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Check out each day's coverage and hot jock in our Olympics
archive
Final
weekend Feb. 25-26
  Thanks!:
We have had a blast doing these daily notebooks the past 17
days and want to thank all our contributors – Jim Allen,
Brent Mullins, Lorrie Kim, Yahoo's Dan Wetzel and superb
photographer
Ewoud Broeksma.
But an
ultra-special thanks to Patricia Nell Warren (left) and Ryan
Quinn, who were prolific, engaging, funny and insightful
throughout. They provided coverage that was unique on the
Web and got Outsports very high traffic and attention from
the mainstream media. For our money, Ryan and Patricia are
our hot jock and hot jockette of the Games. Of course,
thanks to all of you who read the notebooks and contributed
your comments. (Jim and Cyd)
 Sepia
images, cue the swelling music. I'll admit it. I love
NBC's schmaltzy features about the stories behind these 2006
Winter Olympics. Whether it's someone's sick kid, an
athlete's triumph over injury, or the quadriplegic mayor of
Vancouver. Sunday night's may have been the best. It was the
story of Vernon Baker and 25 Black American soldiers who
broke what was known as the Gothic Line in Northern Italy in
World War II that led to the liberation of Northwest Italy
and Torino.
It was a story that is
foreign to me and most people of my generation – the notion
that Black soldiers, even in World War II, would be denied
the Medal of Honor (not a single WWII Black soldier was
given one until 1997) despite having played a key role in
the recapture of Italy. It was nonetheless moving to see the
sacrifice these men made while understanding that the rights
they were fighting for were not even granted to them at
home.
As Tom Brokaw said near the
end of the piece: "The Army was deeply segregated by race.
The heroics and the sacrifices of the Buffalo Soldiers were
not remembered as they should have been for too long a time.
The heroics and sacrifices that brought freedom here that
were denied these men at home. Now, however, in the worst of
the ancient Greek orator Pericles … these men have found a
home in the minds of men forever. And for the rest of us,
more than 60 years after the end of World War II, it is not
too late to remember their sacrifices and the lessons they
taught us."
While we certainly have come
a way from that time, it was fitting that NBC would choose
to do a 30-minute feature on this issue, given how few Black
participants there were at these Winter Games while
America's Shani Davis skated to the first (and second)
individual Winter Olympics medal for a Black participant. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Hang
it up, Tom: No
matter how they girdled up Tom Brokaw's flapping chins in
turtlenecks, there was no denying his always
less-than-crisp elocution has now degenerated to being
nearly swallowed up by the passage of time across his vocal
chords. Like athletes who retire at their peak -- Walter
Cronkite comes to mind -- TV newsmen should leave their
legacy behind while moving on to new ventures, instead of
hanging around, injecting themselves into the
proceedings like unknown stem cells, wandering around in
search of a useful application.
The funniest was when they
tried to make Tom Relevant a few nights ago by interviewing
the US Aerials team on the ski slopes at night. It was just
excruciating to see him try and be with it and hip to what
their sport was about, the piece having no doubt been
hatched in that MTV-style entertainment pressure cooker to
make old things new again, like the pairing of Tony Bennett
with the Red Hot Chile Peppers and Flavor Flav. Except Tom
was not a trick skier, nor were the skiers journalists.
(Brent
Mullins)
NBC's
coverage: NBC
was a morass of material in search of a vision -- the Bode
Miller of entertainment, coming in with much hype, fanfare
and hope, only to be found to be overweight, overwrought and
over there. Never live, light on their feet, or willing to
adjust to the reality they found themselves in, as all great
champions do. The depth and breadth of training only
reveals itself under the harshest of conditions, the most
fickle of challenges, and under the greatest pressure. Like
the U.S. Ski Team that claimed the motto "Best In The
World," that only counts if you don't pay attention to how
anyone else in the world.
