f13.net

Um, yea, that um one arm really wasn't supposed to work you see...

Had to be painful standing there holding the torches for five minutes, knowing there's a camera with a closeup on your face, wondering what the fuck is going on.

Otherwise, I'm feeling really proud right now. A few comments on the opening from my perspective (I watched it on tv, I'm not rich):

kd lang doing Leonard Cohen was totally unexpected, but really cool.
That crazy ass opera Olypic Hymn - not so cool.

Loved the whole West Coast forest section with Sarah MacLaughlan and the tap, fiddling and Ashley McIssac performance.

Big thanks to the professional Vancouver protesters for not fucking things up for the rest of us, like we were afraid they might.


Everyone do me a favor, if you want to discus the Georgian luger, please do, but lets not make this a big negative thread about it. It was a horrific tradgedy, but now isn't the time to talk about blame.

Feel free to talk negatively about doped Russian cross-country skiiers if you like though.

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85685/whistler.jpg)

I'm just waiting to see who the next to die on that course.

Salt Lake and Torino for Comparison.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85685/SLC.gif) (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85685/Torino.gif)

I watched the opening ceremonies from a bar with no sound on. One thing I do have to ask is who the fuck let Tom Brokaw on the air wearing that sport coat? That was the most hideous thing ever.

Pretty sure, if you look it up, it cost $78,000,000, too.

Heh, I also watched the opening ceremony on a TV with no sound at a bar.

I actually thought like 50% of the entire ceremony was hideous. What was up with all the garish colors? I understand the Inuit imagery, but most of it was shockingly ugly. The big totem poles raising their arms? wtf? A huge polar bear? What appeared to be a violin playing demon? Plus: The Olympic symbol = stupid.

I am sort of glad I couldn't hear the sound.

I won't deny a lot of it was a little garish, but the stuff you are picking on was explained if you heard the commentary. The arms extending were supposed to siginfy a traditional welcome. Plus, extending the arms made them look less dildo-ish, so that was good. The was nothing silly about the bear at all. The Spirit Bear is one of the most traditional West Coast symbols we have. There were 200 spirit bear statues errected in BC in 2006 to raise money for disabled children. We take our bears seriously.

I don't get the Oympic Symbol = stupid comment. You mean the five rings? Um, ok.

As for the cost, the estimates on the Chinese opening were anywhere from 100 to 300 million, and it costs a hell of a lot more to do anything in Vancouver than it does in China. When you consider they had 60,000 people there at an average of $1500 per ticket, I'd say it covered it.

Reading the Fark thread on it, it sounds like Bob Costas pretty much made an ass of himself throughout the NBC coverage of it.

Are you fucking kidding? I loved the opening ceremony. It was a lot less over the top than China's and a lot more classy, IMO.

Then again, I'm a sucker for winter olympic opening ceremonies moreso than summer ceremonies.

Playing hockey on NHL rinks rather than IIHF ones makes me a little stabby though.

Check again where I was only seeing images in a bar with no sound. Only occasionally would I read the CC.


(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/Vancouver_2010_logo.svg/200px-Vancouver_2010_logo.svg.png)

Wat?

The rinks are regulation NHL rather than the larger international standard ones. It was one of the first things I noticed during today's Sweden/Switzerland game. Not enough room behind the goal.

I liked most of the opening ceremony, but I thought that k.d. lang's arrangement was just horrible. She did a good job of singing it, but she took one of the most emotional, powerful songs ever written in Canada and sucked all the soul and passion out of it. I'm not precious about the song at all - while I do love Cohen's original and live versions, I also love both Rufus Wainwright and Jeff Buckley's versions. However, I would still rather hear lang's lifeless version in the wrong meter than any of the dreadful X-Factor and American Idol versions.

I did find it cute that she borrowed David Byrne's suit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk

Yeah I thought it was fine overall. Some parts dragged some but overall pretty decent.

Nothing you can do in an opening ceremony overshadows the first death in 40 years. Barring a major hockey upset, that's what this entire Olympics will be remembered for.

No I get that, just not sure why it matters. Most of the players play on that size rink anyway.

I'm not sure that events that separate first place and last place by less than a half second should qualify as competition, to me that's variance.

Would this be ok: "Well, sorry guys, we only have the track set up for a 100 yard race instead of a 100 meter race. Oh and we got the shotputs in and they're all a half pound too heavy, again, little oversight sorry. And the javelins are all 3 inches too long. And we're moving the 3 point line in basketball to something that doesn't match international play."

Just seems kind of odd that hockey is having its parameters changed like that when it likely wouldn't be allowed for most sports, that's all.

