2010 Winter Olympics

[Lint]

So I just watched the end of the Finland vs Germany hockey game and was wondering something about international hockey..

As far as the NBA, MLB and NFL..it seems like they are the "peak" so to speak of a career...the places you can go to basically make the most money. How is the NHL, being the least popular of the "big 4" sports in the U.S. looked at as far as a career goes?

WAtching the teams for Russia, Finland, Sweden etc I notice a lot of names I recognize from the NHL.

and I'm sorry if I'm wrong about the NBA and MLB being the pinnacle of a players career. Being American, I look at them as being the top as far as money, exposure etc goes

[SeanDMan]

The NHL means different things to different people. Basically, if you are an elite level hockey player, 90% chance that the NHL will be where you are when your career is at it's apex. Unlike the other big sports (with the exception of MLB, since there are some high level and high salary leagues in Asia), though, the NHL has competition in forms of the Elitserien and the Kontinental Hockey League which both offer high levels of play and comperable, sometimes better, salaries for players. The Olympics show good diversity amongst the leagues; while the American and Canadian teams are 100% NHL players, the European squads are more of a mixed bag, with teams like Russia (captained by KHL player Aleksey Morozov) and Sweden (with Modo's Peter Forsberg and HV71's Stefan Liv) having players from other leagues while teams like Germany (with 6 NHL players), Switzerland (2 NHL players), and Belarus (1 NHL player) are mostly comprised of foreign talent. Norway and Latvia have no NHL players.

[SeanDMan]

Double post, but it's totally worth it.

Cold days, hot nights: Olympic Village secrets

The U.S. Curling Association has its own official condom: “Hurry Hard,” named for a phrase curlers cry to encourage faster ice-sweeping.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Curling strategy question brought on while half-watching Canada/Denmark last night:

In extra ends, if you're the team with last rock, wouldn't the best strategy just be to peel off every rock the other team throws, get both rocks out of play on every shot, and leave yourself having to make a better draw (or tap-back) to win the game? Or can the first team get around that by wasting a rock?

[Ananas]

Wouldn't make a difference if they wasted a rock, because the rink with the hammer could do the same. The Canadians made the right play in the 10th. Thank goodness for that, because if they'd actually find a way to lose that given all the major mistakes the Danes made there would be calls for Jennifer Jones to skip for this team in a Cheryl Bernard mask.

[sahyder1]

That is why you're not allowed to get rid of a guard on the first four shots....is it not?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I've never heard of that rule, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[Ananas]

If there is such a rule it mustn't apply to the Olympics. Canada's first 6 shots of the 11th end were takeouts on guards.

[sahyder1]

I've never heard of that rule, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Yup, it is. Here's the rule book.

R6. Free Guard Zone (FGZ)

(a) A stone that comes to rest between the tee line and the hog line at the playing end, excluding the

house, is deemed to be within an area designated as the FGZ. Also, stones that are in play, on or

before the hog line, after striking stones in the FGZ, are deemed to be in the FGZ.

(b) If, prior to the delivery of the fifth stone of an end, a delivered stone causes, either directly or

indirectly, an opposition stone to be moved from the FGZ to an out-of-play position, then the delivered

stone is removed from play, and any displaced stones are replaced to their original positions by the

non-offending team.

[Ananas]

Is there a difference between Olympic curling and international curling then? Honestly, the first 6 shots of the 10th end for Bernard's rink were takeout shots on stones between the hog and t-lines.

Edit: Now that I think of it, I believe the first two Canadian stones were just perfectly waited shots that moved the Danish stones out of the way but kept them in play. Which really just drives home how sensational Cori Bartel was in that extra end.

[sahyder1]

You guys watching this Switzerland/Norway game? Tied at 4 now in the 3rd period. It is on MSNBC for the US folks.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

And Rogers Sportsnet for Canadians.

[Syrjis]

You guys watching this Switzerland/Norway game? Tied at 4 now in the 3rd period. It is on MSNBC for the US folks.

Hiller shows why he's the Ducks #1 goalie!

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

But this does just further my theory that the Swiss' big advantage over us was their familiarity with each other.

[EddieG]

Just realized vancouver2010.com actually has a list of legal streams where to watch the olympics, finally watching the speed skating live.

[EddieG]

And another gold for the Dutch.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Fucking Hamelin brothers.

[Ananas]

In fairness, Charles was a definite medal possibility but not a sure thing. And Francois was nothing approaching a favourite. They both skated good finals, the pace was just pushed past what they could keep up with. The 500 is Charles' specialty.

[Clawson]

And we're still Chokeanada.

[Ananas]

Well as if to put an exclamation point on this day from hell, Rush and Brown crash on their second run and fall out of contention. They were third after their first run. Luckily both were able to get up on their own strength.

This is the bottom point. I'm confident of this.