Well the triple threat of USA, Canada, and South Korea were enough to keep Halfpoint in first, with Papa Hurt 2 Bees in second. Congratulations! An untimely choke from Canada women's curling sealed the fate of Bruno, who otherwise would have been second.
I can't believe I curled it the wrong way ... again!
Brokeback Alex hung on for last. Considering his B team (Russia) fired the entire administration due to embarrassment and his C team (Italy) was outscored in the medal count by at least 5 different individuals, it was probably fair to give him his money back.
As for the Olympics, they opened with a horrible first day, stumbled through the first few events, then found their stride with great performances, incredible moments, and to cap it off there was a classic home team hockey win for the ages. And then there were the flying beavers...
As an American living in Canada, all I can say is: maybe you got more gold, but we more than doubled you in bronze! Don't make us pull another 1080 double mctwist!
Oh, and Canada women's hockey: you stay classy!
Thanks for playing and making this the largest Poolmaster challenge yet! See you in 3 short months in South Africa for the World Cup Soccer Challenge... it's like hockey, without the North American domination.
Halfpoint and PH2B should get near a tv at 3:30pm Saturday, as the pool could come down to the result of the women's speed skating team pursuit semifinals (that's right, I said semifinals. I'm not kidding). Poland faces Japan, Halfpoint rooting for Poland and PH2B for Japan. Halfpoint is ahead by 4 points, but PH2B may get 2 from Slovakia bronze in men's hockey Saturday night and a speed skating semifinal win would be worth a minimum of 2, maximum 5 point spread. But that's not all going on tomorrow as Poland may also have a chance in women's 30k cross country.
The bottom line is that nothing is decided, other than Bruno was slammed into third for the moment thanks to the Canada choke in both the 10th AND 11th end in the gold medal game of women's curling. It's moments like that when I'm glad I'm in 17th place and don't have to sweat it out into extra ends of curling only to come up short.
Brokeback Alex has pulled into sole possession of last, by the way.
We have 15 players still sniffing around in the competition. Here is a brief outlook of the chances:
1. Halfpoint: leading. All South Korea all the time. Kim Yu-Na needs to crush the figure skating (while wearing blue) tonight and a few falls from the Japanese would be nice too. 3 short track events Friday will be big to cut the field down to just halfpoint, bruno, and papa hurt 2 bees. Finland winning men’s hockey gold would be gravy. But first things first: blue lycra tonight, Yu-Na.
2. Bruno: 10 points back, gold guarantee remaining. Canada women’s curling gold is the obvious priority, then you can repeat all the goals of halfpoint, with the exception of Kim Yu-Na wearing red tonight.
3. Flippy Flyer: 15 back. Actually in a tough spot, as there is little left for China and Australia. FF got full points from women’s aerials last night, and the short track relay DQ of Korea was a nice touch. However, the flyer is running on fumes and will soon be descending to the tarmac.
4. Papa hurt 2 bees: 18 back with gold guarantee remaining. The bee killer is still stalking. Japan and Slovakia. A win tonight in women’s figure skating would be a huge 10 point lift that no one above him has. So even though he picked South Korea, he should be rooting for Kim Yu-Na to skate herself into the wall tonight. After that, a USA-Slovakia men’s hockey final would be quite helpful thank you very much.
5. Tiber: 23 back. Things are not looking good for Tiber. Like Flippy Flyer, the China gravy train is over and there is no more gold guarantee to help. His best hope is for Japanese figure skating gold and Slovakia hockey gold, which would give him a good shot at 2nd place.
6. Burg de Brown, Lisa McSnowqueen, The Dan in Quebec, Ukari Figgs: 25 back. This foursome have 1 thing in common: Sweden. There are still 3 cross country, 1 biathlon, and 3 alpine events remaining for the blue and yellow to do damage. Oh, and don’t forget curling. These guys aren’t out of it yet – especially Dan and Ukari, who have gold guarantee in play.
6. Dan in New York #1: 25 back. Even if we believed in miracles, that won’t be enough for Dan. He has no unique route to get in the top 2 as there are 2 Chinas, 3 Czechs, and 3 Polands in front of him.
11. Full Monte #1: 26 back with gold guarantee remaining. 26 points is a lot, to be sure. But the gg in curling would make that 16. Then Switzerland is a threat for gold in 5 remaining events – including the 4 man bobsled which gives double points. That would be 30 more theoretically. This race isn’t finished yet.
11. Poolmaster: 26 back. I’m out of it. I don’t want to talk about Mengtao and her face-first landing style in the final jump of aerials last night. I mean really – the strategy on her second jump had to be “land right side up, and you win gold.” This isn’t rocket science, come on! Like I said, I don’t want to talk about it.
13. Bijou: 27 back. Similar to Dan from New York: just too many entries with similar countries in front. Out of the running.
13. Chinda: 27 back. See Full Monte above, subtract 1 point. Oh, and do your best not to think about the Belarus dude who went the wrong way in cross country skiing.
13. Dr. Norway. 27 back. If somehow Sweden and Norway can join forces to win a bunch of everything, he’s got a shot. Just a slim one though. (Slovakia hockey gold would make it interesting!)
In a brilliant cross-promotional move, that girl from Bones and that guy from ER won gold in ice dancing last night.
