Sunday, February 23, 2014

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 16)

Last-day thoughts, comments flow ...


Medals table:

1. Russia 11 gold, 10 silver, 8 bronze
2. Norway 11, 5, 10
3. Canada 9, 10, 5
4. United States 9, 7, 11
5. Netherlands 8, 7, 9
6. Germany 8, 6, 5
7. Switzerland 6, 3, 2
8. Belarus 5, 0, 1
9. Austria 4, 8, 5
10. France 4, 4, 7
11. Poland 4, 1, 1
12. China 3, 4, 2
13. South Korea 3, 3, 2
14. Sweden 2, 6, 6
15. Czech Republic 2, 4, 2
16. Slovenia 2, 2, 4
17. Japan 1, 4, 3
18. Finland 1, 3, 1
19. Great Britain 1, 1, 2
20. Ukraine 1, 0, 1
21. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
22. Italy 0, 2, 6
23. Australia 0, 2, 1
24. Latvia 0, 1, 2
25. Croatia 0, 1, 0
26. Kazakhstan 0, 0, 1
27. Albania 0, 0, 0
27. Andorra 0, 0, 0
27. Argentina 0, 0, 0
27. Armenia 0, 0, 0
27. Azerbaijan 0, 0, 0
27. Belgium 0, 0, 0
27. Bermuda 0, 0, 0
27. Bosnia and Herzegovina 0, 0, 0
27. Brazil 0, 0, 0
27. Bulgaria 0, 0, 0
27. Cayman Islands  0, 0, 0
27. Chile 0, 0, 0
27. Chinese Taipei 0, 0, 0
27. Cyprus 0, 0, 0
27. Denmark 0, 0, 0
27. Dominica 0, 0, 0
27. Estonia 0, 0, 0
27. Georgia 0, 0, 0
27. Greece 0, 0, 0
27. Hong Kong 0, 0, 0
27. Hungary 0, 0, 0
27. Iceland 0, 0, 0
27. Independent Olympic Participant 0, 0, 0
27. India 0, 0, 0
27. Iran 0, 0, 0
27. Ireland 0, 0, 0
27. Israel 0, 0, 0
27. Jamaica 0, 0, 0
27. Kyrgyzstan
27. Lebanon 0, 0, 0
27. Liechtenstein 0, 0, 0
27. Lithuania 0, 0, 0
27. Luxembourg 0, 0, 0
27. Malta 0, 0, 0
27. Mexico 0, 0, 0
27. Monaco 0, 0, 0
27. Mongolia 0, 0, 0
27. Montenegro 0, 0, 0
27. Morocco 0, 0, 0
27. Nepal 0, 0, 0
27. New Zealand 0, 0, 0
27. Pakistan 0, 0, 0
27. Paraguay 0, 0, 0
27. Peru 0, 0, 0
27. Philippines 0, 0, 0
27. Portugal 0, 0, 0
27. Republic of Moldova 0, 0, 0
27. Romania 0, 0, 0
27. San Marino 0, 0, 0
27. Serbia 0, 0, 0
27. Spain 0, 0, 0
27. Tajikistan 0, 0, 0
27. Thailand 0, 0, 0
27. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 0, 0, 0
27. Timor-Leste 0, 0, 0
27. Togo 0, 0, 0
27. Tonga 0, 0, 0
27. Turkey 0, 0, 0
27. Uzbekistan 0, 0, 0
27. Venezuela 0, 0, 0
27. Virgin Islands, British 0, 0, 0
27. Virgin Islands, U.S. 0, 0, 0
27. Zimbabwe 0, 0, 0

Previous reports:
Posted by Eric at 12:02 AM
Labels: , ,

42 comments:

  1. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 7:42:00 AM EST

    Canada's up on Sweden, 1-0, after one period of the gold-medal game in men's hockey.

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  2. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 7:45:00 AM EST

    These Olympic Winter Games began at the end of a whole week off from school around here because of ice and snow, and things stayed white and below-freezing temperatures around here more than halfway through. Yesterday, I got our patio cleaned up in anticipation of lunches outside with the wife and daughter, and I spent a good bit of the day in short pants.

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  3. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 7:50:00 AM EST

    This Chevy Tahoe commercial where the girl babysitter jacks her price by 50 percent once she admires the fanciness of the truck the family drives ... I hate this commercial.

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  4. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 7:58:00 AM EST

    So I caught the end of the first episode of the About a Boy sitcom last night late. It closed with Will--instead of playing electric-guitar accompaniment to the Fugees version of "Killing Me Softly With His Song," as in the Hugh Grant movie and (the original Nick Hornby book, too, I think)--playing keyboards accompaniment to a Fugees-ish sendup of the giant One Direction hit song that might be called but at least says, in the chorus, "You Don't Know You're Beautiful."

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  5. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:11:00 AM EST

    Now, this iPad Air commercial that uses the Walt Whitman verses ...?

