Bobsled, Bode Miller, speedskating -- and some figure fun

It's boys night at the Vancouver Winter Olympics last night of competition, with Bode Miller skiing, USA1 going for bobsled gold, the surprise mens team's speedskating pursuit, and the champions gala figure skating event.

Slalom's first run, literal Tim Ryan calling. Starting where the women did yesterday due to weather competition. Zurbriggen from Switzerland up first, men just bump the poles away. 66 gates down the course, two more than the women. Kostelic of Croatia next, his sister won 6 medals in her career. He's a natural, looks in good rhythm, like he's dancing. Into first, .4. Raich from Austria, powers his way through. Throwing a lot of snow though, bit out of control; but faster by .04. Wow.

Pranger of Austria next, looks gimpy at the start; recovers, then falls and is out. Slovakia's old man Valencic, quick feet; nice run, .11 in front. Wow, each guy keeps outdoing the others. Razzoli of Italy, he blocks the poles out of the way. Man, shredding the previous time, by .43. Amazing. Alberto Tomba likes him....

Ted Ligety next, not looking as fast; slides, and is out of the race. U.S. team does this a lot, gotta find a better line between aggressiveness and sloppiness; fact everyone does it on the team makes it seem okay, which builds upon itself. Coaches need to do something.

Next, Bode. And -- he's out right away, not even seven seconds in. Sheesh. Announcers make excuses, but it's indefensible. Team needs to get it together.

Next is snowboarding, men's parallel giant slalom. Jasey Jay Anderson of Canada, Austrian Benjamin Karl. Austrian wins the first race, .76 ahead; smooth, calm. France and Russia fight for bronze, Russian was supposed to start second, he tried to go too early, hit the gate. Frenchie coasts, takes bronze.

Karl extending his lead up top, Canadian making up time on the bottom, Karl messes up, missing a gate; and Canadian wins gold with an aggressive race.

Figure skating gala's tv part starts with Joannie Rochette in purple skating to Celine Dion's "Vole," (Fly) in French of course. Things can be cheesy yet still affecting, and this is. This is gonna be the top download in Canada tonight; maybe the U.S. too. There is power and grace in her voice in French that comes across as trite in English. You always wish we could see this type of exuberant performance in competition; we came close this year.

Yevgeny Plushenko next, "Je Suis Malade," in black. Let's see how many quads he tosses in. Was gonna do one to start, think he tripled it. Then nails another triple axel, then a third. I think it'd be funny if someone who got silvered one year did the winner's program, but better. He's literally throwing a fit out there, funny to watch, winds up crouched in a ball on the ice.

Back to bobsled, third heat, as we start 9 pm EST. U.S. up first, not a great start time though. 51.19, slower than yesterday, announcers say the track's slower. Well, we'll see. Relatively clean run.

Canada 1 next, slower up top, losing even more time; something's happened to the track; they finish in second, loses a bit of time overall. Germany 1, driver who's never lost in the Olympics. Very smooth, but stays in third. U.S. needs to not crash, and it's won gold.

Switzerland next, not a great start, losing a lot of time, finishes fourth still. Germany 2, they look and sound very smooth; and he moves up into fourth. Canada 2 moves up into fifth, Switzerland keeps getting pushed down. Wonder how come none of the Asian carmakers have gotten into bobsled, could totally change the sport. Germany 3, kindof a ragged piling into the sled. Bumpy ride, all over the place; into seventh. Steve Holcomb and his team are in position for gold, just no crashes!

Now, U.S. vs. Canada for speedskating team pursuit gold. Three skaters, eight laps, 3200M. Dan Hicks and Dan Jansen. Chad Hedrick leads the team, Brian Hansen and Jonathan Kuck. Canadians look very smooth. Hedrick not at full strength, U.S. is behind so far. U.S. just .39 behind, Chad's tongue out as always. .29 behind now. .58 now, U.S. looking pretty ragged, Hedrick in third. .35. .26 as we hit thfe final lap! Canada still looking in good synch -- and they win, by .20! Wow.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, he's in jeans, she in a blue dress, in a slowed-down version of Billie Jean -- David Cook's version! It's a great choice, fits their style. They look exactly like what they are, two kids having the time of their lives. "I love everything they do," Scott says.

