Send in the Clowns and other Olympic Thoughts...

Vancouver games a flop?
- Tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili
- No snow... and it is only supposed to get warmer
- The flaccid beam that would not rise at the Opening Ceremonies
- An Olympic flame that cannot be easily viewed by the public
- A zamboni that ruined the speed skating oval causing an extended delay
- A barricade collapsing at a concert injuring 18 people
- 28,000 tickets being cancelled at Cyprus Mountain because of concerns the snow-pack would collapse
- The addition of a 20% gratuity that many Vancouver restaurants are charging regardless of the quality of service or food

Most surreal moment
- The Korean speed skating sweep that wasn't...  Lee Jung-Su won the men's 1500m final after two other leading Koreans, Sung Si-Bak and Lee Ho-Suk, collided and crashed into the boards. In addition to the embarrassment of crashing in front of the world, the hardest body check of the Olympics so far has cost these Koreans athletes a ton of money.  According to Korea Sports Promotion Foundation (KSPF) policy, an Olympic gold medalist can earn 1 million won a month along with 90 pension points, while silver and bronze winners can make 450,000 won (30 points) and 300,000 (20), respectively.

Worst commercials
- British Columbia tourism commercial featuring Michael J Fox, Sarah McLachlan and Kim Cattrall appearing to stand in front of a green screen and probably not in their home province when filming the commercial.
- The RBC investing commercial
- The Tim Horton's ad with the dad who cannot skate and the song that goes something along the lines of “every moment goes so fast. If I could I'd make them last.”  If only all of these commercials would go by fast…

Overstating the obvious
- Most baseball telecasts feature play-by-play men who cannot stand silence and seem to believe that they must fill it with their own voice often causing them to state obvious facts.  It comes as no surprise that during the moguls competition, ex-Toronto Blue Jays play-by-play man Jamie Campbell would comment after a skier fell that he/she will not be winning a medal.  Really Jamie?  You mean somebody who makes snow angels instead of landing on their feet will not be winning a medal?  Sure these sports are not well known to the casual fan since they only seem to get noticed every four years but the consequences of executing a belly-flop instead of a backflip do not need to be spelled out.

Not so chique
- Am I the only one who feels a tad uncomfortable watching speed skaters who probably needed an hour and a pound of butter to help them squeeze into their skin-tight and way too revealing form fitting uniforms?
- The Norwegian men's curling team is wearing argyle pants that would make golfer Jesper Parnevik blush.

Pennants
- At the beginning of hockey games, each team's captain exchanges a souvenir from their respective country.  My question is where do these pennants end up? Who gets to keep them?  Up until 20 years ago, did Alan Eagleson have all these pennants in his basement?  Is Bob Nicholson selling his Czech Republic pennant on eBay?

Hockey is the only thing that matters
- There I said it... I only care about the Canadian men's and women's hockey teams.  I would rather have both of them win gold and nothing else compared to both winning silver and Canada winning the overall medal totals.  I came to this realization after watching the Canadian men's team barely beat Switzerland in a shootout. The game showcased what was good about men's hockey in the Olympics and bad in the women's game. Switzerland proved that on the men's side, any team not named Norway can be a handful as long as they have a hot goalie. Canada almost found out the hard way that there are basically no easy games and every team on any given night can win if they are on point. The parity seen in the men's game is absent in the women's as the U.S. and Canada are the only two teams that are serious contenders for the gold medal.  Canada trounced Slovakia 18-0 in its opening game; the same Slovakia team that recently beat Bulgaria 82-0.  As it stands right now women's hockey is a bit of a joke and until the rest of the countries catch up there will deservingly be those who question its place in the Olympics.