What will it be this year?

My "money pit" has suffered most of its functional and financially crippling events the week between Christmas and New Year's. Often on December 31.

The last few years have seen a broken garage door spring (cars stuck inside), a burned out ejector pump for the basement bathroom (due to a valve failure), and a broken furnace (with temps at about zero).

We have been fortunate to receive timely and good quality service in each case, but not at discount prices.

The dishwasher has had intermittent electrical problems lately, but even if that fails it would hardly be crippling to the household.

I can only wonder what awaits me these last few hours of 2010....

Motion Picture Binge

The random intersection of the end of the Tour de France with a free trial of Netflix has spun me into an unintentional movie binge over the last two weeks.

Contrary to rumor, I am not intending to watch every one of the 100,000 items on Netflix before the end of the free trial to avoid paying any fees. But I did consider it.

I have watched 12.3 movies and 14 tv episodes during the trial. So far. And I've brought a few young friends along for part of the ride. Some are "reruns" of movies I watched many years ago, and wanted to see again and/or share with the kids. Most are movies I have never seen, from old classics to recently released films I missed in the theater.

Here is my one sentence review of each film from this group, in deference to the twitter culture. My ratings are based on 11 stars.

Mask (1994): Zany Jim Carey romp where a straight-laced banker finds an ancient mask that gives him cartoon superhero powers. 7 stars

Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008): Powerful concentration camp story told from a German officer family's perspective. 8 stars

Roxanne (1987): Steve Martin excels in this modern Cyrano remake. 9 stars

Saturday Night Fever (1977): I had forgotten how weak this disco era defining film is, although some of the dancing was entertaining. 3 stars

Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009): Entertaining teen comedy about a writer trying to work her way "up" to fashion in the magazine world. 6 stars

The Proposal (2009): Well done absurd, romantic comedy with a mis-match couple in a humorous setting. 8 stars

Flirting with Disaster (1996): Wandering comedy/adventure about adoptee Ben Stiller trying to find his birth parents (you'll notice I watch a lot of Tea Leoni films). 6 stars

Escape From Alcatraz (1979): Re-watch of the thrilling Clint Eastwood story based on the actual escape. 8 stars

You Kill Me (2007): Under the radar artsy film about an alcoholic mob assassin rehabing in SanFran so he can get back to work in Buffalo (another Tea flick). 8 stars

Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself (2005): Not a movie, but a good taped stand up comedy show...if you like that sort of thing. 7 stars

Soylent Green (1973): Rewatch of the futuristic overpopulated, polluted world of 2022 exploring several social themes including man's good/evil nature and the objectification of women. 9 stars

Holiday (1938): Cary Grant & Katherine Hepburn in a classic "common man marries rich girl" with quick dialogue and an even quicker plot. 10 stars

Next (2005): Nicholas Cage, as a Vegas magician who can see 2 minutes into the future, gets wrapped up in an FBI investigation and a soon-to-be romance. (No rating yet since I am only part way through this movie I taped to watch while I am working out)

I have many more films "queued up" for the dog days of August.

Vamos Espana!

I was told this was the rough equivalent to Viva la France.

After Spaniard Alberto Contador captured the Tour de France, I realized it was a sweep for Spain in the major international sporting events of the summer. A Spanish rider winning "Le Tour" is not a surprise. And Rafa Nadal capturing the Wimbledon crown cannot be considered an upset, although the Spainish usually excel on clay. But Spain also won the World Cup for the first time in it's history!

Congratulations to Spain on a historic month in sport.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY (a new feature for me. We'll see if it sticks)

The Good: Netflix. I started a free trial to catch up on some movies, especially old classics before my time, and good films I wanted to share with the kids (Roxanne, Soylent Green, Urban Cowboy, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers-Donald Sutherland version, Oh God, Abbott and Costello meet the Mummy, and several others).

What caught my eye was the ability to watch movies instantly through a game system (Wii, PS3, Xbox) when it is linked to the interet, in addition to exchanging discs through the mail. It took about 3 minutes to set up, and the interface works very well. They don't have a lot of the movies/tv shows available "instantly", but there are allegedly 20,000 items available this way, including several items from 2009 and 2010. I have watched many movies in the first 10 days of the trial, and a few tv episodes. This includes the entire first season (ten 21 min eps) of Archer, an irreverent international spy/comedy/comic that aired on FX this winter. Think Kimpossible for grownups. I plan to include it in my 09/10 tv season review, if I ever blog it. It will be a review since I dragged my feet too long on the preview.

Overall, I give Netflix an A+ as both delivery methods are quick and reliable. I will become a regular subscriber.

