Gold Canada Gold!

Wow! We aren't "owning the podium" but we DO seem to have put a lot of our athletes onto the TOP of it. 13 gold medals! That's amazing! And Team Canada might get another one tomorrow morning in hockey.

I'm watching cross country skiing right now and if I'm not mistaken there are two gals in this race named Sauronen and Schmiegel racing for that PRECIOUS ring of gold. I'm probably misunderstanding the names though. Not watching intently really. I'm just wating till noon when the Fins play the Slovaks for hockey bronze.

I always find this time of the Olympics weird. The winners of the bronze will no doubt be happy and jumping around for joy but the silver medalists will undoubtedly be depressed tomorrow. I'll be quite happy with the silver but MAN it'd be sweet to get the gold!

I guess it depends on Team Canada's play though. If they play well and lose I'll be happy. But if they self-destruct like the Canadian women did in curling, I will be pretty disappointed. I couldn't believe that when our girls went into the 10th end with a two point lead AND I think they had the hammer! Sweden stole two to get into the 11th end and then they stole one for the gold medal. That's just impossible odds! I remember thinking that the Swedes had only two rocks left, nothing in the house and they were down by two. And SOMEHOW they got both those rocks to score! Absolutely unbelievable!

BUT the Old Bear, Kevin Martin and the boys got the gold today so I'm pretty happy aboot that!

Things have worked out really well for me as far as watching these Olympics! I thought I was going to have to start teaching this week but I've only been doing administrative stuff and lesson planning so I've had lots of time to watch. The site I've been watching, MyP2P, has been solid throughout, until today. The NBC and Eurosport coverage I've been watching has been great. I've seen a bit of Danish, Russian and Italian coverage too. All excellent. The only problem I had was when this morning I tried to get into MyP2P and they asked me for a password. I joined and my password didn't work. Then I did an anti-spyware scan and was able to get in just in time to see Canada take the lead over Norway in the gold medal curling match never to look back. So that was lucky.

If ANYthing happens so that I am unable to watch the gold-medal hockey game tomorrow I'll be gutted! It's on at 5 in the morning here so it's not like I can go out to a bar to see it on TV.

However, I have to count my lucky stars that tomorrow, (Monday), is a holiday here in Korea so I won't be at work while the game of the century takes place.

I've heard that this is going to be the most watched hockey game EVER. I hope it's a good one. I expect the U.S. to come out guns a-blazing but I'm not sure whether Canada will give an effort like they did against the Russians or if they'll play the defensive style that almost lost them the game against the Slovaks. There's no question which style is more effective, it's just a matter of convincing all the hockey traditionalists who worship defence and always seem to make big games like this or Stanley Cup playoff games SUCK by forcing skilled players to play not to lose instead of playing to win. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to it BIG TIME. And since I lost a bet with Heather so I had to use the American flag as my facebook photo, (which I cheated on and changed for the Canada/Slovakia game), I am going to post the following pic and say one final time GO CANADA GO!

Super Thursday?

It's 5:30 AM here in tropical Gwangju, South Korea and I'm up sipping tea and watching the first of four monster Olympic hockey games. So far it's 0 - 0 between the U.S. and Switzerland. Next is Canada/Russia, then Fin/Czech and finally at 2 in the afternoon the Swedes will play the Slovaks. Should be a fun day!

This game wasn't 2 minutes old before one of the announcers made the bonehead comment about the American defenceman Brian Rafalski and how "dangerous" his pinching is. First of all the pinch Rafalski made today to bring about that stupid statement didn't hurt the Americans; secondly, Rafalski got back and broke up a false two-on-one the Swiss had; and thirdly take away Rafalski and his "dangerous" pinching and the U.S. would have lost to Canada on Super Sunday at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Yes, Brian Rafalski. Everyone is talking about Ryan Miller as the guy who beat Canada. He was spectacular, no doubt about it. The Canucks outshot the U.S. 2 to 1 but I would have given Rafalski the player of the game. He didn't get any award. In fact he probably got a stern talking to from the coach after the game for providing the offense that won the U.S. the game.

Defencemen like Rafalski who are pinching are playing offense and defence and they're expending a lot of energy. This is not lazy hockey. But guys who stay out there for a lot of minutes tend to be the defensive defencemen. They're not getting as tired because defensive play is easier to play.

We've seen a lot of lesser teams taking on the giants by employing a simple strategy: drawing the highly skilled teams into a defensive mode that suits the underdogs. It's a very easy thing to do against a team made up of NHL stars who have played a ton of games already this year in the NHL. I have a funny feeling that I'll be watching games like this all day long today.

