Posts Tagged ‘spectator sports’
National Competition
Let the withdrawal begin. After two weeks of non-stop daily broadcasting of Olympic sports events, it is time for life to get back to normal. The NHL season will resume, so I suppose I could turn my attention to the Minnesota Wild [men] or Frost [PWHL women] for hockey entertainment. I see that the US goalie, Conner Hellebuyck, who repeatedly stymied Team Canada, will be returning to play for the Winnipeg Jets. I wonder if that will be awkward for him.
Yesterday’s overtime victory for the Gold Medal in hockey by Team USA was a really big deal for a lot of folks. There were plenty of references to the last time the US won gold in men’s hockey, 46 years ago. As thrilling as this win is for the US, I don’t think it compares to the 1980 Miracle on Ice.
That team was made up of amateurs who needed to defeat the larger, stronger, professional-level USSR team to reach the Gold Medal game, which they eventually won, triumphing over Finland. Now professionals are allowed, and the most competitive teams are filled with players from the NHL and European leagues.
The skills and experience in yesterday’s Gold Medal game were a lot closer to even between the two teams. If there were miracles to be found, they were probably related to the number of times Canadian shots missed an open net or how the puck slid barely wide of the post after deflecting off Hellebuyck’s incredible flailing stick.
Did the US team survive being shorthanded 5-on-3 by their skillful penalty kill, or did Canada fail to execute their power play opportunity?
I don’t mean to take anything away from Team USA and their winning the Gold Medal. It was absolutely thrilling. I have no doubt it will become one of the greatest life-long memories in the lives of all involved. I just don’t think it’s on the same level as what that team in 1980 pulled off.
I’m going to miss the adrenaline of the excitement and anticipation of national team competitions. Good thing I only need to wait 108 days for the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament to begin.
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Game On!
Sorry, can’t talk right now. The Gold Medal game of Men’s Olympic Hockey between the USA and Canada is on!
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Storm Aftermath
A few days ago, we were putting rain sheets on the horses before the weather switched over to snow and made a mess of things. Cyndie had to battle hours of driving in the miserable conditions, and the horses have been clomping around in a mix of freezing and thawing slop ever since.
Their coverings were a frozen mess, so we pulled them off, and with no further falling precipitation to speak of, let their bare backs breathe. They seem fine with the situation for now, but it has made it nearly impossible to clean up their manure to my usual level of detail.
The conditions have been decidedly spring-like in the way the snow began melting the moment the storm was over. By afternoon in the area in front of the barn where I shoveled, the ground looked as dry as if it had never snowed.
Beyond that space where the snow remains are the tracks I made with multiple passes on the ATV. Instead of plowing over the gravel, I just drove back and forth a few times.
On the driveway where I did have the blade down, the pavement dried right up in minutes.
I’m happy the snow clearing didn’t take a lot of time because that allowed me to stay glued to the broadcasts of Olympic competition. The Gold Medal game in Men’s Hockey between the USA and Canada will be tomorrow morning. I don’t know what to expect, but I won’t be surprised if our luck runs out against such a formidable opponent.
On the other hand, I’m certainly hoping for the fairy tale success to continue for one more game.
When I haven’t been watching hockey or figure skating, the next on-ice competition that I find mesmerizing is curling, even though I know almost nothing about the intricacies of the sport. It seems an unlikely spectator sport to me, but when I stumble upon the stone sliding on the Olympic broadcasts, it interrupts my getting anything else accomplished.
I sure have enjoyed the sports distractions from all the malfeasance underway in our government. I sure wish I could wake up on Monday and find out someone has finally put a stop to it all. That would be even more rewarding than an Olympic Gold Medal.
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Golden Goal
It happened again! This time, it was the Women’s US Hockey Team Defender, Megan Keller, scoring in a 3-on-3 overtime period to win the Gold Medal in the Olympics. And again, if it hadn’t actually happened, I would declare this scene in a movie as too improbable, sappy, and overdone.
