, then while the player bends over with her hand on her back clearly in pain she takes a few more whacks.
So of course there was a brawl. Oh wait, no the other players all went to console the injured girl and then they OMG asked the Swiss player to please leave the ice before the handshake.
Hardcore.
And then the US womens team played Finland for a bunch of suckers, letting them take a 3-1 lead into late 2nd period before embarrasing them in the third. Well it's not over yet, but we're up 6-3 at this point. Guess they just felt they needed a challenge.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWhy'd the US skip go for the rock he did on the last shot vs. Finland? The inside rock seemed to be the logical target. Anyone have any idea what he was thinking?
The thought was that he would be following the same ice as the last Finnish player, where it hung up and got stuck at the top of the circle. He was basically looking at the same shot that the guy right before him took.
I thought he had the tap no problem, but that's why I'm here and he's at the Olympics.
BTW - they should have been completely out of it in the second end except for that amazing double takeout, so while it's frustrating that they lost it wasn't like it was a run-away.
I spent the last hour or so watching the Curl Grrls against Japan.
The Japanese skip has some great mind for angles, as she has designed some whacky shots to either win points or keep the US team from getting more than 1 in an end.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffWhy'd the US skip go for the rock he did on the last shot vs. Finland? The inside rock seemed to be the logical target. Anyone have any idea what he was thinking?
The thought was that he would be following the same ice as the last Finnish player, where it hung up and got stuck at the top of the circle. He was basically looking at the same shot that the guy right before him took.
So he goes w/ a shot that definitely wouldn't get him the point? Even if he knocks out the rock he was aiming for, the Fins had the rock on the inside to get the point. If that's me, I don't even think about any other shot except for the inside rock. You've got to get that one out of there to have any hope of winning. If you're going to lose, go down swinging.
The shot was supposed to nudge the rock to the right of where his shot went. It was designed to end up on the button. He was far left and hit the other rock that he wasn't aiming for.
There were definitely two shots available. The announcers thought the draw would have been easier, and I did too. He didn't think so and took the other shot. U15 was on last nights women's coverage and he said there were two shots there as well.
I felt bad for the Johnson girls. I think there were a couple of shots that kept them from winning that match last night.