# Winter Olympics 2018



## leggo PE (Feb 9, 2018)

Should be fun! What are your all favorite sports to watch in the Winter Games? Rooting for anyone in particular?


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## matt267 PE (Feb 9, 2018)

Curling

Skiing

Hockey 

GO USA


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 9, 2018)

Indeed! We're actually going to an Olympic themed party next weekend where we plan our own series of mini-events for everyone and keep a score tally for prizes (note: not participation awards) at the end. :thumbs:


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## Road Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

looking forward to pretty much everything except the ice skating


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## leggo PE (Feb 9, 2018)

knight1fox3 said:


> Indeed! We're actually going to an Olympic themed party next weekend where we plan our own series of mini-events for everyone and keep a score tally for prizes (note: not participation awards) at the end. :thumbs:


Is beer involved? My friends and I did a beer olympics for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The marathon was really tough.


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## jeb6294 (Feb 9, 2018)

What RG said.  I like watching anything that is more action oriented, so no *figure* skating or curling (how is that even a sport).

Our Roku TV has an NBC Olympic channel on it that I downloaded.  It's pretty neat.  You can watch all the live events, not just what they're showing on network TV, and even before the actual games started, you could watch a lot of the preliminaries and training runs.


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## Road Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

I've ridden on the same half pipe as Shaun White so I pretty much feel like an Olympian


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## leggo PE (Feb 9, 2018)

I love figure skating! Tara Lapinski was my idol in the 1998 Winter Olympics.   Not so much the ice dancing though, as they don't do as many technical things like jumps or carries (if pairs).

I also like pretty much all skiing and snowboarding events, speed skating (I'm looking forward to mass speedskating, which is new this year, in particular), and the biathlon (which is weirdly exciting for me!). But I'll probably watch pretty much anything, including curling! I have a relatively good tolerance for becoming interested in very slow, commonly deemed unexciting sports.


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## Road Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

I wish they would add cross country snowboarding


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## mudpuppy (Feb 9, 2018)

Curling is my favorite Olympic sport by far.  I've played it, and it's extremely difficult to get that stone to stop where you want.

After that is the bobsled and luge, and maybe some skiing.

We're getting a lot of snow right now so maybe I'll break out my cross country skis and rifle this weekend and make my own biathlon?  What could go wrong there?


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## leggo PE (Feb 9, 2018)

Ah, bobsledding and luge! And skeleton! I forgot those. They're always so fast and exciting!


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## youngmotivatedengineer (Feb 9, 2018)

leggo PE said:


> Ah, bobsledding and luge! And skeleton! I forgot those. They're always so fast and exciting!


If you ever have the opportunity,  you should go to Lake Placid. You can go bobsledding and if you wanted to go Christmas day, you can do the luge also. I went there once with friends, crazy cold but was an awesome experience.


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## csb (Feb 9, 2018)

Our friend group selects a country to root for. If said country wins total medal count, everyone must bring them beer from the country they chose. We then later have a party where you bring food from your country of choice. 

This is how I got all the beer and made poutine. 

OH CANADA, IT'S REALLY CLOSE TO MAINE


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## goodal (Feb 9, 2018)

Anything but figure skating.  Im not a fan of sports where the winner is based on peoples opinions (skating, gymnastics, diving, etc).

Oh and GO 'Merica.


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 9, 2018)

leggo PE said:


> Is beer involved? My friends and I did a beer olympics for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The marathon was really tough.


LOL...yes beer is definitely involved during this event.


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## kevo_55 (Feb 9, 2018)

I love the Olympics!

I'll watch pretty much everything. When ice skating starts, I'll be sure to start drinking.


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 9, 2018)

skiing (all events), hockey, and basically this:



goodal said:


> Anything but figure skating.  Im not a fan of sports where the winner is based on peoples opinions (skating, gymnastics, diving, etc).
> 
> Oh and GO 'Merica.


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## MA_PE (Feb 9, 2018)

youngmotivatedengineer said:


> If you ever have the opportunity,  you should go to Lake Placid. You can go bobsledding and if you wanted to go Christmas day, you can do the luge also. I went there once with friends, crazy cold but was an awesome experience.


My son's youth hockey team was in a tournament at Lake Placid.  They got to play a game on the "Miracle on Ice" rink. (I was surprised how small the arena was).  There were at least 3 rinks IIRC.  we were only there for a weekend and spent the vast majority of the time with the team and the games so we didn't get to explore all that much.  Plus it snowed pretty much the whole time we were there but I'd love to go back.  Very cool place.


