The Shrine

Anyone catch the opening ceremony on Friday? I thought it was an interesting and wholly distinct affair compared to Beijing's bombastic declaration of war on the entire planet.

The Georgian luger(sic) who took a nasty turn and ended up having his insides liquefied by a metal pole become something of an emotional cornerstone to the whole affair, casting an already somewhat mellow and calm show into a very somber occasion. Black arm bands abound, speeches and dedications in his honor, and a very awkward Georgian delegation in the Parade of Nations.

My favorite parts of the actual show itself were either the French-Canadian section (with fiddling and what looked like river dancing) or the breaking of the ice flow with the Inuit dancers. But the whole thing was spectacular, and breathtaking in a strangely subdued sort of way. If Beijing was a dazzling display of color and sound, Vancouver was a display of ice and cold, interspersed with a lot of Maple Leaves and some very friendly Canadians.

As I know we have a good number of Canadian Shriners, what are your thoughts on the Winter Games thus far?

Winter olympics are boring until the good hockey teams face off.

bovine wrote:Winter olympics are boring until the good hockey teams face off.

Tuesday at 2pm CT.

Just for you Zeus and you other Kanadians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8NRnlUU ... r_embedded

That was awesome. Of course they can't help themselves but to toss in about 10 digs against the Leafs in there :-)

Zeus wrote:That was awesome. Of course they can't help themselves but to toss in about 10 digs against the Leafs in there :-)

Well it is from the DOWN GOES BROWN blog. Every other post is about Wendel.

bovine wrote:Winter olympics are boring until the good hockey teams face off.

What he said.

And I watched the opening ceremony outta the corner of my eye -- it was interesting. Coulda been worse. I laughed a bit when the thing wouldn't work at the end...and wondered why Gretzky looked so pissed (the rain or the pick up truck?).

I also pissed my pants when the fireworks went off and literally turned my condo interior from darkness to daylight.

http://puckinghilarious.com/ Zeus, Kali

I found a shirt for you.

I dunno, I thought downhill skiing was pretty cool.

Approaching a 90 degree turn at 120km/h with nothing but boards on my feet would be crazy.

Watching Mens Hockey USA vs Swiss

Imakeholesinu wrote:Watching Mens Hockey USA vs Swiss

US, kicking butt!

Flip wrote:

Imakeholesinu wrote:Watching Mens Hockey USA vs Swiss

US, kicking butt!

Backes with a Coast to Coast goal and Erik Johnson with an assist. Blues fans cannot complain.

Flip wrote:US, kicking butt!

Yeah, I overheard on the news that the US has arguably the best goalie in the world. So, are they doing well? You think they can compete with the likes of Canada and Russia? (Asking a serious question; not trying to get some patriotic and biased answer.)

Ryan Miller -WAS- playing better than anyone in the NHL up until the last couple of weeks when the Sabres went on a major losing streak (5 or 6 in a row) and gave up first place in the division to Ottawa (there's a big shock, that team is playing WAY better than they should). It's gotta be a big concern for the US not because they're not good but because you have so many strong teams. Canada, Russia, and Sweden are very stacked teams and Slovakia ain't exactly horrible. Whatever team plays up to its full potential every game is gonna be the one that wins this.

Imakeholesinu wrote:http://puckinghilarious.com/ Zeus, Kali

I found a shirt for you.

I should get that Leafs one for my bud who's an enormous Leafs fan and has been complaining all year about their horribleness. It's a great shirt

Wow, Canada almost lost it to the Swiss yesterday and are 1 point behind the US.

Russia lost last night also in a Shoot out.

This Sunday will be a great game!

Imakeholesinu wrote:Wow, Canada almost lost it to the Swiss yesterday and are 1 point behind the US.

Russia lost last night also in a Shoot out.

Correction: Canada almost lost to Hiller last night.....

Sunday will be a fun-ass game. Everyone will be able to tell by Monday morning who won by the smack-talking :-)

Zeus wrote:

Imakeholesinu wrote:Wow, Canada almost lost it to the Swiss yesterday and are 1 point behind the US.

Russia lost last night also in a Shoot out.

Correction: Canada almost lost to Hiller last night.....

Sunday will be a fun-ass game. Everyone will be able to tell by Monday morning who won by the smack-talking :-)

I've got to work tonight but I'll be sleeping most of the day in anticipation of a US win.

Zeus wrote:Correction: Canada almost lost to Hiller last night.....

Everything I read that statement, I always want to put a "t" in that guy's name.

Canada stinks at this hockety sticks shooty game.

Flip wrote:Canada stinks at this hockety sticks shooty game.

They suck at the part where they pick goalies. Holy moly.

USA USA USA USA!

bovine wrote:

Flip wrote:Canada stinks at this hockety sticks shooty game.

They suck at the part where they pick goalies. Holy moly.

Which means that they suck at the whole game. Goalies are 75% of the game.

SineSwiper wrote:

bovine wrote:

Flip wrote:Canada stinks at this hockety sticks shooty game.

They suck at the part where they pick goalies. Holy moly.

Which means that they suck at the whole game. Goalies are 75% of the game.

So speaks the wise one =\

It was kind of close there at the end though--Canada put everything on the line and just went all-offensive, but could NOT beat the American goalie.

Too bad they left their OWN GOAL wide open.

SineSwiper wrote:

bovine wrote:

Flip wrote:Canada stinks at this hockety sticks shooty game.

