2018 Winter Olympics

[Kung Wu]

The parade of countries is the strangest production I have ever seen. The stadium is completely empty except for one section. What in the world?

[WuDrWu]

It was odd to say the least. How in the hell did that guy from Tonga manage to carry the flag shirtless again??!!

[Shocker85]

The parade of countries is the strangest production I have ever seen. The stadium is completely empty except for one section. What in the world?

I thought so too. It must have been taped much earlier in the day for some logistical reason.

[Kung Wu]

I can imagine the athletes felt very awkward.

[ShockerDropOut]

According to news feeds that I have read, the stands were not as empty as they seemed, or so it is said anyway. The lower bowl was reserved for athletes according to the report. The upper bowl with the LEDs, were filled but hard to see people due to the lights. Make of you what you will. I thought they looked empty too.

[pogo]

I hope they are well attended but I can't envision making South Korea a destination in the dead of winter. As Marine hero "Chesty" Puller was quoted at the "Frozen" Chosin "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things. Retreat hell we are attacking in a different direction."

[WuDrWu]

There were 10s of people at the normal hill ski jumping finals this morning (about 11pm Korean time). It was brutal, windy and miserable, but there were more people at the last women's WSU home game. A LOT more.

[pogo]

I wonder how Korea's version of the Siberian express with high winds will effect the ski jumping. That could get really ticklish.

[Kung Wu]

yeesh

[WheatShock]

If you want to watch some good hockey the US & Canadian womens teams are playing tonight.

[WuDrWu]

Tough hockey day. Odd that the women's match was much more physical than the men's. Both lost.

[WheatShock]

Tough hockey day. Odd that the women's match was much more physical than the men's. Both lost.

USA vs Canada is always a physical game and it doesn't matter whether its men's, women's, or junior's.

I'm actually encouraged by the game, the US had the edge in scoring chances and looked like the superior team for long stretches of the game. I'll be surprised if Canada's goalie can repeat that effort in the likely rematch next Thursday.

[Kung Wu]

This is the women's giant slolam attendance:

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[Kung Wu]

Alpine skiing attendance:

[1972Shocker]

I have not followed the Winter Olympics much at all but the USA Women won a couple of very impressive gold medals.

First of the USA Women took on Canada in the Gold Medal Hockey game. Canada had won the 4 previous Women's Hockey Gold. After 60 minutes of regulation, 20 minutes of overtime and 5 shoot-out rounds the game was still tied. In round 6 Joselyn Lamoureux-Davidson used her Oops! I Did It Again move to score and then 20-year old Maddie Rooney stopped the Canadian shooter and the Gold belonged to the USA.

I'm sure you can easily find highlights but here is a link you can use: https://sports.yahoo.com/u-s-womens-...122030400.html

In maybe an even more exciting finish the USA Women won their first ever medal in Cross Country Sking and only the 2nd medal since Bill Koch won a silver 42 years ago in the 30km race. Jessica Diggins (in her 2nd Olympics) and 35-year old Kikkan Randall (in her 5th and final Olympics) paired up in the Women's Team Sprint where each woman alteranates skiing three 1.25km lap. So it is basically a 7.5km relay race. Kikkan skied the 1st, 3rd and 5th legs while Jessie skied the 2nd, 4th and 6th leg. Keep in mind the course is not flat and apparently the final hil before the home stretch, that they have named the Klaebo Bakken, is a killer.

The finish was fantastic and the call by the American annoucers may have rivaled Al Michaels' "Do You Believe in Miracles!" call.

Here is a video of he finish: https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/stat...64759829483521

Here is another look at with commentary from Jessica and Kikkan: https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/per...s-country-gold

I know nothing about skiing but from what I have read XC skiing is reported to be perhaps the most difficult of the endurance events in any sport. It requires both great aerobic and anaerobic training and by the end of race your arms burn, your legs burn and your lungs burn especially at the Olympiic level Klaebo Bakken.

Feel The Burn!

[WheatShock]

I stayed up to watch the Gold medal game last night and even though it made for a long day at work due to lack of sleep it was worth every second. A back and forth game with enough drama to rival the 2014 AL wild card game, this game and the will to win of this team will be remembered for a long time.

FYI for those of you who aren't hockey fans, Canada has beaten the US in Olympic gold medal games 5 times (2002 & 2010 Men's Hockey: 2002, 2010, & 2014 in Women's) in the last 20 years so its incredibly sweet for us to finally return the favor.

Edit: BTW even though i'm not a fan of using a shootout to decide a championship game this one was EPIC! Both teams put on a show and made some fantastic moves and the move by Lamoureux for the winning goal was one of the best you will ever see.

[WuDrWu]

That was sic!