Rings of fire

I'm watching today backwards--didn't get back until 10 pm, so will have to watch the first two hours on tape later. Had dinner and saw the Johnny Cash biography, Walk the Line--which was great, best thing I've seen this year.

Joaquin Phoenix is pitch-perfect as the Man in Black, and Reese Witherspoon is wonderful as June Carter Cash. Had no idea JC's life was so epic; and JCC's may have been even more compelling. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when they showed the two of them driving around on tour with the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings.... Wish there was more of that, the greats just sitting around jamming.

JCC seemed an almost preternaturally good person; a woman touring in a man's world, and preserving her individuality, and after it all managing to bring Johnny over to her side. He was a decent person too--he cared, wanted to do good, and fought through his self-destructiveness. A lot of people give in; I think his commitment to his music and needing to perform wouldn't let him.

The movie ends as they get married, and says for the next few decades they toured the world together. I think that may make just as interesting a movie; hopefully they'll get Joaquin and Reese to make it before too long.

Hour One
Failed moguls
Funny watching these backwards, but blogging them in order. Feel like I'm just smarter than the announcers right now... this is why I avoid the 'live' results online, like participating in NBC's storytelling.

It's just qualifying round for women's moguls; defending world champ is an American, Hannah Kearney. Hmm, Canadian's name is Jennifer Heil?! Okay....

Ugh, hate hate these loud grating announcers. Camera angle from the back is stupid too. Can we get a real-time comments option on the website? I mean if everyone complains about the same thing, how hard is it for the announcers/staff to change before the next broadcast?

Kearney had a rough run, at least two mistakes... hmmm, not a good score. Looks like she may not even make the final round. Back from break, she sounds nervous in the post-race interview; she sounds nice, but also used the I'm young, still have years ahead. Generally, people who say that don't win--unless they're sandbagging.

Another American, Shannon Bahrke; another mediocore run... these things are infectious, wonder if 30 years in the future they'll have ironed out some of the emotional domino-effects, and things like how your teammates do, and how the crowd reacts, won't have such potentially definitive effects.

Jillian Vogtli, third American, big screw-up early.... The yips are definitely cascading through the U.S. team. The fifth skier they've shown is the fourth American, Michelle Roark. I bet she does well; has a look--yup, big run, big celebration, in third right now.

Whoo-hoo, another non-American, some Aussie--she has a chance to bump out the U.S. champ, who's in 20th right now; only 20 make it. Aussie runs pretty clean; I think she'll bump Hannah out.

And she... does! Gosh, it's weird when the gold medal favorite doesn't even make it out of qualifying. And the supposedly powerful U.S. team only has a 4th place finisher in the top ten after qualifyings.

Da luge
I'm concluding from this the U.S. doesn't do anything in the men's luge competition either, else they'd have shown that first. Oh well, I like the Italian guy anyway, he was good in Salt Lake.

German guy up first, J. Eichhorn... amazing how much the Germans have dominated this sport. Ice and steel... very Teutonic; but this guy's apparently been a disappointment.

Now the American, stuck in 9th... Tony Benshoof. Ugly yellow leggings; also moving all over the track. In luge you want as little movement as possible, especially up early. He's picking up time on the bottom though; is the leader at the moment.

Latvian, Martins Rubenis. In 5th going in, so they skipped some people. Camera work in this event could stand some work, you feel like you're not really seeing the race; they're just going by too fast, sometimes before the camera catches up.

Ah, Armin Zoeggeler, Italian. He's good; luge is such a mental game. Idiot announcers again; not talking about the race, about past stuff, as it's going on--very odd, luge is like not even a minute long only. Absolutely no analysis. AZ is in first, American in second. Can he grab bronze--cause there's no way he's gonna beat out the legendary German, Georg Hakel.

Hakel, going for his fourth gold medal in four Olympics here. Again, announcers talk history during the race. Wow, he even looks faster/better than everyone else. These announcers are just talking over the race, idots. Dennis Johnson and two clowns.

Next up, Russian, Demtschenko. Again, constant three-person talking over the event. Russian does well, despite what announcers were guessing. American sits in third, after second of four runs--which the announcers just mention at the end. This has to be the worst announcing job I've seen so far. Which is saying something; just about everyone has been bad. Astonishing that NBC is putting these guys on air--doesn't anybody have standards anymore?