The Bad: Walgreens. I have been a longtime investor and fan, but they have been swinging and missing with me a lot lately.

I went to pick up a prescription I had dropped off weeks earlier. They could not fill it at that time because the insurance company said it was too close to the last date filled. No problem. They told me to come back after a certain date. I did. Remarkably, it still wasn't ready and would be done in a "few minutes." How many days does it take to put pills in a bottle?

So I looked around (which is one of the reasons prescriptions "take a few minutes"). There was a store remodeling sale going on, which was nice since the remodeling was causing some issues. The sign on the door said 50%-75% off clearance items. However, the reality was it was 50% off the second item when the first was purchased at full price. A bit deceptive. Really a 25% discount to buy in volume.

The last straw was when I was overcharged for candy by my preferred candy supplier. Good N Plenty in this case. They advertise the "3 for $3", but the cash registers consistently have trouble with this. Granted, it was only a 60 cent overcharge that I didn't notice until I was gone, but this is not the first time.

Three strikes in what should have been an easy less-than-five-minute stop? Disappointing.

The Ugly: Comcast. I'm sure any of us could go on for hours about their local cable tv provider, so I will try to keep my rant brief. As an investor, I always found monopolies appealing, but as a sheep customer, they just suck.

The current "service enhancement" requires cable boxes on every tv, even though technology overcame this need about 25 years ago. This allows the cable company to better control who is getting/paying for the signal, and also allows them to charge monthly for required equipment. Kind of like going to a restaurant, ordering the soup, and then being charged an additional per minute fee for the use of a spoon.

This "simple" installation of the boxes required re-configuring tv/vcr/dvd/gaming system set-ups, and even dismantling an entertainment system to get to everything and make it work right.
The end result:

• 3 of 4 tvs working with the new boxes (the 4th one isn't directly Comcast's fault because I can't get the tv and vcr to work together, but it was working fine before I was forced to take it apart).
• 9, or 14, or some other number of new channels I don't care about. Hey, how about giving us back SyFy Network (formerly SciFi)?
• Another! remote for each room. May possibly be able to consolidate in one or two cases, but seeing my friend's family rooms doesn't make me optimistic.
• Another! plug to find an outlet for in 4 rooms (very green Comcast!).
• A lost Saturday afternoon for three people.
• An additional monthly charge.

The benefit? Other than the opportunity to dust in some normally inaccessible places, it appeared we would now get OnDemand. But there is an error message saying we need to call them again after spending 20 minutes on the phone already trying to "activate" the new service.

I feel Comcastic!

I was trying to think of what the entries for comcastic would be in a thesauras, but my therapist is insisting I take a few deep breaths and think pleasant thoughts right now. Any suggestions for thesauras entries from the readers?

BlackHawks, Oil Spills, World Cup, and Conference Realignment

May you live in interesting times--ancient Chinese proverb/curse.

Early June is usually a slow time for news, but this season seems to have a lot of "interesting" things going on...good and bad.

BLACKHAWKS WIN!! In a city starved for championships, save for a flurry of Bulls' titles in the 90s, this winning of The Cup was as enjoyable as it was rare. I wasn't alive the last time the Hawks triumphed (in a 6-team league back then), and the Bears and the Sox have only nailed down a single title apiece in the last half century. And that other Chicago baseball team? I can't even imagine this city if that spectacularly unlikely event should ever occur.

It was great to see the people of Chicago bond for the playoff run, and then celebrate wildly for days. Who knew they even played hockey in June ?!

Uncontrolled Gusher: I am amazed there haven't been more similar problems with underwater drilling, given the complexity of operating miles beneath the surface. I guess everyone else just follows safety procedures better, which is much appreciated. This makes the Valdez spill look like a literal drop in the bucket.

I hate to harp on the media's bias to sensationalize (not really), but have you noticed that everything oil related is always reported in barrels...except this oil spill. At 42 gallons per barrel, it sounds better to say "2 million gallons of oil have leaked" rather than "more than 47 thousand barrels...."

One Game Changes Everything. I do enjoy the quadrennial display of the "beautiful game," but it is certainly no Olympic Games. As usual, the buzz in the US is somewhat muted, while the rest of the world lives and dies on every play. The US seems to be a little over-rated again this year and low scoring games are the general rule in the first round. I vow to use the word nil to describe anything nothing or zero in daily life until this tournament is over.

I am picking Portugal to defeat Spain in the Championship game. (My sentimental pick would be a US-Italy PK shootout, but I don't think I will ever see that day.)