If you didn’t see it, there is a video showing the goal from every camera angle that is a work of art. [That clip may be subject to an ad before starting, but trust me, the video is worth the wait.] As I watched this compilation the first time, I found myself giggling each time it showed the players throwing off gloves and heaving sticks skyward in celebration.
The fairy tale of yesterday’s victory by Team USA started well before that spectacular golden goal in overtime and deserves a retelling for those of you who may have missed it. The USA was losing 1-0, with time dwindling in the third period. Before the clock had reached 2 minutes to go in the game, the US coach pulled his Goalie to put a sixth player on the ice for a faceoff in the Canadian end of the rink.
With no goalie protecting the US net, it was do-or-die to control the puck and get shots toward Canada’s goal. The US won possession of the faceoff, and the puck was passed to Laila Edwards near the blue line. Edwards lined up her shot, hesitating just a critical moment for an opening before sending the puck toward the Canadian goalie. Defying odds, US team captain, Hilary Knight, expertly positioned her stick to deflect the puck into the net to tie the score and force the overtime period.
In overtime, the key to providing Megan Keller the chance to ultimately seal the victory came from way back near the US goal, where Forward, Taylor Heise (a member of the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL), served up a well-timed loooong pass up to Keller as Canada was trying to get fresh skaters on the ice.
Megan took it from there, looking cool as a cucumber with a dangle of the puck past the lone defender to bring her in front of the goal, where she flipped a backhand shot with enough confidence that the puck had no choice but to sneak over the goalie’s pad and under her stick-hand blocker to end up in the back of the net.
GOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!
Let the celebration commence.
Seriously, watch that compilation of the winning goal happening over and over from different angles and ultimately in slow motion. If you watch it with sound, the play-by-play announcer is only featured in the first one. All the rest offer the beauty of just the crowd’s reaction, with a rise when Keller outsmarts the defense and then the eruption when the puck ends up in the net.
I’m going to be watching this clip more times than I watched the replay of Quinn Hughes’ overtime goal the day before.
The US Men’s team plays a semifinal against Slovakia this afternoon. I hope my nerves can handle more of this excitement.
In another version of ice and skates, shout out to Alysa Liu for her spectacular skating yesterday!
So much Winter Olympic fun to be had.
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Desired Outcomes
Winning can be so sweet. Yesterday, I was able to enjoy Defenseman Quinn Hughes, of the NHL Minnesota Wild, scoring the winning goal for the USA in the last of the Men’s Hockey quarterfinal games in the Olympics. It was a fairy tale of a finish. If that had been scripted for a Hollywood movie, I would have thought it to be too cliché, over the top, and completely unbelievable.
The color commentary included in this video clip of the goal captures the essence really well, but I can’t help reiterating it here. In a prior shift of the 3-on-3 next-goal-wins overtime period, Quinn Hughes was defended so well by Team Sweden forward, Joel Eriksson Ek (a teammate of Hughes’ on the Wild), that Hughes couldn’t get off a forehand shot. He was held to a weak backhand flick that the Swedish goalie easily saved.
The next time Quinn Hughes was on the ice, the announcer pointed out that Quinn waved off the bench to indicate he wasn’t ready to switch and wanted to remain in the play. Sounds like Hollywood to me.
Then, he maneuvered himself with a quick passing exchange with his teammate, Matt Boldy (also a MN Wild forward), before gliding across the middle as the 3rd teammate, Auston Matthews, floated underneath to give Quinn a chance to position himself for the winning forehand shot.
An absolutely magical finish. That is, for US fans. The view from Sweden must be a lot uglier.
The view out our windows at Wintervale was pretty ugly yesterday for driving. Unfortunately, driving is what Cyndie did for around seven hours as rain turned to a freezing mix and then to all snow, making roads slick and accidents plentiful. She witnessed a dizzying number of cars that had spun out into ditches and medians or crashed in a variety of ways.
Visibility was greatly diminished, and the route she intended became backed up, so she had to go well out of her way to complete her journey, spending 4 hours straight to make her way back home around 8 p.m.