Bob Jr.
Back in the studio, Bob Costas is joined by Jimmy Roberts--who's gonna look back at the Sale/Pelletier pairs ice skating scandal from Salt Lake. He compares it to a soap opera--which is dumb.

Sometimes JR tries a little too hard to be clever. And the gimmick gets in the way of the storytelling, especially since the clips seemed to have been staged just for the segment. The story itself is compelling enough, lose the stupid stuff. The segment really doesn't have any point to it; just an excuse to get more air time for ice skating.

HOUR TWO
Ice skating kicks off
Yaay! My favorite Olympic genre. First off--the Americans, Rena Inoue and John Baldwin. He looks like a paunchy fool; another dumb white guy with an Asian American. Going for the first-ever triple throw axel in Olympic competition; I already know the result, unfortunately.

He's all in black, she's in some white/green/blue mix. Good lift to start; they don't skate very fast though. Wow, they landed the throw! That was great to see. Too bad announcers are horrible, of course. You'd think they'd have some line prepared.

Ooops, off-kilter side-by-side double axels, inconsistency is the American hallmark in ice skating. That and lack of speed. But so far this is a decent program, no stupid mistakes. Audience reaction muted, that'll hurt; also, they're skating very early in the evening, so won't get the scores they deserve.

Who is this third man in the booth? His voice is horrible, and he speaks so haltingly. It's a very choppy broadcast so far.

Baldwin's way too touchy-feely, and controlling in the kiss and cry area. He's trying too hard to be the man or something, gesturing to the audience to applaud more. He's totally lacking that likeability factor.

Oh, now they introduce the announcing team--Dick Button is the horrible guy, Sandra Bezic the dorky woman, Tom Hammond the well-intentioned but only steady veteran. They just don't flow.

Pang Qing and Tong Jian, a pair from China. Ugly black uniforms with traces of gold. Good classical music though; and they skate fast. Too deliberate getting ready for the first jump; good first throw with nice height, but again, it's too set-up, the best Russians always make it flow organically, no pausing before or afterwards.

Music is quite good and standard, it's now Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (not that NBC tells us), they learned music choicefrom the Rooskies. All-in-all a technically impressive team, but no fire/heart somehow. All by the book, nothing terribly imaginative--still, well-done. As best as they can do, says Bezic, actually an apt comment. And they're in first at this point, of course.

Next, the top Chinese pair. They showed images beforehand from his ruptured Achilles--totally ugly and ridiculous. Now, NBC tells us, they don't have to win no medal to win, just competing is great. Uh, sure.

Hmm, big smiles; similar black/silver uniforms, but they somehow look more world-class. Interesting beginning, not standard. And fast! Ah, she touches ice--not him. Nice, big throw. A little bit of personality as the music changes, but the touch makes it seem a little forced. Bezic is turning out to be a decent commentator, she gets things right. Nice high lift; effortless. Their elements are set up much more fluidly, you don't necessarily see them coming. Good death spiral; nice program, but for the bobble, and Bezic says he missed something at the end. They seem happy at the end--maybe part of the problem. Russians would've been stone-faced, not satisfied. And they're second, to their teammates.

One thing I'm noticing--commercial breaks are shorter than American Idol's blocks, like half as long.

Heil moguls
Unfortunately I inadvertently saw the results for how this event turns out already. Heck, even if I hadn't, the fact the announcers wonder at the top if it'll be the Canadian or the Norwegian winning would've tipped me off to something.

Jillian does okay--announcers give no sense of how this stacks up against the field, though, so it could've been amazing, or with usual hyperbole just okay. Another American, Shannon--announcer says an "incredible" run. Oh? His partner says it doesn't seem like she thought it was enough to win; so the first guy is now criticizing her run....

Gosh, this editing is like Steven Spielberg editing. Look here, I'm about to show you something, now see it, now did you see it?

Idiot comparison of distance from earth to Saturn, to distance from top of run to bottom. Okay... wow, Norwegian is pretty good. Announcers say they've seen her ski better, not sure how good it is. Heh, heh, what do they know. Big score, so now announcers will back off their comments of just a few seconds ago.