Perhaps we'll see the Golden Girls sub in for USA women's curling?
The leaderboard remains unchanged (halfpoint, bruno, papa don't you hurt those 2 bees) with Dr. Norway gaining some ground up to 5th. Alex D'amour is rocking last with an 8 point buffer.
I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game. I will not mention the Canada-USA hockey game.
Don't worry Canada, the Americans didn't even know there was a game on last night - after all, these guys were on NBC:
Halfpoint is still in the lead, but Bruno has the exact same country picks. Assuming that Canada wins women's curling (Bruno's gold guarantee), then 1st place could come down to figure skating outfit color! This is a poolmaster dream come true. Although to be fair, anyone in the top 10 still have a shot if their unique country steps up. (You hear that, New Zealand? Mystery Dave needs you!)
The competition remains tight in the Olympic Challenge. Halfpoint has kept his lead, but bruno and papa hurt 2 bees are both just a gold guarantee away from being right in the mix. There is a real chance that this challenge will be decided by the gold medal men's hockey game. As for those of us in the midpack, Norway has woken from its slumber, and poolmaster and dr. norway have moved up into top 10 positions thanks to Marit Bjorgen and her 11 point performance so far (she's better than Finland and Italy combined). As a special note to you kids out there, if you want to exceed in sports, work hard. If that's not enough, pretend you have asthma and get a waiver to shoot up some banned steroidal medication!
On the bottom, killapascal is getting competition from alex d'amour for last. Killapascal is getting too many points from sweden for him to stay a serious threat to last. In fact, brokeback alex may have the inside track over both of them as long as slovakia stops winning stuff.
Also, everyone who took Great Britain had a sign of relief with women's skeleton gold. That will keep them from being heckled for taking a mild flatland island. Congratulations!
Today we have 2 mass starts in biathlon and the men's ski cross. That and there will be no figure skating medals today. Needless to say I'm excited!
Tip for NBC: if Shaun White's coaching staff is wearing flannel parkas and have their own video cameras out, there's a decent chance a few f-bombs may end up on live tv. Have your finger on the Janet Jackson button at all times... I wonder if our founding fathers knew all their hard work would one day pay off with an American becoming the first person to do something called the 1260 Double McTwist.
In other news Lindsey Vonn was very busy today. She not only won gold in the women's downhill; she also earned 10 points for those who took USA in the pool, came off the high from the tons of shin-related painkillers, and apparently hosted a bachelorette party for her friend Julia Mancuso. "Here's your gaudy medallll, here's your tiaraaaaa, ok let's slam some peppermint schnapps." She's just the best, isn't she?
You know how I listed "The Outfits" as a reason to love the Olympics? Yeah, nevermind. Just today my retina has been burned with things I will never be able to un-see. Please vote for your favorite look in the comments:
A. Norway Curling: the "Payne Stewart Tribute"
B. Johnny Weir: the "Just Off the Set of a Tim Burton Movie"
C. Kevin Vanderperrenn: the "Karate Kid Bad Guy"
Excuse me while I go sit down until the room stops spinning.
We’ve had a few days of action, so here is your first email update to the 2010 Olympic Challenge. We had a couple last-minute entries to push the total to 38. Pushing the winnings to $125, $60, 0, 0, 0, … , $5. See the attached updated standings.
Rookies are making a strong impression in the challenge: new player Tiber sits in second, with Bruno and Papa Hurts 2 Bees also cruising in the top 5. The old guard is represented by Halfpoint and Flippy Flyer who… what!?!? Not these guys again!!! Come on! What is this, Beijing? Where’s my smog, concrete superstructures, and oppressive socialism? Enough of these Olympic sabremetricians who prepped for this challenge like it was the MCATs. I for one am rooting for Tiber to stick it to them. He goes with his gut, not his supercomputer.
As expected, USA/Canada is a good A-B punch with smart money on South Korea or Switzerland for group C. A few gold guarantees are already trickling in: we are 5-1 in aggregate so far.
Zigzag Sweater 2 is doing strong work at the bottom of the table. But it’s very early. Plenty of time for Killapascal to drop. Could we have the first father/son first place/last place finish in poolmaster pool history? Find out when we come back after this encore 60 minute viewing of men’s moguls in its entirety…
As for the games themselves, we’ve had a nice mix of favs and upsets. Chinese pairs figure skating, German luge, the flying Harry Potter guy, and most of the speed skating has gone chalk. But moguls were a bumpy ride (see what I did there?) for the favs, which gave room for Canadian broadcasters to fall over each other in their drooling admiration for Alexandre Bilodeau, who claimed the first Canadian gold on home soil ever. Way to go Canada, 5th decade’s the charm!
I’m still just trying to figure out a sport where your time at the finish only counts for 25% and the rest is form. Don’t try to sell that one to the Austrians in the 3000 steeplechase:
Also, some Estonian woman benefitted from not being Norweigan and grabbed an unexpected silver in cross country. Booyah!
On to day 5. More biathlon and awesome snowboard cross. Also our first prestige event, the women’s 500 long track speed skating. German Jenny Wolf holds the world record in this event, and is ready to hand 7.5 points to the beleaguered 7 players who picked Germany.
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