Olympics Warm-Up (Stretching and Pizza)
Posted February 10th, 2006 by RD Heldenfels
Here's how this thing is going to work: I am at home, with a laptop in front of the big TV, and I will be posting from time to time during the Olympics. The posts will be listed in reverse chronological order, with my earliest post at the bottom of the list — much the way it worked with the Super Bowl.
Although the coverage of the opening ceremonies does not begin for about 80 minutes, I already have my game face on, and my TV talking Olympics. This is the "Olympic Ice" special on USA Network. It is, in one way, an exercise in nostalgia, because Dick Button is on the air.
The first Olympics I wrote about were the '80 games in Lake Placid, with Button on the scene and — if memory serves — complaining about Soviet bloc judges. Those were the days when the Soviets were the grand villains of the games — making the Miracle on Ice all the more significant and exciting. And for TV purposes, it was good to have villains because it gave the audience a clear story to follow. One commentator spoke later of the need for "black hats" at the Olympics; you can figure out which country wore the white hats in his opinion.
Anyway, the coverage is going along and I've already heard one OK line — a reference to a figure-skating pair as "meat and potatoes but no parsley." Even more surprising to me, I am getting psyched for the games to begin. I want to see some top-shelf competition.
I also want curling, the greatest sport of the Winter Olympics. An acquired taste, perhaps, by my taste nonetheless. To me, "Men With Brooms" is up there with "Rocky" and the original "Bad News Bears."
OK, I overstate a little there. "Men WIth Brooms" is probably closer to "Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" and "Rocky IV." Still, my excitement is building. And I know I am not alone in my hunger for the games — and other things. The line was longer than usual at the pizza place tonight,
February 20th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
I have just watched Figure Skating Ice Dancers being allowed to skate to "Bolero" and make a botch of it.
I am a Torville & Dean fan No one who is currently an amateur and non-Olympic medalist should every attempt to duplicate what Torville & Dean accomplished. It just shows what little respect these amateurs have for their forbears who brought Ice Dancing to the level it is.
It's like a slap in the face for long-term loyal figure skating fans. If you can't do it better than Torville & Dean - then don't insult us by doing it at all.
This dance team threw "mud" in the face of icons such as Torville & Dean and their fans and do not deserve to be Olmpians in my opinion.
I hope they can live with what they haven't accomplished as far as their sport is concerned. All they've done is alienate the loyal Torville & Dean fans. Their country should be ashamed of them.