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 Official Olympic Site
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 8:50 am 
And they won! Good for the US curlers. Awesome to see them do so well! 
I'm really proud of the Canadian men’s hockey team winning the bronze medal. They didn’t get discouraged and they played a great game. Really nice to see these non-NHL players give their all and it’s great they have something to show for it.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 10:54 am
Yes it was an amazing match, I stayed up and watched, couldn't believe that 5 rock play, it was so suspenseful when it was happening, LOL.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 11:03 am
Women's Mass Start Speed Skating, another oddly fascinating event. I can't believe they put this many people out on a speed track with those razor sharp skates at the same time. Only 8 move on, I'm surprised more people don't crash.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 11:04 am
This is an odd race, they go slow and then sprint for points, then go back to slow again, the bell rings and they all sprint.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 12:49 pm
Yes it seems very strategic. Getting into the right position to make a go at the end.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 3:04 pm
Just watched curling. Have no idea about the sport, but loved the “Rejects”. Then, some of them received the women’s gold curling medal. Perfect! 🤗
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 3:54 pm
The Calgary 88 story was really good, I loved the compulsories was sad when they got rid of them because it symbolized, to me, that you knew your sport and didn't just go learn how to jump and spin. But I always felt it was not judged properly, of course, that was when the judging wasn't very fair, LOL.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Saturday, February 24, 2018 - 4:25 pm
Are you talking about when Figure Skating actually included figures? 
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 1:34 pm
Hahahaha, Jimmer.
Today is the last day and they are showing a cross-country race....How in the heck can you go the wrong way???? They just reported that one woman went the wrong way and lost her chance at the medals. I mean there are tracks in the snow and people everywhere so I don't get how she could to the wrong way!
And tonight closing ceremonies. I read a really funny parody in the paper taking a look at the athletes in 10 years...two funnies....
1. Katie Couric lives in Amsterdam and skates to work on the canals (as she apparently said at some point on air) and she swims to work in the summer.
2. The N. Korean cheerleaders defected after they were caught binge watching S. Korean soap operas, a habit they learned at the Olypmics.
Those just made me chuckle.
Oh and they said the Virtue and Moir were still training for the 2030 Olympics, hahahahaha.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 2:03 pm
LOL I like that last one!
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 2:41 pm
I remember the Calgary games so well. The compulsory figures were where the medals were won.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 2:48 pm
Makes me think of Toller Cranston. He was a great Canadian figure skater back in the 70's. He always did extremely well in the short and long programs but his figures weren't very good.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 3:28 pm
The 68 Olympic recap was really good. While I remember some of it, I was not aware of the backstory. At the end, the announcer says that the Mexico City games were transformative. Then, she said, “they will never be the same” as they showed Munich 72... just made my cry. How anyone can say the games are not political, I will never know.
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Sunday, February 25, 2018 - 3:41 pm
One Day in September is a fascinating documentary about the 72 Olympics ...with interviews with the supposedly one surviving terrorist...
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 8:25 am
I keep hearing "the US finished a disappointing fourth." Why is that disappointing? Personally I think in a country where we do not spend the majority of our time locked in ice and snow fourth is pretty darned good! I wish announcers would think before they spoke. To diminish the accomplishments of these amazing athletes is just ridiculous. I stand in awe of people who are willing to get that cold over a long period of time...LOL!
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 9:12 am
I agree Roxip. We should be proud of what we did accomplish - and of what others accomplished regardless of country. Plus- in my view, we do represent the world's canvas - look at all the americans that opted to compete for other countries (either by first choice or in the middle of their careers), and all the winning athletes from other countries who live and train in the USA. I already will love Esther Ledecka from the Czech Republic for life but the fact that she won on skis originally made for our own gold medal champ Mikaela Shiffrin is just icing on the cake. (good thing Mikaela brought over 35 pairs of skis)
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 9:38 am
Roxip, I think it's because the US Olympic Committee had grander projections. They had predicted 37 medals.
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 9:47 am
Well since I rarely saw a medal ceremony I didn't even have a clue of the medal count! (Something a lot of my friends also commented on.) I would find standing up on a pair or skis or skates difficult so I am just amazed by anyone who can do it competently...and to have the drive and skill to make it on the world level - beyond compare.