Except that in your examples you don't need to change the parameters of your entire stadium.


Hey it beats what they're going to do in London:
"I say, we don't much feel like building a baseball/softball diamond."

"Done! Those events are toast."

Well, not that Canada would ever drop hockey.

Never even occured to me that someone had a problem with the Inukshuk design. It's a little man, and it tells you where to go.

I could comment on the paisley pajama ski suits the Americans are wearing. I know its covered in little stars, but really, they make it look paisley.

My heart just broke watching the women's moguls. The worst part being, knowing that the last skier had won without waiting for the score - her run was that good.


As to the hockey - I fully get what you are saying, but I really don't care, because I really hate watching the oversized ice surface. So much space, nobody forechecks.

The opening ceremony had some interesting and cool visuals, but holy shit it was boring.  The opera chick's hair was very cool, however, lending some credence to the entire bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmp1sJAJTCw !

Yeah, bigger rink can sometimes mean less forechecks, but it also means more wide-open hockey. I kinda like it fast. Plus, I'd like to see Ovechkin really open it up.

Phil and I watched Arissa Mirano do the moguls last night, that alone made the olympics worth it for me.
Yes, Arissa Mirano is Japanese.

The skinny downs kid running through a field on wires was pretty  :ye_gods:.

"Arisa Murata"

Some of you might remember this year's Olympics for a guy dying before it actually started, but for me it will be Koreans in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in speed skating until two of them wiped each other out and let the Americans medal.

That sort of thing is not uncommon in short track speedskating. Apollo's first Olympic medal was won in a race where the entire field but one skater crashed (the gold medal winner) and Apollo happened to be the first of the crash victims to crawl across the finish line for the Silver.

That Nordic Combined race was very compelling, particularly in an event that doesn't make much sense.

Being Canadian, I love the winter Olympics. Can't really get into the Summer games the same way.

Thought the opening ceremonies were boring, but I find most things like that boring. I usually just watch to see the athletes march in and to see the final destination of the Olympic Flame. Can't imagine how awkward it would have been to stand there waiting for the arms on the Cauldron to lift. Nancy Greene said later that they figured they had about a minute before the torches would go out as they ran out of fuel.

The women's moguls last night were awesome, I'm a sucker for those types of events. Moguls, anything snowboard related, freestyle ski jumping. It's amazing how much of an 'expert' I become while watching an event I'll watch every 4 years for an evening.

Was that the one the Aussie won?  The look on his face was priceless.  "I...I won?!?"

Yup that was Steven Bradbury.

Yep, I was actually out of my seat screaming, "GO YOU BASTARD, THERE'S A FRENCH GUY!"

All of Canada can now breath a sigh of relief as we finally win a gold (Men's Moguls). For those of you who didn't know, we had never won an Olypic gold on home soil (despite hosting two previous games).

Congratulations

That doesn't mean you should expect more. You have your gold, now we (USA) need 35 more.

We win all the weird events though that involving jumping over shit with guns and skating for speed. Can't we just win a freaking hockey game?

Admittedly, good story and good kid too.

That biathlon was brutal.

Also, Canada's women's hockey team over Slovakia?   :why_so_serious:

Why the hell is NBC showing so much women's hockey. It's unwatchable and yet they have it on TWO channels.

Even we don't generaly watch Women's hockey untill it gets to Canada vs USA.

Not as much going on right now. we've had two days of skiing cancelled. That was the premier sport early on.

and biathalon was very brutal, Announcers were continually saying, OH, it's over. Oh it's over, eventually if everyone screws up it loses something. except for that one guy who was a slow skier :)

Congrats on no longer sucking at home :why_so_serious:

That figure skating pair from France was fucking awesome. Gold medal.

Wait, you actually watch figure skating?

Apparently not. They were owned score-wise by the very next pairing. Whatever, I liked them better.

Lots of miscues this Olympics. This whole thing is leaving a meh taste in my mouth and I'm one of those  people who completely  geek out on such things.

Pairs Figure Skating was won by Chinese teams who didn't fall down. It was really shitty.

I never like to see the Chinese win anything, but still everyone was diving like Italian soccer players.

Vancouver is stunning and the games I've seen have been pretty cool but it keeps getting fucked up through the cameras of NBC and their fucktard commentators.  Their best, Al Michels, is inside doing interviews.  I hope they have him lined up to call some hockey.

It's just shit coverage so far.

Snowboard rarely disappoints.  Another gold gets away from Canada but it was a great race.

Sounds like the U.S. viewers are suffering.  We've got 3 channels doing wall to wall coverage.   :heart:

Only drawback is if there's a lull in the action then it's 3 channels of wall to wall schmaltz.

