First, the hockey. You can call it sour grapes all you want, but something is botched in the system where a team can get beat 5-3 in regulation, face the same team again, have to go to overtime to beat them and then be awarded the gold medal. I get it, those are the rules. But, can anybody honestly say that Canada has the better hockey team than the U.S.A. this morning?
Team Canada was the greatest team ever assembled on a hockey rink. Not my words. Yet, they looked like USA Basketball circa 1998-2006. A bunch of high-priced superstars with no concept of team play. Martin Brodeur had a five hole the size of a watermelon. It took a few games for the coaching to finally kick in, but disaster almost struck the land to the north. Here's what I take away from yesterday and the week of hockey:
1) Sidney Crosby can now drink and drive anywhere in Canada - It was only fitting that he was the one who got the last goal. Couldn't have scripted it any better. He is not Gretsky, but that one goal is equal to 500 NHL goals in terms of the Canadian reverence. Now, he needs to facilitate a trade to the Maple Leafs and he will immediately become Prime Minister.
2) Gary Bettman is an idiot - What does the commissioner of a sport still reeling from a lockout do to capitalize on the biggest hockey game of the last 30 years? He sticks a size 13 skate in his mouth to talk about how the Olympics "disrupts" the NHL season and they need to take a look for 2014 as it relates to player participation. Are you kidding me? This is like Heidi Montag somehow getting an invitation to be on Oprah, but turns it down because she has a pre-scheduled plastic surgery.
The past two weeks did more for the NHL with the casual fan than 5 years worth of Stanley Cup Game 7's could. You saw pure effort and great play. And, NBC was smart enough to promote their NHL Game of the Week for next Sunday. Would you have known and Blackhawks and Red Wings were playing? Not me.
In fact, I know the Blackhawks are playing well, but only really knew they had Hossa. Now that Patrick Kane (see below) is my boy, I am suddenly interested in regular season hockey.
3) Patrick Kane is my homeboy - I vaguely remember the hullabaloo when Kane and Jack Johnson were drafted high as American-born players. The past 8 days was their coming-out party. Kane was just so fast and great with the stick. Jack Johnson wanted to fight every player with a leaf on their sweater. The US is rarely an underdog, so pulling for the team was great, but for me, these two just stood out because they were young and new. No offense to Brian Rafalski and Chris Drury, who somehow became grizzled veterans overnight.
4) Ryan Miller has an unlimited open tab at my house - If they had gotten a shot of him shedding a tear after the loss, I would've cried with him. He deserved the "Chuck Howley" award. (Don't get it? Google away). The saddest part was that he saved every shot that he had a chance on the entire tournament, except the last one. Go Sabres, for one reason.
5) Hockey was the winner - Having the stage to yourself to close the Olympics certainly helps, but this is what everybody outside of Norway (where cross country skiing is like the NFL and English Premier League all rolled into one) will be talking about for four years. Somewhere, a marketing person is trying to stage an exhibition between the US and Canada in 2012. Gold mine.
Okay, on to curling. No winter sport got more tv time than curling. I don't have the stats to back that up, but am 99% confident in that assertion. The 'C' in CNBC has a new reflection. Here is why I think it is so popular
a) It is foreign and largely unaccessible to most making it the "freak show" of the Olympics, in a good way.
b) It is the common man sport of the Olympics, similar to bowling but without the redneck stereotypes because, well, Scandinavians are playing it too.
c) It looks so easy, yet you know it is hard
d) The women were surprisingly good looking. Short of soccer and the rare golfer, name another sport where the women are surprisingly hot.
But, for some reason, once you started to understand the strategy, you were hooked, and looking for your nearest curling club.
And then there is the "agony of defeat." The US Men's team lost their first three matches thanks to Bill Buckner aka John Shuster whiffing on his last toss. You had to feel for the guy. He's a bartender and Olympic athlete. Is there any more underfunded Olympic sport? I mean, aren't the other athletes permanently training in Colorado Springs, sleeping in oxygen tanks and eating engineered food? Our best curler is balancing ice time by pouring jagerbombs and lugging kegs. That's why we love curling. Because deep in our hearts, we not only feel for the people sliding down the ice, but secretly believe that we have an equal shot at the 2014 team.
Training starts today...
Will
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