Winter Olympics 2010

[LineInTheSand]

It's almost here, and I'm excited. I like the Summer Olympics, but nothing compares, in my opinion, to the Winter Olympics events.

From ski jump to curling, from men and womens ice hockey to alpine skiing, from skeleton, bobsled, and luge to speed skating....I love this time of the year, every 4 years.

What's your favorite sport, and what are you looking forward to?

I am really excited to see Team USA, ice hockey play. It's been 30 years since the Miracle. My favorite NHL player, Ryan Suter, from my favorite NHL team, the Nashville Predators is on Team USA, #20. His father, Bob Suter, also #20 was on Team USA in 1980, when they won the gold medal. Ryan was also selected as the team's alternate captain.

[IrishDancer]

Being a Canadian, I love the Winter Olympics. And it's even better that it's in Vancouver! Women's hockey is definitely my favorite thing to watch (I have to support my sport!) but men's hockey comes a close second! My father's favorite is curling, however I can't say it's mine! It bores me to death.

This year will be different for me though-- it's the first time I'll be officially American. All of my memories of the Winter Olympics (and any hockey event with Team Canada) are cheering for the Canadian team so it will be hard for me to cheer for the US. So it looks like I'll be wearing my 2002 Olympic Team Canada jersey when they take gold in both women's and men's hockey! :thumb:

[Pima]

Bullet and I were very fortunate to take our kids to the 06 Olympics in Italy. It was my lifelong dream to go...and worth every penny we spent.

I love them all, I will say I still am most partial to 3 events
Speed Skating short track
Hockey USA against Russia
Ladies Figure Skating

The skeleton is way cool too...got to give it to them riding a sled 80 miles an hour face forward is pretty intense.

The sad part about the Olympics is it really has become an event that costs way too much. Our tickets to the ladies short program cost over 500 a piece. Our cheapest tickets were for acrobatic ski jumping at 125 ea. They wonder why it is losing money, that could be the big reason.

Funny story, while we were there Lester Holt(NBC Today show ---weekends and fill in for Matt) was a few rows over at one of the events, I go to the refreshment line and he is behind me. We chat for a few minutes, he gave our DD an NBC pin (everyone trades pins there), I ask him what he thought about Katie Couric and he called her basically an idiot.

[WAMom68]

My favorites:
Freestyle skiing - Aerials
Snowboarding - Cross and Halfpipe
Men's short track speed skating (Go Apolo Ohno!)

Even though Vancouver is only a short drive away from us we will not be going to any events. It is just too expensive.

[Just_A_Mom]

I love the winter sports! I love it all - even curling! Something about seeing all those *older* folks out there curling as an Olympic athlete gives me hope!

[bruno]

I love the winter sports! I love it all - even curling! Something about seeing all those *older* folks out there curling as an Olympic athlete gives me hope!
C'mon JAM- you like Curling? It's like competitve dusting of a skating rink!:rolleyes: But as a first generation Norwegian-American, I too love the Winter Olympics- between the two countries I root for- we do pretty well in the medal count (except at Curling!) I hope that they actually get some snow in BC in the couple of weeks though! Let's hope Bode Miller cuts down on the partying this year and focuses on the course!

[sprog]

I like to see teams compete in the Winter Games when they represent nations that do not have snow/ice/mountains. I like to see teams compete just for the sake of representing their country on the international stage.

Favorite events, for me, are Men's Downhill and the 4-man bobsled. Biathlon and ski jumping are pretty sweet too.

[RascalFlatts5858]

I love watching the bobsleding, ice skating, and ski jump. Ever since I saw Cool Runnings I just think its the coolest thing. The ski jump is a little more fun to watch in terms of the height those skiiers get. Also ice skating is awesome to watch, I am astounded at what those athletes can do on skates!