    ... That you are here—that life exists and identity,
    That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse"

    This is a great commercial. I have no idea whether Apple or Chevrolet is a better corporate citizen of our world--which one has better labor practices, contributes more to public wellbeing, does less environmental harm, etc. But I will say that the commercial that Apple paid for to present itself to the world at least casts a vision of how the product it is producing contributes to happier lives and a better world. I'm not saying that every commercial has to be an earnest mission statement--not at all; I also freaking love the boots-and-pants-and-boots-and-pants-and-boots-and-pants-and-.../pig-on-vacation Geico ad--but I am totally turned off on supporting a company that seems to be proud of the notion that its product would tempt a teen-aged entrepreneur into dishonest business practices and promote a culture of wealth worship.

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  6. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:23:00 AM EST

    So what's the deal with men's hockey and men's basketball in the Olympics? For years, Canada and the United States sent its best amateur hockey and basketball players, respectively, to the Olympics and they were good enough to beat the best college students and off-duty military personnel from the rest of the world? But then the Soviet and rest-of-world sports systems got sophisticated enough that they were giving adults such good and sufficient training that the Canadian and U.S. 20-year-olds couldn't beat them consistently? So then NHL and NBA players started being let on the national teams, and now the Canadian hockey and U.S. basketball teams are dominant again? Is that the deal, basically?

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  7. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:24:00 AM EST

    2-0, Canada over Sweden, with less than four minutes to go in the gold-medal game ...

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  8. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:31:00 AM EST

    My favorites are U.S. Away, Canada Away, Sweden Home (especially when paired with the blue shorts, as in today's game), Sweden Away, Finland Home and Norway Away. Bronze goes to Finland Home; silver, to U.S. Away, and gold, to Norway Away.

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  9. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 8:32:00 AM EST

    End of two periods ... still 2-0, Canada ...

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  10. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:01:00 AM EST

    I love the pace of competition on the last Sunday of the Olympics. There are three events today: this hockey game, men's four-man bobsleigh and men's 50-kilometer mass start cross-country skiing. I think I've honestly enjoyed these Winter Games more in the last two hours than I have in any two hours over the previous 15 days (16.a days, actually), even though I don't have any too much rooting interest in this event. (And with that, Canada just expanded their lead to 3-0, with 9:04 to go; go, Canada!)

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  11. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:03:00 AM EST

    I love it that I don't feel any pressure right now to switch away to find some other, possibly more interesting thing going on. Also, the breaks between periods give me a chance to let the cat outside, to make a fresh pot of coffee, to get a shower, to check messages, whatever.

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  12. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:04:00 AM EST

    In a world full of mes, the Olympics would go on for somewhere in the range of four to six weeks--smack in the middle of whatever season they honor.

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  13. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:28:00 AM EST

    3-0, Canada wins gold. Congratulations, Canada! I love Canada, and I am very happy for them.

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  14. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:32:00 AM EST

    My wife (finally) got out of bed and joined me on the couch to watch the last three or four minutes of the game. "It's amazing how good a skaters they all are," she said of the hockey players. "You hardly ever see them fall down."

    It's really true when you think about it, which I hadn't much. Good point, Rach. In fact, I added, basketball players seem to fall down even more frequently than hockey players.

    "Well," she said, "that's because you're trained to fall in basketball. Falling down will get a foul called against you."

    Rach has been so sweet to me throughout the XXII Olympic Winter Games that I just didn't have the hear to dispute what I thought was a totally incorrect point.

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  15. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:34:00 AM EST

    But then I moved on to babble for a moment about the robot-referee future of sports, and Rach was kind of enough to just let me go without any cross-questioning or counterpointing.

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  16. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:37:00 AM EST

    Getting to share a life with a partner who both supports one's eccentricities while not allowing one to tip over their edge and into the abyss is about the best blessing to be experienced in this world.

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  17. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:40:00 AM EST

    It must be so weird to win a gold medal in a team sport in the Olympics. At pretty much the precise moment you and your team confirm that you are now the best in the world at doing whatever together, you pretty much stop doing that thing together forever.

    Well, that's true in these sports where you send an all-star team--not those sports where the nation sends, say, the Shuster rink to represent them in the Olympics.

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  18. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:42:00 AM EST

    Kudos to NBC for keeping live the microphones near the players so we could hear the off-key singing along to "Oh, Canada." That was sweet.

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  19. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:25:00 PM EST

    Congratulations to Oldham County's own Dallas Robinson and the rest of the United States 2 four-man bobsled team, which just completed its fourth and final (tape-delay) run at the Sochi Games. When the Dallas and the boys finished their run, they had moved to the top of the leaderboard.

