Off the field

Blogging backwards, live from hour three on. Suspect U.S. didn't get speedskating gold, based on when NBC is showing what.

It's astonishing the stories NBC isn't covering. ESPN is reporting:

U.S. aerials skier Jeret "Speedy'' Peterson was sent home from the Torino Olympics after a night of partying ended with him getting into a fight that police had to break up.

A number of U.S. freestyle team members, coaches and officials had gathered socially Thursday night after the men's aerials finals in their mountain venue of Sauze D'Oulx, some staying out at a dance club until early Friday morning.

Tom Kelly, communications director for the U.S. Ski Team, said Peterson and friend Mason Fuller, an American who is not affiliated with the team, were seen fighting at a bus stop at around 9 a.m. Friday.

Kelly said he had been told Peterson appeared to be drunk, but he could not verify it first hand. He said police officers recognized the dustup as a scuffle between friends and did not arrest them or press charges. ...

Peterson, 24, came to Torino as the United States' best threat to capture a medal in aerials. But his Olympics competition ended in disappointment when he made a minor mistake on the landing of his trademark jump, the "Hurricane,'' in which he flies 50 feet above the ramp, packing five twists inside three somersaults. It's the toughest trick to pull off in aerials.

Peterson has taken a recent liking to skydiving and is one of 12 U.S. Olympians who are candidates to join Donald Trump on "The Apprentice'' in the fall. But his biggest off-the-mountain adrenaline rush probably came last year when he won about a half-million dollars playing blackjack in Las Vegas and bought himself a house.

Well, it wasn't such a 'minor' mistake on his jump; but at least AP/ESPN are reporting, NBC is doing nothing. Is there an understanding that bad news will just be ignored? Even American Idol reported it when two of their contestants got into legal trouble and had to be cut.

HOUR ONE
Skating gala
A busy night with multiple American medal chances, yet they start with figure skating's mass encores--shows you how important this sport is to NBC. To 'You're Beautiful', silver medalist Swiss Stéphane Lambiel in black, wow, a beautiful opening jump combo. Great spins say Scott Hamilton--true, you very rarely hear applause for a male skater just spinning but he gets it. Very relaxed, having a good time, and confident. He's good, look forward to seeing him in Vancouver.

Four-man bobsleigh
American Todd Hays' sled is first to go down the track; bad skid halfway through. With what may be the worst announcing team. A few mistakes, we'll see how it holds up, even though it's a track record. Next, Canada 1. Just interesting in this event watching everyone get into the sled. Picking up time as he goes on Hays, it's the same story for the U.S. in this event, we always get into a hole with our first run and then try desperately to claw our way back. Sure enough, Canada into first. Next Italy 1. Bit of a trouble getting into the sled; slow start. Into third. Interesting, it's alwasy the second guy that gets out first.

U.S.A. 2, pushbar hits wall, disaster says announcer. Typical. Hmm, picking up speed... into third. How much better could it have been? Whole way down with a pushbar sticking up. Switzerland 2 next. Slow, not gonna be a factor. Russian 1 next, why isn't it Russia 1 NBC? Top start so far. So far fastest one down, picking up speed on the others, wow, into first. Next, Russian 2. Slow up top, and the whole way through, into 7th.

Next, defending champ, Germany 1. Fastest start. These guys are pros. He's in first all the way through; announcer keeps talking about how it's not what he wants, but he's into first even with whatever mistakes the guy saw, which he didn't point out. Swiss 1 next, fastest start. They're the heaviest total team, with a lighter sled. Losing time; into third. So U.S. finishes first heat in 5th and 6th.

Men's 10,000M speedskating
Wow, equivalent to six miles?! They focus on the Dutch fans in the opening, so Chad Hedrick definitely doesn't win. Bob de Jong of the Netherlands first, with Oystein Grodum of Norway. 25 times around the track. My gosh. You can probably fall and still win. Crowd support can really help here; these races can be either boring, or amazingly exciting, no real in-between. It's like the kind of excitement that comes only from a sustained build-up, like 9th inning in the World Series. Either a Dutch or Norwegian has won this event every year since 1988; Norway has won the most medals in this event. Dan Jansen and his partner are good announcers. Every time they come near the orange sections the roaring gets even louder. Ugh, they cut away to commercial halfway through the race.