When the world feed seeped
out between the red, white and blue blanket served up by
NBC, what a contrast it was. No longer did the cameras tilt
towards only Americans, as if metal-seeking True Magnetic
North, but instead they served up the smorgasbord that the
Olympics were meant to be -- and always have been -- if only
we would allow them to play out as they really are, instead
of how our corporate commitments wished they were. NBC,
like a lumbering, flabby former champ lost in familiar
surroundings, found itself helpless and hopelessly
unprepared for global competition. Had they mimicked what
other nations saw, it would have made all the difference in
the world. (Brent
Mullins)
  Hot
jocks of the Games:
Gold medal – My judging panel kept coming up with a
tie, so just like in pairs skating in 2002, I'm giving out
two golds:
Felix
Gottwald (Austria Nordic combined, far right) and Enrico
Fabris (Italian speed skating). Gottwald caught my eye in
Week 1, while Fabris became Italy's darling in Week 2. Both
have great smiles, are single (there is hope!) and totally
adorable. Hard to top this twosome.
  Silver
medal:
Joey Cheek (USA speed skating, left): The most impressive
athlete of the Games for his donating $40,000 in prize money
to an organization that helps refugee children play sports.
Plus, he's darn cute.
Bronze
medal:
Tobias Angerer is smoking! The stud German cross-country
skier made a great run late to capture the bronze medal in
the men's 15K. We learn from Angerer's
website that his hobbies include shopping, concerts ,
movies, the Internet and meeting people. (Jim
Buzinski)
 My
hot jockettes: Gold: Julia Mancuso
-- The 21-year-old bolt of lightning from nowhere, a classic
wild card who had never won a World Cup competition. Julia
came slicing through a foggy snowfall in which the skiers
must have had a hard time seeing the next gate, on fresh
snow that was said to be very dicey. She made a very clean
smart run, to take gold in the women's giant slalom. Her
unassuming air and contagious excitement (falling over
backwards in the snow when she found out she'd won) was a
breath of fresh air -- especially after days of hearing all
the excuses and fissyhits from Bode. Julia is the kind of
woman who just goes out there and gets the job done.
 Silver:
Uschi Disl -- The most decorated woman
in biathlon, 35-year-old German veteran with eight Olympic
medals who was at Torino to get her ninth. Living proof
that the Olympics aren't always ruled by teenagers. She had
two misses on her shooting rounds, so she had to ski two
penalty loops. This meant that she had to surge from way
behind to "diesel" her way up to third place and the
bronze. Uschi is striking, with a very un-German look. She
looks more Irish, actually, with that dark hair and those
porcelain pink cheeks. Maybe it's the old Celtic strain
coming out in her Bavarian family genes. OK, I grew up on a
ranch, so I like girls with guns.
 Bronze:
Irina Slutskaya -- She's still a favorite,
whether she wins Olympic gold or not -- whether
she continues competing or decides to hang up her skates
now. I love her courage, and her ability to blend artistry
with athleticism in that unique manner of the Russian school
in figure skating. And yes, I liked the statement that
Slutskaya made by wearing pants in her short program. This
is a new thing for the women, thanks to a recent rules
change. The male fashion mavens on the Outsports rolling
log snorted with derision at the sparkly jumpsuit she wore.
I thought she looked great! And politically, it's a good
start on a needed trend. Let's hope that figure skating
gets away from that sexist convention that has women
skaters looking quasi-nude, while the male skaters get to be
covered from head to toe. (Patricia
Nell Warren)
 A
reader's hot jockette: Don't forget Irene Wust (top) of
the Netherlands! Boy did my les-dar go off seeing her with
her coach after she won in speed skating -- and she's cute,
too. She won so early on it seems everyone has forgotten
about her.
Hottie
of the Games:
There were many and I wish there was more of a standout
hottie to debate over, but I’ve got to stick with Kip
Carpenter (middle), the American speed
skater. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see as much of Kip
as we did four years ago when he won a medal, but he’s still
hot!
(Ryan
Quinn)
Hot
Jock Alert!
Rusty Smith
(bottom right) is a speed skater who was one of the first
Americans to enter the stadium for the United States in the
closing ceremonies, and he did not disappoint. Besides
loving the camera, he won a bronze medal in both Salt Lake
City and these 2006 Winter Games (5k
relay). He was named after six-time All-Star Major League
Baseball player Rusty Staub.(Cyd
Zeigler
Jr.)
