- 09:21 AM
- 12/26/24
| Member since: | February 21, 2002 |
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| Last visit: | March 11, 2002 |
riviera has posted 0 links and 8 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room.
The irony of the evening: for 40 minutes, the Russians thought they were figure-skating out there.
posted by riviera at 11:44 PM on February 22, 2002
The Canadians played the US team off the ice last night, basically defending from the opposing goal line, and attacking with a lot of panache. The less said about the officiating, the better. But here's the thing: how long before at least some kind of checking becomes acceptable in women's ice hockey? As maudlin suggests, it's not as if the players aren't tough enough, as long as there's proper protection from the women in black and white.
posted by riviera at 01:13 PM on February 22, 2002
You got me, Smackfu. Anyway, bowing out from this: Robin Cousins on why Slutskaya should have won, and a good comment from MeFi on the triumph of cutesy showmanship over actual technical ability.
posted by riviera at 11:06 AM on February 22, 2002
Did you actually watch the competition, Riviera? I seriously doubt it. Is that your best effort at sarcasm, ttrendal? I seriously suspect it is. Yes, I watched the competition. And perhaps that's part of the problem: as the pairs showed, there appears to be tremendous media pressure to dish out the medals based entirely on the long programme, and the scores that the judges came up with last night seemed skewed to ensure that result. In which case, you might as well dispense with the comps and short programme, or have them simply as 'qualifiers' with everything set to zero for the final televisual spectacular. And yes, evixir, Hughes is definitely a made-for-NBC muppet.
posted by riviera at 10:07 AM on February 22, 2002
Simple math won it for her. Um, skating math is never simple. Did you notice the run-down as Slutskaya's marks appeared? At least four judges ranked her first, but it was the couple of judges who ranked her third and even fourth (fourth? after Michelle Kwan fell over?) who won it for Hughes, with marks that were markedly different from the general consensus. There was no way that an American wasn't walking away with the gold tonight, and once Kwan fell over, there was only one winner. Sure, Hughes skated the routine of her life, but it shouldn't have been enough to win her the gold, given what had gone before.
posted by riviera at 11:17 PM on February 21, 2002
The other American skater was hands-down the best tonight. There was no robbery. Tonight, yes: but she was fourth after the short programme, if you hadn't noticed. The fix was in tonight, and even Sarah Hughes was aware of that, saying that she didn't expect the judges to decide things in her favour. The telling factor: the spread of marks on Slutskaya's routine was pretty extreme -- 5.6s alongside 5.9s -- allowing the American kiddiwink to sneak into the gold. Daylight robbery.
posted by riviera at 11:12 PM on February 21, 2002
Now that the unfortunately-named Slutskaya has been robbed of a gold in the women's figure skating -- the obvious premise being 'Michelle Kwan fell on her rear, so give it to the other American', though the NBC commentators wouldn't admit it -- I'd expect the Russians to pack up and leave before the end of tomorrow. Seriously.
posted by riviera at 10:52 PM on February 21, 2002
Canada wins the Gold in Ice hockey, 5-2
while it might sound trite, there weren't any losers here today. well, that's easy for an American to say ;) Once Canada got going, only Richter could stop them. And what about Joe Sakic?