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## Road Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

I can never get too interested in the summer Olympics to be honest. when I lived in Atlanta we went to see some of the Olympic rowing and the kayak course on the Ocoee. But I generally gloss over all the track, gymnastics stuff..


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## akwooly (Feb 9, 2018)

Cross country skiing!  lots of alaskans on the roster and two Fairbanks boys!


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## envirotex (Feb 9, 2018)

Moldova is a real country!


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## matt267 PE (Feb 9, 2018)

I wish the stupid commentators would stfu.


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## envirotex (Feb 9, 2018)

I miss Bob Costas.  There.  I said it.


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## envirotex (Feb 9, 2018)

Slovenia.  What were you thinking?  Shrek is not a good color on you...


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## Dexman PE PMP (Feb 9, 2018)

Well, shit. Who knew NZ was sending athletes to the Winter Olympics, because I didn't. lol


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## Road Guy (Feb 9, 2018)

Israel and Finland have some pretty attractive women!

All the Team USA folks i think shop at my Kroger? All ski bums look alike!


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## envirotex (Feb 9, 2018)

The constellation thing was cool.  I need that for my backyard.


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## leggo PE (Feb 10, 2018)

Case in point: currently up, having watched the women's skiathlon (yes, that is a thing) and now watching mixed curling, U.S. vs China!


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## leggo PE (Feb 10, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> All the Team USA folks i think shop at my Kroger? All ski bums look alike!


What, you're telling me you didn't like the fringed extended worker gloves?

Full disclosure: I kind of want them, despite having absolutely no real use for them.


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## Road Guy (Feb 10, 2018)

I already own that outfit


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## P-E (Feb 10, 2018)

I like the biathlon. Skiing and shooting, what could be better.


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## envirotex (Feb 11, 2018)

Ice dancers skate so freakin' fast.


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## envirotex (Feb 11, 2018)

A fourth twizzle!


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## Road Guy (Feb 12, 2018)

this is a really cool story IMO, especially where on air he muttered a "no fucking way" when he learned he won the gold!!!!

bonus points for dad chugging a beer at the base of the mountain 

https://sports.yahoo.com/incredible-story-red-gerard-teenage-snowboard-hero-americas-newest-gold-medalist-093031390.html

Now I just have to see if I can spot his homemade backyard training course from I-70 - supposedly you can see it from the road


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## Supe (Feb 12, 2018)

Kind of a shame that the unstoppable luge guy screwed the pooch on one of the turns and placed 4th or 5th.


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 12, 2018)

Supe said:


> Kind of a shame that the unstoppable luge guy screwed the pooch on one of the turns and placed 4th or 5th.


The only reason I knew this had happened was because of how the commentators flipped out! I was like, umm....wait what happened? LOL


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 12, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> I already own that outfit


Yeah, they basically copied that... for reasons unknown and unimaginable.


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## csb (Feb 12, 2018)

Did you guys see the guy from the Poland luge team who went down without his visor? He couldn't find it and it was his turn, so he just went for it. I can't imagine going 80 mph without the shield.


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## Supe (Feb 12, 2018)

Holy crap!  That falls into the NFW category.


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## csb (Feb 12, 2018)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/02/11/olympic-luger-loses-protective-visor-survives-breakneck-run-in-freezing-temperatures-without-it/?utm_term=.1533b5fa2765

Link, in case anyone wants to read it.


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 12, 2018)

What would OSHA say?  :dunno:


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## Dexman PE PMP (Feb 12, 2018)

knight1fox3 said:


> What would OSHA say?  :dunno:


Seeing as he wasn't hanging from a stripper pole in a garter belt, I don't think OSHA cares...


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## Road Guy (Feb 12, 2018)

That's just for strippers getting paid to use the pole right?


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## csb (Feb 12, 2018)

It's only if the strippers are of a fall-risk height above the casino floor.


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 12, 2018)

So, are we talking, yet,  about how Johnny Weir looks like he's from the Capital city in the Hunger Games?


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## User1 (Feb 12, 2018)

Audi driver said:


> So, are we talking, yet,  about how Johnny Weir looks like he's from the Capital city in the Hunger Games?


oh, this old thing?


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## Road Guy (Feb 12, 2018)

he is definitely peacocking when he is on TV  aint no Katie Couric going to outshine him!


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## Road Guy (Feb 12, 2018)

those women snowboards are just a whole bunch of wow!


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## Supe (Feb 13, 2018)

> those women snowboards are just a whole bunch of wow!


 Must be nuts to win a gold at 17!


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## P-E (Feb 13, 2018)

Where is this thread heading; holes and nuts?


