As I said before, I am not a fan of the winter Olympics. But since the games are over and thank goodness no terrorist attacks, I will make some comments. I had predicted that the U.S. would beat out Russia for the medal count. I was wrong but it was not fair. I had no idea that Russia would get 6 medals from non Russians. "Viktor" Ahn, a former South Korean short track speed skating star was enticed by the Russians to represent them. Ahn had injury issues in recent years despite being a big star in South Korea before. He was left off the Korean team and so he took the Russians' offer. He won 3 individual medals plus a relay gold medal for Russia. Then an American Vic Wild decided to do snowboard for Russia because they gave him more money. He wins 2 gold for them. So that is 6 medals for non Russians and the difference between Russia and the U.S. was 5 medals. So I would have been correct if real citizenship was enforced. To be fair the Russians did lose a gold medal to Switzerland because one of their guy, nicknamed "I Pod", won the half pipe for Switzerland after having represented Russia in the past. So it would have been a tie between U.S. and Russia but the U.S. would have won on gold medal total under "fair" competition.
Speaking of fair, I think that Yuna Kim should have won. It was a close competition and not highway robbery. But I think that even though the Russian had more jumps and thus technical difficulties, she did double footed one of the landing. This should have made the technical part much closer and Kim wins based on artistic performance. I understand there is home court advantage in any sport but the fact that one of the judges is married to the head of the Russian skating federation and another judge had been found guilty of cheating in the past, does make this outcome more suspicious. By the way Ashley Wagner did all right but her complaint about being robbed seems absurd. Who cares if she is 6th or 7th? Controversial decisions are common place in figure skating. If not for one of those decisions, Wagner would not have been in Sochi in the first place.
The Winter Games keep adding sports and events to fill the schedule and try to get younger viewers. An old person like me have little interest in these sports. If I had any interest I would have watched the X Games. If they need more sports for the Winter Games, I would suggest that they move wrestling and the martial arts sports to the Winter. The Summer Games have too many sports according to the IOC. These sports are indoors and can be done in winter or summer. It would fill out the tv schedules better for the Winter Games and give these sports more exposure than they are receiving in the Summer Games.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
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Funny thing is I hardly watched the Olympics. I think a part of it is the time difference and the ability to know right away via internet what the results are before they are aired on TV here in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI did get up early for the U.S. vs. Russia hockey game. I really enjoyed watching it. It's amazing how many NHL players were at the Olympics. I think I knew at least one guy from each nation that played.
A little bittersweet to lose to Canada. Though it seems that there is a huge Detroit Red Wings influence on that team, so I am happy for those involved. I don't know how a guy like Sydney Crosby becomes the captain though. I guess it's because he's the best player, but he doesn't seem much like a leader to me.
Other than that, the only thing I watched a little of is the short skate for ice dancing. There were a lot of teams that train out of the Detroit area, so I was interested to see how they would do. These were shown live the day I watched, so I took an interest.
There's talk that they are trying to get the gold medal ice dancing winners to be on Dancing with the Stars. I don't know how that would be a good idea since they wouldn't dance with each other. They'd have to pair up with a professional.
Speaking of DWTS, (a show that I DO NOT WATCH), Brooke Burke, the lovely co-host is not coming back this upcoming season. It was reported on Twitter last week that they told her she was not coming back.
I read this morning that Erin Andrews of Fox Sports (and formerly of ESPN and also a 3rd place finisher on DWTS) will take her place.
I like Andrews, but I don't think she would make a good co-host. I guess we will wait and see. I guess the show's ratings have gone down and they are trying to shake things up. I don't think having Andrews will do anything. In fact, a lot of people will be mad that Burke was fired and may boycott the show.
Also, Harold Wheeler, the band director, was fired. I have no idea if that helps the show or not. Did he command such a huge salary that they couldn't afford him?
I feel bad for Burke. If she needs comfort, I would gladly give it to her. So if you're reading this, Brooke, I am here for you!
Back to the Olympics. Do you know if Ahn and Wild have Russian heritage? I guess I don't mind them participating if they did. But I also don't think they should have been paid either. I think it's reasonable that the athletes should volunteer to play for their countries and get their lodging, equipment and food for free. Sort of like college rules. But I don't think they should get paid.