With six laps left, de Jong is more than 12 seconds ahead of current first place skater, and he's building his lead. Astonishing, announcers say more than 3/4ths of the seats are taken up by Dutch fans. It must be nice to live so close to so much in Europe. Into first, almost 16 seconds in front. His nickname's 'the diesel', and he delivers, as do the Dutch fans.

Wow, then it's just Chad Hedrick's final pair. Melissa Stark says the bolt on his right skate was screwed up in the 1500M; ah, that's why he lost. Nice attention to detail before the race, he says he can't make excuses--so why did he tell his buddy Starkie? On the replay, DJ says it looks like the hinge was open just as much in the 1500 as the 1000.

Shani Davis cheers Chad on, as he said he would. Carl Verheijan of Netherlands, co-favorite with Chad. Chad looks anxious at the start, body language-wise. Hmm, odd; Chad has a frosty history with Carl, imagine that. The guy's got no sense of humor, nor does he have much understanding of the world outside his head. Announcer says Dutch call Chad the 'loud mouth Texan', and that they really don't wanna have anything to do with him. Would have been nice to have had this brought up during the Shani incidents. Chad's best friend Melissa says Chad is fatigued... hmm, skating the pursuit doesn't seem so smart now; gotta take care of your own business first before telling everyone else what to do. He's barely ahead of the leader's pace, and he's losing time. Cool, they cut away.

HOUR TWO
Hmmm, Chad is almost three seconds behind de Jong; they show Shani cheering Chad on--he's too nice, white people are ice cold about things like this. DJ says Chad's struggling, and Verheijan is closing in too. Six laps yet, it's pretty exciting; Chad's mouth is open, tiring. Crowd is going crazy. Hedrick digs in, picks up a bit of speed. Opens up a six second lead after being just ahead of him. He'll pay for it later. DJ says he's never seen anyone skate a 10,000M like this. He's cutting into de Jong's pace, still three seconds back, so it'll be silver. Verheijan gest bronze, Dutch fans are happy. 13:01:57 to 13:05.

Hedrick becomes just the third U.S. athlete to win three medals at one Games; that's pretty cool. Eric Heiden won five gold; NBC doesn't tell us the other one, which is bizarre--it's Sheila Young, yet another speedskater, who won gold/silver/bronze in 1976. Hedrick actually has a decent post-race interview. I don't think he's a bad guy, but he's either a jerk or oblivious or just doesn't care waaay too often.

More entertainment
Bob says narrating the event is Tom/Scott/Sandra/Dick. Actually, they're one announcing team that I wouldn't use that adjective for during actual competition. Back with the crazy Italians, Fusar-Poli/Margaglio. He in black/suspenders, she in ugly turquoise/yellow. With her red hair, it's a fright. They use a chair and bottle as props, music is some American song that's not that great. They're okay. Button says for "somebody who had the biggest hissy fit of all time, she pulled herself back into the human world."

Next, just as crazy Johnny Weir, in black sparkly outfit, to 'My Way.' He thinks people care. Has such a smug look on his face. I guess this is no longer limited to the medal winners, anyone can get out there. He doesn't really do anything, just skates around posing. Nice jump toward the end. Hamilton says if you listen, the words really do represent his Olympic experience. Nah--no 'fall' or 'bus' or 'baby' in there. Or vodka. He's actually got pretty good form, wish he'd lose all the other stuff and just skate. I don't think he'd be willing to trade it even for a gold, he thinks it's who he is. Button says there was more fire in this program than in his actual long program, he really seemed to come alive here. Surprised no one's slipped up and called him Johnny Weird.

Next, Irina Slutskaya, who gets a real hand from the crowd and is classy. Hammond notes like Kwan, great career but no gold. I think this will be really good, like Michelle. In black, like so many others skating to music in English, I think it's 'Eric's Song'. She has a big smile on her face, is so fast. Oops, doubles her first jump. Skates well, she looks happy at the end.

Belbin/Agosto, she in red, he in black, to some flamenco thing. Looking very dramatic. They have the ability to compel paying attention, and also their movements flow out of each other. It's a nice performance, yet soddly lacking emotion--it's weird, like it was just a routine for them, no leaving their heart out there. So far nobody's done what Michelle did in Salt Lake.

