Torino takes a bow

For the first time, missed all of the coverage, so this is all off NBC's broadcast repeat.

HOUR ONE
Good bye
Odd, Dan Hicks and Mary Carillo host the closing. Not quite the Bob and Brian show the openings got, or even the traditional Bob and Katie pairing. But they seem to have a good chemistry, and similar cheeky sense of humor. Joey Cheek will carry the flag, funny, it could've been Chad Hedrick. But Cheek's donating his bonus money to charity speaks volumes.

Brokaw's boys
They start with the much-promoed Tom Brokaw look at an African-American soldier who fought in Italy in WWII, Vernon Baker of Cheyenne, Wyoming. First real look at Italy's fascist past, it makes it seem like the Italians were also fighting the Nazis. Some were--most were their allies.

They show the 1997 White House ceremony at which Baker was the only member of his unit still alive to receive the Medal of Honor from President Clinton. He looks very quiet, and dignified. Colin Powell speaks too. This isn't the Olympics or sports people are tuning in for though, odd NBC would start with this--why not show some sports, then come back into it?

The story is essentially Baker's unit was ordered to seize castle Aghinolfi near Torino, a near-suicidal mission. But they go all the way back to Wyoming where he grew up; the white co-author of his life story says people were judged more by what they did they the color of their skin. Oh? Why not ask Baker about that? This is one of those whitewashed stories that makes everyone feel good. Baker's grandfather told him not to hate, because hate will destroy you. Nicely lets whites off the hook. And of course, the white co-author is the one who tells Vernon's story, and the one who frames his story.

Powell is so eloquent, 'black soldiers continued to serve the nation even though the nation did not serve them.' Hmm, interesting, Jackie Robsinson was court martialed for objecting to being sent to the back of the bus--there's a story there!

Historian Rick Atkinson, who I've read and liked, says by the time black soldiers were allowed into the Italian theater, Nazi atrocities were ongoing, in response to the Italian partisans. No word yet of fascists, or how the Italians had led Mussolini. It's cast as Italy was a victim too. Ask Ethiopia if that's true.

Hmm, Atikinson says the military stipulated white Southerners were to command the black soldiers, because they knew 'how to deal with those boys.' And that the 92nd was part of a campaign by black America, the double V campaign--victory against the enemy, and against racism. Tom wants to know from Baker how come the soldiers didn't erupt in rage. He says well, you see, this was the only country we had--and if we didn't fight for it, it would probably belong to somebody else.

They get back to the castle action. Baker and 25 men climbed a steep, heavily defended hill at dawn. NBC recreates it using cheesy b&w shaky grainy footage. THey were able to sneak up; Baker gets emotional reliving it. He killed 9 soldiers, wiped out 3 machine gun nests, and observation posts, and cut communications lines. But they had to retreat, under heavy attack.

They can't get artillary support, intelligence officers don't believe they've made it where they've made it. Germans are raining down mortar fire. White captain abandons the company, with the radio. Baker assumes command, keeps his men moving in a calculated retreat. They went up with 25 men, down with six. Next day, he goes back up with all-white company, castle falls. He gets the 2nd highest honor, distinguished service cross. He's wearing the ribbon after the war, a white officer orders him to take it off, says no N he knows has it. Baker says you're looking at one who does.

Powell talks about coming back and facing discrimination, and how the black soldiers spoke out. Ironic, under the newspaper they show with Truman's executive order desgregating the military, they don't pan but there's another story about a lynch mob. Powell notes America's military heroes--Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower--didn't want to carry out Truman's order fully, he had to go public to force change.

Hmm, Baker joins the Red Cross after the military, is deployed to Vietnam as a counselor. He gets a call in the 90s from the military, investigating why no black soldiers got the Congressional Medal of Honor. Powell says it was clearly an injustice. Baker says he didn't think anything would come out of it. But Clinton was president....

It winds up being a pretty good story. Shots of Baker standing proudly at the White House, tears streaming down his eyes. He shows his medal to Brokaw, who says most of us would put this out under a soft white light so everyone can see it when they walk in. He says quietly no, I don't think you would, if you went through it.

Italy then celebrates him and his comrades. Co-author says ever small town they go to there's a great ceremony, everyone's dressed in their best, all wanna shake his hand. He's reunited with the partisan who was wounded in the lip while on patrol with him, it's all on videotape, it's actually quite powerful, they hug, and rejoice.

