Pyeongchang 2018, Week Two: Triumphs and a Tragedy

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea is over.  The two Koreas have been getting along so well that they're planning on talks to maybe improve relations, and have invited the United States to join in.  President Donald Trump, who has sent the noted diplomats Vice President Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump to put in appearances during the Games, has sent a qualified reply.  So maybe the next time we hear the word Pyeongchang, it won't be in reference to a battlefield.  But we digress.

Here are the top five nations in the final medal count:

Norway  14 gold, 14 silver, 11 bronze=39 total
Germany  14 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze=31
Canada   11 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze=29
U.S.          9 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze=23
Netherlands  8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze=20

The United States moved up to fourth place from the first week, thanks to the efforts of the following:

• Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall were the first American women to take home gold in cross-country skiing.
• The women's hockey team won its first gold since 1998, defeating Canada in a shootout.  Isn't that like winning the Wimbledon singles championship on tiebreaks?
• Lindsey Vonn closed out her Olympic career with a bronze medal in the women's downhill.  Or did she?  Mikaela Shiffrin, who won two Alpine golds herself, isn't sure Vonn's skiing off into the sunset just yet.  You'll see Vonn in China in '22 all right--as an NBC commentator.  Hey, she can't be any worse than Bode Miller, right?
• Now that the U.S. men's curling team won the gold medal in curling, will that sport end up being as popular as hockey was after the 1980 "Miracle on Ice"?

The Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) ended up in seventh place with 17 medals.  One of their two gold medals came in men's hockey, when they defeated an upstart German team in overtime.  It was a game that was better than it had any right to be, given that NHL players sat these Olympics out while Russian KHL players dominated.  Their last gold was in 1992 when, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, they were known as the Unified Team.

This doesn't mean that the OAR, the remnants of a Russian state-sponsored team that was disqualified from these Olympics for alleged doping violations, had cleaned up its act completely.  Two athletes were kicked out of the Games for testing positive for banned substances.  But they'll be given a hero's welcome in Moscow by President Vladimir Putin anyway.
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We hate to end this on a low note, but this bears watching in future Olympics.

Recently Dr. Larry Nasser, a Michigan-based sports physician, was sentenced to spend the rest of his life (and then some) in prison.  He was convicted in that state for sexually abusing hundreds of female athletes, including members of the U.S. gymnastics team. 

The next time you watch a sports event involving teens and/or young women, think about what it took for them to get to where they are.  There are people who train these athletes and care for their well being in a responsible manner.  But there are also some individuals who see a captive audience for their personal pleasure, and the damage they inflict can last a lifetime.

If you are a parent of these young athletes, your support and responsibility to them rests on your shoulders.  For the rest of us watching, we need to be more aware of the price of victory.

Pyeongchang 2018, Week One: Welcome to the Real World

The first week of competition for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea began with an Opening Ceremony that included (A) North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un's sister and Vice President Mike Pence sitting in close proximity, with neither acknowledging the other, (B) an appearance by a shirtless, oiled-up Tongan dude in the Parade of Nations, and (C) the presence of NBC's Asian expert Joshau Cooper Ramo on their telecast, whose declaration that Japan had a lot to do with the transformation of South Korea as a nation (while neglecting to mention that they were under Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, and that many of their women were used as sex slaves) got him fired.  And with that, let the Games begin.

As of February 19, the top three medaling countries are:

• Norway with 28 (11 golds, nine silvers, eight bronzes)
• Germany with 20 (10 golds, six silvers, four bronzes)
• Canada with 17 (six golds, five silvers, six bronzes)

The United States has 10 medals (five golds, three silvers, two bronzes), which puts them in a tie for sixth place with Australia, France and Japan.

Most of those American golds have come from snowboarding (Jamie Anderson, Chloe Kim and Red Gerrard), which is the Olympics' attempt to get millenials interested in the Games.  In a more traditional sport, Mikaela Shiffrin won the women's Giant Slalom.

