A fond farewell to the Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics have begun their slow fade into history, and I offer here limited and selective observations. I stress limited and selective because that’s what my experience was with the 2010 Vancouver games. When NBC decided to delay virtually everything to us Americans on the West Coast, I wrote off watching most of the […]

The beauty of the Olympics, in photos

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=bobsled&iid=8115158″ src=”0/d/2/2/Bobsleigh_Fourman_Heat_2d00.jpg?adImageId=10804546&imageId=8115158″ width=”393″ height=”594″ /] The Olympics, summer or winter, are among the most fantastic events for photos. The settings are beautiful, culturally rich cities in foreign lands, and the competitors are dressed in their national colors. The events themselves are full of motion and emotion, an unbeatable combination. I remember being […]

I’m going to miss curling

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Cheryl+Bernard&iid=8057445″ src=”3/0/6/4/Olympic_News_3549.jpg?adImageId=10773868&imageId=8057445″ width=”500″ height=”617″ /] Sweden has just won the gold in women’s curling, and Cheryl Bernard (above) and Team Canada get the silver. There are a couple of rounds of the men’s event to go, but there’s not a whole lot curling left for us American TV viewers to see until […]

USA hockey team shocks Canada

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=hockey&iid=8043841″ src=”b/4/2/0/Ice_Hockey_7cf7.jpg?adImageId=10602867&imageId=8043841″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /] Yes, the costume mountie hat above is a lot classier than the silly red, white and blue topper the American is wearing. But what matters is the final score: USA 5, Canada 3. Magnificent. As I’ve noted before, I’m a big fan of Martin Brodeur. But he […]

Speedskating helmets are awesome

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Ohno&iid=8033831″ src=”4/f/d/9/Olympic_Winter_Games_6fcd.JPG?adImageId=10590158&imageId=8033831″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /] They look like plain-label bicycle helmets, but the helmets worn by the speedskaters at the Winter Olympics have an exceedingly high cool factor. It’s the numbers that make them so. For some reason, to me the helmets evoke memories of old Auto Union Grand Prix race cars […]

The grand sport of curling, and a hat for those who love it

For a brief few days every four years, Americans are reminded that the wacky sport of curling can bring the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. If it weren’t for the Winter Olympics, most Americans wouldn’t even know the sport exists, except for the hardy few in the upper Midwest and other cold-weather states […]

Spike Lee sports a special Yankees championship cap

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=NBA&iid=7939913″ src=”5/d/7/0/NBA_All_Star_165a.jpg?adImageId=10325689&imageId=7939913″ width=”234″ height=”294″ /] Check out the slick New York Yankees cap that Spike Lee wore to the NBA All-Star game last night in Dallas. I hadn’t seen this one before. It celebrates the Yanks’ recent World Series triumph — the 27th in franchise history — and notes the years of […]

No standout caps at the Olympics, at least so far

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=Olympics+opening+ceremony&iid=7907398″ src=”d/9/3/0/Opening_Ceremonies_held_b4bf.JPG?adImageId=10281619&imageId=7907398″ width=”500″ height=”295″ /] I was so irritated with NBC’s delay of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics from Vancouver that I didn’t bother to watch. But I felt it my duty to look for the top caps worn by the athletes. So I cruised through the scores of opening […]

The Big Hurt hangs up the spikes

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=%22Frank+Thomas%22&iid=4838747″ src=”d/c/5/e/Frank_Thomas_35_b9e3.jpg?adImageId=10255067&imageId=4838747″ width=”234″ height=”359″ /] Frank Thomas announced his retirement Friday after an outstanding career with the Chicago White Sox. He split his last few seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics, but in the public eye he was and always will be a member of the White Sox. The […]

Sacramento NBC affiliate gets a tin medal for delaying opening Olympics ceremony

With the Winter Olympics taking place in Pacific time, we residents of the West Coast could at last look forward to television coverage in real time. So it was with astonishment and incredulity I learned this evening that the Sacramento NBC affiliate, KCRA TV, would delay broadcasting the opening ceremonies from Vancouver. I left work […]