 |
 |
 |
| 2:22 | 0:55 | 0:13 |
| Events | Ads | Fluff |
* Bob is here, and he's wasting no time. Off to the women's bobsled we go! Two of the three US teams have summer games track athletes as their brakemen. Or brakewomen, as it were. What difference will that make? Let's find out!
* USA-1, with gold-medal-winning track star Lauryn Williams, starts strong, sliding into first. USA-2 is in third. USA-3 with Lolo Jones finishes seventh. Hmmm... maybe the second round will be better for the track stars.
* To the Iceberg where we will see what, exactly? Nothing! All we're doing here is previewing the women's figure skating that will start tomorrow. Previewing events is not watching events. Fluff!
* After two runs in the bobsled, the results are much the same. USA-1 in first, USA-2 in third, and USA-3 in eleventh. For as much controversy as the track star bobsled pushers have generated this year, the bigger issue here are the drivers. USA's 2 and 3 sleds are clearly not driving as clean a line as USA-1.
* To the mountain for the men's snowboardcross. Nate Holland, American boarder, gets a minute of fluff on how disappointing the Olympics have been for him, having lost in 2006 in Turin and 2010 in Vancouver. He does seem to be taking it pretty seriously now. Let's see how he does. Oh no! He catches too much air on one hill and can't make it up the next one. He's very gracious in his post-race interview and even says "Go U-S-A" to his remaining teammates. Too bad, Nate. Maybe we'll see you in 2018.
* "Watch the boarder in yellow take out his competitors' hopes and dreams," says NBC analyst Todd Richards, describing a multi-racer crash. The NASCAR fan in me approves of this snowboardcross race. Todd follows up by telling us that intentional contact is illegal, but incidental contact is okay or, as he states it, "Rubbin' is racin'." See? It is NASCAR!
* Who wins? Some French guy. But USA's Alex Diebold avoids the rubbing of the other racers and wins bronze. Way to go Alex!
* To another part of the mountain for the women's giant slalom. Steve Porino has an interesting demonstration, showing us how iced snow is harder than un-iced snow. That will be a factor today, as they've been icing the snow to counteract the effects of the rain and snow that is falling on the course.
* In the first run, American teen sensation Mikaela Shiffrin finishes fifth, but Julia Mancuso misses a gate and is out.
* Around the mountain to the first ever ski halfpipe. It's snowing up here, too. Fresh snow slows down the skiers and restricts the height on their jumps. Who would ever think that snow could mess up the winter Olympics?
* Now we get one minute of fluff highlighting the differences between David Wise, 23-year-old husband and father of a two-year-old girl, and Torin Yater-Wallace, teenager with no responsibilities other than skiing. As the father of a two-year-old girl, I say, "Go David!" Well, I'm also and American, so "Go Torin!" too.
* David advances. Yay! Torin falls. Boo! Even worse, American Lyman Currier tears his ACL towards the end of his run. I know what that's like, too. That's tough, Lyman. Get well, soon!
* To the giant slalom for run two. Mikaela skis fast, but loses time. She's in second with four racers to go. She'll probably need one of them to have a mistake for her to medal. Nope. Three of the last four make it down faster. Tina Maze of Slovenia wins her second gold of these games, meaning that now instead of the music-model superstar she was before Sochi, she's a uber-hyper-superstar. By the time these Olympics are over, she might be able to buy Slovenia.
* Back at the halfpipe, Matt Vasgersian tells us its structure is long enough and deep enough to fit the Washington Monument inside. I suppose that's a good description of its scale, but I don't know if saying "the Washington Monument is smaller than a tiny portion of a mountain" is really that impressive.
* After one run in the finals, David Wise is the leader. All of the skiers have their ACLs intact, although Canadian Justin Dorey had a nasty spill when he clipped the edge of the halfpipe. That looked a little painful.
* Wise catches an edge on his first jump of run number two, so hopefully his leading score will hold up through the remaining skier, Dorey. Dorey misses! David Wise wins gold!
* Ryan Seacrest is back talking about South Korea's superstar figure skater Yuna Kim. He interviews her, then gets her to give him a lesson in ice skating. I wouldn't look for him on the ice again any time soon. Anyway, she's big in South Korea. How big? So big she makes Tina Maze look like just a star. Back in the studio, Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are talking to Bob about Yuna and the rest of the women's skaters. I'm trying to decide which looks stranger: Weir's wardrobe or Bob Costas' eyes. It's a tossup now, but Weir keeps getting weirder, so I think he'll eventually overtake Bob's orbs.
* Heeey! Tonight we get the medal ceremony for Meryl Davis and Charlie White. And they both start singing immediately! Congratulations, Meryl and Charlie, you are my new favorite Olympians of these games! And I guess I owe NBC an apology for claiming they didn't show this medal ceremony yesterday since they obviously didn't have it at the Iceberg as was implied.
Another exciting night, although I could have done without the eight minute fluff piece at the end. And should I be worried that the amount of fluff has been creeping up the past few days? I guess we'll find out tomorrow. See you then!