Well, as much as I have a soft spot for Women's Hockey, let's bring on the men!

(http://hs.squadstudios.com/_site/img/smithers.jpg)

Ah, men's figure skating.

(http://media.monstersandcritics.com/articles2/1526097/article_images/headline_1263752901.jpg)

 :ye_gods:

 :ye_gods:

(http://hs.squadstudios.com/_site/img/smithers.jpg) (http://media.monstersandcritics.com/articles2/1526097/article_images/headline_1263752901.jpg)

Jesus.

Now I know what my friend was babbling about on ventrilo. That is the most hideous "trying too hard to be flamboyantly gay" outfit I have ever seen.

Do they get Bonus points for that or something?  :awesome_for_real:




I still don't understand how we didn't win that race, he was miles ahead with nothing going wrong then a total slowdown and 2nd place ><

Thoughts so far:

I think Weir is hilarious.

I'm a little dubious about any sport where "stand in the back and wait for everyone else to fall down" is a reasonable strategy.  The worst offender here is short track skating, which I could never take seriously at all, but it also applies somewhat to snowboard cross (which I have trouble taking seriously due to the name, but then again I'm an old fuddy-duddy).

I never heard of the "Parenthood" TV show or the "How to train a dragon" movie, but I want to murder every person involved with either one right now.  Every. Fucking. Commercial. Break.

I also want to murder Costas, but I've felt that way for years.  Did anyone catch him saying that he didn't want to talk about redemption because redemption in sports is such a cliche?  I don't think that man has uttered a sentence without a sports cliche -- most frequently that exact one -- in his life.

I felt kinda bad for the guy who came in 3rd in the mogul event.  Usually, NBC devotes almost all of its coverage of any event to US competitors, even when they are in 500th place (which I find annoying, but I assume it's that way in most places).  But this guy, even when they were actually putting the bronze medal over his head, Costas was talking about the Canadian winner (and likely how this redeemed Canada and maybe even made up for Barry Bonds skullfucking Costas' dad's corpse, if my brain didn't mercifully filter out his voice so often).  Sure, the Canada-finally-wins-on-home-snow story was the story of the Olympics to that point.  But I'm sure that US guy had some third-cousin with Downs syndrome, or at least a parent who got up early to take him skiing as a kid, that NBC could've cranked into a Standard 60-Second Feel Good Olympics Story.  How is this kid gonna nab local car dealership commercials when we barely heard his name?  A crime I tell you.

Considering what a big deal the Gold was here, CTV's coverage actually did a fair job of appreciating the American's effort in the bronze, since he finished well ahead of where he was expected to. Of course we did our best to ignore Begg-Smith's silver becuase he's a fucking malware king, despite being born in Vancouver.

Oh. When they said "controversial internet business" on the TV, I just assumed porn.

Nah. Porn we can respect. He's a malware spambot king. We try hard to pretend he's not really from here. The aussies can't stand him either fwiw.

Man, Shuster has 3 straight opportunities with last rock to win matches and botches every one of them.

Yeah...can't believe I was riveted by a fucking Curling match. :why_so_serious:

I really dig Curling. It's like chess on ice with big rocks.

Shaun White is ridiculous.

Korea loves them some Ohno (http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2010/02/136_60814.html)

The crashes in the women's downhill were pretty impressive.   Highlight reel (god knows how long this link will work): http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=ef1ea57d-0b12-4751-ab95-c3c2cff6f6de.html#womens+downhill+crashes

It hurts pretty bad as a skip when you get two chances to win a game and the brushers blow it both times. There was no good excuse on the second one either, as they could have brushed that rock to go 10 feet further and it still would have hit the other teams rock and counted.

Only tickets I actualy have for the games are Men's curling semi's.

(yes, I curl, and yes, it's an awesome sport.)

Women's downhill and Women's Moguls have produced some good crashes. Go women!

Despite NBC's best efforts, I am actually rather enjoying these games.

Good god the American curling skip is either really shitty or really unlucky.  :ye_gods:

All of these events are getting in the way of commercials!

Colbert's interview with costas last night was fucking brilliant, when he crawled into the fireplace I lost it.

Also <3 the women's downhill crashes, and I'm wondering why luge, and specifically doubles luge are sports.  Luge doubles may possibly beat out men's figure skating for gayest event in the olympics.

(I'm not saying it doesn't take skill, but we don't have professional watersliding in the summer games for good reason)

The host nation is only allowed to introduce one new event each games and watersliding was behind synchronised swimming, rhythmic gymnastics and BMX in America's list of nonsense events to add?