Although did anyone else hear the story about the person who got on a team without ever winning a competition? I can't even remember what sport but it had something to do with having to be in the top 18 or so in a certain number of competitions and not falling...so the person entered smaller competitions with less competitors and didn't do any tricks (I think it might have been some kind of half-pipe ski competition) but made it through the course and by virtue of points alone made the Olympic team...she finished dead last and still didn't accomplish anything. I think that the rules on that one need to be adjusted!
Okay, I was wrong...she as on the Hungary team...
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/18/elizabeth-swaney-olympic-halfpipe-contest/
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 10:08 am
I think we used to do better in the skating comps - both figure and speed as I recall.
Still, like you, I admire anyone who takes this on. It requires great discipline and hard work.
And we had two amazing first time golds: men's curling and women's hockey!
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 10:21 am
just fyi the women's hockey gold was not the first time - just the first since we initially won in 1998 (when it first was included)
We haven't medaled in ladies figure skating since 2006... seems like yesterday but that is 12 years ago .. i think the drama is USA women had won a medal from 1968 to 2006... we won gold in men's figure skating in 2010.. we almost never win in pairs (1988 was last time) but have medaled the last four Olympics in ice dancing.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 12:39 pm
I love that the US scored their first Nordic medal. And I never care about the medal count, that isn't what matters. I just love seeing all the countries compete, and I love all the "surprises".
A Nigerian bobsled team, the Tongan and Mexico cross country skiers friendship, oh and I always chuckle at the Jamaican Bobsled team.
I know there are some others that I am forgetting....I thought it was a wonderful event.
I am actually happy to be back to my normal routines, but am having a little withdrawal today but NBCSN is showing "Return to PyeongChang", so I flip over occasionally to lessen the withdrawal, hahahahahaha.
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 1:04 pm
Yes, didn't an American woman win in cross-country skiing? Amazing accomplishment.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 4:12 pm
I think the Americans and Canadians did great in some surprising events. Not always the ones that we expected but that made it more fun to watch.
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Lancecrossfire
Animoderator
07-13-2000
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 4:44 pm
I've waited till it was over before posting. I want to say ahead of time that I realize some of what I say may not be liked by some. Some of what I say is trivial compared to other issues--but it is related to the Olympics so I am including it.
I love sports and I love competition. I hate politics. I believe I good sportsmanship because it shows respect for the ones you are playing against, it shows respect for your fellow team mates if you are playing a team sport and it shows respect for the sport itself.
Over all big picture wised I think these were a really good Olympics. I think South Korea did a fantastic job as host. I think there was far less politics over all than there has been in past years.
I want to pimp slap and have every announcer fired for asking how you feel or what are your emotions to a person winning a gold metal. I define a stupid question as a question you already know the answer to. On a positive note and also as evidence my thoughts are reasonable about these people is that so many time good questions were asked--questions about aspects that could have an answer different for each person or questions that were about the background of the person or the performance.
Curling--I like it. But they had it on every day--for hours at a time. It was shown more than any other sport by far. I can appreciate the talent of it and the strategy, however it's not exactly one of the more exciting things included in the winter Olympics.
How figure skating was covered. I admit to being a Scott Hamilton fan. I like his knowledge of the sport, I like that he includes the other aspects besides just the technical performance. I think he shares his wisdom about it and the skaters or what the skaters could be going through with a wisdom no one else has. I wish he had been in Johnny's place.
Johnny and Tara--I like their boldness in what they had to say---they were very honest in their evaluations of performances. But they lack depth of what they evaluated. I think Johnny used his position in a political way--back handed, not overtly. I think he also tried to make things about him and his sense of fashion. If someone had been covering the games in shorts with holes and a food stained shirt I'd be commenting that wasn't ok either.
I liked that things were brought up about carious competitors from other counties--as already point out, the food names of the South Korean women's curling team. While these kinds of facts have nothing to do with the event, they do touch on the human side of things and it being ok to have fun. All so many times we saw examples of the opposite of fun.
I enjoyed the analogies provided by the commentators. Not everyone may realize how hard it is to hit the target in the biathlon because not a lot of people cross country ski. But a whole lot of people can relate to how you might feel after sprinting up 10 flights of stairs. The more people that can relate to what the people in the events are going through the better the experience watching them.
The only thing "shown" more times than curling was how bitter the losses were for the American women's hockey team over the mounting years. Holy shit, what were they trying to do or prove by talking about it so often. It started from the very first hockey game till the very end of the women's games.
I thought they could have talked less about that and gotten deeper into the college team connections between the various players on each team--or talked more about the coaching styles of both coaches, because that is importance too.
