Gleeful ruthlessness. The only way to describe the Germans this week. They respond to being handed the toughest road to the finals by scoring 8 goals in 2 games to ruin their competitors.
What's German for "I drink your milkshake?"
This leaves the formerly composed Argentinian team in ruins (Sorry Lisa McCapeofgoodhope)
"But Madame Appletrousers, these spindles aren't originals. They seem ... seem to be copies of the famous biergarten spindles of Munich. You have played me for a fool to the delight of Baron von Muchonneisherschnauder! Oh bloody woe is me!"
Is was such a dominating performance (again) that there are no questions left to be asked of the German team -- except for this one: is their coach Joachim Low a tactical genius to happens to wear Mr. Rodgers cardigans, or is he a regular guy who happens to like eating his own boogers in front of an audience of 1 billion? I say both!
With Saurez punching the ball out with seconds remaining in the extra time, the game was won by Ghana. Except for that whole "making the penalty kick" thing. What a nutty, sad, fun way to end a game.
Uruguayan goalkeeper gives thanks to St. Ines, Our Lady of the Holy Crossbar.
And so Benito joins Dental Hygenius in advancing to the semifinals.
German midfielder and awesome name-holder Bastian Schweinsteiger (seen here with his coach, a very hungover Boris Becker, and a bored Farrah Fawcett impersonator at the Euro 08) decided it wasn't hard enough to simply beat Argentina straight up tomorrow. He thought he'd add a little locker room board material: "You see how they gesticulate, how they try to influence the referee. That is not part of the game. That is a lack of respect. They are like that...This behaviour [in the game against Mexico] shows their character and mentality."
Uh oh.
In response, the always diplomatic Carlos Tevez went all: "I was more afraid of Mexico than Germany, because the Mexicans play better football."
Double uh oh.
Did I mention that these teams brawled at the end of their game in 2006?
So you meet a friendly chatty British guy at a bar. Say you'd like to have him go bezerk and attack you with the gherkin fork? All you have to do is ask him what was the best part of the 1990 World Cup. Such is the history of Germany v England. The curse did not reverse today. And British fans were clearly the least surprised of the outcome.
Germany came out strong and maintained pressure the entire game. England had no answer for Ozil in the middle of the field. I would analyze this more, but what is there to say? It was a thumping.
This no-goal would have been a crying shame for Sneakey Peakey if the game ended 2-1. But it didn't now, did it?
Once the game is a blowout, the lenses of the cameras tend to get a nasty case of lazy eye...
Take a wild guess who's team is winning? Tip to the airmen: next time to play your mortal soccer enemy, leave the war outfit at home and bring the girlfriends instead. (Unless you have chainmail, that never gets old)
Tomorrow we have Netherlands crushing Slovakia (thanks for beating Italy and all, but here's a face-full of Dutch wingers for you!) followed by a very interesting match-up of Brazil v Chile. Brazil, who scored 5 fewer goals on North Korea than Portugal and Chile, whose younger players have all spent some quality time being tasered and dumped in the Toronto jail. Juicy indeed.
Dental Hygenius, Ukari, Hall, and Burg: good luck.
4 years ago, the guy second from left told me "one day your friend's yet-to-be-born child will squash you like a bug - and we will be the ones to help her do it!" Granted, he seemed to be the kind of guy who always spoke cryptically and I had been drinking at the time, but it still seemed strange. Well now it all makes sense. The Poolmaster keeps up his strong tradition of not winning his own pools. Congrats to Quarterpoint and Benito who survive and advance.
All credit to Ghana - they played a tight controlling game in the first half, and the U.S. could only counter in the second by bringing on our secret weapon Austrian-Jewish-Brazilian-American named Benny. When the announcers get excited that Benny is on the field... look out. However, Ghana already had their own secret German surprise: Kevin-Prince Boateng, who scored their first goal. It looks as if Ghana used the old Khrushchev line that he said to Kennedy "our german rocket scientists are better than your german rocket scientists."*
Look! Mick Jagger was able to make it to the game! (And so did some old guy with a scarf)
Tomorrow shapes up nicely with the historically unfair round of 16 pairing of Germany and England. Also Mexico must try to contend with Argentina. Dr. Norway, Sneakey Peakey, Lisa, and the Nard Dog are on the clock.