College Conference Realignment: Seldom has there been so much bustle and angst about college sports in June. Conferences do change their affiliations occasionally, but the Big Ten has only made two additions in 98 years. Until this month. Nebraska's jump from the Big 12 to the Big Ten appears to be a better fit for them academically, and they won't have to live under the perceived control of U of Texas in all things athletically related.

There continue to be hourly rumors about other schools moving besides the already announced shifts by Nebraska, Colorado, and Boise St., but I won't be shocked if the waters calm for a few years. I do expect the Pac-10 will add at least one more to get to the 12 needed to split divisions and have championship games. This could be U of Utah (UU?) if a bigger shift fails to materialize.

Assuming the Big Ten changes are done for now, I forsee a West Division of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. The East Division would be Indiana, Michigan, Mich St., The Ohio State, Penn State, and Purdue. Everyone thinks of Nebraska football, but the school is actually more powerful in gymnastics, volleyball and wrestling (and possibly others I'm forgetting). I think it is a good fit.

I find it amusing that these academic/athletic conferences are a little mathematically challenged at the moment:

• The Big Ten has 12 schools (no more inaccurate than the 11 it has carried for two decades).
• The Big 12 sits with 10 schools (I just don't see a name trade happening here ;).
• And the Pac-10 consists of 11 institutions of higher learning (but this # will change).

Kentucky Derby 2010

Another year, another Kentucky Derby where the best horse goes out with an injury just days before the race. Eskendereya was a solid pick this year, but a swollen ankle will keep him out for at least a few weeks. Perhaps we will see him in the Preakness or Belmont??

It appears to me this year's Derby is filled with second tier contenders and several wannabes up to the max of 20 horses. You can find something to not love about every horse...but someone will still win over a weak field. The track will probably be sloppy again this year which will open the door for a possible big longshot like Mine That Bird last year.

I'm taking a different approach this year: I will explain why most of the horses won't win the race, and share my thoughts on my prime contenders at the bottom of this post. This, of course, sets me up to possibly "George" this year's race if the winner comes from my early throw-aways.

Some of the factors I look at include: breeding, performance on dirt tracks, performance around two turns (especially at CD), dual qualifiers (statistical analyses based on breeding and early career achievement), top speed performance, running style, and time since last race.

Voted least likely to succeed:

Back Talk-Likes the muddy tracks, but too slow and won't like longer distance.

Paddy O'Prado-Grass horse. Never won on dirt. Probably never will, but the owners get to party at the Derby.

Stately Victor-Woke up on the poly track in the Blue Grass Stakes, but shown nothing on dirt. Pass.

Line of David-I really tried to like this one because of the name, but I can't. Breeding and front-running style say "no" to finding the winner's circle in this one. But I will still have $2 on him to win.

Conveyance-Another front-runner with weak distance breeding.

Dean's Kitten-Another turf horse. Will like the distance, but not much else.

Homeboykris-Hasn't raced since February, and won last in October.

Make Music for Me-A dual qualifier, but hasn't raced on dirt and was beaten badly last race.

Noble's Promise-A popular pick of veteran horse players, but he is too slow for me.

Sidney's Candy-2nd favorite in the morning line, I thought I would throw him out early to make this interesting. Another with front running style and questionable distance breeding, he has never run on dirt. Drew the 20 post to ice him as a non-factor.

These ones have a chance to make an impact:

Ice Box-Late running style fits here, but may not be fast enough in this crowd.

Devil May Care-Dual qualifier with good distance breeding and recent performances. But inconsistent, and filly has never raced against the boys. Not in the same class as other star fillies like Rachel Alexandra, Winning Colors, etc.

Dublin-Meets most of the success factors for Derby winners, but just hasn't run fast enough to be a prime contender.

American Lion-Another popular pick who has shown versatility, but has also been too slow to rate as a serious contender here.

Mission Impazible-La Derby winner is hot at the right time, but can he get the distance?

Prime Contenders:

4 Super Saver-Top pick is 15-1 on the morning line. Has won around two turns at Churchill Downs, been sharp in his prep races this year, has strong distance breeding, and has won on a sloppy track. Not a stand-out in a stronger year, but has enough to do the job in this field.

1 Lookin At Lucky-Dual qualifier who likes to win races. Rallied from significant trouble in his last race to finish an impressive 3rd. Has been the fastest horse so far. Legit favorite. Worried that he likes to "find trouble" and the inside post won't help him in that regard.

15 Discreetly Mine-Another dual qualifier who has raced well this year and should like the longer distance. A clean trip could put him in position to win coming down the stretch.

16 Awesome Act-Yet another dual qualifier (more than usual this year), this 30-1 longshot meets most of the success factors for Derby winners...if he can get the distance.

