[Public_Domain]

[Alta_redneck]

Here's your last Olympic medal Ohno, wear it with pride.

[Hyack]

Mr_Canada Mr_Canada:

...Didn't Hyack have a post here?

I think it was Hyack...

Yeah, I did, it was as picture of Ohno after he was disqualified that ended up looking like... so I went and it.

H

[Arctic_Menace]

WDHIII WDHIII:

From America, with love

Dear Canada,

Congratulations! No more tears. Your ragtag bunch of scrappy underdog college -- excuse us, university -- kids just took out the fearsome Soviet hockey juggernaut, setting the stage for Rocky Balboa single-handedly to end the Cold War … oh, wait. That was the Miracle on Ice. But hey, your collection of highly paid elite professional grown men still beat the Russkies! Which means you're on the way to reviving your moribund Olympic mojo and putting this whole "Own the Podium" fiasco behind you -- provided you follow our five-point plan for becoming a future Winter Games powerhouse:

1. Expand curling: You say hockey is your national sport. But let's get Dr. Phil real: You kick serious tail in rock tossing and ice sweeping. So petition the International Olympic Committee for more of it. Senior curling. Downhill curling. Bikini beach curling. (Ratings would go through the roof.) What did the United States do when we got tired of getting pwned in Euro-centric events like Nordic combined? We got Jacques Rogge & Co. to add snowboarding. We'd get them to add skateboarding and competitive eating to the Summer Games slate if we could. More medals for us, dude.

2. Make tennis and golf Winter Olympic sports: According to your own Olympic officials, Team Canada is struggling because rabid home ice fans are … too enthusiastic. Too loud, even. (Also the same reason Duke always loses at Cameron Indoor.) Solution? Make the Winter Games home to two sports where boisterous rooting is kept under wraps. Then hire Stevie Williams to enforce matters. Problem solved.

3. Award selves platinum medals: Lots of 'em. As many as you can afford. Hey, it worked for Yevgeny Plushenko. Oh, and if you're still feeling that strange hollow gnawing sense of complete and total existential inadequacy that comes with being a second-rate Winter Games power even though half your land mass is essentially glacial, make a diamond-encrusted vanity pendant in the shape of your own head. Marquis Daniels did the same thing. And he's Marquis Daniels.

4. Invade Russia: Granted, it didn't work in World War I. Or WWII. And it's pretty much a suicide move in Risk. Still, there's only one way to ensure Team Russia doesn't bite back at the Sochi Games.

5. Go back to being Canadians, already: Own the podium? Please. Arrogant claptrap. So very, very us. So very unlike you. Don't pull a Heidi Montag on the face/chest/etc. of your national character. Just be yourselves. Work hard, try your best, have fun. Life goes on, win or lose. Cool perspective. Reasonable, levelheaded ironic detachment. That's your essence. Stick with it. Especially now, in the wake of your Olympic wipeout. Isn't that how you shrugged off "The Love Guru," "Thicke of the Night," and losing both the Montreal Expos and the Vancouver Grizzlies? Leave the emotional, knee-jerk reactions (invading Grenada, anointing/demonizing/redeeming Bode Miller) to the experts down south. Besides, do you really want more Pitka … a Thicke-helmed late-night gabfest … the lousy Nationals and Grizz … or the special heartburn that comes with being good at the Olympics? Not if you've seen the "Today" show lately, you don't.

Canada, you've already grasped something we'll never understand: Sometimes you win by losing.

Beer and cigars for everyone!

Sincerely,
Page 2

Patrick Hruby is a freelance writer and ESPN.com contributor. Contact him at phrubwb@yahoo.com

Tha F**k?!

[Hyack]

Canada looks to top Olympic gold medal total, set host-country Winter record

$1:

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Canada is poised to establish a new personal best for Olympic gold medals Saturday, as well as a new record for most golds claimed by a country at its own Winter Games.

Friday's two-gold haul by short-track speedskater Charles Hamelin - one in the men's 500 metres, the other in the four-man 5,000-metre relay - lifted Canada's golden total to 10, and tied the record for the most won by a host country in the Winter Olympics.