* that quote is completely untrue. i think i either made it up or stole it from some bad action movie. my team lost, cut me some slack!
Commentary to follow on the blog later, but I wanted to get out the standings after the group stages before the knockout stage starts in a few hours. I know that it was at times a little difficult to remember who you were supposed to root for in the group stage. That gets much simpler from here on out. Each player has no drafted 1 country depending on the order in which you finished the group stage. Here is that order:
rank
player
score
final country
1
ukari figgs
173.1785
Brazil
2
sissy sara
183.1783
Spain
3
dental hygenius
187.1776
Netherlands
4
sneakey peakey
189.1752
England
5
lisa mccapeofgoodhope
189.1798
Argentina
6
dr. norway
192.1738
Germany
7
the hall
195.1766
Chile
8
poolmaster
196.1758
USA
9
angeli &
197.1819
Portugal
10
dig nard dog
197.1832
Mexico
11
benito
199.1823
Uruguay
12
quarterpoint
201.1834
Ghana
13
spammy vinet
203.1804
Paraguay
14
burg de brown
204.1803
Slovakia
15
halfpoint
207.1827
South Korea
16
chinda
209.1821
Japan
17
full monte
211.1862
OUT
18
flippy flyer
212.1863
OUT
19
killapascal
217.1937
OUT
20
louis louis
220.1998
OUT
21
brokeback alex
329.2462
OUT
Unfortunately, we say goodbye to our bottom 5 contenders, but Brokeback Alex can know that he went down swinging - we'll always have Pyongyang!
First up, Halfpoint vs Benito. There can be only 1!*
Who ordered up this incomprehensible mess? We did, of course! Conventional wisdom is definitely out the window in this world cup as we have transitioned from "quirky" in match day 1 to "willy wonka's boat ride scene" in match day 2.
It's one thing for France to stumble out of the gate and gain only 1 point in the first game. But to lose the second, kick out their star forward for swearing at his lame-duck coach, and then have the rest of the team go on strike? Well, it wouldn't be summer for the French without someone being on strike I guess. My money was on the public transit union, certainly not the men's national football team...
Argentina is composed and willful, Germany is picking up red cards and losing games?
N Korea plays the role of plucky underdog in game one, then plays ole defense in allowing 7 goals the next? Our Supreme Leader just got a supreme spanking.
And then there's New Zealand, who I called in my 3 word preview the Detroit Lions of soccer. They now have more points than France and Cote d'Ivoire....
Awards:
Best goal: David Villa (#1) against Honduras. One man vs. 3 including a slide around the last man while shooting and the ball in the corner of the net. Not too shabby.
Most egregious dive: That dude from Cote d'Ivoire who ran right into Kaka and then recoiled like Lady Gaga from Laura Ashley sundresses and held his face as if he was trying to piece it back together. Granted Brazil were way ahead in the dive count at that point in the match, so the poor guy was staging a hopeless diving comeback... Runner-up: Suarez from Uruguay for his tumble after the slight toe tap from the South African goalie. A penalty kick and a red card on the goalie. Not a bad trophy haul for selling your soul.
Best re-interpretation of the rules: Luis Fabiano of Brazil, who decided that if you touch the ball twice with your hands, they cancel each other out and you can then score your goal. Jogo Bullcrapo.
Worst call: Need I even say it? Koman Coulibaly, you are a bad bad man.
As for the Challenge, the leaderboard has been upended (see attached standings). Dr. Norway is now in the lead thanks to Mexico and New Zealand. Close behind is The Hall and Sneakey Peakey both thanks to Uruguay. Louis Louis no longer needs to worry about last place as Brokeback Alex has corrected me on his picks. BBA is going with a maverick anti-logic selection - hoping for big things out of North Korea, South Africa, and Japan. Actually, it's not the worst idea ever. (That claim is still held by whoever green-lighted Ishtar.)
