So far, a good Olympics!
My prognostications have been shaky, at best, but that’s the fun of it, right? I did call Ted Ligety a dark horse for a medal in Mens Combined. Granted, I never thought he’d be donning the gold medal, but man, did he school the rest of ’em in slalom! His line was leaps-and-bounds better than anybody else, and he made it look incredibly easy.
So kudos to Ted, the USST coaches, and the Park City Ski Education Foundation – y’all did great!
Oh yeah – and a tip ‘o the hat to Scott McCartney for showing that speed racers can ski slalom and not look like complete jackasses doing so. You looked good, man!
In other Olympic news, this site is so great. It celebrates the folks who finish “DFL” – or dead fucking last. And these folks usually have a good story behind them, and often embody what’s best about the Games.
Furthermore, this shows that the internet is the best place for this stuff – not the prime-time coverage that NBC drives down our throats. This blogger realizes that people want this human-interest info, but also realizes that it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. In my case, I watch the telecast to see sports competition, not to listen to a bunch of clueless prats drone on and on about either:
- things they know nothing about (e.g. Al Trautwig trying to sound like an expert on nordic skiing); or
- bitch that the sport isn’t the same as it was 20, 30 or 50 years ago (e.g. Dick Button ranting about the new scoring system used in figure skating)
My kingdom to watch the CBC coverage!
(Note: that link to the CBC site has live results of stuff that NBC will tape-delay, edit, repackage and otherwise butcher for broadcast tonight – just some fair warning.)
jank
15 February 2006 — 10:32
So what is up with Al Trautwig? Even my wife wanted to kick his butt during the Tour last year…
And is Button the guy who keeps talking about how he hates it when the women “sit” into the death spiral during pairs figure skating?
Grand Poobah
15 February 2006 — 11:12
Ah, Al Trautwig – or “Al Fish-hair,” as we used to call him back in high school.
The first time I recall seeing him was when he covered the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. Back then, he was the “sane commentator” to Bob Beattie’s hyperbole stream. Even then, he was completely clueless, but his purpose was merely to keep Beattie’s string of screams (e.g. “HE TOUCHED HIS HAND TO THE SNOW! THAT’LL COST HIM THE RACE!” in reaction to the run of Pirmin Zurbriggen, who won said DH race quite handily).
Since then, he’s shown zero expertise in every sport I’ve ever seen him cover: alpine skiing, nordic skiing, cycling (he did Tour de France coverage for ABC and OLN), auto racing, rodeo, baseball, etc.
And yes, you’re right about Dick Button: he’s a male chauvanist pig, really, and he comes across as a pompous jackass. He laments the fact that figure skating actually has some athletic elements these days, and that it isn’t all about “looking pretty on the ice.” Note that Button was a national champion back in the 1950s, when a double jump was a big thing, and when the term “figure skating” meant drawing pretty pictures in the ice with your skates.
Granted, one thing Button laments has my full support: the removal of compulsory figures from the competition about 12 years ago. And seeing the quality (or lack thereof) of things like spins, Button has a point: the skaters work more on power moves than elemental things these days. Of course, that’s why skaters like Plushenko do well: they have all the power and they have the basics down cold.