Thank Goodness there is Curling on so there is at least one sporting event worth watching this evening! 
Hey! Question about the Omni-present drone cameras: Are they somehow automated or is someone flying those little bastards down the Luge track and Slopeside course?
Anybody know? And aren’t they both simultaneously amazing and annoying?
Frankly, it looks like a fly is going across my screen. But yeah, pretty nifty.
Many things are possible, but there’s no evidence whatsoever of this.
Lindsay Vonn is a 41-year-old woman who can make her own decisions about her body and her actions. She is far from the first athlete to compete in the face of injury and she will be far from the last. The only difference is the level of media coverage.
Finished watching the opening ceremony yesterday, and I’ll say it right here: They really need to bring back same-day tape. NBC can crow all they want about how live everything is, but they need to run commercials, and they also need to run way too goddam many puff interviews, and that results in a lot of nations getting completely glossed over in real time…no # of athletes, no flagbearers, no trivia, nothing…many of whom, I remind you, will not get any other coverage for the entire Olympiad. Give me a frigging break, the announcers talked about how flamboyant Mongolia’s Winter Olympic costumes are and we saw nothing! 
Other than that, it was fairly enjoyable but nothing special. The animated segment was way too rushed, the whole hand-gestures bit left me cold, and I don’t really even remember the point of the dances. It seemed like an effort to keep costs down more than anything, which I totally understand. (That “Monstrance” nonsense is, unsurprisingly, is going absolutely nowhere. Moral outrage doesn’t build unless it’s easy to understand. Anything requiring this much freaking mental labor, your average reactionary goober isn’t going to give it the time of day.)
I’ve started with the figure skating team competition and will wrap up the first half tonight. I’m still not entirely sure why the team competition exists, but figure skating has become my favorite winter sport and I wouldn’t miss it for anything. The only downside is that Russia isn’t in it because all their ice dance and pairs teams got busted for doping (or so I’ve heard…as you can imagine, accurate information regarding this eternally benighted country isn’t easy to come by), which of course is going to take out some competitive drama. Otherwise, rhythm dance was as wild and fun as always (the ISU imposes a different theme each time; this one was 90’s music, which of course met with my resounding approval 
), pairs short program was as lovely and full of drama as always (Sui and Han were so strong at Four Continents; what happened?), and I am definitely looking forward to seeing Alyssa Liu shine like a diamond. Again. 
Governor’s given State employees Monday off due to weather concerns, so I’ll see if I can catch Lindsey Vonn’s ill-fated run. I agree that the coverage has been pretty ridiculous. At one point USA aired the exact same interview with Simone Biles I remember seeing in a preview two weeks ago! I think this is just an unfortunate example of a hype-driven network overcommitting to its star, failing to properly hedge, and now having to scramble to recover. I recall a similar situation with 1992’s Dan and Dave campaign. No doubt NBC will find their backup heroine, but they really should’ve known better.
Ski Mountaineering is one of those things that sounds like it’s going to be either an interesting change of pace or an utterly unwatchable borefest. I’m pretty sure it’ll come down to the quality of the competition. I’ll catch it if it ever pops up.
Shaun White has been much less annoying than I expected, so that’s a plus. 
ekedolphin - Yeah, I know, I know. As long as it’s all consensual, I have nothing to say about this.
Mahaloth - YouTube has this for the season of Son of Zorn I purchased, but 1. it was a one-time payment, and 2. I can advance past it. That a streaming service would pull this garbage for something which requires monthly payments is just disgusting. I’m glad I never wasted any money on it.
It’ll look like difficult uphill cross country skiing, a very brief and spectacular changeover (pulling off skins, putting bindings into downhill mode), and a moderately interesting downhill run. You can appreciate it more if you’ve ever done those activities.
Did Japan’s Sato Shun skate to King Crimson’s Starbird in his Team Figure Skating performance? I have CBUT on, and I turned up the volume to hear the music… and then they lost audio.
They are used in Alpine skiing, too. And i was wondering the same thing.
They are piloted by specialized and skilled teams of drone pilots.
I remember from a few years ago that in a FIS WC race, a drone crashed onto the course. Fortunately it didn’t hit a racer, but it was very dangerous. Those drone pilots at the luge competitions must be really very good, and they provide great images.
Wow, they are really good.
It was 10 years ago, and I think the drones were much larger than the ones they use today.
Ah, thanks, I showed my age by thinking it happened maybe three years ago when it was ten. Yeah, the drones at that time were much larger than today’s.
Yeah, I would have never guessed it was 10 years ago, it seems so recent to me as well.
I don’t know if Facebook Reels are accessable to folks not on FB, but here’s a really good summation of the event. I didn’t realize there was an ascent phase, where the racers must remove their skis and climb in their boots.
Thanks for that, hope to see some of it.
Brian
No Way, Man! I don’t spend all that money on a pass to ski down the mountain. I pay to ride up it!
US women end up at 4th and 6th in 1000m long track speed skating, winner breaks Olympic record (I think second beat the record before today as well)
Brian
Some of the drones that the police/fire done team in my small city use have the ability to navigate by locking on a target. I think lots of sports content creators use them too. So I’m sure the Olympics have this technology.
Good video! That event looks crazy, I hope I get to see a race!
Oddly enough I saw a clip last night of Picabo Street showing Snoop Dogg how to ski. I didn’t watch the whole clip, but at the beginning they are talking about how hard it is to walk in ski boots. Street says it’s hard for everyone not just a novice. Now I see that there’s an event that requires you to climb a mountain in them! Crazy.
Agree on this. And I am enjoying the drone coverage - especially the downhill - I felt myself leaning into some of those turns! While likely automated to some extent, I agree those drone operators still must be very good for the manual portions - the one in the luge tube seems like it would need insane skill! I bet there are some very well-paid operators whose parents badgered them about all that time playing video games who are laughing all the way to the bank!