Thursday, February 12, 2026

Follow your dreams, baby! WOOO!

I think it's obvious who Snoop needs to put on his next jacket.

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• Do you believe in miracles? Yes! That's a heck of a way to open a show, eh? The Miracle on Ice was 46 years ago now, but the Americans have new hope for a gold since NHL players are once again taking the ice for Team USA. They won today against Latvia, 5-1.
• To the hills for the Women's Cross-Country 10k. It's a staggered start, which isn't as fun as when everyone skis at the same time, but I guess it lets more competitors on the track at the same time. Jessie Diggins from Minnesota is the American favorite to lose to either the Swedes or the Norwegians. Because that's the way cross-country skiing events work. The two Swedish leaders right now? Karlsson and Andersson. Of course.
• Commercial break so we don't have to watch someone ski for 20 minutes. Karlsson finishes in first and Andersson in second as expected. But what of Diggins? She's still in it. They show her finish annnnnnnndd… third place! She was almost 50 seconds off the leader's time, but I guess the Swedes are good. Diggins is lying on the snow in pain at the finish line and Norway's Astrid Slind finishes 53 seconds off the leader, so Jessie gets bronze. After recovering she runs to her family and gives them all hugs. Awwww. Congratulations, Jessie!
• Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych has been disqualified from Skeleton because he refuses to use another helmet. His current helmet, which had pictures of people who have been killed in Ukraine's war with Russia, was ruled to be out of compliance for Olympic competition. I hate to say it, but I think the IOC is right, here. Or at least consistent. The IOC is very protective of their brand, that's why you never see any ads on any Olympic venue. And letting individuals make statements on their country's uniforms would ultimately lead to... well, a rule not letting them do that. So it's probably just as well they nipped it in the bud now.          
• The final run of the Men's Mogul skiing is up next. American Nick Page skis down quickly and is in second, but there are at least two skiers left to go. The first knocks him down to third. The next knocks him to fourth. So that's that, I guess. After a short commercial break, the two best skiers left get to go, Canada's Mikael Kingsbury looks great and so does Cooper Woods of Australia. Who gets gold? Woods! The announcers are shocked. I couldn't tell you why because I don't understand the scoring system.
• Drone fluff! What's the biggest star of the Milan Olympics? The flying camera. There's one in the studio with Mike Tirico. He looks a little nervous as it whines nearby. There are 15 FPV drones in Milan and each has a pilot, a technician, and a spotter, says Mike, and everyone is talking about them. I know I have been!
• Now for one of my favorite events, the Men's Snowboard Cross. Four snowboarders ski down the hill simultaneously. The top two in each heat advance to the next round. 44-year-old Nick Baumgartner from Michigan is in his fifth Olympics and he's a walking motivational speaker. As he struts toward the starting gate he talks to the camera, "THAT'S what I'm talking about. GOD, I love this sport! So much fun! For everyone back home, it's never too late to follow your dreams! Forty-four, baby! FORTY-FOUR!" He didn't qualify for the final in 2022. Will he advance today? AHHH! Photo-finish! Noooooo! He lost by half a board length. In the post-race interview, they asked if this was his last Olympics. "Absolutely not!" He loves the sport, he loves competing, and he loves representing his country. I'd run through a wall for this guy. Let's GOOOOOOOOOOO!!
• In the final, four men probably half of Nick's age race down the mountain, trailed closely by a drone. Wow! That race was close, with three racers neck-and-neck at the end, but none of them are as charismatic as the guy who didn't even make the final.
• Shaun White isn't competing, but he gets some fluff anyway. He gets to board down the halfpipe while mic'ed up. He doesn't do anything fancy, but you can tell he could probably give some people a run for their money if he wanted to.
• Now we're at the Women's Halfpipe final to see if Chloe Kim can get her third consecutive gold medal. American Bea Kim goes first, but falls. Maddie Mastro falls in almost the same place. They still get two more runs each and only your best score counts, but it's unfortunate that neither of them was able to finish. The next boarder also crashes. You might be able to win just by making it down the run. Chloe is up next and does just that. She's in first place after the first round.
• Around the Games! Canada's hockey team (boooooo!) beat Czechia. Arianna Fontana of Italy won the silver medal in Women's Short Track Speed Skating so she now has 13 Olympic medals. In regular Women's Speed Skating, Francesca Lollobrigida won another gold medal in the 500M. Luge Team Relay. That's new. Four different combinations of lugers go down the track one after the other. It would have been interesting to see this happen live instead of compressed in a replay.
• Back at the halfpipe for round two. Bea Kim: much better! She nails all her jumps and is currently fourth. Maddie Mastro's second run is EEEK! She falls again. Not good. Now she has one run left for all the marbles.
• Snoop is interviewing Chloe. He wants to know what it's like to board on the halfpipe. "I've never been high… like that." They both laugh. He gives her a GOAT necklace. Cute.
• It's time for Chloe's second run. Ooooo… she was going strong but fell on the last jump. She's still in first, though.
• To the Women's Super-G for some more exciting drone footage. Oh. And skiing. It's foggy and cloudy so that might make it hard for some skiers to see changes in the snow. Italy's Federica Brignone broke her leg in a skiing accident ten months ago and wasn't even sure if she would be healthy for the Olympics. They showed the scar on her knee that took 42 stitches to close. It's amazing she's even here. She skis great and is the current leader. And still the current leader. And STILL the current leader. Lots of women are having a hard time, either falling or missing gates. Brignone was the sixth skier down and now we're on number 15 and no one has caught her. Now at 19, it's Breezy Johnson, the gold medal winner in this year's downhill. AHHHH!! She plows through a gate, loses control, then plows into a fence. She's okay, but out of the race. Next up for the US, Jacqueline Wiles at number 22. She's all over the place. I think this course is getting slower and less predictable. And that's it! Brignone won her first gold medal in her fifth Olympics. But Breezy didn't go away empty-handed. Her boyfriend proposed to her after the event. She said yes. Awwwww.
• Back to the halfpipe. Bea Kim is trying to better her status. Oooo… she falls again. And that's it for her. Maddie Mastro needs a clean run now. But first some fluff! She has a dream of being on the podium. I mean, don't all Olympians? She watches some old home videos of her snowboarding as a kid. She says she always loved those days when she never wanted to come in. Hopefully she loves run number three!
• And here she goes! Go Maddie! Get on the podium! Oooooo… no. Same result three times. Tonight isn't her night.
• But now the question is can anyone catch Chloe? Korea's Gaon Choi can! She's now in first.
• Last up! Chloe Kim. She's in silver position now, but she'll have to beat Choi's score to win her third consecutive gold. Ooooo… no. She sits down on her third jump and that will be it for her. Gold for Choi and silver for Kim.
• Snoop and Stanley Tucci are together at last at an Italian bar. This should be interesting. Snoop has a jacket that says "Snoop is searching for Stanley Tucci." How many jackets with people's pictures on it does Snoop have? We've seen two just tonight. Anyway, Stanley is having a martini and Snoop is having gin and juice. Ha! Snoop gives Stanley a jacket with his own picture on it. It's weird. Snoop is everyone's biggest fan, and everyone is Snoop's biggest fan.
• It's time for the medal ceremony of Federica Brignone. She's singing! I don't know the Italian national anthem, so I can't sing along, but she's clearly overjoyed. And talk about a scenic setting. They're at the bottom of the Super-G run with the mountains in the background. It doesn't get much better than that.

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Can you imagine Snoop paired up with Nick Baumgartner? I can't STOP imagining it. Make it happen, NBC! It's ratings gold!

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