LONGSHOT SPECIAL

13 Jackson Bend-Never worse than 2nd in nine races, this ultra consistent grinder will be overlooked by most, but has a lot of factors in his favor. I don't think he will win, but a place or show wager could prove quite profitable to his backers while everyone else fawns over the winner.

Olympics - Cool 11

It happens every Olympics. I know it is coming to an end (the whole Closing Ceremonies is a big clue), but I still try to turn the television on the next day to get my fix. I have a letdown, a void that my rational brain should be able to overcome. But I will get over it, and soon realize that you should never turn the tv on during a normal weekday.

COOL 11

My goal was to find the cool people, places, and things from this Olympiad. The ones that really made an impression on me. For people, it was typically someone I would want to sit down with over lunch. As I expected, there were many more than eleven.

11. Marit Bjoergen (Norway) - Cross Country Skiing. Major medal haul!

10. Billy Demong and Johnny Spillane (USA) -Cross Country Skiing. The US finally figured out how to do well in this sport, and these guys were also a good interview.

9. 3rd Skips in Curling (aka Vice Skips). I don't care what any of the experts say, these were the key players in most of the close curling matches.

8. Simon Amman (Switzerland) - Ski Jump. Still doesn't look like Harry Potter, but a very entertaining jumper.

7. Norway Curling Pants. One of the truly lasting images of the games. Can be obtained at: http://readygolf.com/Loudmouth-Golf-MENS-Pants-Dixie/7841/

6. Canada's Women's Hockey Team. Not only the best, but these women have plenty of character.

5. Simul-cam. So much better to watch several sports (e.g. skiing, bobsledding) with this technology.

4. Petter Northug (Norway) - Cross Country Skiing. The ultimate rugged competitor, with the perfect tough guy name (Pet-ter Nor-tug). I am convinced he could have won gold in any event at these games.

Bronze: Ryan Miller (USA) - Hockey. The MAN.

Silver: Julia Mancuso (USA) - Downhill Skiing. Wonderful skier, and much more likable than some other over-hyped participants.

Gold: Shaun White (USA) - Snowboarding.

Honorable mention: I did not intend for the USA to "sweep the medals" in my Cool 11, but the three top choices were hard to deny due to their top performances and infectious personalities. I'm sure there are several other worthy choices out there that did not get exposure in the American media. Some of the other possibilities that just missed my Cool 11 include: Charlotte Kalla (Swe), Jason Lamy Chappuis (Fra), Apolo Ohno (USA), host country Canada, blind sled dog Isobel, Hannah Kearney (USA), Mary Carillo, and A.K. Flatland (Nor).

Olympics Days 15&16

Thank you Winter Olympics 2010, for making the last half of February zip by quickly. It was a great Games, despite some early snags, and Canada was a great host nation.

Women's ski jump?: Ski Jump (and Nordic Combined which includes jumping) is unique in the Winter Olympics being "men only." The Olympic Charter specifically states "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement" as a fundamental principle of Olympism. In 2006, the IOC voted not to include women's ski jumping in the 2010 Games because it did not meet the vague "technical requirements." They won't spell out the specific requirements, but it basically relates to the number of active participants and the number of high level competitions.

By 2009, women's ski jumping progressed significantly in those "technical" areas, holding a world championship, and it likely has more participants than bobsled and the new ski cross event. A group even went to court in Canada suing Vancouver2010 to include the event. The court sympathized with the plantiffs, but ruled it the IOC's domain, and out of the jurisdiction of Canadian courts.

Unlike other sports, adding this event would not require any new space or facilities since the women use the same jumps as the men. In fact, American Lindsey Van (not to be confused with Lindsey Vonn) held the distance record off the Whistler normal hill going into the 2010 Olympics. Yes, she has even out-jumped all of the top men. Let's hope the IOC soon votes to include the sport in the 2014 Games, and doesn't revert to its sometimes petty and political ways to punish these athletes for ruffling a few feathers going into the 2010 festivities.

Shadow update: Pres. Obama's healthcare telethon was largely ignored by the public last Thursday, but it is hard to tell if the Olympics overshadowed the spectacle. Perhaps people were actually smart enough to realize it would just be both parties posturing for the upcoming general election. Baseball Spring training started already?

I thought the men's 50k Cross Country ski event would be completely overshadowed by the legendary matchup in the Gold medal Hockey game, but I was wrong. Not only was the event exciting, (with only one second separating the three medalists after 31 miles!) but the medal ceremony was during the Closing Ceremonies, making it one of the most watched presentations and anthems of the Games.

