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| 2:25 | 0:54 | 0:11 |
| Events | Ads | Fluff |
*Do you believe in miracles? Yes! What? We're starting tonight with hockey highlights, even before we find out if it's Meredith, Matt, or Bob hosting. Turns out it's Meredith, and the hockey we were watching was today's US-Russia game, which ended in regulation tied 2-2 when a Russian goal was called off because the US net had been dislodged. So now Meredith kicks us back to the rink so we can watch the overtime period. I know it's been 34 years, but don't you think the Ruskies would like to get a little revenge for the Miracle on Ice here on their home ice? U-S-A! U-S-A!
* 1:38 to go in OT and it's still tied. It'll go to a shootout if no one scores quick. It is clear that there's no love between these two teams. I can't believe I didn't watch this while it was happening. On the flip side, I'm doubly glad that I haven't looked at the news today to see who won, because it's very exciting. Overtime is over! It's shootout time!
* The US goes first. Sloowwwwly... GOAL! USA, 1-0! Now the accursed Russians. A MISS! Ooooo... that's bad for the Big Red. Aaaugh! The US missed next. It's still 1-0. The Russian's second skater... MISSED AGAIN! The third USA skater... rejected. Grrrr. Russia #3... scored. Bleah! It's 1-1. Now the Russians get to go first. MISS! If the US scores here, it's over... AIEEE! He missed high. Russia #5...scores! Oh no! Now the US has to get a goal to continue. RIGHT THROUGH THE LEGS! Tied again, 1-1! But now the Russians can't miss. They score again, putting the pressure on the US... AAAA...OOOHHH!! It bounce off the top of the crossbar, then off the back of the Russian goalie. Tied again. Russia #7... MISSED! US #7... stick save by the Russians! I can barely handle this recorded shootout, I would have been a mess during the game. The eight Russian... MISSES! The eighth American...SCORES! SCORES! DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES! Okay, maybe that wasn't a miracle, but that's the most excited I've been this entire Olympics. Fantastic!
* To the large hill for men's ski jumping. When did the ski jumping hills start having tracks for the skis that the jumpers use? I don't remember that before this Olympics. How are we ever going to get another agony of defeat guy if they can't slide off the side of the hill?
* The large hill skiers jump about 130 meters. That's 426 feet. That's a home run in any baseball park in America.
* To the skeleton track! One of the American racers is named John Daly. No, not that John Daly. This guy looks like he works out. But you never know, that John Daly's weight might work to his advantage going down the hill compared to this John Daly. This John Daly is in third place after his third run down the hill. Unlike that John Daly, he didn't smoke a cancer stick afterwards.
* Run four of the men's skeleton starts with Daly in fourth and American Matt Antoine in third. Oh no! Daly gets sideways at the start and is done before he begins. Well, this makes it easier to decide which American to root for. Go, Matt, go!
* Matt pulls it off! He's in first place with two racers to go. The worst he can do is third. The announcers keep telling me to "look into the eyes" of the next racer so I can see his determination. How exactly am I supposed to do that when he's sliding down the track at 90 mph and wearing a glossy helmet? Anyway, the last two racers do indeed beat Matt, but he still gets the bronze.
* To the mountain for the women's Super G. This is the same course as the downhill, but unlike that event, in the Super G, the skiers get no practice runs. They're basically winging it. The first American down the hill, Leanne Smith, gets some negative commentary from NBC's announcers for swinging too wide on the bottom turns and losing speed. It's bad, but if no one else gets a practice run, maybe some others will make the same mistake.
* In fact, after eight skiers, Smith is the only one to finish. Everyone is missing these bottom turns. What if everyone else misses them too? Can they give out only a gold medal? That'd be something, wouldn't it?
* So much for that idea. The coaches at the bottom of the hill are starting to call the top, reports Steve Porino. That seems like cheating, doesn't it?
* Anna Fenninger of Austria wants to save the cheetah, so she went to Africa and posed for some pictures. Now she wears cheetah spots on her helmet. Alrighty then. I guess that only took a minute, I can't be too upset with that.
* Like the cheetah, Anna is the fastest skier on the hill. So far, anyway.
* Analyst Christin Cooper must be an eskimo, because she has a thousand words for the snow of the super-g run. Corn, ball-bearings, and crystaline sugar are my favorites so far.
* The cheetah wins! Everyone in Austria yawns as another Austrian wins a skiing medal.
* To speed skating, where we find out that the US is changing their speed skating suits again. Really? We're still blaming clothes? Ted Robinson asks Dan Jansen "how much of this is the suits?" Dan replies, "It's hard to say." It's really not hard, Dan. Just say, "Clothes don't skate." Well, with their new suits, I guess we'll see if the US men can win something tonight in the 1500-meters. If not, maybe tomorrow they can come back wearing those snowboarder suits that seem to be so successful.
* Brian Hansen's new Under Armour suit lines up at the starting line. It's off! It's shimmery fabric pulls Brian along for the first lap, where it's almost a second off the pace of the leader. At the finish, Under Armour finishes in fourth place. Brian Hansen goes along for the ride.
* Next up, the Under Armour suit of Shani Davis stands tense at the starting line. UA suit has medaled in the last two Olympics and tonight it's racing very well, just four-tenths of a second behind at the halfway point. Under Armour suit is falling off the pace in the second half of the race, though, and finishes almost a second out of first. Dan Jansen says, "The uniforms might not be the issue after all." You don't say?
* The last American suit up is Joey Mantia's Under Armour suit. This swatch of fabric has had a very disappointing Olympics and this is its last chance. The American spandex is over a second back and dropping. This is possibly the worst performing bolt of material in the Olympic games. It finishes almost three seconds off the lead. Obviously, it's time for a change. I hear that Henrik Harlaut has some clothes available.
* Ready for some craziness? It's time for the men's 1000-meter short track race. Crashes aplenty await!
* But first, Viktor Ahn fluff! He used to be named Hyun-Soo Ahn when he raced for South Korea. He was a national hero there but then he got hurt and it looked like his racing days might be over. Then the Russians offered him citizenship and a chance to compete again. So off he went.
* Wait, there aren't any Americans in the final of the 1000-meters? Were our uniforms insufficient for this event, too? Where have you gone, Apolo Anton Ohno? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you!
* Viktor Ahn, traitor, wins the gold. His "fellow" Russian wins silver. South Korea comes up empty.
* Al Michaels interviews T.J. Oshie, who scored the final shootout goal to beat the Russians in hockey earlier tonight. It's fluff, yes, but it's worth noting that it's NBC Primetime's best interview of the Olympics so far. Sigh. When is Costas coming back?
* Wllie Geist is going to give us a social media update. Willie who? What's going on here? Well, I guess there's a couple of minutes to kill at the end of the show, but this guy is even more bland than Ryan Seacrest was when he did this stupid segment a couple of years ago. Two minutes of fluff.
Just when it was looking like a record-breaking night, NBC showed us ten minutes of fluff in the last 30 minutes of programming. Still, a great night of events makes even a bad run of fluff easy to overlook. Here' s hoping that they forget about the fluff tomorrow. See you then!