Another American, Michelle... I liked her in qualifying, just went for it. Oooh, in trouble, bobbling. But fast. Bad last jump, didn't seem that tough. She's not as enthused as she was after her qualifying run, so I'm sure her score won't be that great. And she's in third, at the moment. How many more to come? Three.

Of course, when the next skier knocks Michelle outof the bronze, the announcers don't mention it. Yo--if you're gonna focus on Americans, do it right.

Last up--the Canadian, Heil. She looks totally focused. A seemingly good run--how does it compare? We'll just have to wait for the scores; the announcers don't know nuttin either.

Heil wins!

Practicing going downhill
This is prime time? Training runs? The usual idiot announcers, just making things up to focus on and say good things about the Americans. And the usual constant yelling.

Hmm, second time Bode Miller's had a bad training run. I don't think this guy's gonna do well. Darron Rahlves is looking like more of a realistic medal contender, he apparently won the last time the circuit raced on this course. Announcer just said even the Austrians were studying Rahlves' line, since he'd nailed it.

Interracial pairs
Interview with Baldwin and Inoue; he talks about 'shoving it in the judge's face' with their big jump... considering same judges will mark the long program, seems like a dumb comment.

Marcie Hinzmann and Aaron Parchem... two Americans who will do poorly. He's in maroon/black, she white. Nice music; skating slow, weak lift. Hmmm, surprisingly nice throw. He falls on easy unison double jump. So typical. Not quite in sync on slow side-by-side steps. Hmm, he's black--first since Debi Thomas I've seen for U.S. They're actually not bad; nice flow to their routine. If they move to Russia and devote the next four years to training, they could be contenders. I liked watching them skate.

Hour Three
Rest of the world
Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, third Chinese team; same black with gold outfits. Hmm--this is interesting! Led Zepplin, fast and interesting moves. Nice big throw, too--although a bit too set-up. They seem to biff a bit on some of the small things; now music is classical, this is a fun routine. Button says okay but not inspiring--not sure I agree, crowd seems to really like them too. Kindof an anti-climactic end.

Husband and wife Polish team of Dorota Zagorska and Mariuz Siudek, she dressed as a flapper, he as a gentleman out for a night on the town, dance to old-style American music. They were comfortable to watch, as one of the commentators said; some bobbles here and there, and also not so terribly exciting.

I do wish the broadcast would include identifying information about the music. Pairs at its best is edge-of-the-seat exciting and passionate--but most of the time, it's simply nice to watch, and a few pop-up facts about song and outfits would fit just fine.

Men's 5,0000M
You can tell based on the time an event airs whether an American wins or not. The closer to the top or the bottom of the hour an American shows up, the more likely he or she wins gold. In this case, my best guess is Chad Hedrick doesn't win gold; but who knows.

Ahh... speed skating. I love watching it; colorful outfits against the smooth ice. Right now it's two members of the powerful Dutch team going head to head, orange vs. orange. I think NBC is using a new graphic, of two oval icons representing the position of the skaters--odd, why not just show the skaters live. Again, it'd be nice to have little factoids on screen--or from the announcers, imagine that!--about the background of these competitors.

The two Dutchmen just finished first/second, by a lot, over two Norwegians. Up next: the Exception.

Ugh, he just spit on the ice.... First, they run the compulsory bio clip--with Cash's Walk the Line in the background, CH is apparently from Texas. He's a lot smaller than the Dutchmen (who on average are the tallest men in the world). Laura Bush is in the stands, looking plastic as always. Oh-oh, CH was crying before, the anniversary of the death of his grandmother. Good luck... don't fall!

He looks good, but not sure why he's two-time world champ... seems so normal. Maybe that's part of it, he looks totally relaxed, at ease out there. Wow, he's really doing well, 1.5 seconds faster. Now nearly 2 seconds faster; mouth open though. No fast partner to draft off of. Great camera angle, scooting around rink right in front of him.

Wow, tongue totally hanging out, he's really digging deep now. He's struggling openly, but still pushing; lead is now 2.5 seconds faster. Down to 1.72 faster at the finish, 6:14:68. With just four guys left, he's pretty much guaranteed a medal. Hmm, a black American looks to be up next.

