Bob Sledding

We watch the Olympics – if not all day these specific Games like in the past -- as much as reasonable, so that you don’t have to.

I woke up yesterday morning, put on the Olympics and saw there were six minutes left in the U.S. women’s hockey game against Finland, with Team USA leading 5-1.  As I noted yesterday, I like women’s hockey a lot – and this was one of the weirder finishes I’ve seen.  It didn’t seem that way at first, since that was how the game ended as I waddled around preparing for the day.  I was going to switch the channel, since the game was over, but decided to leave it on – and am glad I did.  Because as I passed by the TV several minutes later, I noticed to my great surprise that the game was back on.  What happened is that with a little over two minutes to go, when Finland was on a power play, they missed an open shot that clanked off the net.  But after the game, Finland’s coach challenged that missed-shot, and it turned out that the puck actually had gone in, bouncing off (not the metal bar, but) the miniature camera placed inside the net and ricocheted out.  So, it was ruled a goal, and those 2+ minutes were put back on the clock.  And – and I’m very excited that this is the first time I’ve ever gotten to say this – they still had to Finnish the game.  The teams were brought back on the ice, they played the last few minutes over again, and the Americans won 5-2 – and got to celebrate for a second time.

In the evening, I switched channels and a curling match was underway.  I didn’t pay it close attention, didn’t check who was playing and had it in the background somewhat as I was reading a book and periodically glancing up.  At one point, I heard one of the players yell out instructions to his teammate – as curlers regularly do – something like, “Watch the midway curl to go outside!!!”  Except it wasn’t just that, it was in full, “Watch the midway curl to go outside, ay?!!!”  It was the “ay?” that caught my attention.  My immediate thought, of course, was, okay, Canada is playing in this match.  I looked up at the screen – yep, it was Canada against Switzerland.

But it was the late-night broadcast that stood out.

Lead anchor Mike Turico hosted, and gave a detailed look at the range of controversies over China hosting the games – including human rights abuses of genocide, strongarm policies in dealing with other nations, its lack of transparency with the coronavirus and more.  And he even noted that these were concerns that affected viewers back in the United States.  Further, this was followed shortly after by a five-minute featurette on all that and more, (that also dealt with tennis star Peng Shuai who criticized a Chinese official and disappeared for several weeks).  Yet that wasn’t all, because after all that, they then had a discussion with two China experts.  Any one of these segments was plenty blunt, but all three together were shocking, and admirable.  I suspect that much of this (if not all) will be repeated on NBC’s primetime broadcast at some point.

Separate of this, what also became slightly more clear is that, as I noted, not all reporters will be in China.  I couldn’t exactly tell if Turico himself was in China, though when they went to the ice rink for figure skating, he did single out Andrea Joyce for specifically being there on site to do interviews.  When the announcing team of Jim Gannon, Tara Lipinski, and Johnny Weir were talking, though, they were in a studio, not the arena.  So, I suspect they’re back in the United States.  And again, as I wrote the other day, there were back to their excellent selves, analyzing during each skater (which I love), and letting the event predominate, not their own shtick.

Speaking of skating, they had the men’s short program for the team competition, and American Nathan Chen – who had a very disappointing Olympics four years ago, but has been the world champion since – gave a superb performance, to take the lead with the second-highest score ever in the event.

The team coverage also included pairs ice dancing.  I did not watch.  My standard is that any Olympic event that includes a required cha-cha and rhumba doesn't qualify for TV Watching Time.

And finally, no, I am not watching the Opening Ceremonies tonight.  It's not really a personal protest.  More of a close cousin.

More to come…