Back to bobsleigh
U.S.A. 2 first; snow coming down. Losing time as he goes down though. Into second, by 1/100ths. They profile Todd Hays, and football in Texas, he played linebacker in college. USA 1 losing time as it goes down, skids and mistakes say the announcer, into 3rd, a bad ride. Canada 1 next, they don't make mistakes, into first. Next, Swiss 1 goes, losing a bit of time going down, but picks it back up, into first. Next, the Rooskies. Hmm, slower than he was in the first heat, into second. Next, Germany 1. 17-18 steps a typical bobsled start. German driver hasn't talked to the press at all, has been very serious. Announcer keeps trying to say Germans don't have the speeds of the other sleds so they might be in jeopardy; but they keep winning, one of the announcers says they're not as far ahead as they usually are. U.S. sleds are in 6th and 7th, about half a second back.

HOUR THREE
Women's giant slalom
They start with Picabo Street on the Today show slamming the U.S. team, and calling Mancuso unprofessional. Harsh--and odd, Picabo was fun-loving in her day.

They move the start down the mountain to try and get away from the fog, but it doesn't seem to be working; announcers say it's taken a lot of the challenge out of it. Rienda of Spain, I think it's the first Spanish athlete I've seen here--how come they're so bad at winter sports? Tina Maze of Slovenia, who's been racing since she was three. Into first. Anja Paerson of Sweden next, who already has a gold and two bronzes. Announcers talk about how you can't want it too much, you can't try too hard, then it won't come out naturally. Sortof an odd comment, at this level nothing's really natural. I think it'd be interesting if there were a series of events where people had to do things for the first time; wonder which athletes would do well. Paerson's into first, by nearly a second.

Next, Kathrin Zettel of Austria--running in Janica Kostelic's spot, who pulled out cause she's still sick. Zettel skis aggressively, into second, by nearly a second, wow, Paerson really had a great first run. Next Genevieve Simard of Canada, what a great name. Fog starting to move in up front, hard to see. She's bleeding a lot of time, hard turns on the edges. Into second, about half a second back. Next, Nicole Hosp of Austria, another young, talented member of that team. U.S. came in hyped as being comparable to them--the women alone have six medals, Americans total have only one. Into second herself, course seems to be getting faster.

They check out Julia Mancuso's--she of the tiara--RV, just like Bode. So far their results have been the same, too. They intro her as a valley girl; talks like it in a brief interview they did with her. Wow, looks very fast up top already, nice line. Fog really moving in; she is just flying, slightly out of control, which is good. Announcer gets excited late as he notices she has a good run going, even more excited when she goes into first. Running in front of the parade trying to lead it. Next Tanja Poutianian of Finland, she's apparently from Lapland--why hasn't this fact come out earlier, it's great. Not as nice up top as Julia; into third. Martina Ertl-Renz of Germany in her final Olympic race, first won a medal in 1988, in zebra pants. Into fifth.

From a Budweiser commercial we learn the U.S. won its first-ever curling medal today, a bronze over Great Britain. Awesome; that'll help us in the medals race.

Manuela Moelgg of Italy next. Ooh, she catches on a ridge or something, flips over and falls. Lies on the snow for a while. Announcer says with poor light she didn't see a compression. Teammate Nadia Fanchini next; they say the Italian coaches are most excited about her. Whoah, she nearly skis off the course, apparently her error. Hmm, conditions must be getting tougher too, bad luck for the home team. She's still into 7th. Sarah Schleper next, as announcers say Italian fans cheer for Mancuso because of her Italian heritage. Funny, American fans very rarely get to cheer for someone competing for another country whose folks were American--maybe Israeli athletes, it's about the only country I can think of where Americans go in significant numbers to live forever.

Talk with Julia, she's very focused, not really smiling. Says she's never led after the first round before. Costas says afterwards she'd said before the Games her top priority was to have fun, not win a gold. Okay... I mean, that's insane.

