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Feb. 24
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Cute Curlers:
NBC has been taking email questions about curling for the
last couple weeks. Here is one they fielded from Cathy in
Los Angeles: "In regards to curling, attractive men, holding
brooms and voluntarily sweeping. What more could a girl ask
for?" The commentator's response: "I don't know. Do they
also do windows?"
Curling
Quotes: More classic comments by NBC's curling
commentators:
"This
[curling] is taylor-made for television viewing."
"In
other sports, I can imagine, if you mic'd the players, you'd
have to chase the women and children from the room. There's
the odd misspeak in curling, but they're pretty well-behaved
most of the time."
The Eyes Have It:
You can tell a lot from an athlete's eyes, in those extreme
close-ups that the TV cameras give us. Which is one reason
why I prefer watching sports on TV to actually being in the
stadium.
Thursday night, the eyes of those women skaters gave us a
clear medals preview. As Irina Slutskaya took the ice,
her gaze didn't reveal the usual buoyancy and confidence.
We may never know what was really going on with her --
whether she didn't feel well, or had gotten bad news from
home. Though she fell only once, the new scoring system
doesn't necessarily penalize a fall the way the old system
did. But Slutskaya added to her difficulties by
being unable to summon her muses, so she skated without
artistic inspiration.
Sasha Cohen, too, took the ice without that look of
confident roguish glee that she wore at the start of her
short program. Her eyes betrayed doubt. She fell twice,
which could have placed her lower than Slutskaya. But Sasha
was able to pull herself together and deliver on the
artistic front -- a stirring display. When she left the
ice, her eyes were deeply sad. Evidently she was so
convinced that she'd missed the podium altogether that she
took off her costume and was on her way out of the building
when she learned that she'd won silver.
But Shizuka Arakawa took the ice with a look of
steely stoic "I can do this." And she did. Japan's "Cool
Beauty" delivered on both the artistic and technical
fronts. As she heard her marks announced, her eyes gave the
cameras a rare glimpse of intense inner excitement -- she
knew the gold was within reach.
I think that part of the public's fascination with
competitive figure skating has to do with what we see in
their eyes. Yes, every athlete in every sport has it in
their eyes. They are all deeply affected
by those emotional, mental and spiritual processes that
drive their physical movements, their technique. But
figure skating is unique among sports because it demands an
artistic as well as technical victory. The only way you get
art -- as every artist knows -- is to marshal all that deep
inner stuff and reveal it publicly, with courage and without
reserve, whether you're writing a book or composing a song.
In a truly great performance, the skater brings down the
house because she or he has revealed the inner self, and
connected to the inner selves of everybody in the crowd.
This is what endeared Michelle Kwan to her fans -- those
rare evenings when she didn't just land her jumps -- when
she let us look deep into her heart.
A writer gets to write a book one time only, then move on to
other stories. But the great figure skater, like the great
dancer or musician or actor or other performance artist, has
to write the book over and over, again and again.
Performing is like a living, moving river -- no matter how
many times you step into it, you never step into the same
water twice. The ability to command all your energies on a
daily basis, to be as consistent as possible, is crucial
to success. Yet nobody is superhuman enough to be 100
percent consistent every single time. Hence the drama of a
medals event at the Olympics.
What is ahead for these three women now? Arakawa and Cohen
are both young, with the option of aiming at Vancouver 2012
if they choose. But Slutskaya, at 27, may not have that
option. Surely the devastation visible in her eyes during
the medals ceremony reflected this reality for her. Like
Michelle Kwan, the Russian now faces the possibility that
her competitive career will end without that sought-after
prize, the Olympic gold. (Patricia
Nell Warren)
Kill
the heretic:
Outsports' Jim Allen was just a tad peeved when I tweaked
curling in my notes the other day ("These are just two of
many indoor sports that could help fill out a TV schedule
that's way too padded. Do we really need three hours of
curling?"). Jim, who loves the pasty English types that
predominate in the sport, let me have it in an e-mail:
I only
regret that this isn't 1328 and I can't denounce you to the
Inquisition to be burned at the stake. Blasphemer! Infidel!
Heretic! Curling rules! (Jim
Buzinski)
 Hot
jock of the day:
How big is curling in Canada?
Schools
across Newfoundland and Labrador were closed Friday
afternoon to allow students to watch Newfoundland's Brad
Gushue, 25, compete for Olympic gold in the men's curling
final.
