Olympics Day One and Two

I’m dividing up our commentary based on the time zone I’m in because it’s my blog and that makes the most sense to me. That means Amanda starts it off while I’m asleep and then I catch up and then she goes to sleep and then we end the day together. It’s weird but it works.

February 10th

Amanda: Events we’ve watched so far tonight: men’s slopestyle snowboarding, men’s short track speed skating, and now watching men’s luge. Nothing terribly exciting yet and the commentary is fairly dry and merely informative.
Realized a few minutes ago that I hadn’t heard about an LDS athletes, so we looked it up. There are 5 and apparently one of them is in luge, so it’s good we just switched and can watch for him!
Two of the LDS athletes are also military! Army, specifically.
It’s a very different experience to have a lot more choice in what Olympics events we watch. Instead of watching whatever just happens to be on (“Ooh! Kayaking!”, for example), we are watching every run or every heat and eventually reminding ourselves we should go check out what else is on.
Blake’s suggestion for a winter sport: polar swim. The water has to be a certain temperature. Maybe even cut out of the ice. But that’s actually a terrible idea because a lot of people would be injured.
Mormon luger!
Apparently you can experience more g’s in a luge run turn than in a space shuttle launch.
5 for luge, 3 for space shuttle
It’s also interesting to see all of the runs. Not just the Americans and the leaders and other interesting runs as you might see with NBC Olympic primetime coverage.
You may or may not see the Ukrainian who falls off his luge sled on his birthday. 😢 But, since he was able to get back on, he will get to continue.
Time for some biathlon. Not the most exciting to watch, but everything else is either on break or we’ve already watched that particular sport.
Switched over to the edited package content feed in time to see a nice little profile on Korea, but I think they’re about to start showing short track, which we’ve already seen. Living in the correct time zone, when events will end at reasonable times and the news feed isn’t just running constantly unless I look for it, I won’t feel the need to stay up late.
Ooh. Short track relay. We didn’t see this. Never mind. Not switching.
The South Korean speed skating helmet is really neat.
Women’s Hockey! Unified Korea v Switzerland.
Only showed a minute or two of that. Back to some short track. US helmets are cool too.

Lisa: Norway curling shirts have a Nordic sweater pattern printed on them.
Luger just beat the current leader by .090 and the commentator said that was a huge margin. Um? No it’s not!
The closest I’d get to luge – laying on top of our minivan and holding on to the luggage rack while I drive down the freeway. Speeds are the same.
The kids were duly impressed with ski jumping. Iddo wants to fly like that and Shimei is now running around the house with his arms behind him like a ski jumper saying he’s flying.

Amanda: Have you seen the movie Eddie the Eagle? It’s pretty good. Family friendly.
Because that’s super cute.

Lisa: I haven’t seen that movie but I’ve heard a lot about it. We’ll have to check it out.
Slope style!
I will let our kids ski jump. I will not let them snowboard.

Amanda: Why not?

Lisa: I like their necks in one piece.
There was a piece about the Norway alpine skiers. I did not know they referred to themselves as the Attacking Vikings and have for a couple of decades now.

Amanda: That’s a good point.
I didn’t know that either. Interesting.

Lisa: The culture of snowboarding is interesting too. Although if my kids decide that’s what they want to do I’ll support them and figure it out.
And while there are bobsled teams from Jamaica and Ghana, Tucson might not be the best place to take up pretty much any winter sport. Although we do have a hockey team.
Speed skating. I want a cool helmet.
I need to put some more bling and personalization on my equipment for the sport of “mom of littles.” I’m still debating the images and designs I want to put on my backpack, which is kind of like a helmet because it protects me from a whole lot of unexpected. It’s my Batman belt.
I think I like long track speed skating better than short track. Short track is only interesting at the very end. Long track is interesting the whole time.
Probably why I’d rather run a 5K on the street than on the track too referencing summer sports.
Long track has super suits too.
I never liked Ono’s soul patch.

Amanda: I told Blake that I had a friend in high school who competed in long track speed skating. He was surprised but then I reminded him I went to high school in Utah, which is different from high school in Arizona. You can build an indoor skating rink anywhere, but it’s more likely in places where you can also do it outside.
I like short track because things can get crazy fast. More leader changes. More danger.
Watching a long track replay now. It’s always a little surprising when they take off their hoods and they have hair. Really surprising when the South Korean took off her hood and had bleached yellow hair.
I can hear the announcers at the actual venue. They’re providing color commentary for the spectators, which is cool.
Blake and I sometimes ask or say “Ready” the way long track speed skating officials do. “Reeeaady”.