I just hope we have ONE defenceman on team Canada who pulls a Rafalski and starts taking offensive chances. I don't even care if he is the cause of a goal or two by the Russians. If he's good enough, he'll likely be the cause of 2 or 3 goals for Canada. And it'll most likely be one of the young guys like Drew Doughty if it's anyone.

This is exactly why the highest scoring defenceman in the NHL, Mike Green, wasn't chosen for the Candadian team. He's not even on their list of reserves for crying out loud!

Last game, (Canada/U.S.), I saw guys like Weber, Kieth, Pronger, etc. BEHIND the blue line when Canada had puck posession in the U.S. zone! What is THAT nonsense? It makes for some low-scoring hockey that if not for the fact that the score is close, would be a bit boring. If I were shelling out the kind of dough the fans are paying to watch this I think I'd be a bit upset.

The pattern in most games, and I've watched them all, has been the stronger team coming out and playing the first few minutes of energetic, offensive hockey and after that settling into the lower energy, defensive, "safe" hockey they are mistakenly calling "old time hockey." That's when teams like Germany, Switzerland, Belarus and Norway have been making these unlikely runs at the giants of hockey. As I type there's less than a minute left in the second period, shots are 32-8 for U.S. but the score is 0-0. This, believe it or not, is exactly where the Swiss want to be. Oh wait a minute now, there's a goal. What do you know, Rafalski was pinching. Is it a goal or had time expired? I guess it's still 0-0.

So here we go again. This is a perfect example of the kind of hockey I was hoping we wouldn't see at these Olympics. I'm still enjoying it but I could be enjoying it more if the Offensive stars were allowed to shine. 32 shots might sound like they're playing offense but the shots aren't the quality you'd get if the defence was pinching and the stars were allowed to freewheel. A stat more indicitave of the actual play in the game has been the ZERO shots that have made it through on the 5 power plays so far. That's hard to watch for a guy like me who likes offense.

I'm actually enjoying watching the women's hockey. They seem to be doing all the stuff that I've been saying the boys should be doing. They're scoring a lot of goals from one-timers by left wingers who shoot right or right wingers who shoot left. They're taking wrist shots from the point and allowing players to deflect them in. The men's hockey I'm watching has included a lot of slap shots from the point that are being blocked or the player's sticks are breaking or the shots are going 2 feet wide. Danny Boyle has done this a lot for Canada.

Having said all that, Team Canada might actually try to play the defensive game against the highly skilled Russians. This might just be the correct way to play them. But I'd still rather see offense.

Well what do you know! The U.S. scored. On the power play they got a shot through and Parise put in the rebound. Guess who shot the shot from the point. Rafalski of course.

The thing about playing this defensive hockey is that you have to depend heavily on your goaltender. Even though the goalies for Canada have big names, I'd say the Canadian goaltending hasn't been good enough for the defensive style they've been playing. Just another reason to score some more goals.

Anyhoo, I sure hope I don't have to suffer through another 1-0 game when Canada faces the Russians. It's a shame one of these two great teams will be going home without a medal but I guess that's what happens when you don't play to your strengths.

Nonetheless, go Canada go! I'm nervous!

Shut the &^$%&*+@@!! up about Tiger Woods already!

I know it's been said before but I'd like to say it one more time: what the smeg is going on in the world? Specifically this Tiger Woods public apology. This is the biggest waste of media time and energy in the history of mankind. Leave Tiger alone! It's a travesty. And ironically Tiger mentioned in his PUBLIC APOLOGY that his actions were because HE felt an unreasonable sense of entitlement. Who are these idiots who feel entitled to an apology from Woods? And who are these JAGOFFS who have the ass to say, "No, I'm still not satisfied." "He didn't seem genuine." "It's not enough."?!?! Come ON!

I too admit to being interested in his sexual behaviour and his off course driving but it has in absolutely no way detracted one iota from my reverence for Tiger Woods' mastery of the hardest sport in the world. If anything this will probably have a Clintonesque effect on me to where I, through abject pity for the man, end up liking him a whole lot more. I certainly don't feel entitled to any apology for anything he's done in his personal life. I don't recall him ever promising me that he will be a dutiful husband, be faithful to his spouse, and never cheat on her. I don't recall him swearing that even though he's a young, attractive sexual stud with women throwing themselves at him and more than enough money to show them ALL the times of their lives, he will not shag them five at a time in his heart-shaped limousine hot tub. I don't recall that. These are not prerequisites to the acquisition of a PGA Tour card.

