I dreamt that @Adaripp skated to Read U Wrote U ?? pic.twitter.com/s3swCkjXlz
— Dan (@idkidk) February 16, 2018
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From NYMag, “That Shirtless Tonga Hunk Is Mighty Proud of His 114th-Place Olympic Finish”:
… Pita Taufatofua, a taekwondo athlete who was propelled into the international spotlight at the 2016 Olympics thanks to his above-satisfactory chest region and flag-waving skills, made his valiant Olympiad return with the Winter Games. He earned a spot to compete for his home nation in the 15k cross-country ski race on Friday — despite never training for the sport, or laying eyes on snow, until a few months ago. In a pleasant surprise to everyone, including himself, Taufatofua managed not to finish dead last in the rigorous race, instead placing 114th out of the 119 total competitors. He ended about 22 minutes behind the race’s winner…
“Everyone was at the front racing to come first, we were racing not to come last, but we’ll have a good laugh over dinner,” Taufatofua joked after the race with his fellow stragglers. “I’d rather be finishing towards the end of the pack with all my friends than in the middle by myself. We fought together, we finished together.”…
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Well, mostly positive…
Russian medallist at Games suspected of doping – source https://t.co/I0fr59l2py pic.twitter.com/UrFlNxDp0R
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 18, 2018
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debbie
What kind of dope does someone need for curling?!?
Corner Stone
Trump’s butthole mouth and his tiny little twig hands are just the best.
Corner Stone
@debbie: The kind that keeps you from having a headache or feeling hungover from drinking too much.
eclare
Loved the new Big Air event.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Apparently he tested positive for the banned drug meldonium, which is a Soviet era developed drug to treat ischemia. The curler has stated he believes that one of the other Russian curlers who did not make the Olympic team spiked his drink out of jealousy.
Major Major Major Major
Rewatched Yuzuru Hanyu’s 2014 performance today, he’s fantastic.
Adam L Silverman
I have got to say that NBC’s coverage of the olympics is terrible. They are constantly repeating coverage of events they’ve already broadcast, when they advertise that events will be broadcast, they’re not, which is why the DVR recording of the women’s curling I set up this morning had ABSOLUTELY NO FUCKING curling!!!! This is as bad, if not worse, than the mess they made of the last summer olympics.
They should be banned from broadcasting the olympics. And rules should be written based on how badly their coverage is, that provide specific guidance to whoever gets the broadcast rights so they can’t screw it up either.
Corner Stone
And I somehow doubt Liddle Vladdy Putin could possibly hold up a static 300 pounds. Oh wait, 239 pounds.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I was seriously pissed about the summer olympics coverage SNAFU. I find winter games to be more meh.
Jay
@debbie:
Meldoneum is apparently the drug,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meldonium
Brachiator
@Jay:
If you overdose is that a meltdowneum?
Major Major Major Major
Here’s an overprocessed picture of Samwise trying to decide what to do with his spinny toy.
JR
@debbie: weed
TheMightyTrowel
@Adam L Silverman: We’re mixing Aussie coverage with the BBC (via VPN) – so far so good, though the bbc commentators are hilariously terrible and the Aussie ones rather uniformed. I miss the specials and background information that usually fills up the ice resurfacing and end of period breaks, there’s not much of that in the aussie coverage – but, on the other hand, i’ve always liked watching the zamboni cycle around a hockey rink to a backing track of random crowd noise (sarcasm, guys).
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I like biathlon, but they’re now running the same men’s biathlon event for the third time today. Who knows if they’ll actually show the US women’s hockey game.
Also, whoever designed the US women’s speed skating suits needs to have their heads examined. I guess the conversation went something like this:
Designer 1: We need to make sure it is red, white, and blue.
Designer 2: Okay so we’ll go with primarily navy blue, with a red stripe on one arm, and then white down to the wrists and ankles.
Designer 1: We need more white.
Designer 2: Okay how about the inner thighs and crotch?
Designer 1: Excellent.
Designer 2: With a navy blue rectangle right in the middle of the crotch from front to back for modesty to prevent sweating through the white.
Designer 1: Brilliant!
Villago Delenda Est
Equeeze me, but how will any drug help you win in curling? Unless you’re doping up the refs or something…
Major Major Major Major
@JR: no that’s for enjoying curling.
donnah
@Adam L Silverman:
Amen! The other night they showed endless non-action skiers idling in the starting gate while not showing key figure skaters in action.
