Welcome to this entirely apolitical, non-GOP bashing extended commentary on the Olympics. Part 1 of this diary, which deals with NBC's coverage, can be found here.
Two years ago, I spent hours on a very long reflection of the 2008 Beijing games. And then I posted it. Minutes later, news broke that Obama had tapped Biden to be his running mate, and within a few minutes, my diary scrolled off the front page. So with that absolutely typical luck, we can look for Health Care Reform to pass the Senate within seconds of my publishing this diary.
That being said, please read on for my meandering notions about this year's Olympics.
First of all, let me unabashedly admit that I never look at any of these sports outside of the two weeks of the Olympics. You will never see me watching any figure skating or skiing between Olympiads. I can't even name three people in the NHL. So my opinions are strictly those of an armchair dilettante.
Secondly, I shall not apologize for my blatant pro-Americanism. I am an American, I love America, and I think we all do. I love other countries, too, but none more than America.
This said, I will acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments of other countries in these Olympics, particularly Germany, South Korea and especially Canada. The Germans seem to be strong in virtually every discipline. South Korea clearly puts their modest resources into sports in which they find strengths, and so they have really excelled in speed skating -- and not just Short Track. They've picked up three golds and two silvers in Long Track as well -- pretty good.
And doesn't the Canadians' impressive stack of gold medals make the tiresome "No Golds in a Home Olympics" theme now look ridiculous? Man, I was ready to just give one of them a gold medal on Day 2 just to shut everyone up.
I remember when the Soviet Union dominated all the Olympics, under the old strict amateur rules when the Soviet Olympic teams were state-supported while American Olympians had to work digging ditches to support their training. Some might be happy to see Russian athletes foundering where they used to dominate. I find myself rooting for them sometimes, although that instinct might in part be due to the influence of my Russian girlfriend, who makes Russia seem much nicer than it did during the Cold War.
And now... on to the events.
I am as tired as most people of the soap opera storylines that usually accompany the Figure Skating competition. But you have to be made of stone not to be moved by the sight of Joannie Rochette breaking down after her short program.
Of course, NBC hammered the story over and over. You could sense they sometimes tried not to hammer it, holding back a tiny bit, but they can't help themselves. They're media rats. It's their job to belabor the drama and wring all the tears out of you that they can.
I think Rochette's ability to separate her programs from her personal suffering and perform her best is classic compartmentalization, the kind of maniacal focus and determination that make Olympic athletes sometimes seem somewhat underdeveloped as humans. I do not mean this in any way as a criticism of Rochette. I admire greatly her ability to focus her concentration on her performance and her abilities, for which her mother, like all Olympic mothers, sacrificed so much. So bless Joannie Rochette's heart. She richly deserves her Olympic success.
Japan must be getting pretty tired of their women figure skaters missing the top podium. I remember Midori Ito, a wonderful skater, who just couldn't nudge her way to the top. And their skaters were wonderful again this year, just not quite good enough to beat Kim Yu-Na.
The American contingent was clearly being groomed for Sochi. They were all young and on their way up. Rachel Flatt was the national champion this year, but the future is clearly Marai Nagasu. Rachel Flatt reminds me of no one more than Tanya Harding - the same body type, the same slightly rough-hewn grace. Obviously, as human beings, Flatt and Harding could not be more different (Okay, I get it! Straight A student!). But today's figure skating favors the tinier, more slender and more gymnastic Asian women. Joannie Rochette, more of a Nancy Kerrigan type, finished in the middle of a top five populated with her and four tiny Asians (or in the case of Nagasu, an Asian-American).
One more thing about the women... among the top competitors at least, no one fell. The women figure skaters used to drop like flies. Sarah Hughes won a gold medal in 2002 simply because she got through her long program without falling. They are training these very young women to withstand the pressure of Olympic competition.
As I said, I don't read a thing before the Olympics on the competitors. I let it all unfold during the competition. So the only figure skater I heard anything about was Johnny Weir. I assumed it was because he was our Great Hope for Gold. Of course, in retrospect, I see that the reason for that was not his skating prowess, but his penchant for good providing copy to reporters.
So I was hugely surprised to learn that not only was Evan Lysacek the best American skater, but he was the defending world champion! I think Evan has a little respect due, not only for defeating Plushenko, but for being eclipsed in the media by the outrageous public spectacle that is Johnny Weir.
Now I don't have the world's sharpest eye, but I couldn't choose a winner between Lysacek and Plushenko. The margin of victory was 1.3 points, so it was clearly a close call for the judges as well.
But Plushenko was less graceful in defeat than he was in the ice. He seems to feel that a man who can land a quad should beat a man who cannot. If this is the case, then we can all save a lot of time by asking the guys to go to the middle of the rink, land a quad, if they can, give them a medal, and if they can't, send them away.