[IrishDancer]

Being a retired figure skater who still watches the sport, I'm not excited at all for the ladies competition this year. The US team is rather boring and I don't think they stand a chance against some of the other competitors. And unfortunately Canada's roster isn't much better. But I'm always excited to see what Johnny Weir comes up with! He's such a character... This is one of his more entertaining http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTaVkbl3Dp4

[LineInTheSand]

I'm not sure if that qualifies as a "Men's Event." Thanks for sharing Irish, I need to go get a bath, I feel dirty having even had to watch that. :biggrin:

[KPMum2012]

Bullet and I were very fortunate to take our kids to the 06 Olympics in Italy. It was my lifelong dream to go...and worth every penny we spent.

I love them all, I will say I still am most partial to 3 events
Speed Skating short track
Hockey USA against Russia
Ladies Figure Skating

The skeleton is way cool too...got to give it to them riding a sled 80 miles an hour face forward is pretty intense.

The sad part about the Olympics is it really has become an event that costs way too much. Our tickets to the ladies short program cost over 500 a piece. Our cheapest tickets were for acrobatic ski jumping at 125 ea. They wonder why it is losing money, that could be the big reason.

Funny story, while we were there Lester Holt(NBC Today show ---weekends and fill in for Matt) was a few rows over at one of the events, I go to the refreshment line and he is behind me. We chat for a few minutes, he gave our DD an NBC pin (everyone trades pins there), I ask him what he thought about Katie Couric and he called her basically an idiot.

Oh my goodness, what a small world! We also were lucky enough to be able to attend the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino! We were able to drive down from Belgium, so saved the cost of plane tickets. But we were also at the US-Russia hockey game.

We also saw the Freestyle aerials and one of the biathlon events. DH and DS had tickets for the gold medal men's curling match. They were there for the medal ceremony where the USA men's team got Bronze. DS was, I think, the only one in the rink with a US flag. So any footage of a young man waving the US flag during the men's curling medal ceremony is probably my boy.

I agree that the tickets end up costing way too much. We chose our events partially based on price. OK, the curling was non-negotiable because both DH and DS curled with members of the Belgian national team (such as it is.)

We had hoped to make it to Vancouver this year but it didn't work out. You can be sure we'll be watching as much as we can on TV.

[KPMum2012]

C'mon JAM- you like Curling? It's like competitve dusting of a skating rink!:rolleyes:

Nah, we call it shuffle board on ice.:biggrin:

[sprog]

When I was at Minot AFB, there was a curling club in town. My take is, that if you can drink beer while doing it, it isn't really a sport. I'm not saying it isn't hard...just more of a skill contest than an athletic event. I guess the next move is for bowling to be added to the summer games.

[KPMum2012]

No drinking during play at this club. The beer comes after.:thumb:

[bruno]

I never cared about the Luge before -but we are now the main sponsors of the US Luge Team so I'm even gonna watch that if for no other reason than to make sure they get a full shot of our logo as they haul the guy off on a stretcher after going over the side of the track!

[Chockstock]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBjZGc9EbD8

[LineInTheSand]

I just watched Miracle again.....now I'm really ready for the Olympics.

[falcongirl]

Nordic skiing and biathlon - the most intense winter sports :thumb:

[tpg]

I never cared about the Luge before -but we are now the main sponsors of the US Luge Team so I'm even gonna watch that if for no other reason than to make sure they get a full shot of our logo as they haul the guy off on a stretcher after going over the side of the track!

I really laughed when I read this part. Today my youngest son came in from sled riding this afternoon. He hit one of the oak trees on the hill and had a shiner and a bloody nose as a result. We got the nose to stop bleeding, cleaned him up and gave him some tomato soup. About 30 minutes later I found him getting his snow paints back on….He was going to “go try” that new path again. I think it is kids like him where they find those Luge people....:yllol:

[AF6872]

It really hasn't been the same since this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztlLwgSFCg&feature=related

I have a great picture of my son in the penalty box in this rink. I told him that not a lot of kids get their name announced over the PA in the "Herb Brooks Arena". "two minutes for roughing" in the PeeWee finals. Priceless.:thumb:
They won!