2nd week gold rush: While Canada and Norway were both doing relatively well (top 5) in the medal standings after week one, both teams were suffering criticism from their homeland about disappointing performances. Better performances by the Norwegians and a better mix of events for the Canadians launched both countries to an outstanding medal haul in week two. Which leads us to...

Medal Count: As every media outlet has broadcast, the US set a "PR" in winning the medal count, while the Canadians impressively harnessed the most Gold medals. Germany got little notice, but captured the second most medals. Norway may have been the most impressive, finishing fourth in the overall medal count with 23. That pushed the them over 300 Winter Olympic medals, the most all-time by any nation. What is most impressive is that Norway has a population of only 4.7 million (a little less than Colorado), meaning one Olympic medal for each 204,000 citizens. For Canada to match that same productivity, it would have to win 161 medals! We won't even talk about large nations like Germany, Russia, or the USA.

Biggest Disappointments: In every major event there are disappointments. And every nation will have a different list. Here is my take:

1) Russia; perhaps they were lying low so they can burst onto the scene as the host in 2014, but it was a subpar Olympics for them finishing 11th with 15 medals-3 Gold. Their vaunted hockey team was eliminated early. They failed to win Gold in figure skating for the first time since ice was invented. What's worse is men's Silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko continues to complain about the scoring system. He is fully aware of the rules and recent changes, but refuses to change his routine and do more jumps during bonus time at the end. He wants the judging to focus almost solely on quad jumps. Perhaps he should switch sports to Ski Jumping or Aerials where years of training come down to one or two jumps that take a few seconds.

2) Dutch speed skating coach Gerard Kemkers; with his skater comfortably leading the 10k event, he mistakenly told his skater to move into the inner lane at the wrong time. Immediate disqualification and national humiliation in the Netherlands where speed skating is revered like football in the US.

3) Lindsey Vonn; yes she won a gold medal, but after hearing about how dominant she is in the world of skiing I expected more. Instead, we heard a lot of soap opera, whining and excuses rather than seeing the "Champion" attitude we see from so many others.

4) Greece; the originators of the Olympic Games are still looking for their first ever medal in the Winter series after a century. Sure, they don't get snow and ice in Greece. But you would think they would have found a way to earn at least a single medal by now.

Cool 11 Update: I will publish my Cool 11 in a separate post once I have had a chance to fully digest the games. Top medal winners Marit Bjoergen-5 (left) and Petter Northug-4 (right), both of Norway, will get full consideration. Northug won the Cross Country 50k Gold on the final day by 0.3 seconds.

Olympics Days 13 & 14

Firsts: It seems that everyday there are new "firsts" for this Olympics. I can't rememeber it being this frequent. It seems likely in the new sports and in sports with new scoring (e.g. figure skating), but there are a few in the traditional sports that caught my attention.

The Canadian women took the top two spots in the two-"person" Bobsled, with an American pair led by Erin Pac taking Bronze. This was the first time North Americans swept the medals in a sport dominated by northern European nations. I believe it was also the first medals for Canadian women in any bobsled event. (Own the Podium kicking in).

The US had only ever won two medals in the Nordic events (Cross Country Skiing, Biathlon, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined), one in XC in 1976 and another in Ski Jump in 1932. So Johnny Spillane set several firsts in garnering three silver medals in Nordic Combined, including one as part of the first US relay medalists in these sports.

Forgotten winners: Who can forget Sven Kramer, the Dutch speedskater who was DQed when his coach told him to change lanes on the wrong lap? I think many recall Lindsey Vonn crashing in the Super G and inadvertently wrecking Julia Mancuso's chance at another medal. And some remember the Korean short track team being DQed in a relay event. But does anyone remember who won these events? Well, China won the ST relay, with Canada moving up to Silver and the badly beaten fourth place Americans getting Bronze. Lee Seung-Hoon from Korea added to his country's impressive medal haul from the ice rinks with Gold in the contorversial 10k speedskating race. And 20 year-old Victoria Rebensburg from Germany won her first senior race ever to take the Super G Gold in the "Lindsey Vonn crash race."

Forgotten loser: More of a non-participant really. Germany's Patrick Beckert missed his chance to compete in these Olympics because he didn't have his phone turned on. As an alternate, he was moved into his speed skating event when another athlete dropped out. In fact, four alternates missed a chance to be in this competition. Race officials tried frantically to reach him, and even got ahold of his sister by phone. But he did not get there in time, and he missed his Olympic chance. What exactly was he doing in Vancouver that was more important than his only opportunity to compete?? Wouldn't he at least be there to watch the race?