Unfortunately, there's another four and a half minutes in the skate, and it's not all just filler between jumps. On this day, Evan won. If Plushenko cannot give Evan his day in the sun, then he can join the Olympic Poor Loser Hall of Fame, along with Svetlana Khorkina and Mary Decker.
The Ice Dancing final was pretty fun. The Americans had two competitive teams, but Canadians Virtue and Moir skated beautifully for their gold medals. I was not too disappointed in this, mostly because I love Canadians (Right, marigold??) and because Tessa Virtue has such a strong resemblance to Zooey Deschanel, whom I could make a happy woman if she would just give me a chance.
But does anyone here detect an odd distance between ice dancers when they're off the ice? They express themselves so romantically in their dancing, but off the ice, they don't kiss, they don't seem to have any particular personal connection, let alone a romantic connection. I have long thought that brother/sister teams are at a disadvantage in ice dancing because they can't do romantic routines, and that limits their options. But after the zillion hours of practice, maybe ice dancing partners can't stand the sight of each other outside the rink, even in the wretchedly named "kiss-and-cry."
(Parenthetical question - what would you rather sit in -- a penalty box or a kiss-and-cry?)
One more ice dancing question... British brother/sister team Sinead and John Kerr danced a short programto Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere" in your basic American country garb. Sinead went bare midriff, wearing a flannel shirt tied well above the navel and Daisy Duke shorts, most likely on top of neck-to-toe flesh-colored tights. And she had a very visible lower back tattoo.
My question is, does she actually have a lower back tattoo (not likely, I think, for a world-class ice dancer)? Or did she have either a fake tattoo or a strategically placed "tramp stamp" placed on her tights? If that's the case, we may have witnessed the complete normalization of lower back tattoos in American culture. The lower back tattoo is now part of the costume of the fresh-faced all-American girl.
Let's hear it for Bode Miller!! He bombed horribly in Torino. Now a guy can have a bad competition. But in Torino, he came in with much hype, expectation and the accompanying endorsement deals. He just didn't seem to care about skiing well, seemed far more interested in hooking up with babes in the evening.
Well, this year, he got his act together, focused his attention and won himself a gold, silver and bronze. A superb competition. As far as I can see, Bode is at best a mercurial personality. All the talent in the world, and if he was as focused as the truly greatest athletes, he would probably have better results than he does (Not that his results are that bad. He has two overall World Cup championships and is one of the most accomplished skiers of all time). He does it his way, and his way can seem kind of douchey to the casual observer. But an Olympic gold medal was visibly missing from his resume, and he finally got it. Good on him.
Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso look like they could be sisters, but seem to be very opposite personalities. More like Cathy and Patty from the Patty Duke Show - Lindsey, the sensible, smart girl who wears hair in a bob, and Julia, the perky, fun-loving girl who wears her hear in a flip. They don't seem to be great friends, and the announcers won't stop talking about how much Lindsey Vonn loves Swiss skier Maria Riesch.
The burning question on American minds continues to be, "If curling is an Olympic sport, then what isn't?" Shuffleboard on ice. Yes, it's hard, much harder than it looks, but not everything hard should be an Olympic sport. I have no complaint about its worthiness as an Olympic sport. It's a winter sport, the competition is broadly international and of high caliber. I wouldn't vote against it.
And it has a hypnotic quality that is oddly compelling. It's not hard to get into the spirit of it. And it's a cerebral game, in the sense that baseball is more cerebral than, say, pro wrestling.
A good amount of its appeal is that it's the one Olympic sport that regular folks think they could play (and that might be a good reason that it shouldn't be an Olympic sport). I will say right now that there is no way I would have the patience to curl. I would be throwing the damn rocks overhand by the third end.
But the curling coverage has been greatly enhanced for viewers from the commentary by Don Duguid and Colleen Jones. Duguid and the late Don Chevrier introduced curling to American audiences in the last two Olympics, and their congenial, insightful, classically Canadian commentary went far in demystifying this sport for American viewers. This year, Duguid and Jones have been terrific in their peerless knowledge and unlimited enthusiasm for their sport. It's great fun listening to them.
These Olympics were marred on the first day by the death of a Georgian luger. A very tragic event. And the Vancouver Olympic organizers took great criticism for the aggressively challenging course that seemed more fit for the elite competitors than the lesser competitors from smaller countries that comprise most of the Olympic field.
What did you think when you saw a luger or skeleton racer for the first time? If you're like me, you probably said, "JESUS CHRIST, YOU COULD DIE FROM THAT!!!" Lugers and skeleton racers have that X-Games mentality. They get a rush from putting themselves in danger. They get injured all the time. Sometimes they die. It's tragically sad, but it is part of the game, and every luger and skeleton racer knows it.
Ski jumping is a sport that has almost out-innovated itself. It used to be, you go down a slope, you jump, you keep your skis parallel, you fly as far as you can, but eventually gravity overtakes you and you land, you ski down the rest of the slope, stop yourself on the upgrade and you get your score.
