Yano What I Mean?: Olympic Best and Worst

Olympic Best and Worst

Best New Sport - Snowboard Cross. I know it's the only new sport, but still, it's SO cool to watch. It's one of the sports that I look at and think, "Hey, I can do that..." Of course, like short track, there's a lot of strategy involved - it's not just the fastest that wins. You have to be the fastest AND not fall or get knocked out by someone else falling.

Best Cheering Section - Toby Dawson. I would laugh every time they showed his cheering section in the

Worst Behavior on the Medal Stand - I know I sound like an old lady in saying this, but as much as I like Hannah Teeter and her happy go lucky attitude, she just seemed so disrespectful on the medal stand as they were playing the National Anthem. I know she's just 19 but she acted very much like a high school kid watching the national anthem being sung at a football game. I think she realized later that people were watching, so she calmed down a bit.

Best Use of Gold Medal Fame - Shawn White. In his plan to woo figure skater Sasha Cohen, he pretended to talk to Sasha, saying, "Oh yeah, this, I just got it. How's it going?"

Worst Rivalry - Chad Hedrick vs. Shani Davis. I'm still on the fence about how I feel about Shani not skating the team pursuit. The press makes it seem like he's selfish and not thinking "team" and only concentrating on himself. During his press conferences, Chad has said similar things. But if you had a good chance to medal at the Olympics (which Shani does at the 1000m), would you risk it to do a relay where you could get injured, lose your focus or get too tired before your big race? I don't think I would. The press also seems to forget the fact that Shani has never skated the team pursuit. The press is making this a bigger deal than it really is. A better idea for everyone would have been to have the team pursuit at the end of the games.

Best Medal Stand Moment - Seth Weston, gold medalist for snowboard cross, inviting the bronze and silver medalists to stand up with him on the top of the podium before the flags were raised. He stood there, smiling, with his arms around his fellow winners, savoring the moment.

Worst Injury - France's Carole Montillet-Carles crashed during a practice run for women's downhill skiing. She landed on her face, and with the swelling and bruising, it doesn't paint a pretty picture. Then again, I don't know what she looked like before.

Best Performance that Didn't Win Gold - Kelly Clark. She needed an amazing run to win the gold. She went down the halfpipe and came up with the biggest air that I've ever seen a woman have, she was WAY above the pipe. She had a run good enough for a silver or bronze, but she threw in one more trick to go for gold - a frontside 900 - and didn't land it, pushing her to 4th place. But what she accomplished during her run was amazing, having a run and achieving the heights that many of the guys could only wish they had.

Worst Marketing - NBC. For touting this year's Olympic team as THE BEST TEAM EVER, and adding so much pressure on these athletes in addition to the huge amount of pressure that the Olympics already puts on these athlete's backs. These ads that they had then give the viewers expectations of these athletes, so when they get beat we actually get upset WITH the athletes for letting us down. It's horrible. We go from a country of champions before the Olympics to a group of chokers, let-downs, and people who couldn't deliver. It's the wrong frame of mind to put the audience in.

Best Comeback - Chinese pairs skaters Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. After being thrown by her partner into a quadruple spin, she fell at an awkward angle on her knees. She was led to the side of the ice by her concerned partner, and her coach asked her of she wanted to stop. After some tears, she said she wanted to continue. Her partner led her out on the ice and the continued their performance, her partner casting worried glancing and murmuring words of encouragement to her as they finished their routine. She reached inside her and had a great routine, so great that they got the silver medal. As they got their scores which revealed that they got the medal, her partner carried her in his arms as they celebrated. Everyone cries. Ahh, I love the Olympics!

Worst Torture for Athletes - The moguls winners seats. There are three seats at the bottom of the moguls hill, one for gold, silver and bronze. The top three sit in those seats, watching the competitors. If someone gets a high score, the guys get up, move over one seat, the guy in third place has to exit, and the new guy sits in the #1 seat. I think it's torture being in that 3rd seat! That, and if you have a crappy run, you actually have to PASS the guys who are in the top 3. Tough.