Lisa: Because why wouldn’t you.

Amanda: Exactly.

Lisa: I’m supposed to be able to watch snowboarding right now but they’re still showing curling. Which is an unexpected choice.

Amanda: Interesting.

Lisa: If we can get together over £1,500,000 we can buy the island they quarry curling stones from.
China has fun curling pants. They also yell “hard” in English.

Amanda: Um. I’m not sure I want to buy that island.
I did not remember the pants, but I did notice them yelling hard. Is this the mixed doubles game with the Hamiltons? I watched that all the way yesterday morning.
Oh. Looks like they are playing Norway right now. Is that the game you’re watching?
Right now being what’s in my tv now. May not be actually now.

Lisa: Yes.
China and Norway. The back of China’s pants has a fun design so when they’re down pushing the stone you can see it.

Amanda: We’re watching the same thing! Yay! And yes, that’s a cool pattern.

February 11th

Lisa: Watching men’s cross country Iddo commented, “I don’t see any with beards.”
Iddo: Hey, Momma, who’s up ahead?
Me (not even looking): The Norwegian guy. (it was a good guess, and I guessed right)
NBC has a color commentator – David Feherty, who did a bit on biathlon. Afterwards, back in the studio, he was talking with the other commentator and they were wondering how some of these sports got started. He said something to the effect that it must have been crazy. Ski jumping – let’s jump out into the wide blue yonder and land like a yard sale, and then do it again. I don’t know how yard sales land, but I’m thinking I need to add that phrase to my vocabulary.

Amanda: Do they need beards?
Yeah, that’s a safe bet.
Ha! I imagine some very odd but necessary things (like milking cows for milk) were inspired by heavenly parents. (hey! Autocorrect suggested parents instead of Father! I don’t know why, but I’ll take it.) But yeah, others, like ski jumping, were probably some sort of accident. Like chocolate chip cookies.

Lisa: Dutch guy just won the men’s 5000K speed skating long track race, third Olympics in a row he’s won it. I heard the commentators explain the other day that the reason the Dutch do so well at the speed skating is because of all the canals in the country that freeze over and everyone gets around all winter by skating on them.
Second speed skating thought – they have to do some serious cross-training to not end up with a seriously lopsided body from going counter-clockwise all the time.

Amanda: That makes sense. I watched a super close preliminary heat yesterday. Current world record holder won by a tiny bit of his skate tip.
Probably. I hope they switch it around sometimes. Not for races, but for training. Maybe?

Lisa: Right.

Amanda: Probably even worse for short track, since don’t get nearly as much of a straightaway as long track.

Lisa: I’ve wondered why their suits are a bit different on the inside of only one leg. But watching today I noticed that when they go around the corners that leg rubs the other leg right where the suit is different. It probably has something to do with the friction between their legs.

Amanda: Hmm. That would make sense.

Lisa: One of the snowboarding coaches keeps his calm at the starting gate by knitting.
That’s rather awesome.

Amanda: Ha! I like it!
https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/sports/finnish-snowboarding-coach-casually-knitting-competition-014136928.html#click=https://t.co/cNjE5UO9LK

Lisa: Iddo, listening to the commentators describing biathlon, “Why do they have to take real good pictures? Shots, I mean.”
I like that she associates shooting with cameras, not guns.
Awesome!

Amanda: I’m glad too.
So, I know there are just generally fewer events during the Winter Olympics.
And I live in the same time zone as the Olympics, so I’m aware of what’s happening now, not a recording of an event of that was packaged from hours ago.
And with streaming I can watch whatever is happening at this moment, which is great.
But due to some combination of these things, there are noticeably fewer things to watch. It’s not an overwhelming inundation of Olympics.
A welcome inundation at times, of course. I love them. But there are definitely times where there isn’t anything watch due to all of the above.
Slope style snowboarding is delayed for at least the next 45 minutes.
Maybe there is actually some figure skating happening. I will investigate.
Yep!
The live feed commentary is definitely different than the packaged. Lots of accents. Heard a Scottish accent for curling last night. Some British accent right now.
Interesting, they are also showing a running tally of the technical score.
Intermission.
And now either my Roku has frozen or my remote batteries are dead. First world problems.
Remote batteries. Working now and there is definitely nothing live now. Guess I’ll watch the primetime from Sunday night?
And it just went on about how giant slalom is canceled and they are waiting for figure skating too. Soooo. Yeah. Not much on right now.
The US female figure skater for the team event has something on her inner thigh under her tights. A tatto? Kinesio tape? Probably the former.
Based on twitter, I’m guessing the women’s figure skating for the team competition is also on primetime, but with commentary for Jonny Weir and Tara Lipinski. That’s definitely not who I’m listening to, and I’m enjoying the way this is moving along. No cuts for commercial. No extra dramatics while waiting for results.

