Olympic Memories

OK, I know that the Torino games are not yet over, but I'm in a stage of life where I must post when I have the time.

I am something of an Olympics junkie, which is unfortunate because 1) US televised coverage of them is terrible, focusing almost entirely on the fluffy "backstory", and 2) because I like the events that they broadcast at 6 am, if at all. The biathlon comes to mind. So for the sake of posterity, I commit some impressions of the current games to the record.

• The fact that the men's ice hockey team contained three players with Boston University on their resumes was a certain sign they were going to suck--and I say this as a proud (from a hockey standpoint) BU alumnus. I place most of the blame on Keith Tkachuk. I have a warm place in my heart for this big man thanks to the goal he scored in the waning seconds of the 1991 collegiate national championships that sent BU and UNM into (eventually) triple overtime (BU lost, but...). But as time passes, this glow is beginning to fade.
• Lindsey Jacobellis: OK, I can get over the strange name, and the "snowcross" event is certainly worth watching. But blowing the sure gold medal so you can gloat before you finish...then trying to gloss it over in the media!
• Bode Miller: What is there to say about this freak? I bet the executive over at Nike who authorized the multimillion-dollar endorsement deal is committing ritual suicide by now. OK, Bode, sure you want to go your own way. Fine. Keep to yourself. Just remember that America likes a nonconformist as long as he is a winner.
• Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis: I love speed skating, but could not care less about the "rivalry" the media has concocted. Davis wants to do his own thing. Let him. I did find it a piece of poetic justice that they both lost (to an Italian!) in the 1500m event the media made out to be the heavyweight bout between Davis and Hedrick.
• Ice Dancing: Everybody fell, and I missed it. Wasn't watching.
• Cassie Johnson: The "skip" of the US women's curling team couldn't engineer many wins for the squad, but I'll remember her for the day an NBC commentator presented her with a loaf of bread supposedly in the shape of a curling stone, but on which the "handle" was very clearly shaped like a penis.