Best Use of a Media Press Conference - Joey Cheek, for saying that he's going to donate his $25,000 bonus for getting a gold medal to A Right to Play, an organization that brings sports to disadvantaged areas of the world. He spoke about Sudan and how he wanted his money to go there, stating that he had help getting to where he is today and he wanted to give that chance to someone who otherwise wouldn't have it. What a guy!

Go Joey!!!

More later...

Posted by Yano at February 17, 2006 11:38 AM

Comments

"Worst Marketing - NBC. For touting this year's Olympic team as THE BEST TEAM EVER"

What Team? They've marketeting all kinds of individuals and skipping the rest of the team in each sport. Then, the main person loses and we know nothing about the other member that actually won.

Posted by: Redpac on February 17, 2006 11:59 AM

Redpac, I totally agree with you. Seems like NBC only gives us information the US team member who's favored for his or her particular sport and doesn't give us much information on who really is the best coming into the competition. I also hate how they string you along for the entire broadcast, when all we really need is a clear slot for the sport we're following.

Posted by: Rocena on February 17, 2006 12:03 PM

Great picture w/Joey Cheek! He seems like such a nice and sincere guy. And he's from NC!

Posted by: Island Girl on February 17, 2006 02:27 PM

I have to agree with Redpac and Rocena and say a big old WORD. Bode Miller's been marketed all to hell but he has yet to deliver the goods. And on the Downhill Combined, his teammate stepped up to the plate to win the gold but was Ted Ligety in the spotlight at all until his win? Nope!

I'm on the fence about the Shani Davis thing because news reports make it seem as if he had planned to skate in the team pursuit up until the last minute, but the media can be a bit unreliable. I mean, did he flat out tell them no way beforehand or did he say "well, maybe" and then decide at the end no?

Shaun White is so adorable and I just wanna go up to him and pinch his cheeks!

Snowboard cross is so much fun to watch! I love it!

Posted by: xinh on February 17, 2006 06:35 PM

I agree with Redpac and Rocena. I did know about Toby Dawson because NBC kept highlighting his adoption story.

Very nice of Joey Cheek to give his winnings to A Right To Play.

Shaun White is such a cute kid. It was fun watching him and his parents after he won the gold.

Snowboard cross kicks ass.

I feel that if Shani said he would be in the team pursuit then he should have done it. If he never said he would participate in it then Chad has no business complaining. It sure has made it uncomfortable for all of the team.

Posted by: Sue on February 17, 2006 08:21 PM

Anyone who wondered about the this whole Chad Hedrick vs. Shani Davis thing only had to watch Davis' interview with NBC after winning gold.

He came off looking EXACTLY like the selfish jerk that he's been made out to be. I'm proud of what he accomplished, but totally disgusted and ashamed of his behavior.

Say what you want about his performance, but as a person, this guy is disgusting. Certainly not the kind of role model we would want our children to look up to.

Posted by: Brother12 on February 18, 2006 10:50 PM

How about Best Fall On Her Ass:

Lindsey Jacobellis

As Nelson on the Simpsons would say: "Ah-hah!"

Posted by: Ty on February 18, 2006 10:57 PM

I was on the fence about the Shani thing too until that interview after he won the gold. He seems to be further alienating the media, the public and potential sponsors. He has said he never skated the pursuit & didn't know about it until arriving in Torino. I don't fault him for deciding not to skate in it - but I don't understand his attitude. Other than that - my other comment was about an online poll I came across somewhere - who was the biggest flop at the Games. I was like, are you KIDDING ME???

Posted by: Linda J. on February 19, 2006 08:35 PM

Ah Joey! The brightest spot of the Olympics by far.

Yesterday Amanda Overland told me that he had let her try on both his medals. She loved it!

Posted by: noelle on February 23, 2006 04:12 AM