Predictably wrong
Jimmy and Chevy talk about the unpredictability of the Games. He says Torino may go down as the Games where a lot of things just didn't make sense. To whom?! American prognosticators? Ignorant rah-rah journalists? Funny, all three of his examples of wrong expectations involve Americans failing. Roberts talks about the inherent uncontrolled nature of Olympic surfaces. He cites two more examples--Canadian hockey and Norwegian cross-country skiing. Former isn't that shocking, team's been in turmoil and Wayne Gretzky brought old players; latter at least partially explained by a virus that ran through the team, and also problems with their ski waxing technicians. Poor Jimmy, must be hard for him to come up with a story every night.

More champs on ice
Chinese pairs team of Shen/Zhao, he of the achilles injury; in white and black outfits respectively with orange trim, to 'Dream the Impossible Dream.' He looks pretty strong on some long lift sequences. Wonder what the Chinese team thinks about this whole gala thing, they take everything so seriously; and she absolutely flies on a great throw. I'd say they're winning this event so far. Look very socialist heroic in their poses. Man, I am so looking forward to the Olympics in China, both will be majorly changed by the experience.

Next, Evan Lysacek. Apparently not. Long wait for music, then it gets abruptly turned off; all in black. Some sortof Sinatraish song. Reminds me of an American Idol contestant. Taking a long time to set up a jump... crowd's not really into it, musical choice isn't that great, program is okay. Odd, why does NBC only tell us the music when it doesn't matter? He's doing moves nobody is thrilled by.

Totmiyanina/Marinin of Russia, the pairs gold medalists--kindof early for them to be skating, they should be third from last. In Russiaish burgundy outfits with stripey piping. To some Russian torch song. Nice big throw. They kindof screw up a joint jump. Whoah, nice move where he carries her upside down for a while. They're also very serious during their program, no playing to the crowd or anything, just another top-notch performance for them. Blend in almost perfectly with the skating rink's padding.

HOUR FOUR
More slalom
Ottoson of Sweden first, conditions have worsened, visibility pretty bad. Whoah, way faster than current top time, almost one and a half second faster. Next, Schleper of U.S. She looks slow already, too deliberate. You can barely see her now in the middle with the fog; she slips, falls--super-slo-mo for the first time does something, soft snow left on course gets her. They gotta clean the course off better. Next, Maze of Slovakia, totally unseen in the middle part. Skiing very cautiously with the bad conditions, waay back into 5th. Zettel next, fog is worse, now up top too. Whoah, a bobble, losing time. Into second, more than a second behind. Fanchini goes, totally can't see her up top, and then totally disappears in the middle too. She's slow, into third by a lot. Segment on what the U.S. women's suits are like. Good illustration of the material inside the ski on contact stiffening.

Simard of Canada next to blast down, into second by more than 4/10ths. Ottoson's run is looking better and better. Next, Hosp of Austria. Having trouble with her poles, multiple mistakes, she's already behind--announcers say it's not far back, but considering she started with a half-second lead it is. And indeed, she's into second 3/10ths back--idiot announcers keep saying it was a great performance considering the problems she had up front, I'd say losing nearly a second isn't that great. Finn Poutiainnen next, bright green helmet is about all you can see. Fog's lifted a bit, steadily losing time. But enough of a cushion coming in to take the lead by over half a second, she exults. Anja Paerson hanging out; along with Julia Mancuso. Odd that NBC is showing her so late, my guess is she doesn't win gold.

Paerson blasts down, into tuck early; but already half a second off the lead. Announcer says snow is accumulating, track is getting slower. She's way back--this isn't good for Mancuso either. She's apparently wearing a new pair of skis, into fifth more than a second back. Finally, Mancuso. U.S. alpine team's hopes rest on her. Very wide turns up early. Very aggressive, nearly out of control, always a good sign; is increasing her lead, just don't fall--and she wins gold! Awesome! By nearly 7/10s, a huge win. Totally unexpected, how great is this. Just 21, what a great future. She's all happy and giggly afterwards, says 'I don't even know what to think', one of her teammates comes up behind her and gives her a big hug; her coaches and technicians are ecstatic, her mom goes nuts too. Afterwards she says it hasn't sunk in yet, seems nice.

Back to the champs
Sasha Cohen comes out, in spiffy blue. 'Don't Rain on My Parade', music is okay. Nice chance to show off her flexibility. No Fields of Gold, that's for sure; not all that entertaining, not sure why. Not like Surya Bonali's either. Announcers gush over her.

