<p>The gala is online now.</p>
<p>I’m in Canada, LasMa, so that won’t help you with what channel but the skating gala is definitely on right now. The hockey finished about an hour ago.</p>
<p>I show that the gala started 11:30 ET but I only see it on lne. </p>
<p>NBCSN has biathlon on now but the on screen guide says Figure Skating. I wonder if the decided to pull it so people will have to tune into Primetime tonight to hear Tara and Johnny. </p>
<p>^^That’s too bad if they’re making you wait. It’s been great so far!</p>
<p>We don’t have any plans for tonight anyway, 
</p>
<p>Good article comparing Tara & Johnny commentating versus Hamilton and Bezic. </p>
<p><a href=“From Johnny Weir’s Team, a Fresh Voice for NBC - The New York Times”>From Johnny Weir’s Team, a Fresh Voice for NBC - The New York Times;
<p>Lipinski & Weir were on late night last night, and defended their assessment. Their point was that Sotnikova’s program was more difficult, and they explained why. They pointed out that she only made one minor mistake, and was appropriately docked for it. Artistry is de-emphasized now, and Kim wasn’t technically proficient enough to overcome Sotnikova’s superior technical skills. </p>
<p>Like it or not, that is the scoring system we have now. It is essentially a jumping contest. The skater who does the most difficult jumps, and lands them more or less cleanly, is going to win, and Sotnikova’s routine was built specifically to do that. It’s the same over on the men’s side. I think Jason Browne arguably had the best free skate last week. The non-jumping part of his skating is excellent, his jumps are solid, and crowds adore him. BUT he doesn’t have a quad jump. Without that, he will never have a shot at the title.</p>
<p>It sucks, but let’s not forget what led to the revamping of the scoring system. Do we want to go back to the days when figure skating was a proxy for the cold war? When judges held up cards – 5.8, 5.9 – and did not have to justify them in any way? At least now there is some measurable objectivity to the scoring. And while Kim is more beautiful to watch, I won’t go so far as to say that Sotnikova is an unworthy champion. She did what she needed to do under the current rules.</p>
<p>Having said that, I think one improvement that could be made would be to have a rule that the judging panel cannot include a judge from the host country. And obvious conflicts of interest should be eliminated – like judges who are married to the head of the national skating association, or judges who’ve been in trouble in the past for score-fixing. </p>
<p>I think a score higher or lower than the average score by 10% (or some other number) should be thrown out.</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“Absolute Skating”>Absolute Skating]Here[/url</a>] is an article that argues for Yuna Kim. From “listening in” to some of the skating insider discussions - through a relative in the biz - I see a rational division, but one that’s very different from people claiming scandal. </p>
<p>You can, as the article says, think the points should have been different. You can also factor in home field advantage … but that always exists, just as it did in Salt Lake or Vancouver … and if the Winter Olympics are in S. Korea, then S. Korea will benefit.</p>
<p>Tara and Johnny didn’t address the artistic element. At all. Nor did they address the vast improvement in Adelina’s technical and especially artistic scores from any of her other competitions. They did imply that she skated with more gusto and with a (mostly) clean program and that Kim held back a bit. It seems that her energy and not the actual quality of her skating pushed up her artistic score and made her win by such a large margin. Too bad NBC didn’t provide an alternate opinion, since it’s definitely out there. Kostner was my favorite.</p>
<p>For me, I’m glad it’s over and I’m looking forward to the Olympics being over so I can find time to watch House of Cards. My favorite Olympic moments were seeing Jason Brown’s radiant smile, Mikaela the slalomer’s concentration and grace and watching all the wipe outs in snowboard cross and ski cross. That and hearing all the ole-bjoerner-freyasdotter and other great Scandinavian names and imagining the continuous party at the House of Holland. </p>
<p>P.S. when I mentioned Tara and Johnny, I meant their little prime time chat with Bob Costas.</p>
<p>^The olympics aren’t over yet. For the U.S., there is still the chance at medaling in the 4-man bobsled. After 2 out of 4 runs, the U.S. is in the 3rd position.
For me, it’s nice to see the U.S. medal in alpine skiing. I was happy to see Bode Miller get a medal as the more mature elder statesman of the U.S. team. The loss of the U.S. women’s hockey team was a bitter pill, though. </p>
<p>I got into the cross-country skiing a bit even though the U.S. was not a threat. </p>
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<p>I agree that they should have done that, but I’m not at all surprised that they didn’t.</p>
<p>Goodness, the Canadian 4 man bobsled crash! It looked like there would be horrible injuries, but all 4 men walked away on their own. Phew!</p>
<p>I hope everyone is getting to see the figure skating gala! </p>
<p>The gala is wonderful! Davis and white, oh my! </p>
<p>Sotnikova’s attempt at artistic expression in the exhibition was a bit embarrassing. Tara’s comment that she was showing us her artistic side was very telling.</p>
<p>There must have been something wonky about the slalom course for so many to bail out like that.</p>
<p>I must say that the Canadians were well worth their gold in both hockey tournaments.
At least some of my Blackhawks go home w/a medal, but Kaner…oh, no!</p>
<p>What a gold medal game! Too bad that Sweden had a few injuries that kept players out but oh my, Canada played a great game and a terrific series. Only 3 goals against in the series. Well done. Canadians were up at dawn and at viewing parties all across the country, many of which CBC showed throughout the telecast. Such fun. The only thing that would have made it even better is if I’d been there with my family and friends but I know that they had a ball in Sochi and that makes me happy.</p>
<p>alwaysamom, I was amazed that NBC even put the game on live. I imagine that was because they had anticipated a Canada/USA Final.
No showing of any Canadian partying here, but Doc is a great announcer.</p>
<p>I bet your family’s flight home will just be one big party, too! Great for them.</p>