Better Late Than Never

(courtesy of goingwimax.com)

Well, it came a little late, but the general tone from north of the border is that it's better to have come late, than not at all. I'm talking, of course, about gold medals. While many of you sports junky's were checking out the NBA All-Star festivities this weekend, the 2010 Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday night. I suppose the opening ceremony could now be viewed as a sign of things to come. Leading up to Friday, TV stations around our friendly neighbor to the north were airing commercials telling Canadians to "Believe," and that "This is Our Game (referring to Hockey, of course)." There was a lot of buzz about who would be carrying the torch at the final moment. Then the time came. "The Great One," Wayne Gretzky, and Steve Nash stood together as the world waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after the embarrassing malfunction was overcome, the Olympic cauldrin was lit and the games were declared open. Now, most people have forgotten about the odd moment (well, those of us you who actually saw it, I mean, most probably missed it to begin with). Perhaps all of Canada should have seen the writing on the wall from that instant.

Either way, the drought is now, finally, over. Most expected it to end yesterday as Canadian skier Jennifer Heil took to the hill and was expected to repeat her performance from Turin four years ago. All seemed to be going according to plan, until an American import from Canada stole the show, and the gold. Hannah Kearney, who was born in Canada, but now lives in Vermont, took the gold and made Canadians wait just a little longer. Now, when I say wait a little longer, I don't mean just for their first gold medal of this Olympic Games. Oh no, folks, I mean they have NEVER won a gold medal on their home soil. It seems crazy, but the ol' Maple Leafs have only hosted twice before. They came, well ok, stayed home empty-handed back in '76 (Montreal Summer Olympics) and in '88 (Winter Games in Calgary - note that these are the same winter games where the Jamaican bobsled team paved the way for the the classic movie "Cool Runnings") and have been determined to not let it happen again.

(courtesy of morethanthegames.co.uk)

Despite the dissapointment of yesterday, today the Canadians fulfilled their dreams of Olympic gold. Alexandre Bilodeau broke the seal late Sunday evening in the Men's Moguls, defeating, ironically enough, Canadian-born Dale Begg-Smith who is now skiing for Australia (yeah, he left the land of everlasting winter for the land down under and still managed to pull a silver medal). For those of you still living under a rock (or below the border), moguls is a mix of skiing and jumping. The skiers are judged on 25% speed, 25% air and 50% "turns" (or as I would put it, form - they are judged on how they handle the bumps on the hill as the bolt down the mountainside). American Bryon Wilson came in third to nail down the States' 6 medal of the Winter Games. For those of you who are counting, that puts the US in the early lead over Germany (4) and France/Canada (3). South Korea/Italy (2) round out the top 5. As I said, it is still very early and it's still wide open. Some key events with medal contests coming up this week include Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding and Speed Skating (full schedule available here). As always, let us know your thoughts on the games so far and everything coming up.