If he used steroids or cheated at golf somehow, then I could understand a public apology but the only people who deserve a PRIVATE apology for his private affairs are the people in his private life.

What if Tiger Woods were a famous rock star? We would almost expect this kind of behaviour. If you want a warped but valid slant on this, listen to Bill Hicks. PLAY FROM YOUR HEART!!! Who cares if a lot of rock stars are violent, promiscuous, suicidal, deviants who die in pools of their own vomit, THEY ROCK! Why can't we extend this same courtesy to athletes? Don't tell me it's because watching Tiger Woods hit a 300-yard two iron is any less artistic than a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo! Cuz I love rock and roll, but I'd say they both ROCK just as hard!

To quote another famous comedian, George Carlin, "I'm tired of being told who to admire in this country!" Amazingly enough he actually uses Tiger Woods as an example here. Because that's really the problem isn't it? Why are we supposed to look up to Tiger Woods? He hits a golf ball for a living. Why should he have to be as pure as the driven snow?

Why do so many athletes have this same problem? It's been going on forever too. Look at Babe Ruth. He drank a quart of whiskey with his daily breakfast of a big steak, 6 fried eggs and potatoes. He blacked out on a train once after eating 18 hotdogs. He drank, smoked, swore, played and lived harder than most people. He probably wouldn't have been so great otherwise.

And how many basketball players are frowned on for drugs, guns, sexual affairs and such? Hello? Most of these guys were recruited in the hood not the Hamptons. And this is not to say things in the Hamptons are any more moral.

Then there's Ross Rebagliati, the Canadian snowboarder who had his medal stripped because he smoked some weed. Maybe that's a bit different because marijuana is against the rules but we have to question why that is. It's not like it's a performance ENHANCER! We're forcing social expectations on athletes that are just ridiculous. The fault is not in the athlete, but the society.

I'm trying to think who I am more upset with, Tiger Woods or the guy who wins 30 million bucks in the lottery and goes back to his job at the box-making factory for the rest of his life. If you have the good life, live it! That's what I say. And it's almost mockery of us poor paycheck to paycheck people if you don't! Isn't it?

And it's not like he was slumming it. Look at the list of girls he's been with! WOW! I'm not saying Tiger should have cheated on his wife. I think everyone should honour the commitment of marriage. Or just don't do it. Maybe, like half the people in the world, (maybe more), who get married, Tiger did so because it's the thing to do. Then he realized later maybe it wasn't. Who knows? Either way he doesn't owe me an apology for what he did.

We owe Tiger the apology. And so many other public figures whose sex lives are none of our business. I think this is just sad. Sorry about that, Tiger.

Olympic Thursday

I just got up. It's 12:45 AM and I have been up for about an hour. I am now fully committed to Olympian hours! Wake up at midnight, sleep at supper time. It makes it tough to know when or what I should eat or drink. But I've figured out a good system: for curling I drink tea, for hockey I drink beer. And I eat between periods or after the 5th end. It's possible that by the end of these olympics I'll have a long beard, long nails and I'll be storing my urine in bottles, but these are the sacrifices a Canadian sports fan needs to make in Korea.

I'm now surfing the web trying to find a good place to watch the Canadian women's curling team go up against the Japanese. I watched the Japanese team yesterday. Because they played the Americans. It's pretty easy to find online streams of American curling. But thanks to our lame, Canada-only coverage on CTV/TSN/CBC it's pretty hard to get the Canadian stuff. They have live streams for all the people in the world who don't need them: Canadians.

I think I'm gonna have trouble finding this stream. It's gonna start at 2 so I have time to search around but it may end up being like yesterday when I watched CTV coverage of Canada vs Germany in men's curling pirated by a dude in Russia and voiced over in Russian. And of course before the end of the game they switched over to the Russia/Latvia hockey game.Luckily the game was no longer in doubt.

I'm truly loving the globalism of the internet! I watched the entire men's snowboard cross in Italian. And by the way it was awesome! I still can't figure out how our boy Robertson didn't get the gold. It was like a sudden gust of wind blew the American guy past him right at the end. Great silver though!

But before I could grieve for too long, outta nowhere Maelle Ricker jumps to gold in the women's snowboard cross. I'd have to say that this is my favourite winter olympic sport to watch besides hockey and curling. And it's so nice that Canadians are GOOD at it! That beautiful pic at the top is of her. It's a photogenic sport though isn't it? I love the shots of the four people going over the jump at the end with the Olympic rings in the background! It's just too bad I can't seem to move pictures around on my blog any more or I'd be able to put them at the appropriate places rather than all at the beginning. But like many things involving electronics, my blog is getting harder and harder to work with as it gets more and more "advanced".