I wish they would have had interviews with athletes that didn't speak English, because I think there were some very compelling and interesting stories to hear that could have been done through interpreters. I think we missed out on some amazing stories because they chose not to make use of interpreters.
I agree with comments already made about the "finishing 4th place" kind of issues. If a person feels worse finishing 4th than 10th, I just don't get it---and I've played in sports for a lot of years when younger. I have no clue how just mossing the podium is so much worse than finishing further back. I think you are disrespecting those who finished further back. I think those finishing further back would have loved a 4th place.
Because humans cannot be "on" the same everyday, it makes perfect sense why some at the top of their sport do everything from talking gold to not finishing---and the same for those who barely made it to the games--that many of them won't be the winner, but sometimes the day they compete just happens to be the day they are at their very best or even way better than they have ever done.
A person only has control over how they do. They can't control others and their performance. They can't control the surroundings.
I think it's perfectly fine to be disappointed in how you did. We all want to show the very best we are capable of. But I don't think it's ok to feel that the only measure of worth is taking first place. If you feel that way, you have put yourself above everyone else in the sport and the sport itself.
Any sport where the outcome can be decided in a manner any other way than playing the sport---this is something worth being pissed off about! People play through regulation play, then because it's tie, something else is done to decide the outcome. Not many sports or activities have this, and for good reason. How many people would be up in arms if after 1 overtime period in a basketball game the winner was picked by who made the most free throws out of ten, or who could dribble the ball by an opponent the most times.
Or in football, it got to the point where the team who made the most field goals from 55 yards away won. Hell, even in baseball or softball where a hole game can go by without a score is decided by playing all aspects of the game time a winner is decided.
I'll never be ok with deciding a multi dimensional sport by, at the very end, only using one aspect of the competition to decide who wins.
I really appreciated that for the most part we saw performers and they got it about being there. Most saw it as something greater than either being in first place or not being in first place. WE didn't see many world records being set, and I'm just fine with that. I consider setting one a very special thing--and them falling let and right to me takes away, even if just a little, from just how special it must be.
I think Mike Tirico did a great job from start to finish. I loved Scott Hamilton. I think individual event coverage was for the most part superior. If they'd have not asked anyone what they were feeling for winning a gold metal, I'd give the coverage a 9.9
I give South Korea a 9.99 for their hosting.
I wasn't a huge Lindsey Vonn person going into the games, but coming out of them, I think she really has her head on straight---not for how she did, but for how she took what she did---and will be able to have a good like post Olympic career.
<removing myself from a very big soap box>
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 4:56 pm
Well said! I give them a 10 for their hosting, just so they will have two scores, LOL.
You know the one thing that surprised me about US coverage was the fact that NBC didn't show more things on all their channels. It would have made so much more sense to know that Hocky would be on USA, and Curling would be on CNBC, and cross country is on....well you get my drift.
Mostly I watched NBCSN constantly, except for hocky, then I would flip over to NBC and watch and then eventually they would get to an event I had already seen over on Sports Network.
So I wish they would have thought that thru a bit better, then we could have had more fun stories.
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Monday, February 26, 2018 - 9:01 pm
Agree wholeheartedly Lance.
I thought a lot of the prime time coverage was horrible in terms of what to show and when. I get they couldn’t control the times of the live events at 10-11pm EST but I thought they put too much spotlight on certain sports that, while I love, are not the marquee sports I look forward to in the olympics. And as someone who usually is 50/50 on the skating gala, I thought that coverage/editing was horrific for anyone who wanted to watch it in prime time. And yes, on day one, I was like, where are the sports on MSNBC, CNBC, BRAVO, etc like they did for Rio.
I fear the ratings will stay lower for 2020 and 2022 given they will remain in the Asian time zones (Tokyo and Beijing)
I enjoyed Tara and Johnny but definitely missed Scott a lot. 1984 was my first full immersion into the olympics so Scott has virtually been my life.
The Alpine commentators were especially annoying with their ignorance ...at least the play by play ones. The color commentators seemed to know what was going on but got drowned out a lot with the stupid repetitive comments by the others.
And I Loved that all three American men finished 5th, 6th, and 10th in figure skating. Was SO proud of that! And I will say the commentators for the women’s cross country ski win (Here comes Diggins, Here Comes Diggins/YES, YES, YES) was almost as good as Bobby tompsons Home run and the 1980 Miracle on Ice. Oh, I loved all the ties too! And all the wins by a 1/100 of a second! Those are what make the Olympics the Olympics!
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