Ah,
puberty: Did they really have to bring back the
5-year-old's version of the Italian national anthem to
celebrate Italy's win in the 50k cross country? Ugh. Please,
someone who's gone through puberty must be available to sing
it. As my boyfriend said while listening to it, it was
mildly "creepy."
(Cyd Zeigler Jr.
And
scene: Wow, these closing ceremonies were boooooring! So
much time, energy and money is put into the opening
ceremonies, but the closing ceremonies always seem to be
(this year, literally) a bunch of clowns with instruments
throwing together a marching waltz for the athletes to enter
to. And marching in to "Mambo Italiano"? I don't care that
the closing ceremonies are supposed to be a little more
loose – it just all seems silly and completely unengaging. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.
Time for Some Soul-Searching:
The Olympic flame hasn't been turned off yet,
but American pundits are already speculating how many
medals the U.S. should win in Vancouver. Our final medal
count stands at 25, in second place after Germany's
29. The wrap-up whining has already started in the media,
along with the blame flames in thousands of blogs. Mike
Celizic of NBC Sports led off with his Top 10 list
of athletes and teams who were "major disappointments,"
including poor Michelle Kwan, whom he is still riding
because she withdrew.
However, before we participate in the Olympic Games again,
I think the U.S. has some soul-searching to do.
Clearly our current MO is not working for us -- even though
the U.S. won more medals in Torino than ever before in our
history, barring the spike on our home court in Salt Lake.
No, it's the obsession with medals that isn't working for
us.
Apolo Ohno put it this way in an interview Saturday:
"There's too much emphasis put on the color of the medals,
and not enough on the spirit of the Games, the passion."
Yes, it's human for every country wants its athletes to
win. But the U.S. goes to an embarrassing and
inhumane extreme. In our rage to win, we put on a public
display of our national shortcomings in sports -- resulting
in instances of doping, bickering, backbiting, fights,
late-night carousing, etc. Worst, many of our star athletes
crumpled under the inhumane pressures to win. This is what
we deserve if we put such a crushing value on medals.
In my opinion, the U.S. should not be
inquisitorially pointing the finger at athletes who might
have flubbed their medal shot. Most of the blame should
rest with the pertinent government authorities, the USOC,
policymakers in some individual winter sports, as well as
jingoistic media and sponsors. The American public shares
some blame too, because we let the U.S. Olympic sports
machine run out of control with this obsession for so
long. Taxpayer money helps send our Olympic teams to the
Games. So we have some say in the matter, and some
responsibility too.
In expressing my concern about the medal count, it's not my
intention to denigrate any of the gold, silver or bronze
wins by the individual athletes. The upside of those 25
medals is that the winners are standouts as individuals.
Some, like Cheek, Ohno, Teter, Mancuso, White, provided some
welcome bright spots -- even Sasha Cohen, who was sad about
losing her gold but didn't whine or make excuses, and was
dignified in defeat.
But there's a horrible downside to those 25 medals as
well. The gods and goddesses of sport are frowning at us
right now. We need to ask ourselves why.
What are the Olympic Games, and why should the United
States bother with them? What happened to the original
Olympic ideals of "tolerance, equality, fair play and
peace," as re-stated by U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan in
a recent speech? Funny, but I don't see the word "winning"
on that list.
Is it old-fashioned for the American public to want to see
our country expressing a genuine passion for these
sports ideals? After all, some of our tax dollars go into
the U.S. Olympic program. Or is it just naive to expect
ideals from anybody involved in big-time sport, in an era
when big sport is all about money and celebrity and winning
at any cost?
How could the United States improve our MO and arrive in
Vancouver in better shape? Some ideas come to mind:
1. The U.S. could stop obsessing about winning.
Maybe if fans and sports governing bodies here in the
U.S. start acting like tolerance, fair play, etc. are
really important, more of our athletes will start expressing
those values at the Olympics. If this had happened at
Torino, we might have seen Bode Miller caring about his
wins. We might have seen Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick
settling their difference away from the cameras.
Indeed, if we made those ideals matter more, we might see
some positive changes right here in America. Like fewer
brawls at high-school games. Fewer scandals around
recruiting and point-shaving for college teams. Fewer
out-of-control parents at Little League games who assault
referees with a baseball bat because their kid gets sent to
the dugout. We might even have fewer star athletes who
date-rape women and assault photographers. All these things
happen because many Americans are so obsessed with winning
that they've lost sight of what the game is really about.