Bring back Pankration and Chariot Racing. Let's get rid of all adjudicated events.

Boo hoo hoo. I watched the damn races, and the Koreans put themselves out. Also, they were initiating bumps as well.

 :heart: :heart: Eve Muirhead :heart: :heart:

(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5--ca8rX4ks/SbUvFKYynvI/AAAAAAAAGv8/yHewTjJhNek/s400/WJ-Eve.jpg)

Yeah, work that shaft...you're a dirty curler aren't you?

FUCK BRODEUR. Seriously, after the Swiss game he gets the start? USA is playing really well no doubt. But WTF IS WITH BRODEUR?

I've noticed that Curling is very flattering to women. The white light shining up from the ice gives them a kind of glow at an angle that you would not usually see.

So glad NBC decided to put the hockey game on MSNBC which I don't get in HD so it looks like total ass (it even looks assier than normal SD for some reason). But I can watch fucking Ice Dancing in HD.

I'm watching the US-Canada game ata mo. I know next to nothing about Ice hockey, but it looks like a good game. Canada seemed to be on top for the second quarter but could not get it into the goal. US seem to be on top in the third quarter.

Was a good game. Canada played better technically (Chances, shots on goal) but Miller (US Goalie) was absolutely fantastic and Brodeur (CDN Goalie) was borderline retarded.

Yeah I was well impressed with the US goalie.

America!  Fuck yeah!  Owning Crosby's faggy bitch face!  HOOYAH! Its much sweeter to kick Canada's ass in Canada.  Good times.

*ahem*

Seriously though, fucking great game, huge hits everywhere and lots of fast end to end hockey.

Brodeur really shit the bed.

Perry has no business on the team.

Pronger is too close to being finished.

Neidermayer is too closed to being finished.

Bergeron, Morrow and Richards have no place on the team.

Luongo very obviously should have been in net.

Babcock is a shithead and Yzerman made a lot of terrible selections for a lot of terrible reasons. Really, how can you fuck up when picking Team Canada? Yet, somehow he managed.

I said as soon as I saw the roster that we were in for something like 2006 again. I wasn't wrong.

Well, this is what happens sometimes when you just toss a bunch of stars on to a roster, rather than building a team.

Also, Brodeur lol. So happy to finally see solid signs of his decline. Guy has been a thorn in the side of the eastern conference for more than 15 years it seems.

I'd be interested in what the plus-minus looked like.

Pronger, Neidermayer  and Brodeur should never have been on the ice. Fuck I'm irritated at the coach right now. Had Luongo started and the bench been slightly shortened we'd be having a different conversation.

Oh yeah. FUCK BRODEUR.

Yes. Whereas earlier in the week I watched Slovakia and Germany play in HD.

Regarding the game — I missed the 1st period, as I kept scanning for the game, and none of the DirecTV popovers informed me what time/what channel…

- Niedermayer and Pronger seem to have both lost a stride

- Brodeur will bounce back, Miller played out of his mind

- Crosby is a monster and may still singlehandedly right the ship

- Canada may have packed too many star scorers and not enough plumbers. I watched them struggle against Switzerland too and they got lucky in salvaging a SO win (and BTW, WTF is there shootouts in the Olympics?)

Hm. No. Brodeur is a spotlight hugging useless 'wanna be a defencemen goalie that should never have gotten the start or be on the team for that matter.

Luongo vs. Norway? 8-0 CANADA

Brodeur vs. Switzerland? 3-2 CANADA IN OT

Otherwise I agree with most of what you said.

Funny you guys all had problems watching this game...I had it in HD. /shrug

Ack. Phlpbt. Fffffffffffffffffff.

/head explodes

Here's a trippy fact:

Canada now plays Germany and the winner of that game will play Russia in the QF.

One of Canada or Russia will not be getting a medal. This is 100% assured.

Edit: Trippy, I mean, if you follow hockey and believed half of the hype going into the tournament.

Personally I never really believed Canada would place that high.

Heh. Fuck Crosby. Fuck him in the goat ass.

Looking at the US roster, I thought, "this'll be a good learning experience for them in international play" Now, I'm like, shit, they've got a chance.

My angst and raging anger over hockey is mitigated byt this odd video by Hammerfall featuring the Swedish women's curling team. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL9mlqbG5CU) I don't like the song at all, but it's an entertaining video.

That's just wrong on so many levels.

You misspelled a word in there.

Does it count as a Bloodworth if it is only 3 posts apart?

No, just a Blood.

No, it's not quite Bloodworthy.

