<p>Emotions aside, there are reports that IOC gave the half pipe construction contract to the co that is known to make inferior quality courses compared to the other bidder. Why I am not surprised… Bribery and whatever else goes a long way… Where is that emoticon with rolled eyes? </p>
<p>Bookworm, so sorry to hear that she hurt her shoulder. Hope young bodies heal fast!</p>
<p>So sorry about the crash bookworm. It must be so upsetting to work so hard and have conditions so bad. I’ll be excited to watch the x games (I’m hoping the cousins will be there) and see them be able to do what they can really do. I could go on but am pretty upset that the IOC would think that it would be ok to have the Olympics here. </p>
<p>My H is driving me crazy singing the underdog song all the time lol!</p>
<p>thanks, BB. Her grandmother was told a month, but not sure that is the truth. Other players have been visiting and being supportive, which means a lot.</p>
<p>I’m sorry about your cousin, bookworm. It’s sad for your family to have your cousin work so hard, and then it’s over in a blink of an eye. I hope she recovers quickly.</p>
<p>I read an article that said with global warming, there are getting to be fewer and fewer places where one can hold the Winter Olympics and be assured of good snow conditions.</p>
<p>I was just thinking that. Going to a far enough northern latitude is going to make the distances and locales (they’ll be so remote) unrealistic for future Winter Games. Vancouver also had problems with too little snow, didn’t they?</p>
<p>S Korea could be problematic. what about Norway or Sweden? Alaska?</p>
<p>Yes, Vancouver did. Both Vancouver and Sochi are coastal cities in temperate climates so probably neither one should have been awarded the Winter Games.</p>
<p>^All three of those places are considering future bids :P</p>
<p>S Korea could be problematic. what about Norway or Sweden? Alaska? </p>
<p>It’s been warmer in Alaska this winter than in many parts of the lower 48. Several qualifying races for the Iditarod had to be cancelled because it was too warm and there was not enough snow. . <a href=“http://www.startribune.com/nation/241971331.html”>http://www.startribune.com/nation/241971331.html</a></p>
<p>Looking forward to Meredith anchoring the coverage tonight and tomorrow night. Seeing her this last week makes me realize how much I’ve missed her.</p>
<p>Vancouver didn’t have the Alpine and Nordic events down at sea level. I guess Sochi doesn’t either but I remember hearing that they are about 37 K away. In Vancouver, the snowy events were at Whistler, about 125 K away! No problem with snow there.</p>
<p>Vancouver did have problems for the freestyle and snowboarding events which were held at Cypress Mountain in Vancouver. The city gets very little snow in any winter, but 2010 was much milder than usual there.</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the men’s free skate but I heard it was really bad.</p>
<p>No, Whistler had major problems that year. </p>
<p>Bad is an understatement! It was horrible. Plushenko’s “farewell” - ahem, dude, should have given your spot to the younger guy who did Q for the games. I appreciate what he has done for the sport and the team and his efforts in the team skate were amazing, but he should have known better than to abuse his body like that. Of course, the commotion totally demoralized the next skater who happened to be Jeremy Abbott, and you know what Abbott does in international competitions… But huge kudos for him for getting up and finishing all the other jumps quite well.</p>
<p>The LOL of the night goes to the dreadlocked Swede who lost his pants during his slopestyle run. 
And did you hear that he skis with a raw egg in his pocket? There was a lot of scrambled egg in his runs!</p>
<p>“I didn’t watch the men’s free skate but I heard it was really bad.”</p>
<p>To say it was error-filled is putting it mildly. </p>
<p>New to this thread but have been watching figure skating streaming live in my office. </p>
<p>I felt bad for everyone in the half pipe category…bad for the athletes, bad for their coaches, bad for their families and bad for the members of the audience. I wanted to see the best tricks these kids could do under ideal conditions. We’ve probably all had kids in sports at a much lower level…you arrive and the ump is a no show, the lights don’t work, the mats are past their prime, whatever. If the athletes devote their entire lives to being able compete at the highest level, it would be nice if the track, slope, etc. was as perfect as possible. I’m sure they paid their dues with poor conditions years ago.</p>
<p>Missypie, thank you so much for understanding.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts–love Tara lupinski and Johnny weir. Love Scott Hamilton but I find Dorothy Hamill a little annoying. Especially loved the day Tara and Johnny coordinated and both wore pink! Feel bad for bob costas. Did not watch Matt, he annoys me and I do not watch today because of him. Meredith will be an improvement their, but still not costas. Loved the medal sweep last night in ski slopestyle (if that’s the right name). Also, I think I could do curling. Where did that sport originate? </p>
<p>I can’t remember a men’s free skate where so many mistakes were made. It was disappointing.</p>