They suck at the part where they pick goalies. Holy moly.

Which means that they suck at the whole game. Goalies are 75% of the game.

Pretty much. Miller was absolutely perfect the whole game. Even when he let stuff in he was always in near perfect position. Really impressive on his part. On the other end of the ice Brodeur should have been pulled after the second goal. he was constantly out of position and honestly......why the hell would anyone play him over Luongo? If they had pulled Brodeur after the second horrible goal he let in my throwing himself way out of position throughout the game....it could have been a different story. Just an idiotic showing by Martin Brodeur. He was flopping around like Dominic Hasek....except Hasek doesn't throw himself way the hell out of position when he does it.

Right now I'm predicting Canada will play Russia in the Quarterfinal and Ovechkin will have his revenge on Cindy.

I'll certainly say this: if either team continues to play like that, ain't neither of them winnin' nothin'. For 2 periods, the US's entire strategy was to let Miller save it (he had over 30 saves in the first two periods) and put the puck on Brodeur's stick and watch him make a mistake. They played pretty well in the third but they were badly, badly out played in the first two periods.

Canada, on the other hand, seemed to love shooting themselves in the foot. The US did a wonderful job of getting into the shooting lanes but even if Canada did get a shot, it's not like they made Miller work TOO hard (except in a few cases). Also, they loved to give it away and generally run around for no reason every couple of minutes. It was retarded.

Canada has a ridiculous uphill battle now (Russia in the quarters?) and I'll honestly be impressed if they get past Russia. They sure as fuck won't if they play like that again. US will need to tighten up if they hope to beat some of the big boys like Russia and Sweden.

Julius Seeker wrote:So speaks the wise one =\

What? I don't even watch hockey, and I knew that. It's such a low scoring sport. One puck in the gate, and it's game over.

USA vs Swiss at 2pm CT on NBC then Canada vs Russia at 6:30pm on CNBC.

Looking forward to that Canada/Russia match up.

SineSwiper wrote:

Julius Seeker wrote:So speaks the wise one =\

What? I don't even watch hockey, and I knew that. It's such a low scoring sport. One puck in the gate, and it's game over.

Listen, no offense (and I honestly mean that), but the fact that someone like you even talks about sports is laughable. Have you ever even played a sport in your life? The idea of a team sport and the importance of the functionality of every single player in relation to everyone else (leave alone hockey) is completely over your head.

USA just beat Switzerland 2 - 0.

Canada is putting a beat down on Russia, and they left Nabokov in net after letting up 4 goals in the first.

7-3 after the second. It's a shocking slaughter by the Canadians. I don't even know if Ovechkin has a shot on goal right now. He doesn't even exist in this game

Julius Seeker wrote:Listen, no offense (and I honestly mean that), but...

What an ugly baby, bless his heart.

SineSwiper wrote:

Julius Seeker wrote:Listen, no offense (and I honestly mean that), but...

What an ugly baby, bless his heart.

Yeah, he really is breathtaking.

Wow, Slovakia beat Sweden. So we have both Sweden and Russia out of medal contention now. And it's Slovakia against Canada and Finland against the US. Should be a fun semi-final round

Zeus wrote:Wow, Slovakia beat Sweden. So we have both Sweden and Russia out of medal contention now. And it's Slovakia against Canada and Finland against the US. Should be a fun semi-final round

Unless things go really wacky then, it should be Canada vs. USA for gold...which is as it should be

kali o. wrote:

Zeus wrote:Wow, Slovakia beat Sweden. So we have both Sweden and Russia out of medal contention now. And it's Slovakia against Canada and Finland against the US. Should be a fun semi-final round

Unless things go really wacky then, it should be Canada vs. USA for gold...which is as it should be

Agreed.

All hockey has been exciting and great so far. They should shut down all other winter olympic sports, and maybe just put hockey in the regular olympics. Just sayin.

bovine wrote:All hockey has been exciting and great so far. They should shut down all other winter olympic sports, and maybe just put hockey in the regular olympics. Just sayin.

It used to be part of the summer games till they formed the winter olympics.

USA vs Fin on NBC today at 2pm CT
Canada vs Slovakia at 6:30pm CT on CNBC

Entertaining friday for sure.

I don't normally watch hockey, but that was an exciting finale.

Aye. I was disappointed that USA lost, but it was anybody's game.

Just remember, we stomped your ass already with that 7-4 victory.

SineSwiper wrote:Aye. I was disappointed that USA lost, but it was anybody's game.

Just remember, we stomped your ass already with that 7-4 victory.

And look at all those gold medals you have to show for it.

CAAAAANAAAAAADAAAAAAAAA!

It was an excellent game for sure and the Americans played hard as shit. But let me tell you, the fact it was against the Americans that we won, the team that basically embarrassed us in the round robin and forced us to play that extra game was sweet. And the fact that that gold gave us the most golds ever by a nation in any winter olympics in history is just icing on the cake.

Not only did we beat you on your home soil in 2002, we took it from you again in our own home. That's gotta sting a little at least :-) And Sine, winning in the round robin ain't no consolation prize. It's like saying "we beat you in the regular season series even though you beat us for the Stanely Cup".

Finally they are over. US won overall. No big deal. Back to watching some real tv.

Congratulations. Obama is sending you beer, and Gibbs has to wear a Canadian jersey publicly.