How cool is that?: During the women's hockey medal ceremony, several children of US players joined them on the ice when they received their medals. Standing with your Mom as she gets an Olympic Silver medal--Priceless.

Good Commercials: I like the ATT ad where the snowboarder leaves the atmosphere and enters outer space. Good music. I also like the Visa "go world" spots featuring former Olympic athletes. The Dan Jansen one is especially good.

Cool 11: US Nordic Combined athlete and 3-time Silver medalist Johnny Spillane. He and his teammates really love this sport. 2-person Bobsled Bronze medalist Erin Pac. Clearly just a "regular girl", her genuine down-to-Earth attitude really came through in interviews.

Olympics Special - Canada

One of the things I like best about the Olympics is learning more about the host country. Some of the best, lasting impressions I have of the 2008 Summer Games are the television features about China. Even though Canada is a lot closer to home, and we know a good deal about our neighbor, I have still enjoyed Mary Carillo's segments on the western portion of the Great White North. From polar bears to modern day loggers, NBC has done a good job capturing the breathtaking images of Canada along with introducing us to some "everyman" Canadians and all of the wonderful animals.

We meant Own the "Top of the" Podium: Canada's long term goal to win the most medals at the 2010 Games seems to have morphed into "win the most Gold medals." It is always good to be flexible with your goals. It would be pretty impressive if the Canadians end up with the most Gold, and it is a real possibility. With the home team in all four team sport finals (hockey and curling for both genders), as well as men's ST and LT team events, there are still opportunities. They already nabbed Gold in women's hockey and Silver in women's curling. The men's events will be played this weekend.

Party on Garth: The Canadian women win a lot of hockey games and tournaments, so they have a lot of experience celebrating. Apparently the IOC doesn't appreciate them exercising this acquired skill at the Olympic venue. There is speculation they will be kicked out of the Village and banned from the Closing Ceremonies. I don't see a big problem here, so I think everyone should just relax.

Of course, I was able to find good pics. Beer, cigars, gold medals and a Zamboni. The only thing missing is Bob and Doug McKenzie, eh!

Olympics Days 11&12

Where has the fortnight gone? It seems we were just watching the opening ceremony, and now there are only a few days and a few medal events left. The Winter Games aren't as overwhelming as the Summer Games, but there has been a lot of good events going on.

Hockey: I didn't pay a lot of attention to hockey the first week, but it has really caught my attention the last few days. The women have been in the playoff rounds, and the US and Canada faceoff for gold tomorrow (Thursday). It is the right matchup, and should be a great game. The US men's quarterfinal 2-0 win over Switzerland was a lot closer than the score indicated, and a fun game to watch. Canada pounding Russia in another quarterfinal was impressive. Much like the US breaking a long drought against Canada, our northern neighbors had not beaten Russia/USSR in Olympic hockey for 50 years. Nice to see one of the gold medal favorites gone before the semis.

Rea-dy: One of the subtle, but enduring nuances of the Games has been the computerized starter voice in speed skating (and other events?). Saying "rea-dy" in a mechanical tone seems to be seeping into conversations and monologues outside of the Olympics.

How long does it take to win gold?: Many years if you count all of the preparation and training. But in the Olympic games, the time it takes to win varies considerably by sport. The Wall Street Journal did a nice feature on this subject based on the men's results from the 2006 Games in Italy.

Including all qualifying stages, they found Ski Jumping to be the quickest event for the gold medalist at 26 seconds. The slowest event? No surprise here with Curling lumbering to the finish line in over 12 hours.

Fastest to Gold

1. Ski Jumping 00:00:26
2. Aerials Skiing 00:00:30
3. Moguls Skiing 00:00:46
4. 1000m Speedskating 00:01:09

Slowest to Gold

1. Curling 12:45:00
2. Hockey 08:00:00
3. 50K Cross Country 02:06:12

I guess this explains why it seems like Curling is on tv so much compared to other events. And this estimate only included the "rocks" of the winning team, not the time it took their opponent to play. Said another way, the winning curling team spent over 25 hours in matches over two weeks. As a comparison, the article pointed out it took Usain Bolt 39.66 seconds to win 100m Gold in Beijing, including the qualifying heats.

Post Olympic Preview: NBC will be looking for Olympic afterglow to get Jay Leno's return to the Tonight Show off to a fast start next week. First week guests include Olympic medalists Lindsey Vonn (Mon), Shaun White (Tues), and Apolo Anton Ohno (Wed).

