2010 Vancouver Olympics

[bjkrautk]

Curling is my favorite winter Olympic sport, mostly because the Olympics are just about the only time it's on TV. Also, I find it tremendously fascinating.

If you're in the midwest, you should try to find a place to try it out. I know our local club (Wausau) has an open house this weekend, to coincide with some of the broadcast events. It's a great distraction from winter.

 

[Teatoe993]

The Appleton Curling Club building is haunted.

[JoeHova]

Figure skating scoring is still a joke. I saw only bits and pieces lst night, but I think one of the favored pairs fell down, and still got a higher score than a pair of "nobodies" that led off the competition. It may or may not be better than in the past, but it's still patently unfair.

I'm not sure I agree. Any of the top teams/skaters could skate a flawless program if they did a bunch of single jumps and basic lifts and throws. In order to encourage skaters to do something more difficult, they have to weight the more difficult elements, just like in diving during the summer olympics. You can't really tell who should win just by looking at who skated the cleanest program because they may have skated cleaner because their program was much easier.

[Patrick425]

Ok, I know very little about art or about figure skating, but I tend to equate the two.

 

Seems like if you have some success and make a name for yourself in art (sometimes in art is appears as if though it's not how good you are, but who you know), then from that point on, you can basically take a blank canvas, spray paint a line down the middle, and sell it for $100k. I view skating the same way. I'm sure someone will tell me how totally wrong I am on both ends (art and skating)

 

I also don't like that the announcers seem to know what the entire routine is going to be before it even starts. Where's the element of surprise? Same with gymnastics.

[Jimbo]

Only Matt Vasgersian could infuse the Bad News Bears into ski jumping. Alright, Matty!

 

Men's downhill coverage was truncated last night due to being rescheduled. It's one of my faves and they only showed a half-dozen skiers. I believe it's always the first Sunday of the Olympics and gets extended coverage.

[paul253]

Good win for the US mens hockey team. If they beat Norway they are pretty much assured that they are advancing, but that game Sunday against Canada sure is going to be fun to watch.

[RobertR]

Only Matt Vasgersian could infuse the Bad News Bears into ski jumping. Alright, Matty!

 

Men's downhill coverage was truncated last night due to being rescheduled. It's one of my faves and they only showed a half-dozen skiers. I believe it's always the first Sunday of the Olympics and gets extended coverage.

Yeah, I was very disappointed in that. One of the flat out best events of the Winter Olympics and almost covered as an afterthought.

 

Curling is one of those sports that I've always wanted to try. Looks like fun. I know Wauwatosa has a curling club.

 

Robert

 

 

[thebruce44]

Besides Utah, it seems like we always get screwed on the tv coverage of the Alpine events. Besides the world cup, olympic skiing is my favorite event to watch on tv. Really any HD skiing is fantastic to me.

[Patrick425]

Not sure why but Evan Lysacek reminds me of this guy:

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/59c2589948764f6b98a17da5f76f11b92b50872.pjpg

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/538251f9827acfef9a51f346d6d800ef4cc93a9.pjpg

 

[RobertR]

Now that was a good night of events. Women's downhill lived up to the billing. Spectacular race by Vonn and some edge of your seat racing and crashes. Shani Davis lived up to his billing in speedskating. And what planet is Shaun White from?

 

You didn't need to force human interest stories when the events themselves were that compelling.

 

Robert

[Oldcity]

Shaun White is unreal. He's twice as good as anyone else.

[craigharmann]

Shaun White is unreal. He's twice as good as anyone else.

No doubt. Assured of the gold, he goes out and ups his score. Just amazing.

[bjkrautk]

Last night was about as good as it gets for team USA (and for NBC). I had to start the DVR to record White's second run.

 

Now if only the U.S. Curling teams could win a game...

[Buckylovesbeer]

Must be nice to be able to create another trick thats even better when your competition begins to close in on you.....White was a beast! Anyone else catch the women's downhill? Most of Vonn's big rivals had huge wipeouts. Really crazy to watch. The hill was tough.....Vonn went to Men's skis, and they seemed to really help her....NBC discussed this and actually no other women in the event felt that the skis could help. Vonn was awesome.

 

I agree 100% with the Curling comment. Lets go already USA!