They show period footage, the faces of the black men look so blank, so statuesque, so angry, so soldier-like. Brokaw ends the trip by going to a cemetary where buffalo soldiers are buried amid a sea of white crosses. He says here there are no color lines, as the camera pans past a lone Star of David. It's amazing what this country did; and how we've forgiven and moved on despite leaving hundreds of thousands dead over there.

Powell ends by saying if it weren't for the buffalo soldiers, he never would be where he is, and it's people like Baker who created those opportunities for him. Baker says Powell was eight years old when all the stuff in Italy happened to him, makes him think how America has grown, and we have a little way to go still but we'll make it.

Men's 50K freestyle cross-country skiing
30 miles to end the Games. Al Trautwig and Paul Rouse. Tobia Angerer of Germany tops based on World Cup season, but they don't race this distance usually. They review the Italian men's relay win, three members of that team in the race. Mass start, Trautwig says hard to gauge who the real favorites are, race will take over two hours. Beautiful sight as all 82 go off at once, last chance for Norwegians to win a gold. Hmm, you can see the snowmobile running alongside the skiers that NBC gets its pictures from.

German, Swede, Italians, Norwegians all up near the front. Rouse doesn't think Norway will do anything here, they don't have the leadership or the talent they used to. It's a great shot of them coming up and then down and then up the hills.

From a few minutes in to 20 minutes in, Norweigans among the countries doing well today after an Olympics with only four medals in this sport. Interview with six time Norwegian gold medalist who says the Norwegians didn't want him as coach, the Swedes jumped on him, and have three golds so far. Rouse says the course is in good shape, a hard track. Everyone's strung out in a long line so far, like a train. Frenchman leading now, but just cause it's his turn, everyone's content so far to just let it go easily along.

Bye Jimmy
For the final time for real, Chevy and Roberts bring us another special moment. Tonight they look at the handoff of the Olympic flag to the mayor of the next host city, who then waves it eight times. Hmm, Sam Sullivan, the mayor of Vancouver, is a quadriplegic, he broke his neck skiing at 19. He was on welfare, living in subsidized housing; he planned suicide, but realized he didn't wanna die.

He's quite cool, from the way he talks you can tell he's a good guy--he started by cutting the time to put his shoes from 16 minutes to four. Then he started developing products for quadriplegics. He's got a good sense of humor too.

Wow. So they created a rig for his wheelchair, it's secret still exactly how he's going to wave the flag. Now this is an inspiring story.

HOUR TWO
More skiing
Now almost two hours in. Still pretty bunched up, they're on the next-to-last loop. I'd have thought the leaders would have broken away by now. Czech Republic guys up, Frenchie, Italian, German. 25 skiers within five seconds, it's crazy. Now pace is picking up a bit, Italian leading the way, Czechs staying with him, techniques of people are just breaking down, people are falling. 5K, three miles, left. Russian now skiing for Austrian, Trautwig says that team has a cloud hanging over it head, suspected doping violations; the guy is huge.

Final lap out of the stadium, two Czechs and three Italians up front. To the climbs. Just past two hours. Up the course's big hill. Nobody was able to pull away, about 1K from finish, it's going to be a crazy final sprint. Czechs there, Italians too, and Frenchies. Amazing that they can sprint after all this, nine men in front, Austrian leading, three football fields to go. Italian Giorgio Di Centa is in front for now, he's going to win; and he does, Italy's first win in this event. Russian silver, Austrian gets bronze. Di Centa's a lumberjack, no less; wins by 9/10s of a second after about 2 hours 5 minutes.

HOUR THREE
Closing Ceremonies
They award the cross-country medals at the closing ceremony, for the first time. Di Centa's the one with the fashionable classes; his sister's on the IOC, awards him the medal. Man, he's gotta be Italy's biggest sports hero right now, what a great sense of occasion; the whole stadium stands for Italy's national anthem, sung on tape by the same little girl whose pure voice sang in the opening ceremonies.

The guys with rocket packs on their backs come skating back in. They take a break, back with the military police force band streaming in. They play the Italian national anthem again. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi does show up this time to close up; no singing, flag raised as the band plays on.

Out comes a crazy band, made up of clowns all in white with Olympic ringsish on them, playing wildly, it's carnivale time! Music is oddly catching, same few lines over and over again. Nice overhead shot of purple stadium. Dancers form little circles. Next the clowns play YMCA--so crazy; and now they form the letters, this is unbelievable. Crowd is joining in. Why don't Italians feel weird that an American disco song is played at such a key ceremonial moment? If it happened hear, it'd be seen as just silly.

