2010 Vancouver Olympics: A dozen reflections

1. Gold medal hockey game: USA vs. Canada

The USA did not truly 'stun' Canada by beating them in an earlier round. Canadadian fans just had an unfounded sense of entitlement. It was obvious that the Canadians, Russians, or Americans all had a great shot at gold.

The championship game was epic. Needless power plays were not called by the refs and the players stuck to hockey more than fighting. The Canadians looked a little old but also a little more skilled and disciplined. That is why it helped that they were able to attain a 2-0 lead. But the Americans hung in there and Zach Parise scored the game tying goal with their goaltender pulled and only 24 seconds left in the game!

The game went to overtime and the four on four skating format was interesting. It made the overtime more about scoring and did not allow teams to sit back and play checking defense. The more aggressive team on offense clearly was going to have an advantage. In Canada's case it helped to have a guy like Sidney Crosby who has a rocket wrist shot. He scorched the game winner past USA net minder, Ryan Miller. Miller was the MVP of the tournament, but it was the Canadians who were celebrating on their home ice.

This was easily the biggest game in hockey history since the 1980 Lake Placid miracle game of the 1980 Olympics.

2. An unsafe course results in the death of Olympic bobsledder.

The Death of Georgian bobsledder Nodar Kumaritashvili was shocking. But perhaps more shocking is that in this day of architectural innovation, that it was possible for him to fly off of the course and into a cement pillar when it was known that these guys would be flying down the court at ninety miles per hour.

3. Medal Counts

With national pride at stake, medal counts are watched in every Olympics. Fortunately the prowess of the individual athletes overshadowed the count. But still we love our medal counts. The Americans won a Winter Olympics record 37 medals but perhaps more remarkably, the Canadians proved that they truly are winter pioneers by winning a record 14 gold medals. That is an impressive feat for a country of only about 37 million people.

4. Russian ice dancers do not cave to political correctness

Media outlets have no problem playing up political correctness to get readership up. In these Olympic games, the media outlets cried wolf over Russian ice dancers, Oksana Domnina and Maxin Shabalin costumes that portrayed Canadian aboriginees. The Russian skaters made some modifications, but ultimately gave the pretend do-gooders the finger. Although they did not get gold for their performance, they do get the Shots Heard gold medal for courage.

Shots Heard condemns the media for automatically portraying anything and everything that interperets or celebrates other ethnicities as 'offensive.' Just because the media went and found a couple Canadian aboriginees that did not like it, does not make it offensive. If something is not apparently offensive to at least a strong minority of our diverse populus then there is a reason for that. If we are going to celebrate 'diversity' then we cannot expect people walk on egg shells. It is ridiculous and again Shots Heard condemns all media outlets that ran with this supposed controversy.

If a small group of people want to cry about something that truly does not matter then I will give them the same advice that is often given to children when they cry: Suck it up!

5. 'Clean living' Torah Bright Olympic heroics in stark contrast to the Tiger Woods era of shame

Noted Mormon, Australian snowboarder, Torah Bright won gold in the half pipe and she is expected to make at least a million dollars in endorsements after winning gold at the 2010 Olympics. Other outlets believe she will become the highest grossing Australian athlete ever.

The lame stream media will sell the idea that the world is starving for a clean living athlete. And maybe that is true, but really?. Even in the wake of starting to clean up Major League Baseball, we see the media pushing the angle of fans lamenting the moon shot homeruns. Also, the fact that she is hot and athletic are certainly bigger factors than her seeming purities.

Nonetheless, Shots Heard strongly endorses the value that society should put a much higher premium on the character of people who are getting endorsement deals. Nike continued their endorsement deal with the dog killer, Michael Vick. They simply made a calculation that they would sell more shoes with him than without him. The millions of people they were alienating by keeping him on the payroll did not even enter into the equation.

And what about Kobe Bryant? He committed adultery and quite possibly rape. The media tells us that we've forgiven Bryant. But do we really agree with rewarding him with huge endorsement deals that ultimately drive up the prices of our products? Shots Heard would submit that the answer to that question is an emphatic NO!

Recently Proctor And Gamble CEO, Robert McDonald said that they would not be advertising with Tiger Woods (for now) because neither party needed the "attention." Apparently the lying, adultery and apparent cheating via steroids was not enough for Mr. McDonald to make a value judgment. This is coming from the largest supplier to families, mind you! ESPN and the rest of the lame stream media had no problem giving Mr. McDonald a pass on his weak minded reasoning.

If Proctor And Gamble had any sense they would immediately announce the signing of athletes like Torah Bright and the permanent parting of ways with Tiger Woods. But companies like Proctor And Gamble actually believe that winning (even if it means cheating) is everything. They are hoping that the world 'forgives' Tiger Woods soon enough and that they can get back to business as usual. They do not care to indict bad decisions, they care about their bottom line.

6. Shawn White is the new Tony Hawk

Shawn White was clearly the best snowboarder in the 2006 Olympics. But it was still close back then and he was barely able to squeeze out a gold medal in the half pipe in those Olympics. In 2010, he was getting way higher than any other snowboarder. As a result, he was able to pull of tricks that no other snowboarder could pull off. Or should the tricks be called illusions?As Gob Bluth says it, "Tricks are for whores." Well it was no illusion, Shawn White is for real and he has taken his place as the new Tony Hawk of our generation.


7. Apollo Ohno becomes the most decorated American Winter Olympian

Speed skaters have a relatively short shelf life compared to athletes in most other sports. The best skaters are usually in their late teens or early twenties. At 27 years old, Ohno was a grandpa on the ice! He knew he would have to come to the Olympics as prepared as possible if he would want to continue enhance his glorious Olympics career. And he did just that by doing three a day workouts and following a strict nutritional program. In five months he says he could lift twice as much could when he started. He lost 20 pounds while taking his body fat percentage down to 2.5 percent.

In the 1500 meter final, in the last couple of laps Ohno found himself competing against a trio of South Koreans. Historically, the South Koreans are very envious of Ohno's dominance and have been verbal about it. It was obvious that they would do what it took to obstruct him from gold and their legal interference was working until the last turn when two South Koreans wiped out. Ohno was able to dodge the crashing skaters. Second place was never so fun.

In the 1000 meter race, Ohno overcame a slip to get bronze. 'Overcoming' was a heavy theme for Ohno in the Olympics. In many races he started in the outside spot and would finish in the top two spots (out of four) to advance during various rounds in competitions.

In the 500 meter race, Ohno was disqualified from a silver medal on what should have been ruled incidental contact against Canadian skater Francois-Louis Tremblay. Asked about whether he thought it was a bias call, Ohno wasted no time stating that he believed it was a hometown call. To his credit, he voiced his displeasure with a smile and did not oversell it. That can be tough to do in the heat of the moment. Many athletes say 'no comment' to avoid the idea of being perceived as 'sore loser.' Ohno was able to walk a fine line though.

In the 1500 meter team race, Ohno was invaluable to the American team. Although he was unable to make one of his patented comebacks on the last two turns, he did have enough savvy to make sure that he held onto third place for the bronze. And earlier in the race he saved the American from disaster when the American skaters missed an exchange, he quickly stepped in and skated that leg of the race. Had he not been Johnny on the spot, the Americans would have been to far behind to even medal.

Ohno's three medals in the 2010 Olympics brought his total to eight medals, giving him the most for any American Winter Olympian. Ohno may or may not be around to add to that record at 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Shots Heard believes that he will ultimately be the Brett Favre of speed skating. Do not expect him to stay away. Ohno has taken a year off from speed skating before and was unable to stay away though.

8. Minnesota Native Lindsey Vonn defies the odds to become the greatest American women's alpine downhill skiier of alltime

Minnesotans are proud of their native sons and daughters. Ask them to name famous Minnesotans and they will easily rattle off names like Charles Lindbergh, Prince, Judy Garland, Sean William Scott, Jessica Biel, William Mayo (Mayo Clinic), Charles Schulz, Betty Crocker (fictional), Paul Bunyon (fictional), Bob Dylan, F Scott Fitzgerald, Joe Mauer and the Andrews Sisters. Add Lindsey Vonn to the list.

There is a strong geographical reason that hockey players come from Minnesota and not downhill alpine skiiers. There are a lot of frozen lakes and no big mountains to ski down.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes is actually the land of 11,842 lakes. The combination of being in the northern latitude of the country and the winds that blow off of those lakes creates colder temperatures. The dense forestry also helps to prevent snow from being quickly dried up by the sun. As a result, Minnesota is the coldest state in the continental United States. Consequently hockey players enjoy many months of hockey weather on the lakes and local outdoor ice rinks. Neighboorhoods are built with ice rinks that look like vacant rodeo playgrounds in the summertime, but in the winter they are getting plenty of use.

In most parts of the state, it is hard enough for a kid with a sleigh to find a 20 foot hill to slide down. Naturally skiiers have similar struggles in finding down ski areas. Minnesota's highest point is in the boondocks of Northern Minnesota on Eagle Mountain. The lowest point is Lake Superior at 607 feet. Simple math tells us a Minnesotan would be hard pressed to find a 1500 foot drop to ski down. Therefore it is going to be a rarity for people that grow up in Minnesota actually succeed at dowhill alpine skiing on the world stage.

Vonn grew up in Burnsville, Minnesota, located only about eight miles south of Minneapolis. Burnsville is the site of Buck Hill, which is one of three ski areas in the Twin Cities metropolitan region. As someone who has literally laughed at the idea that the hill with a ski lift existed while driving past it on the 35 Interstate, I can personally relate to how remarkable it is that the 'greatest Amerian woman skiier' grew up practicing at a ski range that is smaller than the bunny hills at many ski resorts.

But how much of a disadvantage it was to grow up in Minnesota is debatable and probably marginal. Shortly after winning a Junior Title in Italy at age 14, her family moved to Vail, Colorado. The move allowed her to train in more traditional surroundings. Later in life, she did some of her training with fellow gold medalist Julie Mancuso in the majestic mountainry of the Lake Tahoe, California area.

10. Bode Miller - The party boy partially atones for his 2006 Olympics antics

At the 2006 Olympics, Bode Miller was more concerned about partying than living up to his potential. He failed miserably in all five of his events. He had been considered by many experts to be the skiier with the most potential at the time.

Miller did not come to the 2010 Olympics in great shape, but he was serious while he was there. Notably, he never did explicitly express regret for his actions in 2006. He just tried to purvey that he was taking this Olympics seriously. He earned gold, silver and bronze medals. Nothing will ever bring back 2006, but for his sake he did show that he could win on the big stage.

The media was fond of selling Miller as being a changed man that had matured. They were fond of talking about how he had changed after having a two-year-old daughter. But Miller had the daughter out of wedlock and their is little proof that her birth made him more serious as a skiier.

Likely what Miller probably cares most about is securing at least another six figures in endorsements and a little more street credit in the party scene. Afterall the babes have to love a gold medal. We will probably never know exactly what his motivations are, since Miller is more tight lipped about his excesses these days. Instead he is more diplomatic in his approach and Shots Heard certainly cannot fault him for that.

11. Johnny Weir proudly represents America

At the 2006 Olympics, figure skater, Johnny Weir was abrasive and self centered. By the 2010 Olympics, Werr still had his flamboyance, sexual ambiguity and quirks like being a committed Russofile (person that loves Russian culture).But Weir was more subdued and more precise in his skating. And he was more professional in explaining himself during interviews. In other words, he was much more mature.

The media still tried to play the sexual identity card. They did their best to create stories about perceived homophobic people within the media or general population. They played up the is he gay angle like we were living in 1999. Their coverage overshadowed his valiant efforts to do be a quality skater that proudly represented the United States.

In Shots Heard's book, Johnny Weir is great if only for wearing fur despite the potential threat that PETA might throw blood on him at any time.




12. Two major streaks are over

- For the first time in 62 years, the Americans were able to win the Gold in four man bobsedding. Do I hear a call for Cool Runnings Two (movie sequel)? Afterall did we not just see four bad-ass mothers that took crap from nobody? Feel the ride, it's bobsled time!

- For the first time since 1964, the Russians did not win the gold in the figure skating pairs event. That seemed destined to happen once the judges were taken off of the Russian payroll. The Russians were caught bribing a French judge in 2002. The bribery gave the Russians an undeserved gold medal that year. They had been suspected of bribing judges for decades.

Picture 1: A Canadian audience celebrates Canada's 3-2 championship overtime win over the USA in hockey.

Picture 2: Georgian bobsledder, Nomar Kumaritashvili's fatal crash.

Picture 3: Russian skaters, Oksana Domnina and Maxin Shabalin unapologetically wear their Canadian Aboriginee costumes.

Picture 4: Australian Mormon snowboarder won gold at the 2010 Olympics.

Picture 5: Shawn White proudly and fashionably wears an American flag styled bandanna.

Picture 6: Apolo Ohno poses with two of the three medals he earned at the 2010 Olympics.

Picture 7: When she was not crashing, Lindsey Vonn was winning medals at he 2010 Olympics. She won a gold and bronze medal. She crashed in her other three events.

Picture 8: Bode Miller displays the cockiness that brings him good attention from some groups and scrutiny from his detractors. He is shown using two giant snowballs to represent his manhood.

Picture 9: Johnny Weir, American figure skater

Picture 10: Johnny Weir believes in modern facial treatments as well as other more enhanced grooming techniques.

Picture 11: The American bobsled team is excited after their gold medal run.