Cool 11: One candidate is Isobel, the blind sled dog in Manitoba. Another is Canadian Skicross star Ashleigh McIvor (pic top) who seemingly has the ability to get out of any messy situation, and whose ingenuity made her a runaway Gold medal winner. Reminds me of her psuedo-namesake Macgyver from the popular tv show in the 1980's. Wasn't there an episode where he strapped branches on his feet and used them as skis? What a minute, Ashleigh is from Whistler and the show filmed in Vancouver for several years. Hmmmm. Can you see a family resemblance in the pictures below?

Olympics Days 9&10

Rent a piece of the podium?: Much has been made about Canada's Own the Podium program that spent millions in an attempt to garner the most medals in the 2010 Olympics. Perhaps they were a little too ambitious, and unfortunately may have set up the populace for disappointment even though the Canadians are objectively having a good Olympics.

Even I may have sipped a little too much of the maple flavored kool-aid in the pre-game hype when I picked them to finish 2nd to Germany in the medal count. It looks like the US and Germany will have the most medals, with the exact order still to be determined. Canada will likely have a tough time passing Norway and Russia for the 3rd spot.

U-S-Eh!: "Major upset in Vancouver" just doesn't have the same ring to it as "Miracle On Ice," but the USA men's 5-3 win over Canada Sunday was about as unlikely as the victory over the USSR in '80. The last US Olympic hockey win over Canada was in 1960, where they not only used sticks made of wood, but skates also ;) The loss is resonating heavily up north, but the reality is that this only makes it a little more difficult for Canada to win the gold.

The are three reasons this USA triumph will not come close to matching "Miracle On Ice": 1) It was not young amateurs against seasoned pros; 2) It did not vault the US into a game for the gold medal; it simply gave the team a bye into the quarterfinals; and 3) There was no cold war implications in this victory. Sure, Canada is always trying to shake the shadow of their North American neighbor (and where better than their national sport?), but it hardly feels like a life and death battle over ideology.

And speaking of USA hockey, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dominant women's team that cruised into the gold medal game with an 9-1 warmup over Sweden in the semis. The ladies have not been tested yet, and face Canada for the gold medal.

TV coverage: The daytime coverage continues to outshine the primetime version, largely because NBC condenses so many of the sports at night (except figure skating). They have more time during the day, and they are able to show good portions of the events live. The announcing also seems better, and more real compared to the voice overs on highlight tapes.

A good example of an exciting event that did not make it to the evening coverage was Monday's Team Cross Country Sprint. The US has only one cross country skiing medal ever, a men's individual silver in 1976. But both the men's and women's entry in this event made the finals and finished 9th and 6th respectively.

The race is a two-person relay where each teammate skis one lap three separate times. The races were exciting and the background scenery breathtaking. The Belarus men were disqualified in the semi when the final skier mistakenly turned down the transition lane rather than continue to the finish line. I don't know if they would have medaled, but I'm sure it will get more media attention in EuroAsia than it will here. The German women edged the Swedes for gold, and men's XC legend Petter Northug led Norway to victory by outsprinting the Germans and Russians in the final 100 meters.

Ice Cream Angle: Freestyle skier Hannah Kearney, already a Cool 11 candidate, is a Vermont native and would love to have a Ben & Jerry's flavor named after her. So would co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, big Keraney fans, but they sold the company and no longer control those decisions. She would like it to be coffee ice cream with oreo cookies. Yuck.

Snowboard medalist Hannah Teter (also from Vermont) already has her own flavor, Hannah Teter's Maple Blondie. Teter, who received recent attention in the much publicized SI swimsuit edition, founded a charity years ago called Hannah's Gold to help a village in Kenya with food, water and schools. She donates her snowboard winnings and proceeds from family maple syrup sales to the charity. She also has a merchandise line called "Sweet Cheeks," and is donating $5 from the sale of each pair of underwear to Doctors Without Borders to help in the Haiti relief effort. http://www.sweetcheekspanties.com/.

Cool 11: USA men's goalie Ryan Miller and his 42 saves against Canada (pics below). Also a great interview. Swedish cross country star Charlotte Kalla (right & skiing above). Halfpipe silver medalist Hannah Teter.

Olympics Days 7&8

Newsflash: Both the US men's and women's curling teams actually won a match. The men beat the young Swedish squad, and the women edged the very attractive Russian team. I think the Russians made a big mistake demoting Ludmila Privivkova (pic) to 3rd rock from 4th rock and leaving the match in the shaky hands of 19-year old Anna Sidorova. (There has been extensive curling coverage this year, so I thought I would throw in some lingo to make it look like I know what's going on).