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

Miller was awesome, but the US as a team played really well in front of him. Lots of blocked shots and the ones Miller had to stop definitely weren't all from great angles. He made a lot of saves, but not a lot of "tough" saves.

Crazy to think that either Canada or Russia will not even be medalling.

Fantastic day of Olympic hockey. Surprised at the Sweden/Finland score- thought it would be a bit closer. Looking like the Swedes are headed for a repeat. So fired up about USA beating Canada, especially since Canuck Ryan Kesler got the EN goal and Canuck Roberto Luongo was safely on the bench so Brodeur could epic fail. I don't think I have ever seen a goalie give up 3 and look as unbeatable as Ryan Miller. Wow. He was incredible.

I find myself really enjoying the Olympics this time around.  I am also finding NBC's coverage, in general, to be pretty decent...which surprises me, because I clearly recall loathing their treatment of the games in China.

I've pretty much enjoyed all the skiing events.  It's been interesting to watch Bode Miller winning all those medals, and equally fun watching the commentators suck his cock...he still doesn't seem to care, which is the criticism they gave him 4 years ago in Turin.  Only difference now is all the medals.  I've even watched a shitload of cross country skiing, which has been strangely exciting.  Snowboard cross is dumb, but ski cross is another matter entirely.  The wrecks are highly entertaining.  Love speedskating, but only on the long track. 

Oh, and while I'll admit to watching a little bit of figure skating, WTF is up with this Ice Dancing shit and why on earth would they put that nonsense in prime time?  It has all the problems of being a judged event, and none of the excitement of having people actually do interesting or even risky things like, you know, jumping around or spinning crazy fast.  Not even a crushed psyche or two.  I'm pretty sure the winner is determined by a combination of sassiest outfits and coolest music.

Oh, it's more than interesting - he's the superstar of the whole damned games. Yet again he comes in with a 'do or die' attitude rather than simply chasing medals with safe runs, but this time he makes it happen and we get some of the best skiing ever seen on TV. After he was written off for several years by Team USA it's also a great story. Of course the reporters want some of it. Of course he couldn't give a fuck about what they want. He's a true sportsman.

I know!

Also, the women's skiing events are also nice to watch, though that is largely in part due to the fact that several of them are very, very hot.  And man oh man do they crash good!  I always sqeal like a stuck pig when the crash right before the finish line, slide down on their backs and then involuntarily jump across it.  Seriously, though, skiing is one of those events where the female and male versions are almost equally entertaining.

Ryan Miller was outstanding, really stood on his head.

I am really interested to here what the press and general feeling is on these Olympics outside of Canada?  We are a self-deprecating people.  The media has been picking out negative stories consistently (ie. "Glitch Games", Georgian luger, weather, opening ceremony snafu, Gretzky as torch-bearer, "Own the Podium" campaign).  It's been portrayed as if the World hates Canada for some reason and we should be embarrassed of our revised effort to "Own the Podium" instead of merely being a bystander at the games.

Honestly, and maybe I'm way off the mark, but my general feeling is that most Americans would want Canadians to succeed (except, obviously, where we are going head to head).  At least, that's how I tend to feel about it.  So I think most people were glad to see Canada get their first home-turf gold medal and would be perfectly fine seeing you guys win many more of them.  I'll bet most of the world would see it that way.  But that's probably just me being a simpleton.

I am American, and I root for Canada frequently. I like Canadians, they are just so darn polite and kind hearted. Well all the Canadians I have met, I am sure there are exceptions to that. You all have to learn how to tip though. Seriously.

NBC's coverage sucks.  I've had to resort to watching the Olympics on one of the Canadian channels (CTV).  22 hours of Olympics each day.

Luckily I don't have Comcast.  Those cocksuckers are actually blocking CTV's coverage.

Yeah, as I have Comcast, I don't have that alternative.  In any case, the main point was that there coverage seems to be way better than what they did for the last summer games.

If they are content to show the Olympics and take a 200mil loss, why not just get rid of more commercial blocks?  Damn fools overbid for it.  I watched a lot of the events this week and I still say their coverage sucks and too many commercials.

But some great events, especially skiing.  Oh and I root for Canada when not going against the US.  My best friend is Canadian and he and his family are polite, classy folks.  Now I want to move to Vancouver.

NBC should be shot for showing ice dancing in the primetime slot.

I had a hard time with hockey. Of course I was going for the USA team...barely. I like too many of the Canada players.

Now I hope they thoroughly crush Russia. Screw them, their KHL nonsense, and some of the Russians threats to leave to play in Sochi. Seriously, people played for years in the NHL without going to the Olympics. Watching Ovechkin cry about the issue is unbecoming of him.

