Long Live Frank Fixaris!

With the opening ceremonies set for Friday, I figured it was time for a thread devoted to the Winter Olympics. Who's excited?

Not me...

Kinda sorta, I like to watch the sports occasionally and I have found myself watching different kinds of skiing on Sat/Sun on NBC more often

I like the Winter Olympics. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed NBC's "let's just show the Americans and the medalists" coverage.

I love watching the ski jump, the luge, hockey, and lately the snowboarding events. My wife is a big fan of the figure skating events, which can be fun too. Some things I watch out of morbid curiousity, like the biathalon (really? Skiing and shooting guns? How does Maine not have a stranglehold on this event?).

I love the downhill, and any form of sleds on ice.

Hockey could be interesting with the whole Ovechkin vs. Crosby scenario. I spent a winter in Lake Placid, got to see a bunch of various events. Luge and bobsled are pretty cool in person, ski jumping is wild. Ski jumpers themselves are nuts.

And come on, who doesn't have curling fever right now?

I grew up watching curling. That's what you get when you grow up on the Canadian border.

I went to Innsbruck and got to see the U.S. bobsled and luge teams practice about 15 years ago. There was 5 of us from work visiting and our company was sponsoring the luge team. The coaches were walking on the edge of the course, I couldn't believe they could stay up there. It was only about 4 inches wide. They had us get up on a ramp about halfway down to get a closer look and I almost broke my neck.

Being crazy enough to luge down a regulation run gets you about 25% of the way to making the U.S. Olympic team.

My uncle got to carry the torch when it went through New Brunswick a couple of months ago, obviously he was pretty excited about it. They let him buy the torch after the relay, but he didn't tell me how much he paid. I have a feeling it wasn't cheap.

That's cool, I love the look on his face. And it looks like an Olympic torch would be handy in the event of a zombie outbreak.

They made smores with it after.

That's pretty cool Parrot. If the rain doesn't stop in Vancouver the 2010 Winter Games will be one to remember for the wrong reasons. Add in the SI curse for Vonn and it already looks bleak.

I am excited. I am probably one of the few Olympic fans (Summer and Winter) still out there. I enjoy the Ski and snowboard events, the hockey is fun, though I wish it wasnt NHL players. I always look forward to the Olympics.

The Ski cross event is cool. Its first time as an Olympic event is this year. Its fast and most Skiers wipe out.

Did he ask anyone to marry him after carrying the torch?

I fell in love with Katarina Witt during the 84 games. Got to see her skate as part of an Olympian tour a year later in Pittsburgh. I followed her career, a buddy worked for ABC at the 88 games in Calgaray and actually stole one of the roses she got when she won the gold there- he gave it to me later.

Several years later she did a couple of stars on ice tours and they began in Portland, she used to train at the Portland Expo. I got to see her in person a few times.

And I guess I just revealed myself as a stalker.

Awwwww.........

I still have it, it's in a frame with the restraining order.

His second wife is about 20 years younger than him, so he is all set.

I fell in love for her when she posed for Playboy.

I'm sensing a HGOTD post....

Georgian Olympian (the country, not the state) dies in luge practice run:

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/wint ... id=4909034

That sucks, there were complaints about the speed of that track.

And 30 US hopefuls are sent home on the first day for failing preliminary doping tests. Sweet.

Actually, I don't think any of them were from the US. The headline I saw just said Olympians, not US Olympians. Someone from the US staff said no US athletes were among them.

Why does NBC keep talking about the bi-athletes? They never mention the straight or gay athletes. I don't think their sexual orientation really is relevant.

Seth Wescott wins gold in the snowboarding event (I forget the actual name, but it's the one where four people race at once on a course). Bode Miller took bronze in the men's downhill.

It is called "Take the lead immediately or get run over" snowboard race.

Snow cross is what it's called.

I'm actually looking forward to Ski cross. It's the same as snow cross, only on skis instead. Much greater chance of tangles and broken bones.