Next they raise the Greek flag and play their anthem. Final flag will be that of Canada, I guess. The flag-bearing athletes, most of whom were selected by their teammates, walk in. Cheek has a big smile on his face, on his way to college at the age of 26. The athletes walk in en masse, some mixed up together; athletes have been given red clown noses to wear, if they want. Mary and Dan mention in the past they've been more mixed up than they are now. Canadians are wearing Vancouver 2010 scarfs. Italians come in, lots of flags, all together. DM tend to let the action flow, not all about chatting continuously over everything. Negative is unlike Costas they can't or don't identify countries on sight, or make wry comments.

As they come back in come the U.S. U.S. outfits make them look like NASCAR drivers or something. Shani Davis shown; looking happy. To the strains of When the Moon Hits Your Eye. Shizuka Arakawa is spotted coming in and they replay part of her winning skate, as one of the Olympic moments.

With the Torino Games so spread out, Mary says many of the athletes have never met each other, lots stuck around days or even a week for this. They replay Ohno's win. It's insane, but I've seen everything.... Pretty much every minute of NBC's prime time coverage. I'll do the math at some point, a lot of hours; and words. They even show the false starts in Apolo's race. It's annoying, they play music under the clip. And now piercing voice of reporter, as she interviews Apolo on the stadium floor.

Next they show Shaun White's run, that seems so long ago. Then him in the stadium, he came back from the U.S. for the closing. He's funny, sticks his head in into the camera and goes aaah. Mary mentions his Sasha Cohen interest, and they go to her, in a different part of the stadium. She's also shouting, cause the reporter is; she looks into the camera and waves. They look back at her short program.

Next little Fiat cars and bikes come riding in, complete with clowns and acrobats along some bouncy track, confetti flying. Next a giant fan blowing a 125 mph wind keeps a performer in white above it, pretty cool, with the Oympic flame in the background, lyrical music. They form double Xs in the air, it's quite captivating. Guy goes up with skis; another guy up with a snowboard. It's transfixing to watch; a ribbon is blown up. Guys with giant spewing streamers on their backs walk along the stadium floor. Crowd cheers as a guy in whiite goes waaaay up; Mary notes even a clown gets to float. As Dan says, the mood is definitely becoming more melancholy, with the music contributing. It's all surreal, but works in combination.

Watching the balance on tape, two weeks later. Olympic officials now on stage, Italian committee president gets honored by Jacques Rogge, then speaks in Italian, then English. The two speeches are different, Carillo gives a translation. Whoah, some guy in a black t-shirt storms the stage, grabs the mike for a second, yelling something and carrying what looks like a German flag, president keeps going on. Nice security; Mary and Dan don't know what to make of it.

Rogge speaks; there were two mikes, now there's there's only one, the intruder ripped one off. Addresses the athletes, tells them to give back to sport what it has given you. Talks about fight against doping.; then declares the Games closed, calls upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Vancouver. Thank you Italy, thank you Torino he says in Italian.

And indeed. Now, the quadriplegic mayor of Vancouver, looking radiant in red. Canada's flag goes up slowly as Canadian opera star belts out O' Canada. The waving of the flag... to some pop song. Crazy waving of the flag by mayor of Turin; waving of the flag by Rogge; then into device, and he waves by moving wheelchair in a circle, he gets a huge hand, it's very cool. Video of Vancouver flashes on screen, as Native Americans make speech asking world to come to Canada.

Now snowmobile towing something comes on stage, acrobat driving then stands upside down, it's like a play, motions are exaggerated, pretty interesting. 'Drills' into stage, like ice fishing, lifts up plug, cracks ripple across, sound of kids laughing, ice opens up; and people carrying blocks of white come running onto stage, they're gonna build something I guess. Igloo? Start juggling things. More down-home than Italians. Wow, the stage floor is some sort of giant projection screen. Mary says they're building the Vancouver logo. Avril Lavigne comes out, very catchy and precise lyrics. In background people are prancing randomly, like a circus or something. You'd think it'd be more Cirque du Soleil. Hockey player skates out at the end, 'well done Canada' Dan says.

Down comes the Olympic flag. Dan now says the mood has really grown somber here. They show Apolo in the crowd, he's watching everything intently. Costumed men and women walk the flag out. Interesting how a piece of colored cloth can be imbued with so much meaning and emotion. Angel kids complete with haloes and wings (and little earpieces) sing the flag out as the athletes sway back and forth in tune.