Hate that Ovechkin. But I have to admit... I couldn't really put money on Canada in that game.

Man, that Tessa Virtue...

She's hotter with her hair down.

Hell, even her name is cute.

She couldn't possibly be hotter.

I hope the judges don't keep Joannie Rochette off the podium.

Good lord, the Russians are getting absolutely punished by the Canadians in this hockey game...  :ye_gods:

Really?

Take that, you Soviet bastards!!!

Oh hi team Canada, nice to see you.

No kidding. Welcome back eh?

That was one of the more dominate performances by team Canada in an international setting against a 'quality' opponent then I've seen in a very long time. It helped that Nabokov was shaky, but they were all over the Russians immediately and didn't let up until the game was well in hand.

That first period was unreal.  That defense was just  :ye_gods: under the forecheck Canada threw at them.

Running up the score vs. Norway - you kind of feel sorry.
Running up the score vs. Russia - awesome!  :awesome_for_real:

What a night.  Clara Hughes closes out her career with a bronze, then we stick it to the Soviets, silver on short track and Gold/Silver on bobsled.

That kind of play out of Team Canada is the only acceptable kind of play from Team Canada. It's about time they showed up.

Crosby looked like Average Crosby, like he has the entire tournament. Thing is that he could have had a couple goals and a couple assists if people finished his setups. But it's like that every game. Really would have brought the entire thing home if he scored on that partial breakaway at the end.

Wow. Slovakia. Impressed.

EDIT: Holy fuck that was a crazy hockey game. This Slovak team is punching way above their weight. Beat Russia, just beat Sweden 4-3 and knocked them out. Crazy game.

Heh, South Korea is going to go bugfuck crazy again after their Women's 3000m team was DQ'd after taking the gold.

Super impressed with the Slovaks.

I don't know what the rules say about the situation that happened, but in my opinion they have good reason to be irate.  I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the Korean girl was passing when the contact took place, but she absolutely had the inside position and she was even a foot or so ahead of the Chinese girl.  It may technically have broken a rule, but the decision doesn't seem very just to me.

The netizens have already posted the chief judge's home address, maps to his home, and pictures of his home.

Jim Hewish of Australia, the same referee who disqualified Kim Dong-sung in the 2002 Olympics, was the chief judge.

CHAOS ENSUES!!~~

UPDATE: A man in his 30s has been arrested in Gunpo for sending a text message to KORAIL threatening to blow up the Aussie embassy. KORAIL, in turn, called police who evacuated and searched the embassy.

During questioning, he told police he sent the message out of anger at the Australian judge who disqualified the Korean short track team.

Apparently - and I haven't seen this - but there is one camera that clearly shows the Korean skater placing a hand on the Chinese skater and pushing. If so that's a clear cut violation. But I didn't see that and I watched the race and the replays. Who knows...

Joannie Rochette rocks.

Apparently the IOC is investigating the Canadian Women's hockey team for returning to the ice 30 mins after the game and celebrating with beer, champagne, and cigars.

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/hockey/story/2010/02/26/sp-hockey-women-drinking.html (http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/hockey/story/2010/02/26/sp-hockey-women-drinking.html)

Hopefully they weren't dressed in just their jockstraps  :ye_gods:

THE HORROR!!!

You know that kid you hated in your class that ratted out the other kids all the time?  Whoever 'broke' this story is that kid.

(http://i.imgur.com/Jf8YY.jpg)

And thus, many a canadian man just climaxed.

I really can't see Team Canada selling out their own women's hockey team like the USOC rolled Scotty Lago last week.  There's some evidence of drinking by underage members of the team, but outside of that, there's zero problem with this.

Watching some dipshit on ESPN try to argue that "Yes, there wouldn't be (as big) a problem if this was the men's team, but that's because these are a women!" just pisses me off even more.

What's the big deal!? If it was the American women though - wooooo  lookout, there'd be a MASSIVE outcry here.

Canadian medals: 16 - Canadian medals by women: 12

Wow. Finland is shitting the bed vs. the US. 4-0 in 10 minutes.

6-0 now with 7 minutes left in the first.
This isn't even fair.

6-0. Pwnt.

wtf i turned my head and they scored 2 goals in 15sec to make it 5-0 and now it's 6?!  God I hope canada gets into the finals, both teams seem out for blood now.

It's friday night here, the bars are packed with people drinking and watching the game. I hope there's not too much damage to the surroundings tonight  :ye_gods:

I think I'll go to bed.

If its a US/Canada final the networks are going to collectively orgasm.