2. The U.S. has to get tough on athletic doping here at
home.
"Winning at any cost" inevitably leads to the biggest
problem of all -- drug cheating. The U.S. has been balky on
dealing with doping, while other countries (including Italy)
have been more proactive. If we don't crack down here at
home, some of our athletes and coaches will be
taking doping to the next Games, and we might be the target
of the next big scandal, as Austria is in Torino. Worse,
the U.S. will fail to be a leader in a growing movement of
countries that criminalize sports doping.
The credibility of sport -- the public's ability to trust
the results of any race or game, the public's willingness to
admire and support the athletes -- is on the line because of
doping. Nobody wants to admire an American sports idol who
wins because of drugs. How can we talk about "winning the
war on drugs" if we wink at drug cheating in both
professional and amateur sports -- even high-school
basketball games?
If legal bookmaking was allowed on the Olympic Games, you
can bet your bottom dollar that drug cheating would be
virtually wiped out in no time. Why? Because the big
bettor money wouldn't put up with cheating. Horse racing
has put other U.S. sports to shame because it has done
a more impressive job of cracking down on "juicing"
racehorses. Racing had to do this -- betting supports the
tracks. Americans bet more than $100 million on Breeder's
Cup day alone. Bettors need to feel that no horse has an
unfair advantage because of drugs. The rare scandals at the
tracks cause catastrophic drops in the daily handles. So
let's imagine how fast the NFL would crack down on drug
cheats if the $1 billion bet on the Super Bowl was legal and
supported professional football in the same way!
3. The U.S. needs to get better prepared on some Olympic
winter sports.
After our basketball debacle in Athens, we did it again with
ice hockey. Off to Torino we sent a men's team made up of
pro warhorses who had not played together much. We sent a
women's team with similar shortcomings. The whole hockey
venture was so badly organized that the teams paid their own
way to Torino. How many times does the U.S. have to learn
this appalling lesson? Is it because of the myth that
Americans are so good, they can wing it and still win?
Well, if we want to win a hockey medal in Vancouver, we had
better send crack well-trained teams -- the best we've
got. Blame for the Torino hockey losses should not be put
on the athletes, but on the organizers and policymakers who
didn't do their homework.
"Better prepared" also means that some of our athletes need
to be taught how to act when representing their country,
including how they deal with the media. If they were at the
Games on their own dime, it wouldn't matter if they screw
around or act like fools. But they're at the Games on our
dime. This kind of behavior wouldn't be tolerated in an
American representing us at the UN. Why is it tolerated at
the Olympics?
When we go to Beijing in 2008, we will run into the Chinese,
who will win lots of medals -- more than the U.S., because
they will have the home court advantage. In Vancouver 2010,
we will run into the Canadians, who will win their own load
of medals for the same reason. In fact, the Canadians are
on a roll -- they may have suffered a big hockey loss in Torino too,
but they kicked our asses in other sports, with 24 medals to
our 25.
Maybe if we go to Vancouver more humble, and better
prepared, the gods and goddesses of sport might smile on the
United States once again. (Patricia
Nell Warren)
Jerks
of the Games:
This includes three Americans, mainly because we hear more
about them any other countries. For all I know, there might
be a Latvian luger who's a bigger jerk.
Gold:
Chad Hedrick. Arrogant, selfish, self-centered,
classless. The more I saw of him, the more disagreeable he
became. It was nauseating watching him claim he won a silver
in the 10,000 meters because his heart was bigger than the
rest. He fits the ugly American stereotype to a T (no
shocker that he's from Texas).
Silver:
Bode "0 for 5" Miller. Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post
put it better than I could:
Miller is
the biggest disappointment in the Winter Olympics, not
because of the way he skied the mountain, but the way he
acted at the bottom of it. The fact that he didn't win a
medal at these Games, going 0 for 5 in the Alpine events, is
beside the point. It's not the winning, it's the trying. The
point is that he acted like he didn't try, and didn't care.
Failing is forgivable. Getting fatter on beer while you're
here is not. … He delivered a disquisition on his Olympic
experience. "It's been an awesome two weeks," Miller said.