And aren’t most Olympic athletes kids whose lives have been filled with hard work and time away from home and parents who sacrificed everything? We don’t need the same profiles over and over. Show more, blab less.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: @Major Major Major Major: I have never seen the appeal of curling.
Adam L Silverman
@TheMightyTrowel: Now that the men’s biathlon that has now been on three times today is over, I’m hoping we get the women’s hockey game.
As for the zamboni, everyone loves the zamboni.
Also, obligatory:
Adam L Silverman
@donnah: The screw up with the women’s Super G was inexcusable too.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I actually like it, but I’m a sucker for slow sports involving how close things are to other things.
NotMax
Repeating from earlier, because it’s Olympics topic relevant.
When opportunity knocks….
:)
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m glad I have’t bothered to watch.
Olympic coverage started downhill when ABC(?) introduced “up close and personal” and it’s become worse on every network, in every quadrennium, since.
Adam L Silverman
Also, I went to order a USA olympic team hockey jersey. I wanted the alternative color jersey. Is it available in 2XL, no it is not! How is this making America great again?!?!?!?
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: The good news is that as far as I can tell Bob Costa is not involved this time.
eclare
@Major Major Major Major: What did Samwise decide to do?
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
The camera angle on the ski jumping was very odd.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: It is a letter sport in WI high schools. Meh.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: i was a mathlete! (Also a junior olympics fencer)
@eclare: play with it! It was great.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Fencing is a real sport. What was your weapon? I did some foil in college, but I regret not continuing and switching to epee.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: I did epee, but competitive math was the actual school sponsored one. Fencing was with a local club.
cmorenc
At least with the alpine skiing events, NBC is doing a decent job with their coverage, in substantial part because of Bode Miller’s first-hand knowledgeable commentary on the technical strengths and weaknesses of each respective on-course skier, as well as the tradeoffs that skier is making between taking a more direct line vs carrying more speed. Yeah, so he made an unwise comment about the negative effect marriage has on female skiers’ performance, with Austrian Anna Veith as his specific example. But otherwise, his technical commentary on the alpine ski races has been top-notch, and extremely helpful for understanding why each skier is gaining or losing time over various sections of the course.
In general, the technical commentary by NBC commentators on various sports has been pretty good and helpful for viewers to understand the nuances of the respective sports. However, I agree the less-than-predictable program broadcast scheduling has left quite a bit to be desired – at least they aren’t diverting so much time showing 5-minute puff personality pieces on Hans the Swiss skier’s off-piste life herding cows with his mum and dad, at the expense of showing a much more limited number of competitors performing, except for ice skating (a practice ABC was egregiously guilty of when they had the winter olympics broadcast franchise). BTW, I’m not making up the story about ABC’s digression on Hans the Swiss skier, the only fictional part is that I don’t recall what his actual name was, so Hans will do for purposes of the story; I otherwise remember this clearly, because it infuriated me so much at the time, and made me fervently wish ABC would lose the broadcast franchise next winter games. At least NBC is a vast improvement over ABC’s former coverage, even if it’s still quite a ways short of what it ought to be.
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
It has a certain je ne sais crotch.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: FWIW, I was on my high school’s High Quiz Bowl team – captain my second year.
Adam L Silverman
@cmorenc: Yeah, Miller’s a genius…
https://screengrabber.deadspin.com/how-nbc-flubbed-its-super-g-coverage-reported-the-wron-1823104438
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Many an hour spent at the ancient scuffed shuffelboard table inside the nearest watering hole when lived in the boonies of PA.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc: I have been watching primarily for the skiing. Bode had done well and he also made a very sincere sounding apology for his marriage comment.
Major Major Major Major
Anybody else crack up a little when they say Dick Button?
@Omnes Omnibus: I was never good at that, go figure.
@NotMax: and bocce! So fun.
Steeplejack (phone)
I think curling has a new bad boy!
danielx
It comes to me that this would be great music for pairs figure skating….
Santana – Echizo
rikyrah
@debbie:
That was my first thought ??
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): I would posit a first bad boy.
rikyrah
WAKANDA FOREVER ????
Major Major Major Major
Today in Slate’s Best Job At The Olympics? series: figure skating stuffed animal wrangler
rikyrah
I was stunned into silence by watching the end credits.
Watching them roll over, I was stunned.