Man I gotta say I am hugely impressed with Team USA. Not hockey (although they've rocked) but just in general. The expected superstars (Shaun White, Vonn) have certainly shown up but it's the mid ranked US athletes that are blowing my mind. You guys play to win and it's really impressive.

Wow. Canada got very, very lucky there that Demitra missed the open net.

What the fuck Canada, what the fuck.


Hockey games are 60 minutes, not 40, not 50, not 55. SIXTY.



Jesus Christ.

Well, the fans probably shouldn't have started chanting "WE WANT USA!" five minutes into the third.

Just scored a Team Canada authentic. Exes with connections are cool. :awesome_for_real:

Can you translate that into plain speak?

Authentic jersey (versus a replica) probably.

Hey Canada - damn impressive games for you guys.  I think the US is going to equal or exceed the medal record, which in and of itself is pretty amazing all things considered, but I think I'm most impressed with the Canadian performance in these games.  For all intents, you did "own the podium".

That.

Thanks Cyrrex! Although according to University of Toronto professor Richard Florida, the winner of these games is Norway (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/when-small-countries-hit-the-olympic-big-time/article1481615/).

Damn Norwegians.  :oh_i_see:

And here's the reason for that, Baldrake:

Norway - Home of Giants (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc4oAdiS6UE) (start watching at around 4:05, watch for about 1 1/2 minute)
It's a presentation of the Norwegian "Way of Life" by John Cleese :P

Doh!  24 seconds short

Fuck - what a game. I haven't sat down since halfway through the first period.

Best Hockey Ever.

Its a pity Luongo flubbed it and made OT happen (he failed at gloving a shot on the play prior to the dying seconds goal, having it go off his glove instead).

Even as a Canadian, I think the U.S. team is much better constructed. Too many of the Canadian team shouldn't be there, but got in based on name or team. And it'd be nice if Crosby did -something-.

Decent Olympics, though. Would have been much better if certain Canadians didn't choke (choke being a lack of effort, especially by some speed skaters). Mostly been pleased at the coverage, though. Leaps and bounds above the crap CBC put out in previous Olympics.

Fuck yeah fuck yeah!

Winning the game qualifies I think.

 :grin: about time he did something *coughs*.

Jesus Christ. Now his head will be even bigger for no fucking reason.

Holy shit, what a game.

/gratz to Canada

Miller definitely should have had that one though, but hard to fault him, given the level he played at for the duration of the tournament.

Glad to see Crosby get the game winner though, he was invisible most of the game, except for the breakaway he muffed.

Really surprised by level of play by U.S. D-men corp, Orpik and Jack Johnson were lights out. Rafalski shined on offensive end, but he still prone to severe defensive lapses, such as Canada goal #1 where he should have never made that pass into his own goal mouth with two Canadian skaters honing in.

Hell no. Our defense left two Americans standing in front of the net.


Np.

I need a new  :heart:

Probably the best gold medal game in the Olympics so far in my lifetime. We lost but damn it was good hockey.

(http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/5623/womenshockey.jpg)

(http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4310/menshockey.jpg)

Yeah, I'm here to post shit like this.


Also:

WHY DIDN'T CROSBY PRODUCE MORE THAN A PPG PACE????

This image seconds before the goal. Pretty sure he was part of everyone's game plan, yanno?

There are no words. Much beer now.

Seriously, need new heart, mine had about 50 attacks at the end there.

It would have been better if Crosby had actually scored on a really nice shot.

Instead, it was just a fairly weak goal.

Nah, it was a snipe. Miller's quote afterward that was he went for the pokecheck because he figured Crosby would deke. Crosby got his head up really fast, saw the pokecheck, and sniped it five hole according to Miller.

I wouldn't call it soft just because it wasn't top corner from the slot or a great deke.

But then again, I'm a huge Team Canada fan (to the point where I really watch all of the women's games, too) and a Crosby cheerleader. So take that for what it's worth.

In his on ice interview after the game, Crosby didn't know how the puck went in. He said he just put his head down and shot it.

Miller was a Jedi all night, but still only human it seems.

It was a weak goal and a lucky shot. Aside from that, Iginla did all the work there.

Not the wording that was used. He was asked about the goal and he said he couldn't remember. Which was actually what happened during the interview.

His head was up, as per Miller's quote and this picture:


Also you're insane and need to watch the entire sequence again.

It went between Miller's legs, and the only way that was happening from that angle was if he tried for a pokecheck - which is exactly what Miller said. I'll go with the goalie's recount of what happened.
Had we lost that game, I would have had to endure an entire office full of people that barely understand hockey trying to tell each other why we lost - that would have been really painfull.

