Should CiclaValley be talking Winter Olympics?

This is my page, so I can do whatever I want.

The Winter Olympics are awesome and I is like awesome too.

 

 

 

 

Maybe I’m not the best with words, but I find such a variety of intriguing events that I’m not at a loss for things to write about.

So I won’t waste your time like

• The women’s gold medal hockey game is my top highlight of the Games. Canada vs. USA is always an epic battle and while the rouge maple leafs have had an edge for almost 20 years, this win was much deserved by the red, white and blue. What I like a lot about women’s hockey is that the goalies are smaller and have to make plays rather than relying mostly on positioning with both ‘tenders making remarkable saves. Every championship game gets chippy and the refs put the whistles away a bit, but the flow was still exciting and quite frankly, the Americans were playing a better team game. The 2022 games are expanding the field from 8 to 12 teams, so the more action, the better.

• Chloe Kim won the gold so easily and early in the Games that you almost forgot about it. As good as she is, why do I have a feeling she’ll take the sport another step further in 2022.

Good vibes from these Champs!

 

• I heard grumblings about Johnny Weir getting the commentating spot I’m figure skating because he was more style than substance. Knocking off Scott Hamilton is a big deal, but seeing the results, I’m all for it. He is a heartfelt cheerleader for all the competitors that raises the excitement level for me. Yet during competitions, he’s quiet an lets the moment play out, something I’m more accustomed to from an much older generation of commentators. Oddly, my wife and I were watching a replay of Tara Lipinski’s gold medal performance from 20 years ago and the difference is between the broadcasters is noticeable. Congrats Johnny and I’ll see you in 2022.

• The Winter Olympics features sports with snow and ice, but the Summer Games feels too bloated with all their events. What about holding a third Olympiad called the Aqua Games? You’d have swimming, sailing, canoeing, rowing, diving and synchronized swimming for a total of 96 events. That’s only about a third of the Summer total, but just six less than the winter. Can I copyright this?

• These Games took place in Korea, but did they really? NBC really missed out on the local flair and I wish the coverage did a better job showing the pulse of the country. You’ve got to do more outside the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Why bother holding the Olympics in different locales if you’re not going to showcase this diversity?

Norway is so good at the Winter Olympics, even their Curling team can get away with this.

 

• Do I wait four years so I can watch the Tonight Show in the heart of prime time Olympic viewing? I need a Fallonoscopy. Instead, how about letting Leslie Jones stay for the entire Games? Or how about an Olympic channel with just comedians commentating? Good comedians though…

• Circling back to hockey, the men’s need to figure out what they are trying to be. I’m fine not having pros in there, but throwing the next available together doesn’t garner prestige. The World Junior Championships is the best hockey of the year and copying that format of the under 20s would be a nice start. What I’d rather see is back to the good old days when we had a national team that would practice for months in advance and play a series of “friendlies” before the actual games. Is it too much to ask for a time machine?

• If you were looking to buy stock in the company that manufacturers Nordic Track, it might be too late.

• Alina Zagitova is literally unreal to watch. She makes it look so easy, I don’t even feel like she’s competing. The way she continually undulates using all of her edges has a schoolgirl like quality just enjoying the moment. At the same time, Zagitova also has amazing power. Hitting two triple jumps in a row is a difficult, but doing five in a row in practice is video game ability!

 

 

• That being said, Russia really doesn’t belong in these games. It’s one thing for an athlete to dope, but a state-sponsored program? Where’s the motivation for other countries to avoid doping if the punishment is going to be meaningless. Even after two athletes (so far) have been caught doping at these games, the Olympic Committee almost let them march in closing ceremonies with the Russian flag! Putin laughs at us again.

• I have a news story I’m going to break here on CiclaValley. I have confirmed with a number of sources that Kelly Clarkson is joining the cast of the Voice. Remember where you heard it first.

• Watching the ski events, the visuals had a lot of parallels with Southern California. Outside the courses, there wasn’t a lot of snow and the landscape looked like in some cases the Santa Monica Mountains. Calabasas 2030.

• Curling…they’re allowed to hold beers in between turns, right? Wearing a beer belt wouldn’t be that difficult. And yes, I did once drive to Golden, Colorado to buy one.

This says “TEAM USA” all over it!

 

• In all seriousness, the US men’s team “Mira-curl on Ice” was a remarkable run having to win three must win games before reaching the medal round including a big upset of Canada. On the downside, I haven’t seen a group of men with as bad of hair since the Flock of Seagulls. Supercuts, please endorse these men and make them whole. If you’re looking to compete in the 2022 Olympics, check out Hollywood Curling. You won’t complain about their grooming.

• My opinions about Mike Tirico is probably going to take a few years to figure out. I think he’s a little bit more efficient and personable than Bob Costas, but no one can say there’s a glacial difference between the two. Working against him: that creepy set. On wide shots, it looks like he’s a survivor clinging onto a glacier. On close ups, his desk looks like it was pulled from Frozen on Ice. Where’s the quality control NBC?

• Have you even seen more of a face of bewilderment than from Ester Ledecka? In PyeongChang competing also in Alpine Snowboarding, imagine never finishing higher than 19th in a World Cup race before and seeing you finished in first. You’d be thinking there was a glitch in the system somehow or they posted the wrong results. That’s what Ledecka was trying to comprehend, even not able to fully embrace it when the cameraman told her she won gold. What a moment that exemplifies the Olympics. Oh yeah, she also won the gold in Alpine Snowboarding like it was no big deal.

 

Me? What?

• USA might have disappointed in the medal count, but there were some bright spots breaking ground in other sports. Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall took home the first American gold ever in cross country skiing and Chris Mazdzer is the first non-European to medal in men’s luge. Did I already mention we won gold in hockey?

• If there’s a Winter Olympic sport where the dynamics are close to cycling, the newly re-included Mass Start Speed Skating is undoubtedly it. Breakaways, drafting and unorthodox alliances make the race no different from a sprint stage. Why this has been kept out of the Olympics since 1932 is a mystery to me. I was just worried about racers getting sliced by those blades in a crash like they were disc brakes!

 

Look at those packs forming.

 

• Norway set a new Olympic record for medals won by a nation at 39. This raises the question have you ever met a Norwegian? Neither have I. This is a country of only 5 million, yet they continue to dominate. Sure they only get five days of sunlight a year, but why are they so much better than their Nordic neighbors? Maybe we should randomly kidnap one out every 100 high school athletes and lock them into Colorado to help level the playing field.

• By the way, the Olympics aren’t over yet. I enjoy watching the Paralympics just as much. These are competitors with just as much athletic skill, but face much larger challenges. If this does get to motivated to get out of your viewing chair, then I can’t imagine what else will.