Enjoy the simultaneous action this week. I will keep posting scenario previews and random screen-grabs from 2:00am on the poolmaster blog.
We all hate to see Italy struggle in the world cup, but this was really quite something. Italy needed a patented De Rossi dive in the penalty box in order to come back to a 1-1 draw with New Zealand. Yes, the same New Zealand which is currently 78th in the world according to FIFA (look out Togo and Cyprus!). Yes, the New Zealand which is described as Australia, but with fewer criminal ancestors. Yes, the New Zealand who qualified for the world cup out of the "Jeff Probst Region" overcoming the likes of Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Samoa AND American Samoa.
"Quite right, Madame Appletrousers, I would indeed fancy a trip to see your famous Tavern Spindles. What colour are they, grey? Shall we take your carriage or mine?"
Armed with a buggy Windows Media Center computer, a bottle of baby formula, and a 2 week old left back-in-training, Poolmaster was able to watch every minute of the first 16 games in the tournament. I have lived to tell the tale, but it is a boring one. So instead let's go straight to the match day 1 awards:
Best goal: Maicon against North Korea. North Korea had been stonewalling Brazil the whole game, but this nutty angle shot made everything right in the world again. It brought back painful memories of his nutty angle shot against USA in the Confederations Cup, but that is the price I pay to ensure my #32 team stays out of round 2...
Worst goal: What the internets are now calling The Robert Green Howler. Feel free to watch it again and again in human form or in lego form. [hat tip: halfpoint]
Biggest surprise: Switzerland over Spain. This had the feel of a bracket buster type moment. Runner up: New Zealand's last-minute equalizer.
Worst big hair band name idea: Last-Minute Equalizer
Biggest letdown: tie. 1a. Diego Maradona hasn't done anything criminally insane yet. He actually looks distinguished in the beard and gray suit. It's like he walked off the set of a PBS movie called "The Tavern Spindles of Buckminstershire Abbey" or something. 1b. Announcers continue to give refs the benefit of the doubt when calling fouls that are clear dives. If I have to listen to vuvuzelas, I want a little bit of incredulity from my announcers to go with it.
Quickest dive: Daniele de Rossi of (wait for it...) Italy looked to have this in the bag with a virtual cartwheel at the 9 minute mark without being touched by his Paraguayan opponent. But then again, Cristiano Ronaldo hadn't played yet, had he? Portugal's native goober needed 6 min and 21 secs to launch himself against Cote d'Ivoire. (I think that's the right link, honestly there are 4 different youtube links of him diving at different times in this game alone...) Bonus points for drawing the yellow card!
Best name: Ok, so we don't have any Spontaneous Gordon, Spartacus Bernstein, or Dinero Fudge, but world cup names still hold their own. The first round winner is Hakan Yakan of Switzerland. The faster you say it, the cooler it is. Runner up: Surprise Moriri of South Africa - geez, his parents just laid it all out there, didn't they?
In the pool, Ukari Figgs is the clear front runner thanks to Ghana's late penalty strike. Closely behind is Dental Hygenius and his Chile/Mexican double dip. Bringing up the rear is Louis Louis who is having an Argentinian nightmare right now. One other note, I found one more entry stuck in my spam box that is in the mix. Please welcome Spammy Vinet. He strolls into 13th place. We are now 21, with first place money up to $70, second still $35.
Plenty of footy to go, so pace yourselves on the scenario permutations. Just know that USA would love to beat England on goal differential to win the group, as that sets up a round of 16 game against Ghana instead of Germany, and a round of 8 game with Uruguay instead of Argentina... (Note I haven't seen the USA-Slovenia match yet, so the previous sentence is almost certainly already hogwash.)
In honor of the shocking defeat of the co-favorites in the World Cup, we bring you a round of "Find the stars of Apollo 13, The Big Lebowski, and True Lies."