Kim Yu-Na, in a gray dress. Going home to meet her president after this. To Massine's "Meditations," she's swan-like, and flows. The difference between art and sport is the difference between this gala and the rest of the Olympics. Moves might be the same, even better in some cases -- but what's at stake and the goal are opposite, which gives it a wholly different feel. She's got the whole world in her hands; will be interesting to see what she does with it. "Truly a gift," says Scott. "She's everything a champion should be," says Sandra.

Back to men's slalom, Americans missing all the fun. Kostelic's second run, seizes the lead with an inspired run, sis and crowd go nuts. Tomba on scene, looks pretty much the same. Razzoli gets going, shredding the course, .16 in front to grab gold, bloated Tomba bellows his approval. Andre Myhrer of Sweden takes bronze.

Razzoli seems humble, "it's not possible to do like Alberto, but this is my little bit."

Evan Lysacek, in a tux, of course. "Rhapsody in Blue," which won him worlds. Scott says Evan told him he picked this routine because he felt "it was the date that brung me to the dance." So much in that one quote about Evan! Classy, traditional guy, Gregory Peck to Plushenko's James Dean. His willingness to do a hard program here is "an example of his respect for skating, his title, and the audience," Sandra says.

I'm telling you, between them Scott and Sandra are one of the greatest announcing pairs ever, they're totally appropriate and insightful and honest.

Just past 10 pm, and it's bobsleigh time. Or bobsled. Hmmm, Holcomb has an eye disease, in 2008 thought it'd force him to retire. Had an experimental surgery, essentially an artificial lens inserted in his eye. Made his driving worse for a while, he was trying too much rather than going by feel. Seems like a really interesting, thoughtful guy, not at all how I'd seen him.

Switzerland up first, they always win a medal in these 'sliding sports,' in danger of missing out here. 1964 the last time it happened. Into first, for now. Ha, U.S. and Canadians riding back up the hill inside a truck together.

Canada 2 next, doing well up top, a bit shakier in the bottom; into first, for now. Swiss looking worried, then disgusted. They show 1948, last time the U.S. won gold in this event, they all look normal. Germany 2, a bit criss-cross in the middle, .02 into first.

Germany 1, run by legend Andre Lange. Great start, four golds for him. Gaining speed, textbook run so far, blistering fast, .74 lead. Canada 1 next, as Andre soaks in the applause. Good start, but losing some time. Hmmm; into third, by .01, Germans go nuts.

Holcomb wearing a black hood over his head, hadn't seen this before. Getting the sled ready, wipes the sled with the hood. Good start, have a half second to play with; losing a bit of time, but so far, so good; cruising -- and the gold drought is over! USA! USA! 3:24:26, by .37 over Germany! Yeah! Team celebrates, crowd goes wild, Holcomb is just proud.

Afterwards he says this takes the program to the next level, whole team seems like a bunch of good guys. They get Holcomb to do the "Hokie dance," a shuffling of his feet basically, it's pretty funny.

U.S. has 36 medals overall, Canada has 13 gold medals, both tying the records. U.S. will break the record tomorrow, hopefully Canada doesn't. Very serious during the national anthem, Holcomb's obviously feeling strong emotions, at the end huge grins for all of them -- and the Canadian next to them seems pretty thrilled too, the one non-white guy on the podium.

Back to skating; Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, he's wearing a Canadian hockey jersey, she's in a little black cocktail dress. Playing a hockey player mocking the figure skater. It's pretty well-done, they have good chemistry. Part two is to, "Everybody Dance Now." Fun, if somehow lacking something. "Hard to believe they're this great, this young" Scott says. Not in the league of Torvill and Dean and the Russians, in my view.