State of Hockey: Olympic Edition
U-S-A! U-S-A! Wow, feel bad for the Canucks but I feel like we haven't seen the last of them at these Olympics however they're playing like the actual games are a formality (barely beating the Swiss is like the Gophers barely beating North Dakota - oops, sorry.) Loved the 1960-esque jersey. Oh, and could Chris Drury live a more charmed life?
8 Comments:
Phenomenal win for Team USA. I only saw the first period, but you can tell that the Canadian team is starting to feel the pressure of expectations and playing in front of the most hockey-crazed fans in the world. Glad to see the US dump the old guard (Tkachuk, Kariya, Modano) and bring in some younger, faster players. The biggest, most important result of the win is that we get an easy draw in the quarters (Belarus I think?), while Canada has to play and win an extra game, then beat the Russians in the quarters! Yikes!
February 22, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Also - I need to give props to Bode Miller. I hated the guy four years ago for completely tanking in the Torino games, but he has come back with a vengeance this year. His post-race interviews still suck, but how can you not respect what he's done? Especially given that he won the combined gold by dominating in the slalom portion, which isn't his strongest event.
They mentioned yesterday that the U.S. curling coach is from Duluth. Shocker. I actually watched a cumulative 3 hours of curling this weekend...it really grows on you. Bocce on ice.
February 22, 2010 at 1:28 PM
I'm especially glad we don't have the likes of Paul Kariya on our team. Y'know, since he's Canadian and all, eh?
Awesome game to watch last night. Brodeur's gonna get benched, and what more could anymore ask for? I'd say the Canadians will wake up with Luongo behind them and convert against goalies other than Hiller and Miller stopping them, but they have to face Russia to even make the medal round, and Ovechkin and Malkin look like they're on a mission. Meanwhile, we can reach the gold medal game by playing, at worst, Switzerland and Finland. Nice.
Agreed, Bode Miller took too many lumps for not showing sufficient deference to how important the Olympics were (as opposed to the World Cup season or World Championships) last time around, and then not crying enough about his failures for the sports press. He's definitely a dink, don't get me wrong, but he's extremely talented and fun to watch ski.
As one who has a certain appreciation for good curling, having watched many hours of it on the CBC in law school (admittedly, usually under the influence of one substance or another), I can say that the U.S. teams have put forth an absolutely atrocious performance here. I saw the women on Saturday against the UK and it's a fucking miracle they won, what with the uberconservatism. And the guys Saturday night. My god. Awful. They had the last shot in the 6th end, for the easiest duece in history, and not only couldn't place it in a wide open 8 foot circle with barely any curl required, but managed to bang their own stone out of the house. So from scoring two and going ahead, they give the Brits a point and fall further behind. Brutal. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I've curled once in my life, and I'm fairly confident that with world class sweepers in front of me, I would make a better attempt at that shot two out of three times.
They didn't even put up a fight this morning against Canada, at least judging by the score. Minnesotans or not, this team has blown at this tournament.
By the way, how cool is it that Vernon Davis is a huge fan and our unofficial curling mascot?
February 22, 2010 at 1:59 PM
Doh - my bad on Paul Kariya. For some reason his being an Anaheim Duck made me think he was American (not sure why). I wonder if he could beat the Koreans in short-track speedskating (given that he's half Korean).
Yeah, the curling performance has been putrid. I don't know the sport well enough to recognize conservative play, but I definitely noticed when we botched east throws/slides. Booo.
February 22, 2010 at 3:39 PM
He was a Duck, right (maybe I should research stuff before posting, huh?).
February 22, 2010 at 3:39 PM
Don't sweat it, BG, just pimpin' ya. Yeah, he was a Duck. He also played at Maine and won an NCAA title there, so you may have memory of his college days and associate him with the U.S. from that.
I note that the U.S. is leading in the medals count, and that (I think) only four or five of those medals are in the sports that were basically made up to get U.S. TV ratings, so we'd be leading even without them. That's pretty remarkable. We've got 8 alpine skiing medals already in just 6 events. That's Austria-like dominance.
February 22, 2010 at 4:50 PM
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February 23, 2010 at 12:11 PM
I love America.
If it wasn't Canada, who holds a near and dear place in my heart, I would really be relishing in this whole failed "Take Back The Podium" campaign... Oh Canada.
February 23, 2010 at 12:12 PM
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