<p>I just had a bad flashback to when NBC had John Tesh announcing during Olympic gymnastics coverage. Did he call them girls? Did he cover the men’s event too? I mean, was he foisted upon the men’s event too? Someone please purge my memory!</p>
<p>Some reflections:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I can’t get excited about bobsled anymore. They end up a few hundredths of a second apart. It used to be very exciting and I’m sorry to say it was the element of danger and unpredictability. I remember courses where the sun had made sections soft and teams had to steer around them. And one curve at one track where I saw 2 sleds unable to hold a curve and go over the top. I understand the absolute need to make the sport safer but it’s also a lot less exciting. </p></li>
<li><p>Curling. I miss the brooms. The rubbing brooms aren’t the same as the action of actual sweepers beating the ice. That created a sound and liveliness. We used to get weekly curling matches on Canadian TV so I became a real fan. The rubber brooms don’t do it.</p></li>
<li><p>The weirdness of what happens to some teams. Why was the US speed skating team so slow? Why was the Norwegian cross country team so slow? This kind of thing happens every time. I guess you hope it doesn’t happen to your team.</p></li>
<li><p>Ever notice they don’t have waxing issues with the Alpine skiers? The Norwegians claim the wax supplier purposely gave the Swedes better wax for cross country. </p></li>
<li><p>People care so much about skating, particularly ice dancing and women’s, so there will always be a scoring controversy. </p></li>
<li><p>In terms of money, I can’t equate the estimates of what Russia or China spent with the costs we might incur. Our costs are relatively transparent: money is raised, credit is issued, interest charged and everything is accounted for. In Russia and China, a lot of what we think of as “money” is actually more off-the-books credit that’s not only hard to account for but which only bears a passing relationship with “money”. In this country, to build a road, you get x invoices for y material. In China, you get what? In Russia? Do the invoices relate to the materials used? Maybe in part. Are they actually paid? Maybe, in part and then maybe not in cash. So is it $50+B? Maybe in part.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>“as long as they call men boys in the same situation.”</p>
<p>I call my favorite men tennis players “my boys” so I guess I get an exemption. 
</p>
<p>As far as the hockey announcer–that’s Doc Emrick --for many years the voice of the NJ Devils. Really miss him, but we always knew he’d get picked up for national broadcasts; he’s that good. It was great to hear him again.</p>
<p>Lasma, thank you. After the speed skaters I didn’t watch that much. The whole suit thing seemed weak. I love apolo, maybe I should pay attention!
Garland, agree he is fantastic. In the U.S. vs Russia game he was perfect!!
Bob costas just announced Tara lapinsky was one of the most searched announcers, “in part due to her and Johnny weir’s coordinated fashion.” Lol, looked forward to their outfits each day. My favorite was their pink day, where terry suggested weir dressed matching one of the skaters also (a female in a bright pink consume). I did appreciate their humor.</p>
<p>I believe Apolo called short track athletes “boys” in one of his commentaries. 
</p>
<p><a href=“The 15 Most Unapologetic Canadian Responses To The Men's Olympic Hockey Win Against The U.S.”>The 15 Most Unapologetic Canadian Responses To The Men's Olympic Hockey Win Against The U.S.;
<h1>SorryNotSorry</h1>
<p>My cat is fascinated with the short track races - LOL! She spread out in front of the TV and is following the action. :)</p>
<p>BunsenBurner, one of my cats loves skating too! In her case it’s long track speed skating, especially the wide shots where I suppose they must look like little bugs to her. Anyway, she’s riveted and gets snappish if one of the other cats even comes near her. </p>
<h2>LasMa, lol! Yesterday this cat was glued to the TV watching the figure skaters. </h2>
<p>Victor Ahn is Russian? That’s big news to me! Miss the old CC emoticon with the eyes popping out - it would have been perfect to describe my reaction. What did he not like in Korea?! And why did he change his name?</p>
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<p>He was a great skater and he’s not bad as a commentator, but he has inexplicably continued to penalize himself by wearing that silly soul patch. He’s a man now, not a teenager. He should have ditched that ridiculous affectation by his second Olympiad in 2006. </p>
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<p>Any more the female Olympic gymnasts almost always are in fact girls. When was the last time there was a top female gymnast who was over 18?</p>
<p>Does anyone know if the exhibition ice skating will be shown either live or delayed?</p>
<p>Probably prime time( delayed) as Tara and Johnny are doing it. They were interviewed last night by Costas and he talked about and and gushed about them getting the nod to do that broadcast for NBC. </p>
<p>In the interview they also explained quite thoroughly why the Russian skater won the gold and not Yuna. </p>
<p>niquii, thanks for the SorryNotSorry post. Very cute, and oh so Canadian. There were a few other cute ones being posted yesterday that were great. One was a photo at a school where 1200 kids were gathered in the atrium of the school watching the game on a big screen, with the text Every School in Canada Today. And that was true. Nothing much was accomplished in this country during the game yesterday afternoon.</p>
<p>The Finns are really swarming the U.S. at the moment in the bronze medal game. Still scoreless, but just.</p>
<p>Regarding Viktor Ahn: Apparently if your own country won’t support you, athletes will compete for a country that will. That was also true for Vic Wild, an American born citizen competing for Russia.
<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/olympics/wp/2014/02/19/how-did-american-vic-wild-win-a-medal-for-russia/”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/olympics/wp/2014/02/19/how-did-american-vic-wild-win-a-medal-for-russia/</a>
<a href=“http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/viktor-ahn-looks-more-gold-time-russia”>http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/viktor-ahn-looks-more-gold-time-russia</a></p>
<p>I’m sure there are plenty of other cases where athletes change citizenship. Not sure I can criticize any athlete for doing whatever they need to do to compete at the Olympics. The question is, should the allegiance be to themselves or to their country?</p>
<p>Exhibition skating is on at 2:30PM EST on NBCSports. So they’ll edit it for primetime.</p>
<p>BTW, an American kid married a Russian snowboarder and just won a gold for Russia. His wife won bronze.</p>
<p>Look it up. Then look up her picture. As a guy, I’d say … yeah, I get changing citizenship.</p>
<p>Lergnom, thanks for the correct info on the exo! </p>
<p>Geez, this is just embarrassing for the U.S. men’s hockey team. 4-0 for the Finns with 8 minutes left to go.</p>
<p>Is anyone watching the figure skating gala? According to all schedules I’ve seen, it’s supposed to be on 12:30 pm ET, on NBCSN, but that’s hockey. Where can I find the gala??</p>