But I won't complain about that. This entry was gonna be about curling. I am very happy that our men's and ladies teams, (pictured WAY above), the Martin and Bernard rinks respectively, have gone undefeated so far. I've watched some pretty good shot making from them. I would not be surprised to see them sweep the golds in curling. It'd be great to see!

It's too bad so few people like curling. I've been a fan since my high school days in Ignace, Ontario where I first slipped on a slider and grabbed a broom. And it WAS a broom back then, not a brush or one of those Swiffer-looking things they're using now. I was actually sweeping and making noise and working up a SWEAT while curling back in those days! It's such a great sport! They called it "chess on ice" a few times in the English coverage I've seen. It IS a real strategic game too. That's the part of it I'm worst at. I'd say that, like Marge Simpson, my strength is my sweeping, or brushing. I played mostly lead in my brief high school/university foray into the sport so I also throw up a mean guard. But I can't claim to be any good. Still and all, it's a sport that I really miss. I think it would be VERY popular in Korea too. I wish it would catch on. I wonder why it's not popular around the world. I have a few theories.

Could it be, like women's tennis, that the screaming and yelling turn people off? There are some good-looking women in curling, (the Japanese team I watched yesterday has a couple of REAL hotties), but when they start screaming "HURRY HAAAARD!" it's not too attractive. But then we're not supposed to be watching women's sports for the babes anyway are we? Ha ha, yeah right! I actually think I liked the cute way the Japanese team called their shots. "Ceu leeen! Ceu leeen! Niceu syot" But they are the exception. There are some real howlers and catterwhallers in the sport that admittedly don't do much for its image.

Could it be that because it's a really long game and it seems to the untrained eye like very little is going on, people are reluctant to watch? It's possible. You don't see a lot of triple take-outs or spectacular shots in a game. There is no body contact or fighting. (although there's no such thing as a curler who doesn't drink and if they showed the pub after the games I bet there'd be some contact sports going on).

Or maybe it's just not getting enough exposure. People tend to like what's put in front of them even though we no longer have to get off the couch to change the TV channel any more. Well, as I've said so many times before, thank God for the Simpsons! The most recent episode of the Simpsons was about Marge and Homer going to Vancouver to play in the mixed curling there. Marge was the star sweeper and Homer was the star drinker. Which is important! It was pretty obvious the writers and animators didn't really know a lot about curling but the attempt was valiant. For example all the stones were the same colour and people were picking them up like they were filled with air. Also there was a Zamboni on the ice at one point. But I liked it.


Anyway, I sure hope I can catch more of the curling. From what I've seen, or heard, so far it's been really good. I had to settle for the US/Japan game the other day because I couldn't find the Canadian game. But I could tell how Canada was doing by the cheers I heard. I hope I don't have to do that again this morning. Speaking of which I better go see if I can find some.

Go Canada Go!

The Olympic$

As promised on my facebook updates, I fixed my computer and now I am all ready to sit in my room and watch Olympics in any way I can. I am checking all the live feeds and they're very disappointing but exactly what I expected. Canada's main Olympic coverage is done by CTV and, (as expected), it's not available outside of Canada. I've said this before but WHY BOTHER if it's not available outside Canada?! It's gotta have something to do with money. INSIDE Canada you don't need a computer or even CABLE to get CTV. STREETpeople in Canada are watching Olympic coverage on their TV's in alleyways for the love of GOD! Well actually right now the only place in Canada warm enough, (and without snow), so you could live on the street would BE Vancouver so the homeless are probably all going to the events live. Unless it's hockey. They'd have to collect bottles and cans for a lifetime to buy the CHEAPEST hockey ticket. I heard from a friend in Vancouver that you can pay 30,000 dollars for a hockey ticket there. 30 THOUSAND dollars! And if it happens to be Canada and Russia or Canada and U.S. in the final who knows how high the prices could go? It's obscene if you ask me. The Olympics is supposed to be amateur sports. This is what happens when you let the pros play. Damned exciting, but obscene. I don't like to see the evil of filthy lucre perverting and corrupting something as pure as sport. It sickens me. But I'm kinda used to it.