Then one day, Swedish jumper Jan Boklov became the Dick Fosbury of Ski Jumping. He noticed that he could soar much further by holding his skis in the shape of a V. Apparently, that V improves your aerodynamics and you get much further distance. At the next Olympics, everyone was suddenly ski jumping in the V formation, and landing at the bottom of the hill.
The problem is, you soar so far with that V, you land where the hill starts to get flat, or even on the upgrade, which is hugely dangerous. And no matter how long you make the downgrade, these guys can soar to the bottom.
They correct for this by lowering the height from which you start your descent. They used to start their jumps from a little house at the top of the slope. Now the judges test the winds and conditions and set an adjustable seat up and down the mountain to find a point from which the jumpers can depart without them landing with their legs jamming through their lungs. These guys can literally fly as far as the mountain will let them.
And let me second Angry Mouse's outrage that the IOC does not include women's ski jumping in the schedule. Any sport needs to have a truly international and high level of competition to be included in the IOC schedule. This is probably the last barrier to the addition of women's ski jumping to the program. There is no compelling inherent reason why women cannot ski jump. We will probably see it before the end of the decade.
The Nordic Combined -- Wow! Who knew?? For 80 years, the Americans couldn't make a dent in the Nordic Combined. The results were always something like, "Perhaps the Americans can build on their 12th place result, their highest finish ever in this event..." And this year, Americans took four out of the nine medals, a gold and three silvers. They went from absolutely nothing to dominant. Where did this come from??
The Nordic Combined mixes ski jumping, which favors little guys, and cross-country skiing, which favors big guys. So who is the perfect size? Evidently, Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane, who went gold-silver in the Large Hill/10K event.
The American success in the Nordic Combined makes the Biathlon the sole Olympic event in which no American has ever medaled. I think an American who can win a Biathlon gold medal would become an instant rock star. Skiing and guns -- what could be cooler??
Thanks to NBC's hugely expanded coverage, the biathlon is now one of the most exciting events to watch. The Cross-country generally is far more exciting than you would imagine. But when you watch people grinding through the snow, and then get to the shooting range and have one little miss make everything fall apart - positions change drastically and someone who can keep it together to shoot effectively can fly past stronger skiers who miss the target. It's immensely exciting.
As I write this, the American 4-man Bobsled team is leading after two runs, and are poised to win the first American Gold in Bobsled since 1948. This sport has been dominated by the Alpine nations, particularly the Germans, for decades.
There seems to be no inherent reason for this. The Bobsled, Luge and Skeleton sports shouldn't have a natural regional bias. Alpine nations have inherent advantages in Alpine events - kids learn to ski down mountains to get to school. Nordic nations have inherent advantages in Nordic events - kids learn to ski across frozen fjords to get to school. But no one takes bobsleds to school. Here's hoping the United States can begin an enduring tradition in these chute events.
I'm old enough to remember when Freestyle Skiing was known as "hotdogging," which is usually not a complimentary expression among serious sports enthusiasts. But this is the tradition from which these Olympic sports grew.
It is with some sadness then that I witness the Olympic disappointment of Lindsey Jacobellis. Holding a commanding lead in the Snowboard Cross in Torino, she blew it in the last jump by falling after pulling a hotdog move - simply grabbing the board with her hand. In her attempt at redemption this year, she fell early in her semifinal race and fell out of contention immediately. She finished her run far in back of the leaders and finished her last jump before the finish line, now that she had nothing to lose, by grabbing her board.
The hotdogging tradition is dead. There will be no more freestyling in Olympic Freestyling. It's sad to see it go.
I have the feeling that I am not really enjoying the Speed Skating as much as I could because I have not had time to watch the Colbert Report for the last two weeks. The Americans are doing moderately well, but they don't have any dominant figures like they have in the past.
But Short Track continues to be just ridiculous. Who asked for this? Who said that the large track wasn't sufficient, that true speed on ice is not really determined unless you can replicate the Roller Derby? There is just no good reason for short track, except that 400 meter skating rinks are hard to find, but every town has a hockey rink.
The women's hockey final was terrific. Kudos to Team Canada. The Americans just could not get past that goalie. When you have a hot goalie, you just can't be beat.
Which leads me to the men's hockey final.
Ryan Miller is a hot goalie (one female friend of mine has told me that is true in more ways than one, and wishes he wouldn't wear that silly mask during the games).
Now I find it hard to believe that the American hockey team can beat the Canadian team twice in the same tournament. The Canadian team is so strong and so deep.
But the Canadians have really underachieved in this tournament. They needed a shootout to beat Switzerland. They only beat Slovakia 3-2 in the semifinal. And they lost to the Americans.
Could it be that they're not really that good?
We'll find out tomorrow.