Time is Not on Our Side

With all due respect to the Rolling Stones, Tiii-iii-iime is not on our side.  Time is a constant and a constant pain.  It is how we measure our athletes (most of the time), it is the one thing that always stops our athletes (eventually) and it is messing with my Olympic experience.

I know I have mentioned the time difference before, but Tony Kornheiser mentioned on his radio show today that he has not watched the Olympics at all because of the time change.  So I decided to explore the concept of time a little deeper.

There is no question that the time change is difficult to handle.  I consider myself a master at avoiding information, but with today's technology and the media race to be first, it is almost impossible.  While I was writing this I received an email from the Washington Post with the results of today's ski halfpipe.  Before I could even think, I saw what that result was.  This has happened several times in the last 10 days.  On days when the US has a favorite to win the gold medal, I know that we didn't win it by the absence of an email from the Washington Post.  Shaun White's failure to medal was bigger news than anything outside a natural disaster or mass tragedy.  I don't have the Olympics schedule memorized (I know, I know, what am I doing), so I have to look for information for my predictions and what to watch for.  Without fail, I learn something that has happened.  It is impossible not to.

NBC also has a habit of repeating events.  Yesterday was President's Day and I had the day off.  I woke at 5 am and watched the Women's Biathlon Mass Start live on NBCSN.  NBCSN replayed the race during their afternoon coverage (about 4 pm) and NBC played some of it during their prime time coverage, or late night coverage, it all eventually blends in my mind.  When you onsider events like aerials and ski jumping, where they are showing qualifying and finals, I sometimes lose track of what I am watching and what I have seen.

Add to that the weather and health conditions in my house.  Through weather, I was home on Thursday, through health, I was home last Tuesday.  When I am home all day, I see live coverage during the day, so the time difference makes no difference.  When I am at work, I don't see anything until the evening when I get home.  SO sometimes I am writing in the afternoon with full knowledge of the day's events (like yesterday) and sometimes I am trying to stay blind of the day's events (like today).  This also makes my predictions and what to watch for more difficult.  I am sometimes writing about two days and predicting two days in advance.  I have no idea what day it is, what time it is or where I am.  Am I in Sochi.  It is sunny and warm outside right now, so it certainly feels like it.

Time change is not the only time element on display.  Time catches up with everyone, and this morning I saw a sad case, indeed.  The Men's Biathlon Mass Start was finally competed today.  Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is a legend in the sport who recently tied the record for most medals won by any Winter Olympian (12).  He is 40 years old.  This morning, he was in 4th place at the 4th and final shooting stage of the race, with a record breaking 13th medal in his grasp.  If you have not watched biathlon, well, you are just plain missing out.  However, it is important to know that at each shooting stage the competitors must shoot at 5 targets.  More than half usually hit all 5 targets.  Almost everyone else hits 4.  On some occassions, someone only hits 3, but that is pretty rare.  Bjoerndalen hit 1 of 5.  One.  One target.  In three Olympics of watching biathlon I have never seen that happen before.  I don't doubt that it has happened, I just have never seen it.  To see it from a record breaking performer, who won a gold medal in these games, was surprising.  Until you remember that he is 40 years old.  Time catches us all.  I still think Bjoerndalen will win his record breaking 13th medal in the biathlon relay (whenever that is and I can't check for fear of seeing results), but today, on that 4th shooting stage, time caught up to Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

I have seen a number of older athletes competing at these games.  Sometimes they perform well, sometimes they don't.  Whenever they do perform well, and Evgeny Plushenko's Team Figure Skating routine comes to mind, some commentator (I'm looking at you Scott Hamilton) says that age is just a number.  No, no it's not.  Age is your number.  You can overcome it sometimes, but the bigger your number gets, the harder it is.  Eventually it gets you, whether with a twinge in the back that makes you withdraw from the individual figure skating event or 4 missed targets in 1 shooting range.  Scott Hamilton should know this.  Time is the reason he is in the booth and not on the ice.  It is a cliche, but a cliche worth repeating, time is the only opponent undefeated in sports.