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## Road Guy (Feb 13, 2018)

Sorry, have holes on the brain I guess


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## leggo PE (Feb 13, 2018)

The women's final half pipe was awesome! They all seriously look like they are just floating in the air and land so perfectly. It's so cool to see.

The men's qualification was also incredibly awesome! Shaun White with that run of 98.50? In _qualifications? _While he may have an ego, he proved he can walk the walk yesterday. Today's final should be pretty exciting!


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## Ble_PE (Feb 13, 2018)

leggo PE said:


> The women's final half pipe was awesome! They all seriously look like they are just floating in the air and land so perfectly. It's so cool to see.
> 
> The men's qualification was also incredibly awesome! Shaun White with that run of 98.50? In _qualifications? _While he may have an ego, he proved he can walk the walk yesterday. Today's final should be pretty exciting!


He has nothing on @Road Guy though!


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## Road Guy (Feb 13, 2018)

I think I figured out my problem gaining speed on the half pipe after watching the "Olympians" last night, just not entering the pipe at the right place   will try it again this weekend (once my entire body stops hurting)


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## Road Guy (Feb 13, 2018)

97.75!


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## csb (Feb 14, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> I think I figured out my problem gaining speed on the half pipe after watching the "Olympians" last night, just not entering the pipe at the right place   will try it again this weekend (once my entire body stops hurting)
> 
> View attachment 10801


I bet he screams less, too.


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## Ble_PE (Feb 14, 2018)

csb said:


> I bet he screams less, too.


@Road Guy?


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## Road Guy (Feb 14, 2018)

LOL, more like muttering a bunch of oh shits!, while it doesn't look like it it does feel like you're going incredibly fast inside of that pipe


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## leggo PE (Feb 15, 2018)

Mikaela Shiffrin!!


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## leggo PE (Feb 15, 2018)

Her Super-G competitors sure are lucky she decided not to race six days in a row.


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## Road Guy (Feb 15, 2018)

I crashed before they aired that last night but will have to watch it this evening!


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## Road Guy (Feb 16, 2018)

I think I have seen enough figure skating for a while....


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## knight1fox3 (Feb 16, 2018)




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## akwooly (Feb 16, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> I think I have seen enough figure skating for a while....


not me!  I can't get enough!


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## Road Guy (Feb 16, 2018)

If they are not going to bring back the German gal with the polka dot dress and the thong then I have had enough figure skating!


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## Ble_PE (Feb 16, 2018)

Wait, there was a polka dot dress and thong??


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## leggo PE (Feb 16, 2018)

Haha not quite a thong, but very cheeky underneath her very little skirt! And I think she's done, as pair figure skating (so far as I know) is over with.


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 16, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> If they are not going to bring back the German gal with the polka dot dress and the thong then I have had enough figure skating!


yep


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## txjennah PE (Feb 16, 2018)

Anyone watch the Pairs skating finale the other night? Really cool to see the German team win after she had been trying for a gold medal for 16 years!


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## akwooly (Feb 16, 2018)

txjennah said:


> Anyone watch the Pairs skating finale the other night? Really cool to see the German team win after she had been trying for a gold medal for 16 years!


they nailed that performance!


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## txjennah PE (Feb 16, 2018)

akwooly said:


> they nailed that performance!


It was so beautiful!  I can't get over the technical skill required to do pairs skating (or any skating, really).  If someone threw me in the air like that, I would break a leg instead of landing gracefully.


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## leggo PE (Feb 16, 2018)

It was tough seeing Schiffrin not repeat gold (or even medal) in the slalom, where she was the heavy favorite and has basically owned every competition she has competed in before it. But, then again, no one has EVER defended that gold medal, neither women nor men, so it is a really high bar to reach. Granted, she's only 22, so it's entirely a possibility that she will have multiple more Olympics in her to try to get there!

I'm excited to see Lindsey Vonn compete later!


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## Road Guy (Feb 16, 2018)

I'm sort of torn being liking Vonns' resilience to come back from injury and disliking her _attention whore _self - she is definitely the "office princess" of the US Team...


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 16, 2018)

https://i.imgur.com/RiCx3gI.gifv


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## Road Guy (Feb 19, 2018)

so I'll admit I felt bad for Vonn, not for making a small mistake at the end of the run and not medaling, but did anyone see her Dad basically chew her out after her run Friday?

She(Or probably all of them) is(are) basically the grown up version of that kid that was on our baseball / football / softball team who had superior talent than the rest of us, but knew their parents were going to ream them for anything less than perfect that happened on the field..  I don't think I would take any chewing outs from my parents in my 30's...