The United States won 10 golds in Salt Lake City in 2002. Norway also won 10 in Lillehammer in 1994.

Canada has only ever won 10 Olympic golds once before - at the Summer Games in Los Angeles in 1984.

The record could fall in a number of places.

Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., is in second place going into the final runs of the four-man bobsled, while a trio of Canadian snowboarders are looking to close out the Cypress Mountain Olympic venue with a bang.

Jasey-Jay Anderson, Michael Lambert and Matthew Morison all head into Saturday's parallel giant slalom event as serious medal threats.

There's the gold-medal final in men's curling, where skip Kevin Martin is looking to extend his remarkable unbeaten streak to 11-0 against Norway, the country that denied him the gold eight years ago in Salt Lake City.

Finally, Canada will square off against the U.S. in the final gold-medal leg of the men's team pursuit in long-track speedskating.

Also Saturday, Joannie Rochette takes to the Pacific Coliseum ice one last time to bid adieu to her adoring fans, wrapping up an emotional Games for the 24-year-old.

The skater from Ile-Dupas, Que., who won bronze less than a week after the death of her mother, will perform in figure skating's exhibition gala, as will ice-dancing gold medallists Tessa Virtue of London, Ont., and Scott Moir of Ilderton, Ont.

link

[Canadaka]

YEAH!!! two more Gold! We are going to own the gold podium at least!

[Hyack]

Canadian snowboarder Anderson has won Olympic gold in parallel slalom

[Hyack]

Canada wins team pursuit gold

$1:

Canada has struck gold at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

The men's long track speed skating team pursuit trio of Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., Lucas Makowsky of Regina and Mathieu Giroux of Montreal defeated the United States in a time of three minutes 41:37 seconds to capture the gold medal on Saturday.


The Americans closed the gap as the race wore on but could not catch the Canadians and finished in a time of three minutes 42.58 seconds to capture the silver medal. The Netherlands took home the bronze with an Olympic record time of three minutes 39.95 seconds.

The Canadian men dominated their first two races on the opener of a two-day event, setting an Olympic record on Friday in the quarterfinals to beat Italy, and then eclipsing that mark in the semifinal against Norway to advance to the gold-medal race.

The women's pursuit team of Christine Nesbitt, Kristina Groves and Brittany Schussler were upset when the heavily favoured Canadians fell to the United States in the opening round.


The Canadian men's team won silver in the pursuit at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Morrison the only returning member of that group.

[Hyack]

Snowboarder Anderson takes gold

$1:

Canadian Jasey-Jay Anderson has won the Olympic gold medal at the men's parallel giant slalom at Cypress Mountain.

Anderson, Canada's most decorated snowboarder, beat out long-time rival Benjamin Karl of Austria.

France's Mathieu Bozetto secured the bronze medal.

Anderson, who has claimed a total of 59 podium finishes with 26 victories in 207 World Cup starts, has competed in three previous Olympic Games without cracking the finals.

Anderson's victory closes out a snowboarding career that has spanned almost 20 years.

"It's been my whole life...it's a really small sport and to stick around this long, you need to...really perservere and be hard-headed many many times," Anderson said at a press conference last week.

"I am fortunate to have been able to be an athlete up to the age of 34 in this sport.

"The people Ive met, the people who have helped me grow through the sport and through sport in general just the experience of going through the whole Olympic process, being a Canadian in sport, family support.

"I am not the same person that I would have been had I taken a more conventional lifestyle or life path."

[wildrosegirl]

This is fantastic!

[kitty]

awesome!

[Brenda]

I'm watching men's curling... I am kinda confused tho...
Does anybody know when the Norwegians start making balloon-animals?

[Hyack]

I don't know about the balloon animals, but their damn pants are giving me a headache.

[Brenda]

Hyack Hyack:

I don't know about the balloon animals, but their damn pants are giving me a headache.

It's either balloon animals or they are going to turn in for the night...

(Pfew! I thought I was the only one )

[QBC]

Another awesome day for Canada at the Olympics!!!