Skating Day

USA vs Canada hockey on TV, Philly vs Rat City roller derby on web. It's a good afternoon.

Just looking at the USA's team of alleged non-stars and grinders. Maybe so, but it's not like a team with Miller, Parise, Langenbrunner, and Kane is exactly short on talent. Sure, Canada is favored here, but this is hardly a mismatch. Enough with the 1980 comparisons. Please.

Hey, NBC

There's one Olympic event on right now. Just one. No conflicts. Men's 50km cross country skiing. It's a very big deal to a lot of people. Would it be too much trouble to show the bloody thing?

Of course it would. Instead, we are getting highlights of Lindsay Vonn's races from two weeks ago and the torch relay.

NBC: F*ck you.

ESPN: bid whatever it takes to win the Olympics rights. I don't care if my subscriber fees double. Please.

Getting it together

Russia, in losing 7-3 to a red hot Canadian team, did not show us much of anything. Which makes me wonder. The two biggest Russian stars, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, played on the same line. In the NHL, they play for the Capitals and Penguins, who have had a bitter rivalry for a few years now. Every time those two teams play, Ovechkin goes after Malkin, and vice versa. Let's face it, the two guys can't stand each other. And when they play on the same line, it looks that way. They remind me of when the science building is closed - no chemistry.

This isn't fantasy football. The whole line needs some understanding and instinct. Hatred usually won't cut it. Herb Brooks knew that - in 1980 he kept the Boston College and Minnesota players on different lines as much as he possibly could.

It's like the Detroit Lions, who drafted Georgia's stud QB Drew Stafford to throw to Georgia Tech's stud WR Calvin Johnson. I wouldn't take the risk. Too many years of indoctrination to undo.

What a disappointment that game was. How many months till college football starts again?

Canada vs Russia

Fantastic breakaway by Russia... SCORE!

And Canada is still up, 6 to 2. This thing is pretty much over and it's not even half done.

Man, did Nabakov have an awful night. Poor guy looks near to tears on the bench.

Don't even think about it

This costs us money, this disrupts our season and we're here because we think it helps our game. That doesn't mean we're not going to and it doesn't mean we are going to go. We will have a new CBA, and it will be a subject of discussions.

- Gary Bettman, on NHL players and their future in the Olympics

I know you're at the game, Mr. Bettman. I know you just saw the USA go 4-2 up on Canada, in the second tense and brilliant game of the day. With Finland and Sweden yet to take the ice. You are witness to a magical day of Olympic hockey - something I can merely dream of seeing, one day.

If you let these days continue.

In your time, you've taken NHL hockey away from Quebec and Winnipeg. You've taken away historic conferences and divisions. Please, Mr. Bettman, do not take away our Olympic hockey. Do not take away days like this.

That, Mr. Bettman, would be a horrendous mistake, even by your standards. Just this once, leave it alone.

Please.

It's nearly St. Patrick's Day

In the USA-Canada game, Ryan Kesler's hustle denied Ryan Getzlaf the chance to put the puck past Ryan Miller. The Irish influence is alive and well on the ice.

Upset? What upset?

Russia 4, Czech Republic 2

That was a fantastic game, with the result in doubt until Datsyuk's empty net goal in the dying seconds. Russia looked out of synch against Slovakia, but this time the KHL and NHL stars meshed beautifully. The Czechs, all fine players themselves, will be bitterly disappointed to miss out on winning the group.

And here we go on NBC with yet another vastly overblown homage to the 1980 US hockey team. That was indeed a phenomenal win, but geez, could we give it a rest? Especially with the portrayal of the Russians as a military style brutal machine. They played a skillful, beautiful game, and they were just hockey players. They weren't Communist party bosses. Please, can that just be a hockey game, and not the turning point of the Cold War?

A brand new sport

Through the history of competitive sports, there has been a trend for combining events into multi pronged contests: the biathlon, triathlon, pentathlon, and decathlon being fine Olympic examples. I want to take it to the next level: let's combine the combinations. The icosathlon would consist of the following events:

• Cross country skiing
• Rifle shooting
• Ocean swimming
• Road cycling
• Road run
• Epée fencing
• 200m freestyle swimming
• Show jumping
• Pistol shooting
• Cross country run
• 100m run
• Long jump
• Shot put
• High jump
• 400m run
• 110m hurdles
• Discus
• Pole vault
• Javelin
• 1500m run

The 1500m would be set up so that the first starter would be the points leader, with a staggered start so that the first finisher wins the event. Or dies. One of those. Given the mix of winter and summer and coastal events, the best location for this would be somewhere with mountains very near the water, such as California.

Anyone up for the challenge?

Crash bang boom

Last curve, men's 1500m short track speed skating. The South Koreans have it all wrapped up for a 1-2-3 finish. But hey, this is short track. One bad inside passing move later, it's South Korea's Lee Jung-su cruising in for the win, and his two countrymen lying on the outside wondering what happened.

Of course, all NBC cared about was the Americans taking silver and bronze. Understandable, I guess. Ohno's always a big story, and Celski has come back from near-death at the Olympic trials.

Short track is really silly. But so much fun.

Dutch master

Sven Kramer just set an Olympic record in 5000m speed skating. At an altitude of what, 2m? That's amazing. Now the whole country waits, on edge, to see if the time holds up. My guilders say it will.

Mind you, the last time the Netherlands was on edge like this was for a knockout European Championship football game against Russia, and that ended in a shock defeat. My hopes are with you, my Dutch friends...