Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog.  Hopefully everyone's Valentines'/President's weekend was enjoyable.  Thanks to those who commented on the recent Valentine's 'top-5 list.'  The comments/texts/calls are always fun, and hopefully the blog can continue to give some quality material that sparks some reader chatter.

Watching the traditional sports this past week hasn't been too riveting.  The Islanders, Rangers, and Devils are all on hiatus for the Olympics.  The Mets and Yankees are just getting started in Florida.  The Knicks are already concentrating on the offseason, and the Nets might finish with fewer wins than the Jets. 

So thank goodness for Vancouver!  Thank goodness for 2010.  Thank goodness for the OLYMPICS!  I have a pretty simple routine when the Olympics come around: every USA or Canada (men's) hockey game is an automatic watch.  All other men's hockey is also a priority.  I watch the biathlon and skeleton whenever I can because I think they're both so cool.  Besides that, I just like to sit back and casually watch whatever NBC gives me.  Besides the glorified stars like Lindsey Vonn, Apollo Ohno, and Shaun White, I don't know too much about the other events.  But I still watch for the experience, and seldom go away disappointed.

But there are still some definitely-zany things that the Olympics provide.  Things that I watch, I accept, but then scratch my head about when they're all over.  Maybe they are things that the whole world realizes, and maybe they're things that only unemployed dopes like me take note of.  Whatever the case may be, I'd like to put forth three examples of what I'm talking about.  If you agree/disagree/want to provide insight to clear things up, please let your voice be heard.  Until then, here are three things that sometimes turn the Winter Olympics into the Whimsical Olympics...

1.  The 'running up the score' debates in Women's Ice Hockey
As always, the preliminary games in women's ice hockey have had some ugly, seemingly ruthless scores so far.  Typically, any hockey victory by 5 goals or more demonstrates a 'landslide.'  So when Canada defeats Slovakia 18-0 on the event's opening night, it may rattle a few cages.  "Couldn't they let up a little?...Why embarrass another country?...Should the absurd gap in talent between teams challenge the status of women's hockey as an Olympic event?"  All these questions are heard whenever Canada or the USA pulverizes an under-womanned team. 

Let me start by saying that I know I'm in a convenient position arguing this one.  If I were blogging in Slovakia or some other still-developing hockey country, maybe I'd be singing a different tune.  But i think the sport is just fine the way it is.  The crazy scores, the unbalanced talent, everything.  Here are a few reasons why:

• These countries (Slovakia, China, etc.) know what they're in for when they come to the games.  How many Olympians are going to Vancouver this year knowing there's absolutely no chance they are going to win a medal?  90-95 percent?  When a cross-country skier from a small country crosses the finish a full five minutes behind the leader, is there any pity shown?  Absolutely not.  For better or worse, hockey is unique as a team-vs-team system where one side is better than another by x-amount of goals.  It's the nature of the sport, and the weaker teams know that some ugly final scores are part of the process.  Though I'm not an Olympian by any means, I would imagine that a team would be far less embarrassed losing 18-0 than having its opponent stop trying and 'give them' a goal or two.  It's demeaning and takes away some of the pride of being an Olympian.
• No final scores should take away the right to represent one's country.  If women's hockey's is going to grow throughout the world, isn't it inevitable that some countries will need some time to catch up?  Sure, the Canadian ladies beat Slovakia handily, but they were complete equals in Friday night's opening ceremonies.  All the women's hockey players earned the right to march into that raucous arena and wave their mini-flags.  It's part of what they trained and so hard for.
• Not every final score is 18-0.  Due to the round-robin system, the weaker teams play the other weaker teams at least once.  So most teams are able to leave the Games with one victory.  In 2006, six out of the eight teams left Torino with at least one victory.  Wouldn't the victories and memories of winning on the world stage outweigh any ugly loss to a superpower?  I would like to think so.
• Someday, sometime, one of these women's teams is going to really shock the world.  Canada or the USA will get shocked by someone they never thought possible.  It will give the 1980 USA team a run for its money.  There was a little taste of this in 2006, when Sweden upset the United States in the semi-final and won the silver.  One day, the world will be in shock when someone besides Canada or the USA aren't on the gold medal stage.  Without the 18-0 victories, the Cinderella story wouldn't be possible.

2.  Those tricky targets in the Biathlon events.   
Ok, the ice hockey debate concluded the preachy part of the blog.  Number two is centered around complete and utter confusion.  As I said, the biathlon is one of my favorite events to watch.  I am intrigued by the idea of going all-out skiing then doing all you can to slow everything down and shoot at targets.  But that doesn't mean I totally understand it...

Me and my dad were watching the men's event on Monday, and it was not a typical day at the course for a lot of reasons (precipitation that went from drizzle to downpour to meatball-sized snow to downpour; the favorites missing the targets or skiing too slow, etc.)  But we just couldn't figure out the targets that were set up.  They are black circles that are set up across white backgrounds so the athletes can see them easily.  That's the easy part...

But from what me and my dad can tell, it's not enough to simply hit the black part.  You can see that there is a smaller, slightly darker circle inside the initial target.  When you hit that inner target, you got some serious skill and automatically got the "point" or whatever they call it.  If you hit the semi-dark part of the target, you enter what I started calling the Forbidden Zone.  One guy would hit it and get credit for doing so, while another guy would hit it and be penalized for a miss.  I know it's crazy, but you must believe me.  I would rewind it on DVR just to be certain my eyes weren't deceiving me.  They weren't.  There is some quirky aspect of the sport that I'm missing when it comes to the Forbidden Zone.  If anyone can provide some insight (including a title for it that's slightly less idiotic than Forbidden Zone) please let me know.  Sorry for wasting your time with this.  It freaked me out, though.

3.  Every single thing about Men's Figure Skating. 
The clothing.  The hip gyrations.  The montages that are supposed to portray someone as the 'bad, tough guy' even though his blonde locks go down to his shoulders and he's got the face of Aaron Carter.  This event is just a production that's unlike anything I've ever seen.  It's like a flamboyant sideshow, but they are competing for the same gold medal as someone who's flying down a track of ice head-first or doing backflips on skis when you're 3 miles in the air.  Is it real?  Is all of this real?

Don't get me wrong.  I find myself watching this sausage-fest ballet on ice just like everyone else.  But I don't think I can condone this.  Yes, men have a very important place in figure skating...in the mixed pairs event.  In that event, you are doing all the graceful things the sport has to offer, but you're also lifting and twisting and face the challenging task of performing moves in unison with a partner.  That's all I will ask for at this moment.  One day, we will talk about how weird it is seeing an athlete representing his country wearing things like this.  One thing at a time...

Thanks for reading, everybody.  And I know I promised a hockey outlook for these games.  Sorry that these crazy oddities occupied my mind instead.  But I do have a projected finish that I put a good amount of work into formulating.  And don't worry, I did these before the men took to the ice.  No cheaters here.  Here's how they finish in reverse order.  Enjoy.

12. Latvia
11. Norway
10. Belarus
9. Switzerland
8. Slovakia
7. Germany
6. Czech Republic
5. Finland
4. Sweden

3. USA
2. Canada
1. Russia

Take care, and talk to you soon.