1) I noticed that pretty much every snowboarder had a uniform that included a hood. None of them actually wore the hood - they just had it hanging loosely behind their neck. Each time they would do one of those crazy stunts with multiple twists and flips in the halfpipe I would see their hood catching air behind them. The thing was like a little parachute. That thing had to slow them down a bit in the air. If you were competing in a sport where winning ( and your safety ) depended on you completing flips or twists before you landed, why would you want to wear something that would make you a lot less aerodynamic? If I were a snowboarded competing in the halfpipe I would want to wear a skintight uniform like a skier or a speedskater. Of course, snowboarded is supposed to be a "cool" sport, and I guess the snowboarders care more about form than function. Heck, a bunch of them were listening to music on their iPods as they competed. I guess some of them need that music to get amped up, but if I was going to do flips 20 feet in the air, I would want to carry as little excess weight as possible.
2) Speaking of snowboarding, I couldn't help but be a little embarrassed when Australian Torah Bright beat out American Hannah Teter for the gold medal in the halfpipe. As I sit here in a town covered with snow, I can't help but think "How they heck does somebody from the USA lose to an Australian in a sport that involves snow?". That's kind like an Australian losing to an American in a sport that involves kangaroos.
3) I know it's a stereotype that all Canadians are nice, friendly, and polite, but I've got to give credit where credit is due. The Canadian crowd really impressed me during the medal ceremony for women's hockey. Canada has just defeated the USA 2-0 to win the gold. Winning the silver for the American women was pretty much a complete failure. The USA and Canada are far and away the two best women's hockey teams in the world. The American woman's hockey team knew they would only play one competitive game the entire tournament, and they lost that game. So as you might expect, Team USA was quite devastated. There were a lot of tears ( and not tears of joy ) when they received their silver medals. All of a sudden, during this somber scene, you started to hear a chant of "USA! USA! USA!" from the crowd. Now I'm pretty sure supporters of Team USA started the chant, but it looked like the crowd was 90% Canadian ( based on all the red shirts and Canadian flags ), and the chant was loud enough that I've got to imagine that a good number of the Canadian fans joined in. It was almost as if the Canadian fans recognized how upset the American women were, and they were trying to cheer them up.
Now, let me tell you, this would NEVER happen if the roles wear reversed. If Team USA had beaten Team Canada in the the USA, the Canadian team would have been serenaded by a chorus of chants like "Looooooooo-zerrrrrrrs! Loooooooo-zerrrrrrrrrs! Loooooooo-zerrrrrrrrs!" and "Canada sucks! Canada sucks! Canada sucks!" during the entire medal ceremony. You can say a lot of good things about the USA, but you can never say that we are gracious winners. I've got to give the Canadian crowd a lot of credit for showing lots of class.
4) The overwhelming favorite to win the gold medal in the men's 10000 meter speed-skating race was a Dutch guy named Sven Kramer. He was way ahead and on pace to set a new Olympic record when his coach directed him to change lanes on the speedskating track. As it turned out, his coach had told him skate in the wrong lane, and Sven was immediately disqualified from the race.
Let me tell you, Sven seemed REALLY pissed! I mean REALLY REALLY pissed! He took off his goggles and flung them across the ice and he ripped into his coach in the interview after the race. I know I probably shouldn't be surprised by this, but I'm just not used to seeing this from a Dutch guy. I mean, I don't think I've ever heard the expression "that fiery Dutch guy". I mean, people from that part of Europe have a reputation for being rather reserved, and with all the pot they must smoke in that country, I always pictured the Dutch as being a really mellow people. However, I now know that a Dutch guy can loose his cool if you make a stupid mistake to cost him a gold medal in the Olympics and crush his dream. Who knew?
5) About a week ago I commented on this blog post from Neil and told him the following regarding the Canadian men's hockey team:
"I really hope you guys pull it off, even if it comes at the expense of the USA hockey team"
Well Neil, I've given it a bit more thought, and I guess I've got to say that I lied. I found myself jumping in the air when Team USA scored the empty-net goal to clinch the first game against Canada. Sure, I wouldn't really be upset if Canada won on Sunday, and I'd be happy for all the Canadian fans, but I just can't look at a team in those red, white, and blue USA uniforms and root against them.
So, on Sunday, IT'S ON.
IT IS SOOOOO ON!
Rich
1 comment:
I'm glad you had a change of heart on the Canada vs. U.S.A. rivalry. Roberto Luongo will make sure that U.S.A. will have as low a goal tally as possible. Roberto Luongo is also the starting goalie of the Vancouver Canucks. Ryan Kesler of team U.S.A. is also a Vancouver Canuck. When the U.S.A. beat us a few days back. Martin Brodeur was in net. He was taking too many risks imo. I'm so glad that Luongo is in net now. The surprising thing about team Canada in these games is that most of the other young guys besides Sidney Crosby, a young superstar player for Pittsburg Penguins, are stepping up on offence. Gold Medal game, Sunday @ 12pm pst will be EPIC!
Oh IT'S SO FREAKIN ON!!!!!! and it's gonna be a cheering "Sea To Shining Sea" of Canada Red after the game on Sunday :D
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