Also I did have to laugh at the fact that all the "favorites" had on makeup for their on camera interview after their runs? Most of these athletes (IMHO) look pretty good without makeup.  They mentioned on the news (thanks NBC) that Ester Ledecka (the surprise winner) from the Super G Friday night didn't take off her goggles cause she "wasn't prepared to be on camera"? i.e. no makeup.... ridiculous...


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## jeb6294 (Feb 20, 2018)

WTF....who needs 'roids for curling?!?!


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## Supe (Feb 20, 2018)




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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 20, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> so I'll admit I felt bad for Vonn, not for making a small mistake at the end of the run and not medaling, but did anyone see her Dad basically chew her out after her run Friday?
> 
> She(Or probably all of them) is(are) basically the grown up version of that kid that was on our baseball / football / softball team who had superior talent than the rest of us, but knew their parents were going to ream them for anything less than perfect that happened on the field..  I don't think I would take any chewing outs from my parents in my 30's...
> 
> Also I did have to laugh at the fact that all the "favorites" had on makeup for their on camera interview after their runs? Most of these athletes (IMHO) look pretty good without makeup.  They mentioned on the news (thanks NBC) that Ester Ledecka (the surprise winner) from the Super G Friday night didn't take off her goggles cause she "wasn't prepared to be on camera"? i.e. no makeup.... ridiculous...


I guess Vonn got hammered on Twitter by a bunch of people saying she deserved to lose because of her lack of support for Trump.  I can't even imagine the mindset of a person that would participate in that.


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## akwooly (Feb 20, 2018)

jeb6294 said:


> WTF....who needs 'roids for curling?!?!


have you curled?


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## Road Guy (Feb 20, 2018)

I'm doing some 12 oz curls right now


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## Ramnares P.E. (Feb 21, 2018)

Thought Tennell (US) was doing ok until Zagitova and Medvedeva took the ice.  Holy smokes they are light years ahead of their fellow competitors.


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## Bot-Man (Feb 21, 2018)

jeb6294 said:


> WTF....who needs 'roids for curling?!?!


I was thinking the same thing. Performance enhancing drugs for curling? Yes it takes skill and talent but steroids?


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## Supe (Feb 21, 2018)

Lot of shoulder and arm strength necessary to make that big ass chunk of granite move within fractions of an inch of where you want it to be.


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## goodal (Feb 21, 2018)

I guess thats why so many girls do it???


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## csb (Feb 21, 2018)

How does @Road Guy find the time to run this place and coach the US Women's Hockey team?


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## Supe (Feb 21, 2018)

csb said:


> How does @Road Guy find the time to run this place and coach the US Women's Hockey team?


Interns and junior engineers.


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## Road Guy (Feb 21, 2018)

delegate!


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## akwooly (Feb 21, 2018)

Sweeping for 10 ends can be demanding.


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## akwooly (Feb 21, 2018)

How about the women's xc sprint team!!! Jesse Diggins and Kikkan Randall for the GOLD!


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## leggo PE (Feb 21, 2018)

Yessss Diggins and Randall! That is SO awesome! Especially after all the top 5 and top 6 places Diggins has had this Olympics... And also especially because it's the first U.S. women's cross-country Olympic medal ever!


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## Road Guy (Feb 21, 2018)

I guess you can say the same for all these events, but do you ever think that this guy or gal has spent their whole life (to this point) to curl, or even though I like the bobsled, what real point in life is there to be a bobsledder?


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## goodal (Feb 22, 2018)

We have found that our collective attention span for a single olympic event is 6 minutes or 8 runs of the same "1440 double backy side sweepy front grab".  After 4-5 of anything they all seem to look alike.  Now, I can watch short track for an hour, but noone else cares about it.


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## mudpuppy (Feb 22, 2018)

Watched the US men's curling team win yesterday, and caught the beginning of this morning's match where they won again.  They have a shot at the gold tomorrow night/Sat morning!


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## csb (Feb 22, 2018)

mudpuppy said:


> Watched the US men's curling team win yesterday, and caught the beginning of this morning's match where they won again.  They have a shot at the gold tomorrow night/Sat morning!


I watched this morning and it seemed like a more defensive match than previously.


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## akwooly (Feb 22, 2018)

broke the bedtime rule last night to watch the USA women hockey win in gold in a shootout!!!


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## leggo PE (Feb 22, 2018)

Yay for Shiffrin! And I do feel badly for Vonn, but such is the life of that event. I mean, the same sort of thing happened for the gold favorite in the men's slalom, Hirscher. The commentators couldn't believe it when he went off course!

