Star Gazing...

"Crosby is so far ahead of Ovechkin right now Ovie would need a telescope to see him."

"Crosby has won the Stanley Cup (by going through Ovechkin), the Olympics (again, by going through Ovehckin) and the World Championships."

"I don't believe Crosby ever won a world championship, though he did win a world juniors title. But Ovechkin was part of the Gold-medal winning Russian squad in 2008. So, instead of 3-0, we're now talking about 2-1. Of course, if we're just measuring world titles, Caps winger Jason Chimera seems to have won one in '07."

"Ovie behaved wretchedly during the Games when he shoved the camera of some woman...Ovechkin...is bordering on out of control."

These are just some of the quotes and topics and blog posts literally FLYING around DC since the Olympics.

I actually have to say I like all this a lot! Ovie behaving the way he did with fans and their cameras is totally irresponsible but everything else is great!

Why, because this just adds to the rivalry. Fuel for the fire. Even more hype for the upcoming playoffs and championship run.

I think it will, hopefully, play into the Caps favor and become a real motivational revenge factor.

Three of the soviet Olympic team members are on the Caps. All three have been around for all the losses to Crosby and what ever team he is on.

And let me just say here, they are both all stars. "Beasts" as I have heard that term used a bit too often lately. Of course each, being one player, do not make a championship team. They help of course, but it takes all the pieces fitting together to make a championship team.

Watching Olympic Hockey was really great this year and I totally enjoyed it, even though the USA team lost in OT.

And now, I can't wait for the playoffs to start. To watch Ovie, Semin, and Varlamov take on you know who and, hopefully, wipe them off the 2010 NHL map!

Read more...

Have you heard...

So by now you probably know that Evgeni Plushenko's web site awarded, at one point, a Platinum Medal to the Olympic Skater for his LOSING performance.

Never mind the fact that there is no such thing as a platinum medal, it just sounded better to them and looked Really Cool!

Of course now, that claim to fame no longer exists and he has a statement which now claims he had no knowledge nor did he endorse such a post.

I saw his performance and while he did more than one quad jump, All his jumps were just a bit off. Still it was an impressive performance and he is a talented athlete.

Unfortunately, quads are like blow fish sushi, one should not attempt it unless it is perfect.

Read more...

A Question

Q: Why are there separate men and women Curling competitions?

After all, the strength, agility and stamina requirements of the sport are easily achieved by both. Why not have them compete against one another?

I think I know the answer, and the men would lose every time!

















A: Because the women are so much better at sweeping...

Read more...

Hurry Hard !

Participating in the Olympics is costly and requires sometimes creative ways to raise money and awareness of you, your team and sport.

Curling is one of those Olympic sports that is ALWAYS looking for sponsors.

Curling also involves shouting instructions at your teammates and calling out the line and speed of the stone you just threw.

One often shouted term is "Hurry Hard".

Hurry Hard means for the sweepers to well, sweep faster and harder.

When watching curling, it is pretty easy to hear them shouting this out from time to time.

So, a few USA curlers were sitting around one day just shooting the breeze and trying to think of new ideas for raising money. After all, they had already come up with the idea of having people paying $30 to test your skill against Shuster and the Olympic team. Pretty cool, but they needed more in order to go to the Olympics.

When out of the blue, someone joked that "hurry hard" would be a good name for a condom.

The idea was then mentioned to Kodiak chairman Dan Field, who had a connection to MCAP, and the program took off from there. USA Curling informed the U.S. Olympic Committee of the project before announcing it.

"HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention is a noble cause and the USOC, much like the IOC, certainly supports sport playing a role in tackling these and other terrible afflictions," USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.

A worthy cause, and partnership.

However, I quite possibly will never look at the curling stone the same way again.

You can find out more about the sport of curling, the athletes and other sponsors here.

You can ummmm "help raise awareness" here.

Read more...

Take it to the limit

Maybe it's me, but this year there seems to be a big deal being made about crashes.

Lots of athletes crashing, and lots of officials making changes to courses as a result of these crashes.

Perhaps having the death of the Georgian Luger happen even before the games officially start set a more tragic and reactive tone for the entire Olympics but the point I wanted to make was that athletes have always , from time to time, crashed and gotten injured but I do not seem to remember officials making so many changes to courses as a result of people crashing.

This has happened to the Luge, the downhill and slalom courses, even some of the ice competitions, though that was mostly because the cheapo Zamboni they originally bought could not fix the ice appropriately.

I think all of these course crashes and "fixes" is a result of the industry of sports competition and athletes constantly pushing the limit of physical and technical ability.

Olympic athletes are special. They are the best of the best and as such have this drive and determination to constantly push themselves and their sport to new and higher and more dangerous limits.

This drive in turn makes the "sport" constantly look for ways to challenge the athletes.

Perhaps this year the sport has pushed the athletes more than it should have.

But still, I don't seem to remember officials making as many changes as they have this year. I am reminded of the old Wide World of Sports intro which shows the "agony of defeat" and thinking, "did anybody shorten the ski jump" as a result of this incident?



It seems that the only Olympic sport to not have been pushed to the limit and changed as a result of crashes is Curling.

Now I have to admit, we have been watching the Curling competition. I also have to admit that for such a none contact and physically demanding sport, it has gotten A LOT of air time. We have enjoyed watching it because it is intriguing to watch the strategy of the the sport and the technique involved.

But just like everything else, someone somewhere has found a way to push curling to the limit and prove that it is a sport of not only skill and strategy but of strength, speed and physical ability.

