Thursday, February 20, 2014

Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Blog - Day 10 or Day 9…Whichever…

As of Feb. 15, a little over a week since Sochi 2014 Olympic Games started, and for all of the overblown budgets, questionable construction projects, the weather (which still played role), and the politics, this has been a pretty enjoyable and successful Olympics, thus far. The athletics have been high, there have been few, if any, controversies, the athletes appear to be enjoying themselves, and the officials have been trying hard to deal with the effects of hosting a (relatively, and sometimes literally) warm Winter Olympics, who have earned high marks from the participants.

As a viewer, I have not had much difficulty catching anything live on TV (which I prefer over sitting at a computer for live streaming) thanks to NBC's repeat showings and not eschewing live coverage of marquee events for their tape-delayed primetime telecast. I have knocked the network on a number of things--deservedly so--but overall, they have done pretty well from a broadcasting and scheduling perspective. I have particularly enjoyed their use of 5.1 surround sound, giving it that feel as if you were right there in the arena or in the outdoors, and the great work of their commentators, who have become one of the more unexpected (and pleasant) surprises of this Olympics. Let's hope everything continues smoothly in Week 2. Now, without further ado…

--As anticipated, the U.S.-Russia (or is that Russia-U.S.?) game was a hard-fought and dramatic affair, one that went deep into shootouts, where the U.S.' T.J. Oshie outdid Russia's Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk in the end 4-3 to clinch the 3-2 victory. They fought more like it was a gold medal game than a preliminary match…

--…And it would be really great if someone reminded NBC, Al Michaels, and maybe everyone else it was the other way around, too. As expected, no time was spared for the usual suspects to 1) wax poetic about the win, 2) treat it, the team, and Oshie like they just won the gold medal and were now legends and national heroes, 3) of course, bring up the Miracle on Ice and interview Russians so they can roast them over the coals and rub it in their faces. Instead of being able to enjoy a great game and its thrilling conclusion, it has to be whittled down to another round of "grandpa's old war stories" and played-out rhetoric--and this is coming from someone who loves his history.

Due to all of the "Miracle on Ice" overkill and the simultaneously current and outdated contention between the U.S. and Russia, it has been harder to appreciate the very points of matter that they are harping upon, not to mention its inherent historical value and some of the neat intricacies that are getting drowned out. It is interesting to think about the game in light of MoI and that the game is being held on the soil of Russia itself, a country that prides itself on hockey and who is playing host to the Winter Olympics for the very first time. The Cold War is a fascinating subject and it is perhaps even more fascinating to see how much the ice has thawed between the two nations (politics and stereotypes be darned). But like many a good and neat thing, too much of it is never good or neat thing. Instead, it has become an irritant and noise--like a catchy song that you really like until it gets played to death on the radio or in commercials.

So, no, I don't really want to hear for the 88th time in a telecast about the Miracle on Ice, nor do I want to see Al Michaels--who I normally like a good deal as a sportscaster--look like an old man living in the past. I do not want to hear about how a player is a legend or another "how does it taste feel" question to an old Russian player or personality. And I certainly don't want to see so much gloating over a preliminary game when there is much more hockey to play. Enjoy the awesome game for being an awesome game and move on. That didn't win the U.S. anything but another victory, much less the real prize.

--I can only imagine what it would've been like if Russia was the one that came out on top. I'm sure they would've been inflating it, too (maybe not to the same degree), and the U.S. would've been saying "Yeah, that was a good game, but it wasn't the gold medal game, so there!". Win it all, and beat Russia again along the way, and then we might talk… (NOTE: Of course, I wrote this before the events of Feb. 19, so bear that in mind…)

--On a more pleasant note, I hope Anna Fenninger's (Austria) gold medal win in Super G will go a long way in helping her cause to save cheetahs. It's always great to see athletes use their notoriety for important causes, and I'm sure an Olympic gold medal should aid her well in her venture…

--However, the first swath of competitors were getting wiped out by the hard course and change in conditions on the lower half. The key aspect about Super G, which is akin to a smaller downhill course, but with gates established like a giant slalom course, is that you not allowed a test run and basically race it at face value. A blind, tricky turn off of a jump proved to be a major stumbling block, and overall, eighteen racers made run-ending errors. Fenninger's small size and speed helped her traverse the course very well, kind of like a cheetah…