Lisa: We thought that was really interesting too. Scoring used to be so easy. Out of ten at the end.
I saw that and wondered what it was.
It’s a bit odd to be watching these events live and realize it’s Sunday night for me but Monday morning for them but still live.
It’s like I’m watching the future.
Ice Skating to the Piano Guys – Beethoven’s Secrets.

Amanda: I often feel like I’m living in the future.
I fell asleep on the couch and missed that one. Good nap though.

Lisa: Couches really are the best place to have naps. I’m not sure why.

Amanda: Me neither, but I like it. Woke up in time for a snowboarding victory lap. Now I think my options are limited again.
Considering I was up by 4:30am, our of the house by 6:30am and had been to the doctor, the commissary, and back home by 10am, I feel justified in that nap too.

Lisa: Definitely

Amanda: Looks like there really isn’t much scheduled on the live feed until this evening. Interesting. There really are fewer events.
Prelims and trainings and a hockey game between Switzerland and Japan at 4.

Lisa: I can get curling mixed doubles semifinal #1.
Canada vs. Norway right now.

Amanda: The NBCSN feed is the slopestyle I just watched the end of. And now it’s buffering.
Found this in the replays, but it’s not loading.
I think it’s time for an Olympic break. That’s okay too. This is only the third full day. There will be plenty more.

Lisa: NBC says I should be watching Speedskating.
Curlers have a teflon surface on one shoe and a rubber surface on the other. Apparently they are things that can be slipped onto any shoes.

Amanda: Cool!

Lisa: Ah! Women’s half-pipe.
Half-pipe always makes me think of President Hinckley. He made a comment about it during the 2002 Olympics.

Amanda: I remember that! Turning it on here!

Lisa: You can buy a slip on gripper on Amazon for $14 and a slip on slider for $20.
I was just thinking about how many different uniforms our country needs for the Olympics – Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, medals ceremonies (I’m assuming they are doing these separate from the events because I’ve only seen them hand out white tigers at the events), and then something different for every sport.

Amanda: Of course you can.

Lisa: I was surprised at the price. Actual shoes are more what I was expecting.

Amanda: I could have sworn I saw them setting up a podium on some ice at some point, but yeah, I think they are different too.
Same.

Lisa: They’ve done the podium thing and had the athletes stand at them, but all I’ve seen handed out at the podiums is a stuffed tiger.

Amanda: Does one of your commentators have a British accent?
Ah. Ok.

Lisa: Nope.
I have a mixed doubles commentating team, sound American.

Amanda: So you’re still watching curling?

Lisa: No. I switched over to half-pipe. I just thought I’d use that term for the commentators. 😀

Amanda: Heh. Okay. Different feed then.

Lisa: Brett and I make a good mixed-doubles parenting team.

Amanda: That’s good.

Lisa: We each have our strengths. Pretty sure he can throw rocks further than me but I’m probably the better sweeper.

Amanda: Hehe. Nice analogy.

Lisa: Back to the slope style I’ve already seen.

Amanda: Second half pipe run.

Lisa: Back to half pipe.

Amanda: Australian. My color commentary is Australian. He even just said “crikey”

Lisa: Let me know if he says “Bob’s your uncle.” That’s my current favorite Australian saying.
Pretty sure nothing at the Olympics is Bob’s your uncle though.

Amanda: I like that one.

Lisa: The guy who does the tutorials for my video editing software is from Australia and that’s where I learned it.

Amanda: The commentator just congratulated the Japanese snowboarder on excellent runs IN Japanese and I understood it!

Lisa: Yea!!

