- U.S. hockey's unbelievable silver medal run. Led by Ryan Miller, Brian Rafalski, and Zach Parise, the Yanks exceeded ALL expectations, and took Canada to overtime in the gold medal game. In the preliminaries, they dispatched Norway and Switzerland before pulling a stunning upset over Canada. They were the #1 seed overall going into the tournament, and after once again defeating Switzerland in the quarterfinals quickly put away Finland after an astonishing 6-0 lead 13 minutes into the semifinal game. In the gold medal game, they fell down 2-0 to Canada, but came back and tied it when Zach Parise got one past Roberto Luongo with 24 seconds remaining in the third period. Sidney Crosby would hit the game-winner in overtime, but that took nothing away from a superb run by the Americans. Goaltender Ryan Miller was named tournament MVP, and deservedly so.
- Nodar Kumaritishvilli, a Georgian luger, tragically died in a practice ride on the day of the opening ceremonies. He was thrown from his luge and hit a steel beam head first at 90+ mph.
- Watching probably 80% of the hockey games on NBC, CNBC, or USA. The only ones I didn't get to watch were the ones shown on MSNBC (though I did make an effort to watch the first US/Canada game online).
- Other hockey memories: Jaromir Jagr getting demolished by Alexander Ovechkin in the Russia/Czech Republic game; Jonas Hiller's unbelievable performance in Switzerland's 0-2 loss to Canada; Slovakia giving Canada all they wanted in the Canucks' 3-2 semifinal win.
- Sweden's Johann Olson coming out of nowhere to win three medals in the long-distance skiing events. He had a HUGE lead in one event before his countryman Marcus Hellner overtook him in the final sprint. But he'd never even come close to a top-three finish in any world-class calibre event.
- Norway's Petter Northugg, who was apparently the #1 long-distance skier in the world, had a horrible start, but ended up winning some medals, including gold in the 50k on the last day
- Norway curling team's awesome pants.
- U.S. curling team absolutely choking largely thanks to skip John Shuster. We finished dead last.
- Naked Danish curling girl! One of Denmark's curling girls appeared topless in a Norwegian calendar, it found its way to Deadspin, and subsequently blew up.
- Actually understanding the rules of curling thanks to Ryan's explanation after 12 years of being clueless.
- Johnny Spillane winning the first American gold in one of the Nordic events ever.
- Simon Ammann absolutely dominating the ski jumping field. Also, it was the first time I'd ever seen ski jumping; that sport looks so much fun!
- Apolo Ohno, the face of America's winter olympics team. He was DQ'd in the 500m after pushing a Canadian skater. In one of the qualifying rounds he hurdled over a couple of guys that had taken a spill. And in his first race, he got silver after trailing the two Koreans that crashed around the last turn.
- Sven Kramer, a Dutch speed skating beast. He dominated one of his races to get one gold, but was controversially disqualified in another for a lane infraction.
- Alexandre Bilodeau, the first Canadian to ever win gold in a Canadian Olympics thanks to his winning the men's mogul. He has a brother with cerebral palsy or something. Very inspiring stuff.
- Lukás Bauer, one of the Czech long-distance skiers, did well.
- Marit Bjørgen, a long-distance skiing Norwegian girl, had the best individual Olympics of anyone, winning five medals.
- Lindsey Vonn, America's skiing darling or something. She had a bruised shin just days before the Olympics but ended up being able to compete in all five of her events. She won one gold and one bronze, but either crashed or didn't medal in her other three events.
- Bode Miller, who was a major disappointment in Torino, actually got gold in one of the downhill skiing events. I think he competed in a couple of others but only won one gold.
- A Canadian figure skating girl competed in her event like two days after her mom, who had made the trip to Vancouver from Quebec, died.
Titan Spirit was the song used in the final montage by NBC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU0mu-qmy-U
At some point last night, I had perhaps a life-changing epiphany. I may or may not have figured out what sort of career path I wish to pursue. During the closing ceremonies, they had segments about the next games in London and Sochi, respectively. That got me to thinking about just how much planning there is that's required to put on an event of that magnitude. And then I realized...someone has to do it! I could be that someone! How cool would that be? Planning events like that, making site visits to the different cities and venues involved, marketing, etc. Therefore, I've decided to think about some sort of job with the Olympics or World Cup or some sort of major global sporting event. It would be perfect.
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On an unrelated note, I went to the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band show at Skull Alley on Saturday night...incredible. I caught one of the drumsticks Cuz threw into the crowd after the show! Then after the show in the lobby, I bought a CD, had them all sign it, and then talked to the band about seeing them in Tulsa two years ago, places in Fayetteville like George's and Bikers Blues and BBQ, and about a beer that Cuz had coming out. Those guys are so down-to-earth. One of my best concert experiences ever.
On Thursday, I went over to Ben Creech's new apartment and planned how our TRASH team was going to divide up questions. It was me, Creech, Josiah, Ram, and Colton. We watched the last few minutes of a Lost episode and then played Scene It - Turner Classic Movie Edition for like two hours.
That's it for now. 11 days til I'm back in Arkansas.
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