"I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level."
Boo to Nike
for pimping him the last month. That's one investment I hope
they lost money on.
Bronze:
Lindsey Jacobellis. I wouldn't label her a jerk, but her
hotdogging that cost her the gold in snowboard cross
exemplified all that is wrong with a lot of athletes. Hope
she learned her lesson.
(Jim
Buzinski)
Comrades:
There was one bit
from Sunday afternoon where NBC showed sobbing American long
track speed skater K.C. Boutiette, whose slow race cost his
team a relay medal last week, being consoled by a lovely
Russian male speed skater -- pointing out that was the true
spirit of the games. I think you'd have to say it was the
true spirit of the games if you go back to historical
Athens, where it was only the men who competed in the nude
-- much tougher, however rewarding experience it would be in
winter. People can titter all they want about Johnny Weir,
but most immediately back away from any Brokeback
implication that these boyishly masculine athletes could
have anything in mind other than Pure Olympic Comradeship,
even as they fly the rainbow rings over, under and all
around them.
(Brent
Mullins)
Best
thing about the Winter Olympics ending. We don't have to
hear about Bode Miller ever again. Period. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Worst
performance of the Olympics. I'd love to give Bode
Miller the award here, but it's got to be Ricky Martin in
the closing ceremonies. I don't know when he decided he was
Usher, but he's just not. And he desperately needs to take a
lip-syncing lesson from Madonna. And that scarf on him may
have been Prada for all I know, but it looked like something
Martha Stewart's mother would wear. His presence, though,
tripled the number of Latinos participating at the Games. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
"Oh,
America." I've never been accused of not being
patriotic, and this Winter Games exacerbated that. It just
bugged the hell out of me to see our flag flying lower than
that of other countries when someone else won a gold; and it
doesn't sit well with me to see Germany win more medals than
us. If Bode Miller had won a few medals, like he was
supposed to, then the latter would have been different.
(Cyd Zeigler Jr.)
Spirit:
The best moment from the Winter Olympics was when a
Norwegian coach handed a ski pole to Sarah Renner (Canadian
Cross Country Skier) to help her finish the race which she
then went on to medal. That my friends, is the TRUE spirit
of the Olympics. (Enigma,
an Outsports poster from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)
Best
moments:
The performance of U.S. speed skaters, especially Joey
Cheek, who won gold and silver medals and donated the money
to a charity that supports sports programs for kids in
developing countries. Despite the unnecessary drama between
Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis, both athletes skated
fantastically in Torino, winning 5 medals between them.
Ted
Ligety, winning the gold medal in the men’s Alpine Combined.
The
breakout Italian performances of Enrico Fabris as well as
Giorgio Di Centa and his cross-country skiing relay
teammates. Fabris won the men’s 1,500 meters speed skating
race in an event that was expected to be overshadowed by the
Hedrick-Davis feud. The Italian men’s xc relay team won in
convincing fashion, getting the best of Norway for the first
time since the epic 4x10K relay battle in Lillehammer in
1994. And unheralded Giorgio Di Centa, a member of that
relay team, also won the individual 50K ski race on the last
day of the Games. All three wins were capped off by medal
ceremonies that included thousands of flag-waving Italians
loudly signing their national anthem.
Canada’s
best ever performance at a Winter Olympics, with 24 medals,
led by speed skater Cindy Klassen, who tied a record by
winning 5 medals at a single Games. Canada looks great four
years away from hosting the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Worst
moment:
The doping scandal caused by police raids on the Austrian
biathletes and cross-country skiers. One doctor is in
custody for harming an officer and the surprise drug tests
of 10 athletes all came back negative. The IOC will now try
to impose sanctions based on criminal and circumstantial
evidence, but as has become a side effect of modern doping,
the attempt to catch cheaters has yielded more confusion and
frustration than clarity.
It is
encouraging to see the IOC more engaged in the pursuit to
catch cheaters, but the complications with the Austrian team
seem to suggest anti-doping efforts are still far behind the
technology of the cheaters. Somehow only one athlete, a
Russian woman biathlete, tested positive for drugs in Torino.