Just curious, did the American broadcast mention that we needed to win that game to set the Olympic record for most Gold medals in one games (14)?

The honking on the streets outside my condo went on for three hours afterwords.


Just watched the closing ceremonies - little odd to end it on a breakdancer doing a headspin. But we had Bill appear, so all is good. Also giant Mounties, canoes, beavers, moose, table hockey players, and we made the entire world watch Nickelback!

Er?

It was an awesome game. Surely you're not suggesting that all the USA goals were spectacular displays of talent? (Hint: They weren't.)

Honestly that's just a whiny sour grape comment. It was an awesome game, Canada happened to win. Don't be a douche.

Punked.

I was surprised at the lack of some country music at the closing ceremonies. Pleasantly surprised. I was disappointed they didn't use the good, old I am Canadian commercial, though. Shatner was a good substitute, however.

And no igloos for the stereotype show!? Everyone around me was surprised by their no-show.

Actually as most true Canadians know This is the song that had to be used (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJD3qcIL7s), but was sadly overlooked :(

EDIT: Better video.

No Bryan Adams?

He did opening ceremonies. Keep up. ;)

That's ballsy. 

wat?

They did, actually. 

My only beef with the NBC broadcast, other than the weird terminology Emrick (?) uses (it's a NET, not a CAGE.  A CAGE is what the women and juniors wear over their FACES!  Refs do not CARD, but at least you didn't say FLAG) was that it took them about 10 minutes to show the replay of the last goal.  Until I saw all the "OMG CROSBY!"s on Facebook, I thought Iginla scored the winning goal, since that was the last name I heard before Euphoria set in..

On the NBC hockey coverage: it was dreadful, and further confirmed my belief that any GM that would hire Olcyzk as a coach is in need of a mental examination. For U.S. audience, announcers seemed to bend over backwards to favor Canada but I didn't really care about that — all the silliness, no explanation on Olympic rule differences (some things I deduced naturally, but Good Gates, never even explained how OT worked, etc.…).

And why Mike Emrick is thought to be some great announcer simply escapes me.

That goes for the studio crew of Milbury and others too. About the only redeeming feature was Don Cherry (he's a clown, but at least he's entertaining) before the game.

Methinks the douches protest too goddamn much. I only suggested it was a weak goal. I made no statements about any of the other goals in the game, just that one. And if you'd quoted the rest of what I'd put in there, you'd see I said Iginla did most of the work and Crosby got lucky. It was a fucking awesome game and I'm glad Canada won. Hell, I didn't expect the US to even medal when the whole thing started. Don't ascribe shit to me unless I explicitly say it.

Eh, the game wasn't very good overall from what I saw.  Both teams didn't seam to be playing very well, but the American team seamed to be doing really shitty the entire game.   They weren't playing at the level they were before, and I figured it was a forgone conclusion half way through that they would lose when they just seemed to keep fucking up all game long.

Well, to be fair, the Canadians didn't have Brodeur in net, so team USA had to work harder.

Yeah, first time in a while you had to play a goalie that forced you to pass to YOURSELVES to score.

Pretty harsh on a goalie that now holds all-time records and still stopping pucks at 92% clip with 7 SO this season…

I loathe the Devils and everything they represent in hockey, but come on, Brodeur is solid — even great goalies can have a bad game or two.

I was just messing around.  :drillf:

What is this "hockey" you all seem to go on and on and on about? Is it anything like Quidditch?

Going by this discussion, I can see why you would make such a mistake. :awesome_for_real:

Great hockey game.

I'm gonna miss the curling. Especially Eve Muirhead. The pic a few pages back doesn't do her justice IMO. There was one other smokin' curling chick too. The CNBC's constant coverage of it has now got me to the point of wanting to try the damn game...seems pretty cool.

Overall, I enjoyed the games. USA and Canada owned, so I'm happy.

This country was a ghost town for three hours yesterday.

Pretty impressive ratings for the game.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/People-watch-hockey-Gold-medal-ratings-huge-for?urn=nhl,224998 (http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/People-watch-hockey-Gold-medal-ratings-huge-for?urn=nhl,224998)

You're reading far too much into it. Hell, I'm not even really disappointed that Canada won, as I like players on both teams.

However, I still dislike Crosby, and still think it was a weak 5-hole goal. Entirely savable. Would have rather seen Canada win on a more spectacular effort.

It was a weak goal.

But, in general, OT goals are usually garbage — seeing eye shots, scrum at the net and puck trickles in under sprawling skaters, goalie misplays, etc.…