Shani Davis--how come we haven't heard more about him?! Vs. some Canadian guy. Davis is going out strong; he's competed in short track, so it'll be interesting to see if he can stay fast. He's fading already.... Wish the announcers would give us some perspective on how good Hedrick's time is. Wow, Davis is really falling off the pace--but that may just be an indication of how good Hedrick was.

Oh, hey, it's Dan Jansen commentating! Cool; I hope they got Bonnie Blair too. Looking at the time, it looks like Hedricks may be the gold medal winner, with one pair left this event should finish right around the magic hour mark. They really should also tell us how everyone's been doing during the World Cup season, though--no idea how good the last two are.

Am noticing I'm a lot more cognizant of how tv shows are edited, after watching all those reality shows where it's all about editing. I don't mind that much--I really like Harry Potter books, after all, despite being able to see the strings being pulled.

Hmmm, doesn't seem like the Norwegian guy's that great; the Italian guy could be a threat, he's won twice on the World Cup circuit. Wow, both are slower right off the bat though. I think, especially if you're at home, you need to come out strong--after two laps, I don't think either guy will catch him, both are nearly two seconds off--and the crowd isn't going nuts for the Italian guy like you'd think. Odd; there's no sense of urgency with these two, like they didn't think they could do it from the get-go--it's over, they're almost 4 seconds slower.

The U.S. has really improved their Winter Olympic team over the last few Olympics; it used to be surprising when we won a gold, now it's almost expected in quite a few of the events. The Italian guy is starting to feed off the crowd, picking up time, going for the bronze--wow, he gets it!

But Hedrick's your gold medal winner. Awesome; he seems like a nice guy, big smile, running out on the ice. Four years after watching from Vegas as Derek Parra grabs silver, he's on top himself. Now he can go for history, try and tie Eric Heiden's five golds.

Good post-game interview; appropriately emotional and open about the importance of the moment, especially since it's 13 years to the day since his grandmother's death.

Pairs return
Gold medal Russian favorites Tatiana Marinina and Maxim Marinin show up in teal outfits. Wow, they look very fast and smooth. Good classical music too. Judges keep nattering about the new scoring system; shut up please, and let's just watch. Effortless throw. Wow, side-by-side triple toe loops, perfectly done. Such speed, and ice coverage.

Perfectly timed throw to the music; such fun to watch. And the music's good too; not sure why so many skaters pick aesthetically bad music. It's just the short program, but these guys look nigh unbeatable. Wonder what the Chinese will do (really, did). It's hard; the Russian guy is so big and powerful, everything they do looks great.

'Brilliant' says one of the commentators; 'unmatched,' 'in a class by themselves', 'mistake free program', 'they just don't mess up.'

And they're well out in front in first--they've pretty much wrapped up the gold already. There's such a sense of speed, of heart-in-the-throat, when Russian pairs skate, their coaching system still has a lock on this event.

Ugh, now Germans--skating to trance music or something, dressed all in sleek black with white stripes down the sides. Athletic, but no grace. Music is really horrible--and she falls off a throw.

Pairs has been one of my favorite events for the past few Olympics, ever since tiny Ekaterina Gordeeva and powerful Sergei Grinkov reinvented the sport at Calgary in 1988, and won gold again at the next Olympics they competed in, Lillehammer in 1994. Then he died of a heart attack....

There's no way T/M will match their story, but hopefully they'll skate well in the long program (although it'd be nice to see one of the Chinese pairs, in 2nd and 4th and 5th between the two Russian pairs right now, pull off an upset; I doubt they will, though).

Michelle
Hmmm, she apparently had a rough practice session today, and her groin seems to be bothering her again. People are billing it as she may pull out based on some of her comments at the press conference. Watching the clips on NBC, I don't think so, I think she's just very straightforward and being honest. She's got 10 days before the short program; she'll be fine. Just has to do her best, not everyone else's.

HOUR FOUR.5
Ski jumping--normal hill
It's just qualifying; but I really got into this sport four years ago. Really young Swiss guy, Japanese team--good competition in SLC. Announcers, Jeff Hastings and Matt Vasgersian are loud, per usual. Has shrillness and lack of art just taken over broadcasting? Don't these guys get trained? Anyone explain how a microphone works? Any audio engineers on the job?