Indeed, Italy’s harsh criminal laws against doping likely
deterred some athletes from bringing banned substances to
the Games, but it would be naïve to believe that just one
athlete out of over 2,000 competed in their Olympic events
entirely clean. There is still a long way to go in
understanding the best way to approach policing drug cheats
in sport, and not such a long way before the drug cheats
begin to use methods such as gene doping that will
irreversibly change sports.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Best
Fans:
The orange-clad Dutch at Oval Lingotto.
Worst
Fans:
The 30 million people who watched American Idol instead of
the Olympics.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Most
interesting sports to watch:
Biathlon. Many people who didn’t know much about the
sport before Torino have told me they found it oddly
appealing, even if the combination of skiing and shooting
doesn’t make much sense. Thanks to NBC for their
unexpectedly good coverage of the biathlon events, many of
which were shown live and in full.
Snowboarding. The fans have spoken and snowboard cross
and half pipe are here to stay. I hope the IOC does more to
make the other Winter Olympic events as exciting to watch as
snowboarding was in Torino.
Least
interesting sport to watch:
The figure skating Champion’s Gala.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Worst
Commercial:
Nike’s
“Join Bode” spots. These weren’t bad only because Bode
Miller skied so poorly in Torino. The I’m-too-cool-for-you
commercials captured the worst of Bode’s attitude, which
came into depressing focus over the course of the Games.
Best
Commentator:
Dick Button (figure skating).
Worst
Commentator:
John Morgan (Bobsled/Luge), Scott Hamilton (figure skating).
For the love of God, settle down! I’m trying to watch a
sporting event here. (Ryan
Quinn)
Most
entertaining athlete:
Johnny Weir (USA figure skating). He gave us one funny
comment after another and was always himself. I loved his
explanation of why showing up for the skating finale 30
minutes later than he wanted affected him: A half hour means
putting my outfit on, peeing twice and adjusting my skates,"
he said. "The costume is hard to get into. I have to squeeze
myself in like a sausage."
While there
were no officially out jocks in Torino, I'd be stunned if
Johnny's not the marshal of a Pride parade one of these
years. (Jim
Buzinski)
Golden
Swedes:
Sweden beat Finland, 3-2, in a riveting men's hockey gold
medal game. The game went down to the wire, with Swedish
goalie Henrik Lundqvist making an incredible save with less
than 30 seconds to go to preserve the win.
Finland has
been the Boston Red Sox to Sweden's New York Yankees over
the years, never winning the gold and developing a bit of an
inferiority complex. The Finns went into the gold medal game
7-0, having outscored their opponents, 27-5. But the
Swede's, after falling behind 1-0, controlled the action for
the rest of the way and won a thriller.
The game
was aired live in the East and Central time zones of the
U.S. with no commercials during the action. How refreshing
to see an Olympic event televised as a sport and NBC did a
superb job. (Jim
Buzinski)
 Hot
jocks of the
ice: If you stayed with the hockey final you would have
seen every Finn and Swede having their silver or gold medal
hung around their neck. The only flaw was the number of
players who had a two-week beard growth. Otherwise, it was
hot, hotter and hottest.
No one was hotter than Finland's Teemu Selanne, whose
picture doesn't do him justice. He has the best eyes and it
was sad to see his team come up short.
(Jim
Buzinski)
Close
call: Why are so many of these long-distance
cross-country ski races decided by such little time? Only .9
seconds separated the gold-medalist from the bronze-medalist
in the 50k (33 miles). In running, not even a mile is
decided by that little. I've got to think it has something
to do with the leaders of the pack settling for the spring
to the finish and not really going out and taking the race.
(Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Freestyle
what? Why do they call some cross-country races
"freestyle"? Do they have the backstroke? The butterfly?
(Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Less
is More. Still, I always feel a bit melancholy when I
see the Olympic flame extinguished. The Olympics do still
stand for something, to me, and it's sad to see the end
come.
With that said, I do think
they need to cut these Winter Games by about two nights.
Seventeen days, from opening to closing ceremonies, is just
too much. The events are repetitive and many are not
particularly friendly to TV (much like these closing
ceremonies). Time to pull them back a bit. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
We
leave you with some of our favorite faces of the Games:
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