Random February Thoughts

I had planned on doing a running diary of today at the Olympics starting with the women's semifinal curling game between Britain and Canada.  Part of the appeal was doing a kegs (or bottles) and eggs kind of thing and blogging about curling and hockey.  The problem is that I didn't wake up until about 6:20.  I wasn't committed enough to this idea to set an alarm.  Anyway, after a shower, I did make myself scrambled eggs and I'm drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest right now (only a few more left).  As for the eggs, it was the first time I've ever made a breakfast for myself that was more complicated than putting a bagel in the toaster and then putting butter on it (I'm 30 years old).  I watched several Youtube videos about how to make scrambled eggs.  Most people whisk them before putting them in the pan.  A couple of videos said to whisk them right in the pan as they're cooking.  That's what I went with.  I got off to a rocky start when I got some of my first eggshell in the pan.  I was able to get it out and my eggs actually turned out to be pretty good.

Anyway, we're in the tenth end of Canada-Britain now.  I think I'll just have to come back tomorrow morning and do a running diary of the gold medal game.  It's at 8:30 so I should be able to get up for it.  Britain is down to their last rock right now.  And Eve Muirhead just hit an amazing double.  Jennifer Jones has a draw on her last shot to win.  She should make this one.  And she does.  Canada is going to the gold medal game.  I was a little conflicted about this game.  On the one hand, Jennifer Jones is the most talented curler of the Olympics (second straight Olympics that Canada has had the most talented curler).  On the other hand, Britain does have some talent and they're America's most important ally (Australia is our most important ally, but Britain is more important).  Either way, I was rooting for one of these teams to win the gold and the other one to win the bronze.  I have nothing against Sweden and Switzerland, but they'll have to settle for the silver and fourth place (I hope).

Speaking of curling, I was reading yesterday some stories about how the United States is going to reconsider how we select our curling teams.  The only time I'm ever jealous of Canada is when I watch curling, so we probably should reconsider how we select our Olympic teams.  My answer is focus on winning medals in men's curling (Pete Fenson is an American Olympic hero for winning bronze in 2006) and focus on having the most talented women's team.  Our 2006 team was amazing.  Cassie and Jamie Johnson were the two most talented curlers.  They were so talented that I didn't even notice Jessica Schultz (easily our most talented curler this year).  Sadly, Cassie and Jamie are both married now, but they should still should have been on our Olympic team.

Some random thoughts:  February is usually an awful month once the Super Bowl is over.  And it would have been this year with Notre Dame's crappy basketball team.  The Winter Olympics really help.  I love the Winter Olympics.  And the only sports I really like in the Winter Olympics are curling, hockey, and short track.  There are other sports that I can watch (alpine skiing, bobsleigh, freestyle skiing, luge, ski jumping, snowboard, speed skating), but I don't get upset if I miss them.  The Summer Olympics have a lot of sports that are easy to get into:  basketball, beach volleyball, handball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track, volleyball, and water polo.  And there are a few others that I don't mind watching if they're on TV.  Despite that, I think I like the Winter Olympics more.  I don't need the Summer Olympics.  They're nice, but the summer is great anyway.  (What I don't need either, but what would be totally awesome is America's Team Olympics.  Go to about the 6:30 mark to hear them talk about it).  I need the Winter Olympics.  If they happened in January, I wouldn't care too much.  But they are perfectly timed after football season.

Speaking of February, George Steinbrenner said it best.

The World War I veterans got Veterans Day fixed.  Can't we get Washington's Birthday fixed?  I would put it on February 22 every year (we can observe it on Monday if it falls on a weekend), but I could live with celebrating it on the fourth Monday in February every year.  At least that way the holiday could fall on Washington's actual birthday.

Sweden won the other semifinal game in curling.  Sweden-Canada tomorrow at 8:30.  I'll say goodbye to my favorite sport of the Winter Olympics with a running diary.  Which gives me an idea.  Jim's favorite sport power rankings:

10.  Swimming- Michael Phelps.  This might get bumped for track or something in 2016 since we might not dominate it the way we have for the last few Olympics.

9.  Short Track Speed Skating- Regular speed skating is boring, short track is intense.

8.  Beach Volleyball- Not many things say summer like beach volleyball.

7.  Soccer- I could get into the World Cup if the US was good, but Notre Dame has been good at least.

6.  Tennis- Wimbledon was a lot of fun and I want to go to a US Open.

5.  Hockey- It might rank higher if I went to more games.  It's a great sport to watch in person.

4.  Curling- I'm totally serious. I look forward to curling more than any other sport in the Olympics.

3.  Basketball- I played more basketball than anything else growing up.

2.  Football- I care about the Notre Dame football team more than any other team I root for.

1.  Baseball- My first love.

By the way, CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC all have their own sports networks (and in the case of Fox and ABC, multiple sports networks).  How do we not have America's Team Olympics yet?  And how do we not have women's curling on TV regularly yet?

Finland leads Russia 2-1 in hockey going into the first intermission.  I'm definitely rooting for Finland.  Beating Russia on Saturday was awesome.  Beating them in the gold medal game would be like the Celtics beating the Lakers in Los Angeles to win the NBA Finals.  However, Putin is a scumbag.  I don't want Russia to win a medal.  I also don't feel confident about beating Russia twice in Russia.  So if Finland or Sweden want to take care of the Russians for us, that's totally fine.  Of course, the United States has business to take care of.  Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I would have preferred ending up with the 3 seed (switching places with Canada).  I'd rather play Latvia than the Czech Republic.  I'd be shocked if Canada lost today.  I wouldn't be shocked if we lost to the Czech Republic.

I meant to do a running diary today.  I'll be back at noon with a running diary of our hockey game with the Czech Republic.