Strangely enough, I found these people pushing the limits of curling not on NBC Olympic coverage but on the Weather Channel and Colbert Nation.

So in the spirit of Fun Strip Fridays, I end this post with out takes of video which pushes Olympic coverage and interviews to new limits.

The Weather Channel proves that Curling is indeed a contact sport!

And Colbert pushes the coverage of the sport to new limits in his video spot.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Curling Team Tryouts Outtakes Pt. 2
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Of course, leave it to Colbert to take a sports interview to a level, a spot, where no other interview has gone before.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusive - Zach Lund Outtakes Pt. 2
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Skate Expectations

Read more...

Looking to Break Out

As I sit here watching

Yet MORE snow fall...

My children home from school for the 7th + day 8th + in a row!
They just canceled school for Tuesday!
That's it, I want to move someplace where either, they do not ever get snow, or where they know how to plow it and clear the Roads!!!

We never had this problem when I lived in upstate NY or New England.

Sheesh...

Watching The Olympics on TV...

I am looking for a break out from this routine.

And a break out stock pattern to help boost my returns...

So lets take a look at how my February watch lists have done so far.

Starting Line Up
















UNP - Appears to be gaining strength since the beginning of the month and looking like a better buy.

CEPH - This is an intriguing stock pattern that is looking more and more like a cup and handle pattern. Could be a good break out candidate.

ODSY - has recovered nicely off of its recent pull back and reports later this week.

HQS - Looking like it has settled above low resistance and is trying to reverse trend back upwards. This last 2nd low point is higher than previous low point.

ROST - Another stock looking to post sequentially higher lows.


Bench
















CHE - has recovered nicely since it recent pull back from earlier highs. Reports Tuesday . A good report could be all this needs to break out upwards through top end.

FDO - My current holding - waiting for it to break out up past resistance . It has started this break out pattern buy I am wondering how strong of a pattern it will be.

SSYS - Recovering nicely off of pull back and is looking like another stock with a good upwards cup pattern

POWL - is sliding back down towards previous low point. May be setting up a good double bottom reverse or W pattern.

SHE - Has had a whopping turn around and break out back up. This is still a good but volatile stock. I am wishing now that I had the courage to bet that it would not loose its 50 day moving average support level. Which it has not broken once in the past six months.

Read more...

Are You Ready For Some... ?

This is the time of year that is truly fantasy football winter.

One of the other sports which I, and at least my sons, really get into is Hockey.

We have been avid fans of the Capitals and have thoroughly enjoyed this years season.

So, just as the football season ends, the Hockey season takes what is like a all star break in Baseball. A sort of Pro Bowl of international hockey.

Yes, just in case you have been hiding under a rock, or 2 - 3 feet of snow....

The 2010 Olympics have started. This means the NHL is taking a break because many NHL players are now playing for their native country hockey teams.

The Capitals have 5 players.

Tomas Fleischmann will represent the Czech Republic.

Nicklas Backstrom was named to the Swedish team.

Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov were named to the Russian team.

I admit, I really will have mixed loyalties but regardless of who plays, will have fun watching!

Go Caps! Go Team USA!

Read more...

An Idea ...

Vancouver Trucking in Snow to 2010 Winter Olympics

First lets look at the numbers and do some math...


Virginia Budget Deficit ~ $133 Million

Maryland Budget Deficit ~ $2 Billion

Pennsylvania Budget Deficit ~ $3 Billion


Virgina = 1,170,892,800,000 sq feet

Maryland = 334,540,800,000 sq feet

Pennsylvania = 1,282,406,400,000 sq feet


Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania currently have between 2 and 3 feet of snow on the ground.

Leaving more than half for the kids to play with...

For a mere penny a foot, we could sell the half our snow to Vancouver and TOTALLY wipe out the budget deficits!

Virginia = $11 Billion profit

Maryland = $3 Billion Profit

Pennsylvania = $12 Billion Profit

Virginia and PA could even loan the proceeds to the federal government to help with their budget deficit too!

With interest of course...

Read more...

Can't please everyone...

All the time, so you might as well stand your ground and stand up for your beliefs...














Bet you didn't think anybody could, or dare would, put Johnny Weir and Tim Tebow together... but I will.

Now I am the first one to sign the petitions against cruelty to animals and censorship, so don't get me wrong... but as unlikely a pair of athletes they both, for better or worse are being true to who they are. So bravo to them.

In Weirs case, Animal rights group unhappy with Weir wearing fur, Johnny boy says, so what - "All skaters are wear animals on their feet!" Cow leather.

Just because it is not cute and cuddly (the cow that is , not Johnny) animal rights ignore that little but all important fact that all skates have leather.

Yes, he could have avoided all this hubbub by simply using fake fur, but hey, as he says, his focus is on skating and people suffering, not necessarily animals.

If you don't like it, don't watch the Olympics.

Timmy, knows he doesn't do behind the center QB well, and instead of sweeping it under the rug and hiding in mystery, goes out and practices in order to improve himself and show others he is willing to work at his dream of becoming an NFL QB.

Plus, he and his family are standing by their beliefs despite the fact that various women's rights groups are trying to get CBS to kill their ad regarding abortion. Never mind the fact that if Pam Tebow had followed said women's rights and other doctors advice when she was with child, there would not be a Tim Tebow and we would not be having this discussion!

Kudos to Johnny and Tim.

Poopoos to the activists and right to choose groups for trying to manipulate public sports figures and television companies.

Read more...