--Sigh, again, Elise Christie (Great Britain, short-track speedskating)…

--I felt so bad for Emily Scott in the 1500m competition. After all of the family turmoil, the toiling and effort she made to finance a trip to the Games, she gets interfered with in the semis (but allowed to advance) and then gets taken out by accident by a fallen skater in the finals. However, she looked real good and showed a good deal of strength with her skating and ability to stay in there. What could have been, indeed, but here's to her having an easier time getting to--and a less eventful time competing at--the next Games…

--The cutthroat behavior is nothing new and this is reportedly their weakest team in a long while, but that does not excuse the South Korean squad from acting so disgusting with the amount of blatant trips (namely when taking out the skater in front of them as they fall down) and pushes they have perpetuated. The chief targets--*surprise*--have been the Americans, though a few others have gotten in their crosshairs.

Just because you can't hang or fall, that doesn't mean you do something so disgraceful and unbecoming, especially something so completely pointless in a sport with scrutinizing judges and replay, not to mention when those very people that got ensnared got an auto-pass to the next round, anyway. I can only recall one or two Koreans that didn't get penalized (since, you know, they skated fair), and least their self-inflicted weeding-out made for controversy-free finals. South Korea has great depth in short-track speedskating, but needs to reach that same level in terms of sportsmanship and humility.

--Arianna Fontana (Italy) has made a good account for herself at Sochi with a second medal (bronze), and she avoided the spill in the final this time, too.

--Nice to see another Russian in Alexander Tretiakov put on a great show at the track, this time in skeleton. That gold should make the shine on those "Order of Merit to the Fatherland" and "Honoured Master of Sport" honors just a little bit brighter. Russia must really like him now…

--"Honoured Master of Sport"? Be honest, that is a pretty bada** title in any country or context…

--Maybe Korean expatriate Victor An(~) will be looking at one, too, following that second medal--a gold, no less--in the 1000m. Big ups to his new countryman, Vladimir Grigorev, for helping him secure that win without overdoing it with a teamwork foul…

--I know it is nothing new (or wrong), and maybe I am just noticing it even more now as I get older, but regardless, there seems to be a very high number of people in this particular Olympics who live or have lived in one country and have sought out another in hopes of nailing a clearer path to there (ethnicity or marriage notwithstanding). There may be a lack of resources or programs, the competition may be too tight or too hard, or, less common, countries are searching for "mercenaries for hire" to win medals for them. Hey, it's their prerogative, plus, it's hard to complain when you're from a hodgepodge like the United States…

--One of best things about this Olympics is seeing the number of first-time medals for countries in events or sports they've never won in, with Zbigniew Brodka winning Poland's first-ever gold in speedskating being among the latest. And what makes these feats even more satisfying is that most of them have flown under the radar…

--Skeleton sliders Matthew Antoine and John Daly, both from the U.S., seem like swell guys and are good friends. Too bad that only one of them (Antoine) could win a medal (bronze), with Daly having a bad start on his final run. At least the U.S. managed to get on the podium in both the men's and women's events. Like fellow slider Katie Uhlaender, hope to see both Antoine and Daly back in S. Korea…

--Briefly, I thought to myself, "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if there was a luge+skeleton doubles event? One person in the luge position at the bottom (to steer?) and the other person in the skeleton position on top (sight and balance?)?" And then I thought about it a second more, and dropped it…

--How about doubles skeleton, then? Still too much? It would kind of be neat, though, I mean…

--The Olympic Flame seems a whole lot hotter than I imagined it would be. At night, it seems to shoot off a beam of light upward into the sky and you can see a ton of smoke billowing off of it. Don't let the environmentalists or global warming scientists take notice…

--For someone that didn't practice on the hill and followed his own disparate training, Japan's Noriaki Kasai did pretty darn well to earn himself a silver in ski jumping's large hill event.

--The U.S. speedskating team, both long- and short-track, are to Sochi what the U.S. track & field were to Beijing 2008, unfortunately…

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