Shaun White also won gold in the snowboarding category for the third time in as many Olympics.  Unfortunately for him, the MeToo movement managed to overshadow his accomplishment as he got hit with questions about a sexual harassment settlement with a former female rock band member of his, claiming it was all "gossip".  White used the following day's appearance on the post-Matt Lauer "Today" show to apologize for using the word "gossip".  Crash and burn.

Skiier Lindsay Vonn (she once dated Tiger Woods, in case you didn't know) botched a gate during her run for gold in the women's Super G.  Then she heard from the thousands of not-so-well-wishers who'd rather see her break a leg than bring home a medal.  All this is because Vonn joined the list of athletes who have vowed not to be in the same room with President Donald Trump when it comes time to visit the White House.

And, oh yes, the International Olympic Committee's ban on doping Russian athletes, which has resulted in the country's official removal from these Games, and has forced its remaining (clean) athletes to compete under a different name and flag--well, how's that working out?  A curler just had his bronze medal in mixed doubles taken away for alleged doping violations.

One more week of all this.  What's going to happen next?

The Eagles Have Landed

The Philadelphia Eagles are the new Super Bowl champions, which is their first pro football title of any kind since they won the league crown in 1960.  They outscored and outsmarted the defending champion New England Patriots 41-33 in Minneapolis Sunday night.

It was an offensive show, with both teams combining for 1151 rushing yards, the most in Super Bowl history.  Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw for 505 yards, which is also a record.

Eagles quarterback Nick Foles, who until recently was an understudy to starter Carson Wentz before his season ended due to injuries, threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns.  For that, he was named the Super Bowl MVP.  Oh yes, and he's also going to Disney World.

The Eagles are pretty much no-names next to the Patriots, but they did their job--keeping Brady out of the end zone with the game on the line in the final seconds, which is something he's done so many times before.  It's also not easy to outcoach the Patriots' Bill Belichick, but that's just what Eagles coach Doug Pederson did.

In the grand scheme of things, the Eagles are a one-season wonder, coming back down to Earth next season.  The Patriots, having won five Super Bowls in the first two decades of this century, will likely be remembered for as long as football is still played.

But for now, let the Eagles soar.

Among other things . . .

• There were a couple of plays in which receivers made spectacular catches in the end zone, but the excitement dissipated as they were subject to seemingly endless and nitpicky video reviews of whether or not it really was a catch.  This kind of thing has been going on all season, wasting everyone's time.  Even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he's in favor of modifying the "catch/not a catch" rules.  Over 103 million of you watched this year's NBC telecast of the Super Bowl, which is the lowest audience since 2009.  Paralysis by video analysis may be one reason why some folks are tuning out.
• You've heard this before, but it bears repeating with the country in the middle of a flu epidemic:  Can we please end the ritual of the Vince Lombardi Trophy going through the gauntlet of players from the winning team fondling and kissing the trophy before it gets to the podium?  Gross!  
• Justin Timberlake's halftime show didn't bring much of anything back, much less sexy.  It was just meh.  He tried to perform with a giant video image of Prince on what looked like the world's largest bedsheet, which only made him look and sound small.  And there was no Janet Jackson, the woman whose career he helped ruin the last time he played a Super Bowl by uncovering her nipple on live TV.  But Timberlake did mention several times that he was in Minneapolis, so there's that.
• The commercials that companies spent tons of money on to be broadcast during the Super Bowl weren't that great, though the ones from Amazon (celebrities subbing for an ailing Alexa) and the NFL (Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. of the New York Giants spoofing "Dirty Dancing") came close.  But the people who run the estate for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. must have been hard up for money when they sold one of his speeches to Ram Trucks for use in a commercial.  Isn't money also the reason why we haven't heard the full version of King's "I Have a Dream" speech?
• The Twin Cities declared itself a success in hosting this carnival intended for the rich and famous.  But it will mainly be remembered as the coldest Super Bowl ever, and visitors just couldn't wait to get out fast enough.  Over to you, Atlanta.