U.S. women's hockey! That is SO awesome! I didn't stay up to watch it (I went to bed during overtime), but was so happy to see the results this morning!

And congrats to the women's 2 person bobsled team for getting silver! And David Wise and Alex Feirrera for going 1-2 (respectively) in the freestyle ski halfpipe, and Jamie Anderson for silver in the snowboarding big air!

Phew, did I forget anything?


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## Road Guy (Feb 22, 2018)

Yeah crazy things happen when you're moving at 60 miles an hour on ice

I had an app that I used to use that will track your elevation gain and speed while skiing and I think the most I ever got up to was around 35 miles an hour and that was for a very short distance, the TV doesn't really translate how fast they are going but I think the men get up into the 70 range?


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## akwooly (Feb 22, 2018)

David Wise taking gold after those issues with his first two runs was awesome.


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## leggo PE (Feb 22, 2018)

Agreed! He really came through when it counted, and did so well that his score lasted through the remaining, what was it, 5 or 6 skiers who had all had higher qualifying scores than him.


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## csb (Feb 23, 2018)

This makes it look like RG is coaching the Hungarian skiing team as well as the US hockey team.


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## FLBuff PE (Feb 23, 2018)

akwooly said:


> David Wise taking gold after those issues with his first two runs was awesome.






leggo PE said:


> Agreed! He really came through when it counted, and did so well that his score lasted through the remaining, what was it, 5 or 6 *snowboarders* *skiers* who had all had higher qualifying scores than him.


Fixt. My house was rooting for Alex and Torin. Torin lives in the same town I do, and Alex was a student of my wife (music teacher at the elementary school Alex went to). But I was really happy for David Wise, after the two ridiculous equipment failure. Looked like he didn't set his DIN right on his bindings.


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## leggo PE (Feb 23, 2018)

Oops, thanks!


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## Road Guy (Feb 24, 2018)

csb said:


> This makes it look like RG is coaching the Hungarian skiing team as well as the US hockey team.



Obviously I taught them everything I know


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## jeb6294 (Feb 25, 2018)

They need to stop that crap. Seems like half the althletes walking in the opening ceremony were from some 3rd world because their neighbors cousin was born there, i.e. I’m not good enough to make it with my own country, but going to the olympics would be fun.


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## leggo PE (Feb 26, 2018)

Meanwhile, to balance them out... There is Ester Ledecka!


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## Audi Driver P.E. (Feb 28, 2018)

It's over and I'm not disappointed.


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## Supe (Feb 28, 2018)

I don't think I've ever watched LESS of the Olympics than I did this year.


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## snickerd3 (Feb 28, 2018)

Supe said:


> I don't think I've ever watched LESS of the Olympics than I did this year.


i pulled up one skelton race online for minisnick because he said he had to watch a race, and I watched one figure skating prelim to first night when minisnick got home and had to watch the olympics...until he saw it was skating than went blah and walked out.


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## Supe (Feb 28, 2018)

I watched 5 minutes of curling, 5 minutes of ski jump since it was on at a restaurant, and recaps of hockey and snowboarding.  That was it.

Oh, I did watch about 10 minutes of biathlon because that's all they showed.


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## Road Guy (Feb 28, 2018)

we watched most of the skiing and snowboarding and tuned out most of the other stuff -

In the paper today they had an article about a committee Denver put together for 2030 - which is odd to me since I would imagine all the events except maybe the ice skating would be 90 miles away up in the mountains, probably ASSSpen


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## leggo PE (Feb 28, 2018)

I watched a ton of it and loved pretty much every minute!


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## csb (Feb 28, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> we watched most of the skiing and snowboarding and tuned out most of the other stuff -
> 
> In the paper today they had an article about a committee Denver put together for 2030 - which is odd to me since I would imagine all the events except maybe the ice skating would be 90 miles away up in the mountains, probably ASSSpen


It's not like SLC hosted those ski events in Temple Square back in 2002.


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## Road Guy (Feb 28, 2018)

True, but in Salt Lake City it won't take four hours for the Olympic athletes to drive to the mountains after the opening ceremony at mile high Stadium on a Friday night


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## Road Guy (Feb 28, 2018)

I think Gatlinburg would be a good location, I think they have three runs?


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## csb (Feb 28, 2018)

Road Guy said:


> True, but in Salt Lake City it won't take four hours for the Olympic athletes to drive to the mountains after the opening ceremony at mile high Stadium on a Friday night


You're missing that hosting the Olympics is how you get that express lane on I-70.


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## Road Guy (Feb 28, 2018)

I'll be living at mile marker 89 on A1A by then


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