Back and Andrea Bocelli, from rural Tuscany, sings oh-so-sweetly and slowly. Makes you think about 2,000 years of Roman history, how many millions of Italians have whiled away sad and happy occasions on warm and cold nights with song. He begins in Italian, moves seemlessly to English, it's Because We Believe from his album Amore. Dan and Mary, of course, are quiet, it's quite a beautiful song, and it's astonishing how effortlessly and fully he sings.

Meanwhile, Dan says, about 400 brides all dressed in white have been carrying lamps in the form of white flowers onto the stage, Mary says they represent hope. Saw at least one Chinese woman amongst them. Form a giant dove, cool. Then they form what Dan says is the Torino logo, although who knows. Then out go their lights, then the Olympic tortch too. Up go fireworks, all around the perimeter of the stadium. Curious what they'll be like in China, birthplace of fireworks; and pretty much everything else.

They've been hyping him all night, and out comes Ricky Martin. In odd hip hopish performance, aggressiveness is jarring, it's more shouting than singing. There's no flow to it, almost as if there are mike problems. Surrounded by vamping, creeping women in black, he's in white. Why Ricky? Why Torino? He's not that big anymore, was U2 busy? Hell, bring out Madonna....

Mary says the guy who ran out was trying to promote an online gambling service, not a terrorist. Back to Ricky, now in black with a beret. Still shouting, and gyrating. There's no crowd reaction for him to feed off of, so it's like he's trying to carry them with him. Takes off his coat, shirt has a Puerto Rican flag on the back. He does give it his all, gotta give him that.

They talk to Joey Cheek, who seems pretty emotional. Says he'll most remember the bigness of the whole thing, he's still bit in shock. They reshow his gold medal-winning race. Gosh, watching the tape am reminded of how times the same commercials kept running; most of them bad.

Party's winding down, says Mary. Athletes are dancing, Apolo Ohno again; says a lot of the American athletes have been trading stuff with the chinese. There's a joke in there somewhere, but we'll let it go. Idiot Chad Hedrick. Hmmm, an interview with Toby Dawson, two Asian Americans back to back has got to be some sort of record; he seems a bit nervous. Then they reshow--of course--Canadian Cindy Klassen's 1500M gold.

Back to Bob Costas in the studio, who says even if some venues at times were sparsely populated, the Italians always showed up for the important moments. Oh yes, nothing like the Olympic spirit. He does a wrap-up essay, about athletes falling but getting back up. Costas tries to claim the snowboarders may have been the signature event of these games... but correctly ends the highlights with Ohno's medals.

And then says we finished second to Germany, with Bode Miller's performance and Davis and Hedrick's feud part of the story, but more so Cheek's donation of his winnings, which inspired over $400,000 in other donations. Funny, Costas addresses Harvard's dean of admissions by name, they apparently turned Cheeks down earlier this year. Brief mention of China and Canada next, then ends with a thanks to Italy.

Eh, Costas is often more lyrical and less everything including the kitchen sink with these things. Have been a bit disappointed at his role, it's almost like he's now playing the elder statesman behind the scenes thing. Problem is there's been nobody to share the stage.

And that's it. They come back, roll the credits, and run some highlights and lowlights. Hmm, we've seen this exact same tape already--the opening? The weekend show's closing? Music is, I believe different, but images are the same. Hmm, I think it's the same as the weekend closing, with some more/different names.

It's actually an appropriate way for NBC to end the Games. Its broadcast really was quite poor, overall. Downright embarassing at times in its lack of professionalism, it really intruded upon the viewing experience. I guess this is what happens when you have no competition.

And in a signature moment for NBC's incompetence, one of the last shots after the credits is of an emotional Shani Davis running to hug Apolo Ohno backstage--first time we've seen it, and it lasts just a few seconds.

Uncredited photo of Vernon Baker found in numerous places on the Web.

Photo of Italy's Giorgio di Centa celebrating as he crosses the finish line by Anja Niedringhaus/ AP.

Photo of acrobats during the Closing Ceremony by Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images.

Photo of Helen Upperton and Heather Moyse of Canada 1 in the two woman bobsleigh event on February 20 by Donald Miralle/ Getty Images.

Photo of biathletes skiing during the women's 4x6km relay on February 23 by John D. McHugh/AFP/ Getty Images.

Photo of American Lindsey Kildow after falling in the womens combined alpine skiing on February 17 by Ian Walton/ Getty Images.