Jim Denney, American--will do nothing, U.S. is very bad in this event. Sure enough, a short jump. Next, Alan Alborn. Does NBC think we just wanna watch any American? Gosh, do some work--find the best stories, show people from other countries besides the top competitors. Alborn is better than Denney, but still does nothing.

A Canadian... Hastings isn't that bad aside from his grating loudness, he gives analysis and mentions technique at least. Now, an Italian. These guys are just flashing past, each jump is only seconds long. Everyone's landing around the same distance, 96M mark. A Slovenian; not a great jump. He yanked his body up into the air too quickly. His fluorescent bodysuit pulses on the screen.

A Japanese jumper, fifth Olympics both announcers say within seconds of each other--a good jump, best so far. Noriaki Kasai. Simon Ammann--the Swiss phenom and gold medalist from 2002. Not a good jump.

Good jump from a Polish guy; Norwegian up, good jump too, didn't start out looking good but he has good body control. In first at this point, by quite a bit. First of the powerful Austrians; this late night stuff is great, they would never show all this in prime time, Norway still leads.

To break. I always like watching Pat O'Brian wrap up the day. He's a little weird, but his humor works this late. Plus they generally have good music, and fun highlights; plus interesting little off-beat reports. And, of course, bonus coverage of the 'minor' sports.

Back, another Austrian--not a bad jump, kindof not great technique. A lot of these guys are under 20.... German, solid jump. Turns out he's 'pre-qualified'--how about explaining that?

Good jump, a very happy Swiss guy. And the famed Finn, Janne Ahonen; strong jump. Czech republic guy, current World Cup points leader... not a great jump, 21st place. And that's it. The 'Harry Potter' of ski jumping, Ammann, is funny in post-race interview--will need 'full power' tomorrow he says. Very Euro in his answers, got that yaa cadence going on.

Lights out
Hmm, looks like it's Jim Lampley replacing Pat late at night. That sucks; Lamp is like the opposite of Pat, he's very stiff, and seems a bit full of himself. Feature recapping pairs; is okay. Scott Hamilton, despite his top of the lungs pitch, is still the best skating analyst, he tells you things and isn't afraid to be blunt. These Canadian ex-pairs skaters with Tom Hammonds, the infamous Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, seem to have a hard time just speaking English. I guess he's French Canadian; they struck me four years ago as a little holier than thou and not that likeable, despite being in an eminently sympathetic position.

And I wasn't so sure that they were better than the Russians in the final long program--cleaner, yes, but also a little too careful, they didn't seem to have left it all out there. Although I may be misremembering, it was four years ago!

So they show a medals ceremony, for the German who won the biathalon. Funny, just read today in a biography about Beethoven that Joseph Haydn wrote the piece that's now Germany's anthem. Interesting that Germany and Italy have been countries for less time than the U.S. has.

Hmm, Bob Costas is talking to Chad Hedrick; on the interview set he seems a lot more stilted. Let's see if Bob loosens him up. Yeah, he already seems to be warming up. So much prominent Nike air time--swoosh on his red cap, on his blue warm-up.... Why's he wearing a hat indoors, anyway. Interesting, he just said Eric Heiden's his doctor.

At break, idiot Apprentice commercial. There's a contestant they're billing as 'the genius'--yet he says "I'm in the top two percent of IQs in the world." Top two percent is not genius--unless you think there are 7 million geniuses in the world. Sheesh.

Jim wraps up; it's like he's an actor, playing a journalist. Ugh. Andreas Botticelli sings us out--over nothing, think they'd at least run some highlights.

How good is this American team? Can it win more medals that at Salt Lake? Right now, I'm thinking not. It was a disappointing first day in some ways; momentum, destiny--these things play a role, and doubt right now the Americans are feeling it. They need someone to come out of nowhere on day two, to get everyone excited and trying to keep it going, surfing the wave of the team, instead of getting all caught up in themselves.

Photo of Chad Hedrick after his gold-medal skate in the men's 5,000 meters by Vincent Laforet for The New York Times.

Photo of Rena Inoue and John Baldwin as they became the first pairs team to land a throw triple axel in world or Olympic competition by Vincent Laforet for The New York Times.