Amanda: I’ve been in and out actually (decluttering the top of my dresser), so I’m glad I didn’t miss that!
I am amused that Bob’s your uncle would even come up in such a thing.

Lisa: He was explaining how to do something and you push this button and click that option and Bob’s your uncle and you’ve done it.

Amanda: That’s what I guessed. That’s fun.

Lisa: I had to look up whether that meant it was hard or easy.

Amanda: Yay for learning new things while learning other new things!

Lisa: Always learning.

Amanda: As we should.

Lisa: Tiger ceremony explained – https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/the-winter-olympics-stuffed-animal-ceremony-explained.html
That was my guess.

Amanda: Oh, okay. I’m good with that. I hadn’t realized that the nightly ceremonies were Winter tradition. I remember it from SLC, not since.

Lisa: I was thinking the same thing. I remember them doing it in SLC but hadn’t paid attention at other ones.
Yikes – bad commentating, let’s replay another rider’s fall that let’s someone else move on to the finals and say “Here’s the fall that let’s Arielle Gold into the final.” Rude. Show us Arielle’s run, not the Canadian who fell down.
That was just bad form.

Amanda: Yeah, that’s kind of lame.

Lisa: They did show Arielle’s run, but they first had to show the Canadian’s fall, in slow motion, with that comment.

Amanda: It may not be untrue, but it seems unkind.

Lisa: Exactly. And that’s not what the Olympics are about.

Amanda: Current live offerings: figure skating training, doubles life training. Let’s see if the NBCSN feed works.
Oh cool. Speed skating.
Nope.

Lisa: I’m watching the speed skating.

Amanda: Men’s 5k? Sven Kramer?

Lisa: Yup.
It’s a replay. Still fun.

Amanda: Tom Hammond commentating?

Lisa: Possibly. I’m not sure who all the commentators are.
“He hasn’t gone to all the gears that everyone seems to have” or something like that.

Amanda: He’s one of the few I know by voice.
I’m a few seconds behind you, but I heard that.

Lisa: It took me a while to type that.

Amanda: I have three laps to go.

Lisa: Check out the inner right thigh. There’s something different on their suits there.

Amanda: Yep!

Lisa: Bell lap.

Amanda: So about a minute behind. 30 seconds per lap.

Lisa: 🎶 Somewhere, out there, beneath the pale blue light, someone’s watching speed skating, and loving me tonight…

Amanda: Hehe. Yep! That’s twice we’ve used that song lately. The first being the blood moon.
His arms are really skinny.

Lisa: It’s probably just that his legs are really thick.
I’ve decided to just be amazed that their legs are equally thick.

Amanda: I think it’s a combination.
8 foot stride! That’s huge!

Lisa: Brett was commenting that they seem to go side-to-side a lot, but apparently they’re supposed to.

Amanda: Side to side in their stride or switching lanes?

Lisa: In their stride.
I remember a few Olympics ago someone got disqualified because their coach gave them the wrong lane changing information. It was devastating.

Amanda: Okay. Thought so. Just making sure.
😬
I would not like to do a wall sit for 6.5 minutes thank you very much.

Lisa: Nope. Me either.

Amanda: Oog. A crash right away. That’s not great.

Lisa: Oooh!! This race is awesome!

Amanda: This was a Sunday event, right? I feel like we had it on yesterday, but it was as we were getting dinner on the table.

Lisa: We watched it about 12 hours ago.

Amanda: Then, yeah, probably. It was 24 hours ago if this was the same event. Very cool!

Lisa: It was great to talk with Iddo about it because she fell during her last race but got back up and finished.

Amanda: Good for her!

Lisa: We’re trying to help her learn that when she doesn’t succeed the first time or when things get hard that she should keep going.

Amanda: Very good thing to learn.

Lisa: She gets real frustrated when things don’t work the first time.

Amanda: I think that’s normal.

Lisa: I heard her crying like her arm had fallen off the other day during nap/quiet time. Nope. She just hadn’t mastered drawing a heart yet and is frustrated because Valentine’s Day is coming.

Amanda: Poor girl!

Lisa: Bed time.

Amanda: Good night!
There are a lot of “yeah, duh” moments in response to the Olympic commentary. I guess they need to talk about something, but explaining that the loser of a bronze medal match goes home empty handed is a “yeah, duh” moment. But I’m watching the curling match where you learned about the shoe covers.