Kind of like Mike Robertson, if his CTV interview is any indication.
Ice skating. Couple now on ice. In long shots, the guy’s outfit looks like a Star Trek (TOS) uniform.
Amanda and Mark? No names on bottom of screen and I missed their introduction.
They’ve just awarded Bilodeau his Gold Medal. Beautiful.
Well done, and congratulations!
You are absolutely correct. What an odd thing for me to have confused!
Either way, Brassard has been awesome as a commentator.
Sure. But apparently the Americans pulled back against the Chinese, only beating them 12 - 1.
I wonder if the stigma against running up the score in competitive (as opposed to casual/friendly) athletics is peculiarly American. If an 82-0 drubbing occured in American hockey, people would be screaming bloody murder, even if goal differential were a factor. Personally, I have no problems with it at this level, but reading Dope threads about (American) football, the slightest suggestion that a team was running up the score ignites passions on both sides.
It seems odd to me that Russian women’s hockey isn’t more advanced. The nation has a huge population (smaller than the US, but considerably larger thatn Canada), men’s ice hockey is extremely popular there (as in the US & Canada), and Russia has always been highly competitive in women’s sports, even in the post-Communist era.
Why are they so far behind?
Ladies’ Downhill:
Gold: Lindsey Vonn (USA)
Silver: Julia Mancuso (USA)
Bronze: Elisabeth Georgl (AUT)
Romanian skier Edith Miklos took a nasty fall when she caught her edges. That’s pretty much how I destroyed one of my knees (though obviously not at her speed!). Crashing through two barriers, she did stand briefly; but she ended up being airlifted out.
The cynical part of me says that they’ve decided that they can either develop 22 elite hockey players and have a chance at 1 medal, or they can develop 22 elite speed skaters, skiers, etc, and have a chance at 22 medals.
I don’t believe that. They’ll just develop both, it’s not like they can’t afford it. With Sochi 2014 coming up, there’s a lot of support to make sure that Russia is going to own the podium. Instead, the reason that women’s hockey is underdeveloped is because hockey is not for girls - or so they’ll tell you. And to be fair, IIRC, women’s hockey has really only been an olympic event for a couple of Olympics now (ETA: that’s right - since 1998).
Compare it to football (aka soccer). It is not considered a women’s sport in most of the countries that are crazy about football, and in most of those countries women’s national leagues have only started up recently and consist of only a few teams. It’s not a televised event, and a World Cup has only been organized five times, with 2 of those cups going to the US, arguably the least soccer-minded country in the world. The stigma that football is a men’s game is pretty hard to shake of, and I’m guessing it’s the same for hockey at least in Russia.
I don’t think many people really thought about it at the time but Title IX has really helped us win a number of gold medals. Even a lot of the women on other countries team get to continue honing their skills at American colleges. Not really something countries that don’t have a tradition of college sports can do, and women’s sports have always had a horrible time maintaining a profitable league that pays living wages(except tennis and golf) withough government cash.
In another thrilling women’s hockey game, Canada devoured Sweden 13-1. Sweden, remember, has always been the BEST non-North-American team.
Yuck.
Men’s Halfpipe:
Gold: Shaun White (USA)
Silver: Peetu Piiroinen (FIN)
Bronze: Scott Lago (USA)
it’s always a given that US and Canada in the gold medal finals isn’t it? At least we know we have one guaranteed medal there.
Yeah. But I guess I am not as familiar with women’s hockey as I thought. My jaw hit the floor when a penalty was called for body-checking. I mean, isn’t that a major part of the game?
Not in women’s hockey.
The U.S. did not reach the gold medal game at the 2006 Games - Sweden beat them in the semifinal. So there was some hope things were getting better. It’s not looking that way now.
It’s still likely to be a Canada-USA final, but more so than before, Canada’s a big favourite; this is the lest evenly match the teams have been in years, IMHO. The Canadians are running the best squad they’ve ever had out there, while the USA is in a bit of transition.
:smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack:
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSTER!!!
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEB!!
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Yeah, no shit. 0-4 and 0-3 (Men’s and Women’s US Curling respectively).
I mean, can the US (Men’s) Skip draw at all? They should can his ass and play the Alternate. Not that it matters now. The men are going home after the round robin.
The women might, just might, on the outside edge of possibility, still have a chance to advance. Still a damn poor performance overall.
Canada men’s and women’s curling teams are both undefeated. Just sayin’
Ok, I adore Jonas Hiller (Goalie McSquirrley!) when he plays for Anaheim, but right now, I want him to suffer a groin injury. Yes, I am a mean person!