-LBOAYM
About that U.S.-Russia game: The referee who disallowed the Russian goal was American. It was the right call but why did they not have a ref from a neutral country? This led to a protest at the U.S. embassy by Russian fans. May have avoided that with a neutral ref.
ReplyDeleteFive out of six ice dancers from the U.S. are from U of M. M is going to be known as an ice dancing school instead of football!
I think figure skating is one of the most difficult sports. The ability to jump high in the air and do all those crazy spins plus trying to match the music takes great athletic ability, balance and gracefulness. Too bad with the way the man skaters dress, it will never be popular in this country. The Japanese champion's attire is almost as unmanly as those of Johnny Weir. Weir wears those clothes on purpose to promote himself which worked well as he got a gig on the Olympic telecast. I thought he was quite good as an announcer and I don't have any problem with his outlandish attire as a broadcaster. (Craig Seger is almost as outlandish on NBA telecasts}. But as athletes I would prefer more "manly" attire when performing. Since all top 3 and 5 out of top 6 male skaters were Asians, we should celebrate such achievement. But who put them up to wearing those clothes?
Either Davis and Olson should be a favorite to win DWTS if they entered. But it seems such an advantage when your sport has the word dancing in it. Athletes already have an advantage in this. I can see these two have even a bigger advantage that other athletes.
By the way for someone who does not watch the show or for even someone who watches all the time, you certainly know a lot about the show. I had not read any of the info about the upcoming season anywhere!
Ahn and Wild have no Russian heritage. So they are even worse than Chris Kaman who had German lineage from 3 or 4 generations ago. But the Russians have done this before with basketball players such as Becky Hamon who played for them in the Olympics. Spain naturalized Serge Ibaka for their team. The U.S. have naturalized athletes, of course. But they actually did immigrated to the U.S. And they are usually over the hill table tennis or badminton players who do not medal for them, just make the U.S. more competitive. I don't have problems of Ahn and Wild getting paid because most countries give athletes a stipend and a bonus if they win a medal. It is just that Russia is much more generous than the U.S. in granting the stipends and bonuses. But in this case, they are elite athletes who won gold medals for a country they have not immigrated to and they had represented their native countries in competition before. It would be like China getting Kevin Durant and Lebron James to play for them.
I don't think that there should be any paid mercenaries for the Olympics. I didn't realize that was allowed. What prevents LeBron from playing for another country? Or another NBA player who doesn't make the national team to play for another country?
ReplyDeleteAs far as knowing what is going on with DWTS, the answer is simple. I am a fan of Brooke Burke. So I am sad that she will not be on TV. Speaking of DWTS, I think they missed the opportunity to bring in someone like Staci Kiebler, who was a contestant or Juliana Hough. They are not quite as annoying as Erin Andrews.
Don't get me wrong, I would not kick Erin out of my bed. It's just that she can be annoying and I don't know if she will do a good job.
As far as the skating costumes go. Since I didn't get a chance to watch any figure skating except for the dance skating, I really didn't notice anything about the men's costumes. I guess it might not be a big deal to me.
Funny you should mention Johnny Weir. I saw him one morning on TV and had no idea if he was a man or woman. Then they said his name and I realized it was him. I vaguely remember him as a skater but don't remember him being flamboyant.
Did you see the thing on Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan on Sunday? It was kind of interesting. I forgot that the competition was at Cobo Arena, not at Joe Louis, like I remembered.
I always liked Cobo Arena. I think they tore it down when they expanded and remodeled Cobo. Sad to see it go. They will be knocking down Joe Louis once the new hockey stadium is built near Comerica Park. Then there will not be any sports venues near Cobo or the Ren Cen.
-LBOAYM
They do have to get naturalized so it is unlikely that a top athlete in a sport that makes a lot of money will switch side. Lebron or even Shaun White can make more money as Americans. Wild and Ahn are unique in the sense they are their countries' best and switch sides.
ReplyDeleteCobo brings back a lot of memories. I went to the Detroit table tennis club there one night to play and ran into Herb Brown who was the coach of the Pistons. I also went to the ping pong diplomacy of the Chinese team vs the U.S. Team. There were Taiwan supporters protesting outside. Dell Sweris, who was from Michigan, won his match against the Chinese. We were all amazed till we found out at every stop on the tour, the Chinese lost a match to a local player. But Cobo and Detroit was the first stop and we were going crazy for Sweris. So it is too bad Cobo is gone.