Time beat Bjoerndalen.  Time beat Plushenko.  Time beat Hamilton.  Time beat Kornheiser.  And time is beating me, in more ways than one.

Reflections on What Has Happened (Focus for this will be on US sports and medals, but we will touch on other stuff as time permits)

1. The Men's 15K Biathlon Mass Start was finally competed.  Martin Fourcade proved he is the best biathlete in these games, even while failing to win his third gold medal.  Fourcade lost in a photo finish to Norwegian, Emile Hegl Svendsen, but almost stole the race at the line.  Much like ice dancing, I like that Frenchman a lot more than I care to admit.  Americans again failed to medal.

2.  Russia lets out a collective sigh with a 4-0 win over Norway to get to the quarterfinals in Men's Hockey.

3.  Steve Holcomb and Steven Langton won the first US medal in 2 man bobsledding since 1952.  Holcomb is competing with a calf injury.  He has this goofy tape on his calf that is supposed to help with pain.  Keri Walsh wore the tape in Beijing.  I have some on my hip right now.  Doesn't do a thing, except pull on my leg hairs.

4.  Belarus won another gold medal, this time in Men's Aerials.  Who knew Belarus was the Aerials capital of the world?  Who knows where Belarus even is?  Who knew it existed before I made it a major theme of this blog?  My Baltic States Insider, that's who.

5.  Someone at the Washington Post is reading my blog and stealing my ideas.

6. Why do we suck so bad at speedskating this year? Short and long. Did I already say that?

7.  Why does every NBC studio host have to interview every US gold medalist and hockey hero?  Isn't one interview enough?

8.  Bob Costas returned.  This ruined the most exciting part of every Prime Time show for the last week:  Would Bob return and who was filling in for him?


Predictions Recap

1. US gets bronze in Men's hockey, gold in Women's. - Pending, but looks like I may have undersold us.

2. Ashley Wagner shocks the world with a bronze. - Pending and tomorrow will decide.  (She won't do it, though; Gracie will.)

3. Mikaela Shiffrin becomes the darling of these games. - Really, really. really close to wrong.

4. US beats Russia in both total medals and golds. - Pending, and very close.

5. I will watch more biathlon than anyone else in America. - Still pending, but so far, so good. Who was that woman on the telecast this morning?  Did Chad get Bob's infection?.

6. Putin will be on TV more during these Olympics than Kate Middleton was in 2012. And that's a bad thing, because Kate is much more fun to look at, for everyone except my Baltic States Insider. - So far, so good.

7. Yulia Lipnistkaya gets confused for a lost child and almost misses the Women's Short Program. Pending.  I will check on this tonight.

8. Historic US Medal in Men's 15K Biathlon.  WRONG!!!

9. US Men get 1 medal in Nordic Combined. let's say silver for Taylor Fletcher.  Pending

10. US Women's Short Track Relay breaks the drought with a bronze.  Pending

11. Russia beats Norway in hockey.  Correct

12. Slovakia beats the Czech Republic to set up quarterfinal with US in hockey.  WRONG!!!


Predictions

1.  1-2-3 finish for Holland in Men's 10,000.

2.  The Heartbreaker continues her run with a victory over Canada in Curling semis.

3.  Norway gets silver in Men's Cross Country Team Sprint.


What to Watch For

1. Women's Bobsled. Lolo Jones tries to get that elusive Olympic Medal.

2. Biathlon Relays. Assuming no fog.

3.  Biathlon Mixed Relay.  You have to love an event that combines men and women and does not involve ice skates.  Can we do more of this?  A Mixed 400 freestyle relay?  A mixed 4x100 relay in track?  Well, maybe not - no reason to give Jamaica another event to beat us in.

Random Fact of the Day

Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe is a 55 year old slalom skier and pop singer known as Andy Himalaya and Royal Disaster.  He is descended from a royal dynasty from an area in Germany.  He was born in Mexico and has dual citizenship in Mexico and Germany.  He founded the Mexican Ski Federation and will be competing in his 6th Olympic Games this year.  It is possible I was wrong, to him, age may just be a number.  I have also heard that he does not always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis.