PUT IT ON ICE

Congratulations to the Swedish hockey team, who beat the upstart Finnish team this morning in a well-played Battle-For-Scandinavia Gold Medal game, 3-2. This pretty much marks the end of the 2006 Torino Games, which I rather enjoyed. Of course, my hangover was the real winner this morning. So let's get these guys back to North America so we can resume the NHL hockey season, which has been good all year and should have an interesting finish.
I think we can all agree that the biathlon is the most psychotic sport in these winter games. These are true athletes, and have to be in phenomenal shape to ski uphill and downhill for kilometers, shoot at targets from prone and standing positions, ski penalty loops for missed shots--it's beyond crazy. And if speed skating is like Indy car racing, the short track is more akin to midget racing. And I don't mean to say that they're diminutive (Anton Ono is actually 5'8"/165lb, bigger than I thought), it's just more chaotic. The sheer number of skaters on the ice for the 5000m relay race made it look like an "all skate".
As for the Winter Olympic Games in general, Rob pointed out that every event requires its athletes to wear some special footwear, whether it's a ski, board, or skate. But what about curling, I wondered? More importantly, what did the 2006 BRONZE MEDAL WINNING US MEN'S CURLING TEAM wear? Rob said the curler probably has shoes equipped with special skates, but I thought that would damage the ice too much. Well, the great debate has been answered. The curlers wear shoes with "sliders" on them, usually made of Teflon, on their front foot; the sweepers wear removable "grippers" made of rubber on their shoes to give them more traction. Be sure to visit this article on curling, and don't miss Steve's Curling Website! They have all your curling needs, from Brushes, Hair Brushes, Shoes, Sliders, Gloves and Clothing! I guess I was right, but I hate being right about curling--what does that say about me? We're still not sure when they Zamboni the speed skating rinks, since everything was edited/tape delayed over here, we never got to see it. Anyway, it was fun to watch, and I will definitely Join Bode . . . at the bar! We have a lot to talk about, since we each won the same amount of medals this year.