[thebruce44]

Vonn is the strongest women's skier I have ever seen. She can mess up with her upper body and just carve through mistakes that cause other women to fall or get off their line. Her center of gravity is unreal for a woman. (note: this isn't sexist. women are just built different than men when it comes to skiing which is why its amazing she can use mens skies so well).

[pitchleague]

Vonn is the strongest women's skier I have ever seen.

I thought it was Suzie Chapstick.

 

Seriously, that was a crazy event. All those wipeouts were great to see (not that I'm cheering for them to wipeout, of course) to help the US team.

 

Shawn White is like head, shoulders, torso, legs, and somebody else's head and shoulders better than everybody else. Amazing air he was getting.

[Schlitz001]

I agree 100% with the Curling comment. Lets go already USA!

It's been frustrating watching the US play Denmark. They are taking way to many risks, instead of taking points where they can get them. If they lose this one, they go 0-4 and it's going to near impossible to get on the podium.

[Jimbo]

Now if only the U.S. Curling teams could win a game...

Just invested 90 minutes of my life watching the USA v DEN match. The American screwed up not once but *four* times, icluding the game winner. I don't pretend to be a curling expert but man, that guy sucks. I'll watch the McCormick team once and that will be it for my curling experience.

 

 

[trwi7]

The American screwed up not once but *four* times, icluding the game winner.

He actually had four chances for the game winner in all four games they've played and he failed on all four of them.

 

 

[RobertR]

Yeah, at this level that's just a terrible choke job. At this point the other teams must just be saying, stay close and let the Americans screw up.

 

Robert

[Jimbo]

Yeah, at this level that's just a terrible choke job. At this point the other teams must just be saying, stay close and let the Americans screw up.

 

Robert

For those watching the match, Denmark called timeout in the extra end and discussing strategy (in English BTW) they pretty much admitted they will only win if the US screws up. So set up a situation so that the US can screw up.

 

Now I find out Schuster won bronze in Turino. Go Figure.

 

 

 

[bjkrautk]

Yeah, at this level that's just a terrible choke job. At this point the other teams must just be saying, stay close and let the Americans screw up.

 

Robert

For those watching the match, Denmark called timeout in the extra end and discussing strategy (in English BTW) they pretty much admitted they will only win if the US screws up. So set up a situation so that the US can screw up.

 

Now I find out Schuster won bronze in Turino. Go Figure.

 

 

Schuster played lead on the Torino team in '06. Pete Fenson was the skip.

 

As someone who skips once a week, and plays lead the next night....it is impossible to emphasize enough the difference between the two spots. Lead throws 2 of the first 4 shots in the end. There is very little pressure, as you're rarely called upon to hit the other team's stones. (Unless the opposing lead throws one of their stones into the house, the 'free guard zone' rule prevents you from taking them out of play.)

 

The Skip, on the other hand, calls every shot, sets the broom (the aiming point for the thrower), and calls sweepers on and off. As if that weren't enough, the skip throws 2 of the final 4 stones in every end....which requires a lot more precision than lead.

 

It's like going from fullback to quarterback.

[LouisEly]

bj, where do you curl at? I was a member of the Madison CC for several years before I moved.

 

After watching some of the women's downhill, the women skiers have to be just livid with that course. It's so difficult that it is dangerous, and someone could get (or maybe has been) seriously injured. Many people, even some Canadians, are saying this is the worst winter Olympics ever.

 

And anything where scoring involves both time and judging needs to be thrown out. As much as I hate judging, I get the history and tradition of it, but pick time or judging for determining medals, not both.

[Patrick425]

And anything where scoring involves both time and judging needs to be thrown out. As much as I hate judging, I get the history and tradition of it, but pick time or judging for determining medals, not both.

Actually, while just using time is ideal, I prefer a combination over just using judging.

 

[bjkrautk]

bj, where do you curl at? I was a member of the Madison CC for several years before I moved.

I've been curling in Wausau for about 4 years now; this year was my first opportunity to skip in rookie league.

I was actually at the Madison CC last October for their holiday / fun spiel (my first out-of-town spiel). It is a very nice facility.

 

(That was also the first chance I had to demo the "no skip / no sweep" ends that my Thursday night team has been working up to for the past few years. Apparently, Debbie McCormick - the U.S. Womens' team skip - got a kick out of it when our skip did it in the same spiel a few years before.)