The massive amount… I am a movie fan. Used to be a fanatic. It hit me reading those credidc
NO EXPENSE WAS SPARED.
A MOVIE WITH A BLACK HERO AND A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK CAST GOT NO EXPENSE SPARED IN HOLLYWOOD.
I’M STILL stunned, as that begins to sink in
NotMax
Can’t be the only one for whom the phrase ‘women’s curling competition’ conjures up an image somewhat different from ice and brooms.
lamh36
Someone posted that NBC asked Adam Rippon to become and official NBC commentators for the remainder i’d the events, but apparently Rippon declined…& good for him…less policing of his comments and statement by NBC
Adam Rippon decides not to do TV for NBC at 2018 Winter Olympics https://usat.ly/2o866RQ via @USATODAY
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Do not post spoilers! I won’t be able to see it for at least a week.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: I’m going to take my Mom either tomorrow night or Tuesday night to see it. Try to take her mind off everything else. Is there an end of credits scene or two that we need to sit all the way through for?
Peale
@Adam L Silverman: I’d be fine with them siphoning off one network for only US stories, then the other networks can handle all the sports and athletes that are actually interesting.
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: 2…one mid credit, and one final credit scene
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
We were reliably told last week that John Miller was the (former) bad boy of Canadian curling. Corner Stone will back me up on this.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Thanks. I figured this was the case, but wanted to make sure.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack (phone): One is surprised.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman:
Dude, no one looks good in a hockey jersey. The size police did you a favor.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Two scenes. Stay until the absolute end
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: I have a Patrick Roy official Avalanche away jersey. I have a Nikolai Khabibulin official Blackhawks Winter Classic jersey. I have a replica, non personalized Tampa Bay Lightning jersey someone gave me, I have an official US Army non personalized jersey (even though the US Army doesn’t have a team, but it was a great price at the bookstore in the basement of the Lewis & Clark Center at FT Leavenworth), and I have a replica Calgary Hitmen alternate jersey because my mother can’t follow written instructions when she asked me if I wanted anything from her trip to Calgary.
Corner Stone
@Steve in the ATL: Fattist!
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: One is still trying to figure out WTF constitutes being a “bad boy” of curling.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: You get it.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: TRUMP: If it’s all navy how will I know where to grab their p*ssy?
Designers: Hmmm. He has a point. White landing areas for all pervs!
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Written instructions? Mother knows what’s best for you, young man.
;)
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I used to like biathlon. But seriously, that shit gets mucho boring watching these $10K tiny specialty BB guns used once an hour while they huff and puff cross country.
Adam L Silverman
This isn’t going to end well.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: She skated a great race, but I was like who designed that suit? It could have been worse, the white area could have wrapped all the way over her butt to make things really obvious.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I was very lucky with both my parents, though it would have been nice to have had Dad healthy and alive longer. But raising a parent in the 21st Century is a lot of work.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Queeg redux.
Quite the feat to be able to tweet from a phone while simultaneously rolling around a couple of ball bearings in one’s hand.
rikyrah
@Adam L Silverman:
Sigh
What a clown??
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I think they’re .22 LR, not BBs. And it does get a bit tedious after awhile.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I think it was Rick Wilson this morning that suggested at the height of this morning’s public via twitter meltdown that Kelly just tell him they found the strawberries already.
From the reporting, it appears that because he didn’t golf this weekend out of respect for the victims and survivors of the Parkland shooting, he spent all day yesterday watching cable news, bitching to his guests/club members at Emoluments a Lago, and being egged on by his elder sons over the Russia investigation. Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber encouraged him to go after the FBI.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I somehow thought they were .17 but I don’t care enough to find out.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Explains the makeup.
Corner Stone
This USA v FIN women’s hockey game may be a replay but it’s balls out.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: .22 LR:
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: How long till Stephen Miller drafts an amendment to the travel ban EO to add Wakandans?
sukabi
@Corner Stone: Vladdy’s grabbed him by the?
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Just always gotta have the last word, doncha?
Aleta
Jia Zongyang !
and the Ukraine guy!
cmorenc
@Adam L Silverman:
Aw, but Bode Miller is the “Dude” if he was a ski racer. I like him even if he screws up a few times in his commentary.
wuzzat
I’m mostly in it for the figure skating, so NBCSN has been fantastic. Full programs, knowledgeable commentators, and Johnny Weir’s ridiculous hair — who could ask for anything more?