The XXIII Winter Olympics: Opening Ceremony

So you want to see it from the beginning? Too bad, Mixed Doubles Curling (what a great sport!) has been going on for 2 days now and Team USA (the highly likeable and very talented Brother/Sister Pair of Becca and Matt Hamilton) are already behind 1 – 3 in the Round Robin having crushed the Russians in their opening match, lost tight contests to the Canadians and Swiss (so far undefeated), and electing to concede after 6 Ends to the South Koreans. They haven’t scored a double in over 20 Ends.

C’mon, of course I know what I’m talking about.

In other developments Team Figure Skating has commenced with Short Programs (they can use songs with lyrics now) and Men’s and Women’s Freestyle Mogul have started their qualifying. Practice runs in Downhill, Ski Jumping, and Luge are pretty complete (at least the Men’s brackets).

Tonight it’s all Opening Ceremony all the time and I find that an incredible bore, so I’ll be watching Gold Rush– getting to the end of mining season, Tony Beets is less than halfway through the disassembly of his new barge, Parker is coining money and panting for the day he can give Tony the bird, and Todd Hoffman is looking to salvage anything out of a terrible year, just like always.

C’mon, of course I know what I’m talking about.

As is their practice NBC is delaying coverage of what they consider significant events until Prime Time so everything you see tonight actually happened like 18 hours ago.

I’ve got a schedule from the Washington Post (I have a digital subscription and I can’t seem to get Amazon to stop charging me for it, go figure) but I’m not entirely happy with it so, we’ll see.

Starting tonight I’ll try and post the upcoming coverage so you can view or tape your favorite events. For me this is going to be Curling Nirvana with over 50 hours of the USA Teams alone. I also like the sliding sports (Skelton especially), Skiing (Downhill), and Hockey (Women’s). Skating (Speed and Figure), Cross Country, Freestyle, Snowboarding (except the match racing) not so much. Biathalon I’m neutral about, Ski Jumping is ok I guess.

I’ll follow what I follow. I’ve been writing on the Internet 13 years this April and franchise formulas don’t interest me as much as they used to. Plus I have more outside interests I don’t report on. My Therapist thinks I’m making great progress, but then, she encourages daily journaling too. Me, who knows? I might go back to that style any day, as my whimsy takes me.

Saturday

Network Time Events
NBCSN 2-5 am Women’s cross-country, skiathlon gold (LIVE); mixed doubles curling, U.S.-China
NBCSN 5-7:35 am Men’s short-track speedskating, 1,500 gold (LIVE)
NBCSN 7:35-11:30 am Men’s ski jumping, normal hill gold (LIVE); men’s snowboarding, slopestyle
USA 7-9:30 am Women’s hockey, Switzerland-Koreas (LIVE)
NBCSN 11:30 am-1 pm Men’s luge, singles
NBCSN 1-5 pm Women’s speedskating, 3,000 gold; women’s biathlon, 7.5km sprint gold; mixed doubles curling, U.S.-Norway
NBC 3-6 pm Men’s snowboarding, slopestyle; short-track speedskating, men’s 1,500-meter gold; men’s ski jumping normal hill gold; men’s luge, singles
NBCSN 7-9:45 pm Men’s snowboarding, slopestyle gold (LIVE)
NBC 8-11 pm Figure skating, team event, ice dancing and women’s short programs (LIVE); men’s downhill gold
NBCSN 9:45 pm-1:30 am Mixed doubles curling, U.S.-Finland; women’s snowboarding, slopestyle (LIVE)
NBC 11:30 pm-12:30 am Figure skating, team event, pairs free skate
NBCSN 1:30-2:40 am Mixed doubles curling, Canada-South Korea