Olympic Thoughts Part 2

- New front runner for worst commercial of the Olympics is the President's Choice spot where Galen Weston, the current executive chairman of Loblaw Companies Limited, tells viewers how PC products are the official sponsor of the Canadian Alpine Team.  Weston smugly concludes “And if it helps them win a gold medal – then we'll take some credit, but not too much credit – after all, we are Canadian.”  What a douche bag!  How stupid did those ads look after the dismal showing by the Canadian skiers?  I wonder if Weston and his PC fish sticks will take any credit for all those Canadian skiers who crashed and burned.  Regarding the Canadian skiers and in particular the men’s team, has Canada ever lived off something as long as the men have with the crazy Canuck shtick? With all of the hype about how the men grew up on those hills and therefore had a significant home field advantage over their competition, we are still 16 years removed from Ed Podivinsky's bronze medal at the Lillehammer Olympics.

- After hearing about how a worker on board a cruise ship that housed law enforcement folks at the Olympics was diagnosed with leprosy, it is official, these Olympics are jinxed. 
 
- With Olympic coverage blanketing three major Canadian networks seemingly at all hours of the day, it is inevitable that there will be some questionable quotes.  Rod Black commentating figure skating sometimes borderlines on cheese and when talking about Korean figure skater Kim Yu-Na, he may have taken the fromage award for these Olympics with this beauty, "A lot of people wondered if she would melt from the pressure. She melted the ice."  BARF! Not to be outdone, Rod Faulds said this about the gold medal winning Canadian women bobsledding team, "This is Alberta and P.E.I. This is steak and potatoes.  You've got a full medal meal here." Huh?  No wonder Rogers Sportsnet booted Faulds from their Blue Jays baseball broadcast team.

- Bobsled crashes are some of the more spectacular visuals in the Winter Olympics.
 
- It may seem like the following rant is from a macho puckhead and I do acknowledge my ignorance to a certain extent but can anybody really tell the difference between a good and great ice dance routine?  I get that there has to be a certain distance between the dancers and that throws and jumps are not allowed but the subtle nuisances that make a pair win the gold instead of finishing 8th escapes me and the announcers do not seem to help.  Here is a case where a bit of analysis would be extremely helpful for me.  Granted I was flipping between stations during the ice dancing but all of the routines seemed to flow together with nothing in a performance standing out. With Canadians Virtue and Moir leading, before the final pair was about to start their skate, Toronto Star reporter Chris Young said "They've got a 10-element routine here. So they're throwing everything but the kitchen sink out there."   So I guess that means 10 elements are a lot?  I have no idea.  (side note: is it just me or did Tessa Virtue sort of look like Katy Perry in their final skate?) The only analysis that I found helpful was when Rod Black remarked that the final pair looked "slow and clunky." And lastly, ice dancers are like boxers in that at the end of their fight/routine both athletes pretend they are the undisputed winners no matter how bad their actual performance might have been. They might not be thumping their chest like boxers do after a fight but ice dancers could have totally botched their routine (of course I would not know this) but at the end of it they still will have a huge smile on their faces. 

- Best Canadian Olympic moment is probably a tie between two bronze medalists: Clara Hughes and Joannie Rochette

- One gold down and three more to go... Congrats to the Canadian women's hockey team and good luck to their male counterparts as well as the Canadian curling teams.  Sweden chocked again, albeit to a lesser extent, by losing to Slovakia this year and Belarus back in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics giving Canada an easier road to the gold medal game.  After an emotional win against Russia, up next is a classic scary letdown game against Slovakia.  For my thoughts on the men's team check out my blog here.