Speaking of curling, it is always a good place to start the "Is it a sport?" debate that comes up every Olympics about various sports. I have also heard it asked about Bobsleigh (the official name) and Figure Skating. The beef with skating is whether it is "too artistic" and not athletic enough. In my opinion, this one is a no-brainer. The athletic ability to execute these routines is amazing, and the training and stamina necessary to get through the program is undeniable.

But I think we need a system to determine whether an event is a real sport. So I have come up with a 3-point test. If you can answer yes to all three points, the event is NOT a real sport.

1. Can you, and do participants regularly, drink beer while participating in this activity? (If bowling immediately comes to mind, this test can also apply to non-Olympic events).

2. Can a normal person complete the event in an Olympic venue without severe injury? (Any average person who thinks the can ski "slowly" through the downhill course is living in a fantasy world).

3. Are several of the sport's highest level athletes noticably overweight? (Wow, it is hard to come up with any outside of curling other than one notable bobsled driver).

Clearly, each of these is open to some stretching or interpretation, but I think we can pretty safely identify almost every Olympic event as definitely a sport using these criteria.

Curling? Its pretty obvious you can say yes to all three, but I suppose opinions will vary. So by my 3-point definition, Curling is not a sport. It is a game. But, of course, these are called the Olympic Games. I am not suggesting Curling be removed from the winter games, so maybe this exercise just gives us something to debate?

Are there high level athletes in the game of Curling? Yes, I am sure there are some. But there are many who are not high level athletes, and several others that are not in top physical condition. Can you say that about figure skating or other sports in the Olympics? I know that most can do the 100 meter dash without hurting themselves, and probably even drink beer while running, but you never see an overweight sprinter in a high level meet.

What about non-Olympic "sports" like bowling and golf? Again, pretty obvious "yes" answers to all three. I'm not trying to diminish the skill necessary to do any of these games, I just don't think they qualify as "athletic sports." Are there other examples I am overlooking? Sailing?

Olympic Shadow: Not for Tiger. His "public statement" was about the most overpublicized non-event outside of the world of reality tv. He admits to doing something wrong, he apologizes, blah blah blah. Absolutely nothing new. Why does everyone care so much? I guess the media types who didn't get the Olympic assignment were really craving a slice of limelight this week.

Cool 11: Previously mentioned Ludmila Privivkova (I like her Olympic red hair over her previous blond look). Great Britain Skelton slider Amy Williams (right). Already mentioned Simon Amman and Julia Mancuso keep adding to their medal count and Cool 11 appeal.

Olympics Days 5&6

The stars came out for the USA on Wednesday night, and NBC primetime must have loved every minute of it. Apolo Ohno, Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis, and Shaun White all competed, the latter three garnering gold medals with impressive performances. Apolo was only in a relay prelim, but he skated well in his ample airtime.

Evan Lysacek followed on Thursday with his own gold medal to cap off a great 48 hours for Canada's southern neighbor. Most countries won't win four gold medals in the entire games, and the strong performances from the US are casting much doubt on my medal count predictions. Germany still looks like the eventual winner, but the US is putting a gap on the hometown heros.

Name Game: I always like when athlete's names fit the sport (e.g golf's Chip Beck or Tiger Woods), so I was thrilled to see biathlete/cross country skiier A.K. Flatland competing. The Norwegian 27 year-old has already competed in three biathlon races finishing 8th, 10th, and 14th. She has her own website http://www.akflatland.no/.

I'm on the lookout for more good Olympic names, so leave a comment if you find one.

Google Search update: I did find one prior reference to "sno-bo cross" in a response to a Slate article in 2006. There are a couple of new references after my last post, but that post shows up number four if you Google the term.

Commercials: The Marriage Ref looks bad. It looks like a good outlet for a couple of comedians sitting around a studio, but I can't imagine watching the show.

Odds & Ends: Ouch...this is the first Olympics where it seems like several of the athlete's parents are younger than me.

I expected figure skating to be a major vote getter in both polls (favorite and least favorite), and that is what we are seeing. It is always a ratings grabber, but I think several people (including me) are burned out on the over-exposure.

Curling is also getting hammered in the "least favorite" poll. Is it because the US teams are doing so poorly? They are actually physically performing well, but are choking away every win opportunity. The men are especially bad, losing three of four in OT (extra ends?) when they have had several good opportunities to win.

Cool 11: Julie Mancuso is not a new name, but she is one of the frontrunners for my list (pictures top and bottom). Norway's curling pants (pic right)? I guess you love 'em or hate 'em. But I definitely like the uniforms of most of the halfpipe/snowboarding teams. Halfpiper (they are actually called riders) Louie Vito of the US is a good interview, and Shaun White (below) is magnetic.