I went to the site available to Koreans to watch coverage in Korea, SBS. Of course, (as expected), you need a password. You need a password for everything in Korea. TWO! At the camp I just finished I had a list of about 10 passwords I needed to get into places or computers. And the only way you're gonna get a password on SBS is if you live in Korea and know a Korean who can navigate their way through the password process, which is hard even for a Korean. Also, SBS is available in Korea without a computer and I think without cable. So why bother? Gotta be some money involved! But I'm not too concerned. It'd be short track, short track and more short track with brief glimpses of figure skating and maybe ski jumping. Not my favourites to watch.

So how can I watch hockey games? I was able to catch the third period of the Canada/Slovakia game in women's hockey today because my brother in the U.S. told me, (chatting on facebook), he was watching it. That's the only way I could tell if it was on. The problem is times. I go to the official Olympic site and times are listed there but I'm not sure if they're Vancouver time or the time most things are listed in, Eastern Standard Time. It doesn't matter because no Canadian sites have live streaming video anyway. That I've found. So I go to the sites like JustinTV. There times are listed in Eastern Standard Time. I think. Cuz most people streaming there are from the States. I think. Or I could go to MyP2P. But I think most of the people streaming on THAT site are from the U.K. I think! It's frustrating so far.

But it's okay as long as I don't miss any of the men's hockey and I have a list of the times for those games already. No worries there.

I haven't noticed any demonstration sports yet. Doesn't the host country get to do a demonstration sport? Something popular in their country? I have an idea for Canada. And it comes from watching MANY MANY years of Canadian disappointment at the Olympics. I think we should introduce a new thing at the Vancouver Olympics but it's not a sport, it's a fourth place medal. Like maybe tin or aluminum or something Canadian like beaver pelt, moose antler, Saskatchewan sealskin, or how bout wood? The wood medal goes to Canada! We have had medal hopefuls every year, sometimes favoured to win gold, even HEAVY favourites, who came in fourth place. I think we'd be way up there in the medal count if we could introduce a wood medal. Should we call it a wood medal or a wooden medal? Too confusing, let's just hang a pancake around the fourth place finishers' necks. How much more Canadian could you get?

I guess so far the story of the Olympics has been a tragic one. That luger from Georgia named Nodar Somethingorother took a grisley spill didn't he? And I admit to looking it up on youtube and watching voyeuristically. I only watched once and felt a bit guilty about it. But it was very interesting to see the reactions of people from around the globe. I'm not talking about the fact that it's now the number one hit on youtube and other sites like it, I'm talking about the comments I read about it. I read "R.I.P. from France", "R.I.P. from Sweden", "R.I.P. from Canada" among them. That's nice isn't it? People from all over the world expressing their deep sorrow at the passing of an athlete. Well not deep enough to write the words "Rest In Peace" in full, but pretty deep. And I'm so glad at the girl from Canada taking it upon herself to express my, and millions of other Canadians' views on the tragedy in three letters!

And I heard they changed that part of the track where a lot of people wiped out and where Nodar died. Disappointing autosport enthusiasts and other death sport fans everywhere. Well honestly, it's like the fights at hockey, who looks away when there's a dangerous crash? Luge could have maybe taken a run a hockey for the most watched sport at these Olympics otherwise.

The second biggest story for Canadians will be getting gold. We already have a medal! This is brilliant for Canada! And it's a silver! Way to go Jennifer Heil! Canadians must be ecstatic! They must be chanting her name all over the country. Let's hope it's her FIRST name. Jen - ni - FER, Jen - ni - FER! We're all proud of her! But the story remains, no gold for Canada in Montreal and no gold for Canada in Calgary. We got lots of fourth place medals in '76 and '88 I'm sure but no gold in our two previous Olympics in Canada. And we have some good shots at gold in 2010. But as we can read from the link, this is only based on how much money we've been spending on our athletes. MONEY! Again!

But if our women's hockey team, women's and men's curling teams, and speed skaters don't win a gold I'll eat my gotch! We are gonna get some soon. And we have all kinds of other chances in short track, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and other stuff. Some people think we might even win the medal count this year! It would be nice but I only care if we get ONE gold medal really. And that's in men's ice hockey. Ha ha ha. It sounds so funny saying it that way. I just call it HOCKEY and so does the rest of Canada. This will be the best thing to ever happen to Canada. Yeah sure there were a few nice political things like becoming a nation, getting our own constitution, joining NATO and silly little things like that but pppbbbttthhhhbbbtttt! Peanuts compared to this!

But men's hockey doesn't start till Feb. 16th. Feb. 17th here! I gotta wait three more days! It's gonna be rough. But for now I'll try to watch other stuff online to tide me over till the hockey starts.

GO CANADA GO!