Next, Yevgeny Plushenko in black, with a violinist coming out on the ice with him playing on a Strad. That's a new one. Unlike Sasha, he jumps--a nice triple combination right off the bat. So free, so easy, so powerful. He looks so focused still, but does these goofy leg and arm movements. Crowd roars, he has a very intense look in his eyes, Hamilton is just gushing. Button says he commands your attention, can't take your eyes off him. Yup, those Russians; still the best.

Finally, Shizuka Arakawa, in blue with x-pattern front. To 'You Raise Me Up'. Beautiful song, and she's skating so gracefully, it gives you chills to watch, so soft and floating and effortless. Nails her jump. Such nice lines; funny, tonight I feel more like she's the champ than I did during her actual long program. Very Kwan-like; this will be like one of Japan's most-replayed pieces of video ever. 'When you have a night like that you just hate to see the sun come up' says Hamilton. Bezic raves about how she's 'everything a woman should be on the ice.'

Sasha Cohen joins Bob. She looks so different as a civilian. She says it's bittersweet... dug deep and found some courage after the falls. He should ask her if she identifies with Michelle now. Says if she keeps down this path, a lot of great things will come, and everyone learns at a different rate, maybe I'm just a slow learner. I like her, she's good. Bob asks her about Vancouver. She's gonna compete, she says it's her plan right now. Now Bob asks her about snowboarder Shaun White's crush on her. She's a bit non-amused, says I'm flattered but it's just a little bit awkward (he's much younger than her). I'll keep it at I'm flattered she says; she's very good at this. She then essentially says--in answer to a second question about crossing paths--in a very cute manner, watch the Tonight show.

HOUR FIVE
Curling first. Thanks to Budweiser, we already know what happens. Announcers are appropriately not as hyper for this event. A lot of odd tension in this event; lots of puns since the U.S. skip is a pizzeria owner. Canada beats Finland in the gold match, so at least one of their national obsessions pays off.

Then they recap hockey, Swedes beat Czech Republic--sans injured Dominik Hasek-- 7 to 3. Hot Finland shut out Russia, 4 to 0. So it's an all-Scandanavian showdown for gold.

Then Costas talks to Mancuso--odd, you'd think this interview would get a better time slot, maybe they'll rerun tomorrow. She seems a bit nervous, is wearing an odd huge mike, making because of her big turtleneck. All her answers are so stiff, so at odds with her outside persona. She wears her tiara on the medal stand, Costas asks her about it; it's a good story, her coaches gave it to her at the start of the season, so it's half gag, half homage. Gosh, she's so serious, it's odd; come on Bob, relax her. She's a bit more fluid as it goes on. Then they start laughing, so it goes better. She says she wants to be on Broadway, so interesting, as they talk about her wanting to be on Saturday Night Live and Bob makes an on-air pitch for her to get on.

Next is more on the 'enigma' that is Bode Miller. Okay... can think of a few other better words. They call him the 'darling' of the jet set, celebrated and scrutinized from one end of the world to another. Oh?! That's such insane puffery--this is NBC's journalism? And they say he hates it... yeah, those Nike ads were just forced on him. In every interview clip they sho he's prominently wearing Nike. He says it's important athletes are honest, and when they are they get punished for it. Yeah, that's why people dislike him. He travels in a camper, mostly detached from his teammates--how about some Shani Davis-style criticism from NBC?

They show medal ceremony for China's Han Xiaopeng in men's aerials, first time they've played China's anthem. Lampley says it's an anthem rehearsal for 2008, get ready, you're going to hear it a lot. Interesting line.

They close on a nice note, the Czech Republic's Katerina Neumannova won a cross-country gold in her last race, and her two-year-old daughter came bounding across the snow to her. So they show her medal ceremony, the significance of which to NBC is it's the 15th different anthem they're broadcasting.

Photo of Julia Mancuso celebrating during the Medals Ceremony by Elsa/ Getty Images.

Photo of Katerina Neumannova, and her daughter Lucie, after winning the gold medal by Anja Niedringhaus/ AP.

Photo of Paul Pruszynski, board member of the International federation of bobsleigh and toboganning, wearing Juta the beaver on his head by Eric Feferberg/ AFP.