They
certainly must have liked what they saw as Gushue led the
Canadian men to their first curling gold with a 10-4 smush
of Finland. Gushue's win was called the biggest ever for an
athlete from Newfoundland. On
Gushue's website, his team's guest book was filled
with congratulations, with this one being typical: "Way to
go Team Gushue. You have made Newfoundland & Canada Proud.
Watched you win in Halifax and today in Torino. Excellent
job. A proud newfie in Halifax. Good luck in your future
endeavors. Vancouver 2010 next!!!"
There was a
cute scene right after Canada won, when Gushue got on his
cellphone to call his mom back in Newfoundland. He said that
she didn't say much since she was crying the whole time. How
sweet. (Jim
Buzinski)
Over
it?:
Cyd may be so over it but apparently to the rest of America
young girls in sequins twirling and falling prove
irresistible -- well, except if you're just hanging on the
edge of your seat to find out Idol Election Results:
The
first live "Idol" results show of the season led the 8 p.m.
hour Thursday with a 13.2/20 (and dominated the 18-49 demo
as well). NBC's Olympic coverage was second at 11.2/17. The
penultimate "Dancing with the Stars" posted a 9.7/14 for
ABC. CBS dropped to fourth with "Survivor: Panama," 8.5/12.
The
Olympics, which featured the women's figure skating final,
took over the lead at 9 p.m. with a 15.4/22. Hour two of
"Dancing with the Stars" improved to 12.8/18 on ABC. A "CSI"
rerun on CBS was third at 9.5/14. FOX fell to the No. 4 spot
with a repeat of "Skating with Celebrities," 5.0/7.
At 10
p.m., the Olympics hit 18.4/29, topping 30 million viewers
for the hour. ABC's "Primetime" was second at 8.3/13, and
CBS' "Without a Trace" repeat averaged 7.8/12. (Brent
Mullins)
NBC
should hire Weir:
Dan Wetzel of Yahoo sent us this part of a
recent column he thought we would enjoy:
At the very
least, NBC should have had the guts to hire Johnny Weir, the
outspoken, outlandish male skater as an analyst for the
ladies' competition.
If Weir was
crazy enough to say of the performance of a competitor "His
was like a vodka-shot, let's-snort-coke kind of thing," just
imagi ne what he would have exclaimed after seeing
Slutskaya's beyond-ugly one-piece outfit?
Or maybe
Joan and Melissa Rivers could work as a side-rink fashion
analysts.
"Sweetie, I
wouldn't wear that thing to a tobacco spitting fight."
NBC is a
bunch of wimps and they deserve to lose millions on these
games. It is not like they weren't looking for another
analyst. They tried to hire Michele Kwan when she dropped
out.
Kwan is one
very nice person, you'd want her as a babysitter, but after
a decade of never saying anything very interesting, who the
heck thought she'd breathe life into this thing?
Weir,
meanwhile, got no offer despite being the most memorable
character of these games, making Americans actually discuss
men's figure skating through his sheer force of personality.
Or as
gawker.com said, " We wish we knew how to quit you, Johnny
Weir."
The
knee-jerk assumption is that Weir wouldn't play in Peoria.
But we know those forward-thinkers at NBC wouldn't
discriminate due to possible sexual orientation. No, that
would never, ever happen.
Because
it's not like American Idol isn't beating them there, too.
Man
of the mountain:
Guenther Hujara, the chief race director for men's skiing,
has been described as a cross between Attila the Hun and
Scrooge. No one dare cross him, as a
terrific piece in the LA Times spelled out:
Hujara is
German, and he takes no guff.
He runs the meeting the way John Houseman ran law class in
"The Paper Chase."
Hujara likes to open the captains' meeting by asking, "Any
questions?" and then not allowing any. He sets down the race
rules, levies fines, reprimands countries and oversees the
bib selections.
If the coach from Liechtenstein thinks the meeting is over
and tries to leave early, Hujara has no problem shouting:
"Liechtenstein, we are not finished yet!"
You should not sleep in Hujara's class.
Oh,
poor Chad.
Chad Hedrick's Olympics ended with "only" three medals after
taking a silver in the 10k on Friday. He was trying to
become only the second person to win five medals in one
Winter Olympics (speedskater Eric Heiden won five in 1980).
Hedrick got pissy when Shani Davis refused to skate the team
pursuit; Hedrick and the U.S. couldn't get out of the
quarterfinals without Davis, thus costing Hedrick his goal
of five medals. In the end, Hedrick spoiled his own run,
placing sixth in the 1000m, which Davis won. Instead of
immortality, Hedrick will have to settle for being only the
third American to win three medals at the same Winter Games.
(Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
The
ball is in Hedrick's court:
It
wouldn't be out of line for Chad Hedrick to apologize to
Shani Davis. Hedrick started the feud between the two
skaters when he implied last week that Davis was selfish for
not racing in the team pursuit, a decision that possibly
hurt Hedrick's chance to win five gold medals. But Hedrick
still could have gone for four. Did he expect everyone to
bend over backwards just to give him a chance at five
gold medals? He shouldn't have. Besides, Eric Heiden didn't
have the team pursuit as one of his historic five gold
medals he won in 1980 (Heiden also won the 500m, an event
Hedrick didn't qualify for).
If you
still think Davis was being selfish, you're crazy. Davis was
in the front row Friday cheering Hedrick on in the 10,000
meters, in which Hedrick won his third medal, a silver.
Hedrick's three medals (gold, silver, and bronze) in one
Games are a lot to be proud of. Unfortunately, he has a lot
not to be proud of as well. The only gold Hedrick won was in
the 5,000 meters, his first race when he was not fatigued
from other races, which was Davis's reason for not skating
the team pursuit. Even after his final race Hedrick's
reaction was awkward. "My heart's bigger than anybody else's
out there," he said. Maybe his head is just a little bigger,
too.
Curiously, Hedrick also told reporters this, when asked
about preparing for 2010: "In order to be successful in
multiple events, you have to look at the schedule and pick
your events. I think I have to drop one race so that I can
skate to the best of my ability." Uh, that's what Davis did,
and now it seems smart rather than selfish. If Hedrick wants
to grow up by 2010, an apology for Davis might be a good
place to start.
(Ryan
Quinn)
"Fall
bitch!"
One of the things you just have to try to accept when
watching the Olympics on NBC is that they can't help but
cheer for the Americans nearly the point that you start
cheering against them. This came in from Timmy in New
Jersey: "Last night I wished to God I was deaf so I couldn't
hear how the announcers GUSHED over Sasha Cohen. It got to
the point that when I was watching, all I could say was
"fall bitch" so they would shut up." Before we get emails
about being insensitive to deaf people, I don't think he
REALLY meant he wished he was deaf; he was just saying that
for effect. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
There's
quitting in Finland.
Jim and I were perplexed, without seeing the ih, as to why
the gold-medal curling match went only eight ends (like
innings in baseball) when a regulation match is 10. Then we
found out that Finland conceded the match after eight
because they were down, 10-4 following an incredible
six-point sixth end by the Canadians.
Quit?
They just quit? Regulations say a team can quit if they see
no way of coming back, and Olympic rules say the gold medal
match has to go at least eight ends.
To be
sure, coming back six points in the last two ends is nearly
impossible. Finland focused on the "impossible" part of
that. I would have focused on the "nearly" part. Can you
imagine if the Buffalo Bills had just quitted with 28
minutes left in the 1993 playoff game against the Houston
Oilers, down 35-3? How about if the Red Sox decided the 2004
ALCS wasn't worth continuing after losing the first three
games to the New York Yankees? Maybe Illinois, down 15
points with four minutes left against Arizona last March,
should have just sat their starters and started planning for
next year.
I've
always been taught that there's no quitting in sports. "It
aint over 'til it's over." Apparently, in Finland, it's over
when the score gets ugly. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
The
Olympic Apprentice.
I can't decide what NBC is more desperate for: Olympics
ratings or Apprentice ratings. For the Apprentice Season 5,
which will take place in Los Angeles and air next autumn,
one of the contestants will be a U.S. Winter Olympian. While
that's twist enough, NBC has this for you: you can vote on
who that Olympian will be! Some of the potential candidates
include speedskater Chad Hedrick, bobsledder Todd Hays,
snowboarder Seth Wescott, speedskater Chris Witty, and
snowboarder Danny Kass. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Please,
no more!:
My only thought throughout NBC's coverage of the figure
skating Champion's Gala was "Why are you showing this?" I've
just survived two weeks of time-delayed coverage of pairs',
men's, ice dancing, and over-hyped women's competitions. And
now you expect me to want non-competitive figure
skating? Give me a break (I took my own by changing the
channel). The figure skating highlight for me was the men's
program last week. All I have to say about the guys this
week is that I hope they got out to the club after that
silly exhibition show and went home with some hot Italian
boys.
(Ryan
Quinn) |
Curling
Is Hot