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  20. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:35:00 PM EST

    Earlier today, Al Trautwig and Dan Salmela combined for a customarily riveting call of the men's 50-kilometer mass start cross-country skiing race. Russians swept the top three positions, much to the delight of the home crowd packed in the Laura Cross-country Ski & Biathlon Center, of course. The race featured a huge, undulating lead pack of about 25 skiers until just a short piece before entering the Laura, and Noah Hoffman, a 24-year-old from Evergreen, Colo., got as high as second place. But then the Russians broke away, and Hoffman finished 26th. The HP's fledgling Biathlon Desk needs a bit of seasoning.

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  21. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:35:00 PM EST

    PHEW!

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  22. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:37:00 PM EST

    The Steven Holcomb rink or posse or whatever just finished its last run, and it has held on to its spot on the leaderboard. United States 1 will at least grab a bronze. Latvia and Russian teams, ranked second and first after three runs, are still to go ...

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  23. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:38:00 PM EST

    And Latvia 1 moves to the lead.

    "The biggest, fastest athletes in the United States go to the NFL," says one of the NBC commentators. "The biggest, fastest athletes in Latvia get in a sled."

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  24. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:40:00 PM EST

    And here comes Russia 1. The Russians have never won gold in four-man bobsled at the Winter Games.

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  25. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:40:00 PM EST

    But they have now. Gold: Russia. Silver: Latvia. Bronze: United States.

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  26. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:47:00 PM EST

    So, congratulations to Russia, which won its Olympics. And congratulations to Latvia, which was the big mover on our medals table today, leapfrogging Australia for 23rd overall.

    1. Russia 13 gold, 11 silver, 9 bronze
    2. Norway 11, 5, 10
    3. Canada 10, 10, 5
    4. United States 9, 7, 12
    5. Netherlands 8, 7, 9
    6. Germany 8, 6, 5
    7. Switzerland 6, 3, 2
    8. Belarus 5, 0, 1
    9. Austria 4, 8, 5
    10. France 4, 4, 7
    11. Poland 4, 1, 1
    12. China 3, 4, 2
    13. South Korea 3, 3, 2
    14. Sweden 2, 7, 6
    15. Czech Republic 2, 4, 2
    16. Slovenia 2, 2, 4
    17. Japan 1, 4, 3
    18. Finland 1, 3, 1
    19. Great Britain 1, 1, 2
    20. Ukraine 1, 0, 1
    21. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
    22. Italy 0, 2, 6
    23. Latvia 0, 2, 2
    24. Australia 0, 2, 1
    25. Croatia 0, 1, 0
    26. Kazakhstan 0, 0, 1
    T27. Bulgaria and 62 others 0, 0, 0

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  27. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:48:00 PM EST

    And now NBC, wrapping up its last afternoon broadcast of the games, is just showing pretty pictures of Russia and playing pretty music and running their production credits in long form. Oh, man, this is going to tear me up.

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  28. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:51:00 PM EST

    I hope this is what the last moments of my life are like, just a bunch of scenes of pretty moments against pretty music with the names of all my friends, family, teachers, colleagues, etc. appearing on a credit roll.

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  29. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:52:00 PM EST

    Oh, man, they just reran that Nate Holland interview ... that was heart-wrenching.

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  30. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:53:00 PM EST

    There's Bode Miller. I'm glad to see they're not rerunning that "interview."

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  31. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:55:00 PM EST

    "Few things are more beautiful in a Winter Olympics than a mass start in biathlon." I'm so glad they picked out that Al Trautwig quote for this thing--I think Al Trautwig gets into everything he calls pretty wholeheartedly. He must be a really big sports fan.

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  32. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 5:58:00 PM EST

    Oh, man, Canada's win over the United States in the women's hockey final was just ... man.

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  33. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 6:00:00 PM EST

    Life, more life.

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  34. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 9:55:00 PM EST

    OK, back from Lillehammer 1994 ...

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  35. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 10:20:00 PM EST

    And back to the Earth full of mes ... so we would have President Obama enact a law that the Olympics would go for four to six weeks or so, and there'd be three events (early morning, midday and late afternoon) and one show (nighttime) per day. Also, he'd roll out Olympic Spring Games and Olympic Autumn Games on the alternating odd years.

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  36. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 10:21:00 PM EST

    I think Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth are actually a little choked up by the closing ceremonies. That was nice.

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  37. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 10:24:00 PM EST

    Hooray for the Olympics!

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  38. EricFebruary 23, 2014 at 10:49:00 PM EST

    USA TODAY ‏@USATODAY
    The bear cries a single tear. #Sochi #ClosingCeremony
    9:13 PM - 23 Feb 2014

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  39. GoHeathFebruary 24, 2014 at 7:25:00 PM EST

    Eric, your coverage of the Winter Olympics was a joy from beginning to end. A great, great job. Thank you very much.

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  40. EricFebruary 24, 2014 at 9:51:00 PM EST

    Thanks!

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  41. EricJanuary 25, 2015 at 6:31:00 AM EST

    I loved the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

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