So you watched North Korea hold off the best team in the world today for the first 55 minutes, and you surprised yourself when there was a lump of sadness in your throat after Maicon finally scored that crazy acute goal? Well here is a brief guide to aid you follow your new favorite scrappy underdog tyrannical dictatorship.
1. Patriotism. You knew we were in for a fight when NK's best player is nicknamed the "Asian Rooney" and he was breaking down crying during the national anthem. It would be easy to throw in a "there's no crying in the World Cup" joke here, but that would be a load of crap.
2. NK and the USA have one thing in common: they don't dive. If a NK player is on the ground, you can be sure he was crunched and there is probably blood. Furthermore, they don't stay on the ground pretending an injury that can only be cured with magic spray in order to buy some time to recover. They bounce right back up. Which brings me to the next point...
3. Leave it to the North Koreans to know how to follow the rules. These guys never foul intentionally, never get yellow cards, never question authority (surprise surprise), and even apologize to the refs for an offside. ***apologize to the ref***
4. Defense wins championships. For all you guys who pretend you like those 7-3 mud bowl football defensive games, these guys are for you. They pack the box and dare you to find a way in. If it takes Brazil an hour to figure it out, how long will it take mortal teams?
5. Confusing the announcers. I've never heard the phrase "what is going on here?" in a match before, but I cackled when I did.
Caveat. In the end, their country is still led by the world's biggest nutcase who starves and terrorizes his own people. Moreover the families of these players are probably part of the party elite, not innocent peasants.
So should you at least root for them over Cristiano Ronaldo next week? Hmmm...
From the Algeria 0-1 loss to Slovenia (a country of 2 million people). Remember, the Poolmaster watches these games so that you don't have to.
1. "God/Allah/Gene Simmons, grant me the strength to use facepaint when it is of high quality, the grace to avoid facepaint when it is crap, and the wisdom to know the difference."
2. "I know the ticket scalper said upper-deck, but this is a bit ridiculous"
3. "I'm so mad we're losing, I'm going to head-butt someone!"
4. "I am the most pissed-off Algerian cowboy you've ever met"
For bonus points, pick which one has been named captain of the team. If you guessed the weasel on the right who is 130 pounds soaking wet, congratulations!
Teams are being “fancied,” mullets are being greased, referees are getting cut for failing fitness tests, and the magic spray bottles are locked and loaded. It’s World Cup Time!!!!
Hello and welcome to the 3rd World Cup Challenge. We have 2 weeks until kickoff in SoccerCity, but I wanted to get this entry form in your grubby little soccer hands as soon as possible so you can do your research and because Mrs. Poolmaster is expecting our third little Gilberto Silva anytime now.
Before explaining the new Challenge rules, a brief summary of the World Cup format for the uninitiated: 32 countries are lumped into 8 groups of 4. Each country plays the other 3 in their group. Best 2 countries in each group advance to round 2. Round 2 is a plain old single-elimination tournament between the 16 remaining countries. That’s it.
For the World Cup Challenge: you will rank all 32 countries from 1 (best) to 32 (worst). The goal in group stage is for your best ranked teams (low numbers) to qualify for the 2nd round. We sum your rankings of the 16 countries that qualify for round 2 – and the lowest point total is our leader.
Now, the best (lowest score) 16 players scored from group stage of the challenge qualify for round 2. Each player gets to pick 1 country in a draft. Then if your country wins the world cup, you win! The player with the lowest point total gets to pick first. Your order of preference for picking countries in this draft will be the same 1-32 ranking from above.
Entry fee is $5 US or CAN. First place gets 67%, second place 33%. Please have your picks in by June 11, when Mexico is due to crush South Africa. Pass along to friends, enter multiple times yourself, recruit your 5 year old son to plunk down his piggy bank savings on Ivory Coast, etc...
Now, I’m sure you’ll have a blast deciding between Paraguay and Slovenia for that 24th ranking, but in case you need a little assistance, as a rough guide here are the current FIFA world rankings for the qualified teams:
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.
Posts