I might have been a little tense watching the hockey game go into overtime, but she was hanging on for dear life. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so happy to be home.
We were both extremely happy to have been granted our desired outcomes.
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Survival Mode
I hardly recognize myself lately. What’s changed? Well, try as I might, my usual fascination with the Olympic Games just isn’t occurring this year. If I were to guess, the main culprit is probably this feeling that our country is at war with itself and is an embarrassment on the global stage.
Being a fan of athletic competition has been a big part of what brings me joy throughout my life. Having that passion fade feels a little too similar to depression. At the same time, I readily admit that the collapse of ethical guidelines we’ve witnessed since a certain sick-minded portion of our country has enacted its selfish dominance over the masses is very depressing.
Having overcome the deadly grip of the dark disease of depression allows me to recognize that there is a difference between being stuck in the affliction and merely feeling depressed about something. I thank the Universe for the lesson of becoming conscious of my self-talk and how it has given me power over the mental dysfunctions of depression.
Instead of thinking about sports last week, I allowed myself to become immersed in the survival exploits of participants in Season 11 of the reality TV series, “Alone.” Originally broadcast on the History Channel, I came across the show on Netflix, where I binged 13 hours in a few days.
I think I was appreciating the escape from current events. The resulting influence on me was a change from walking into my day with a spring in my step after some heroic home-team victory in pro or college football, basketball, or hockey, and mentally reliving some valiant run, kick, or shot in my mind’s eye. Those moments that lead to a call or text to a comrade to share a “Did you see that!?” reliving of the thrill.
No, as I don my “space suit” of winter outerwear and begin the journey along our snow-packed trails through the woods, I now hear myself narrating our survival tactics as if my life is under the same constant camera surveillance as the competitors of the show.
Why else would this series appeal? As viewers place themselves in the role of the survivalists in an attempt to perceive the epic battles for adequate food, shelter, and mental stability being undertaken, it begins to seamlessly parallel each of our daily lives.
Imagine if you had to film every action you take and narrate the hows and whys.
I am going to build a fire in the fireplace in a few moments, and I do not doubt that the activities of the contestants will be on my mind.
And it won’t be in the least way depressive. We will survive!
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NFL Playoffs
- I don’t remember what my earliest memory could be.
- I don’t remember interacting with any of my grandparents.
- I don’t remember learning to read.
- I don’t remember how intensely I was exposed to second-hand smoke growing up.
- I don’t remember most of what I was taught about Electronic Technology in the 1980s.
- I don’t remember how many Minnesota Vikings NFL games I attended in my life.
- I do remember witnessing Drew Pearson pushing off Nate Wright in the 1975 playoff game.
I watched most of the Wildcard Weekend NFL games and was duly entertained. Two things stood out for me.
This sport is so violent, and the strain on players’ bodies is so intense, that injury is a huge factor contributing to which team advances and which team is eliminated. By this time in the season, teams have already lost star players to season-ending injuries before the first playoff game kicks off. During these now single-elimination battles, there were knee, Achilles, and concussion injuries that benched several key players.
Given that, it still comes down to athletes executing some mind-boggling feats requiring precision timing, extreme reach, great leaping, powerful strength, sustained stamina, and incredible teamwork. Eleven players with immediate duties to dominate eleven opponents who are intent on doing the same back at them.
As much as I’ve grown to loathe the NFL as a business, I can’t seem to shake my fascination with the dramatic competition that happens live in front of stadiums full of incredibly passionate fans and involves such impressive athleticism combined with split-second decision-making.
In many ways, NFL football is a stupid sport, but at the same time, it offers plenty of excitement for interested viewers.
Despite having tried multiple times in my life, I just can’t get myself to quit it.
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Never Simple
We hadn’t had a problem with the horse waterer in the paddocks freezing up on us again for enough days in a row that I stopped thinking about it. I still regularly glance toward it to see if there is liquid water in the pans, but I haven’t been lifting the cover to press the float and verify water flows. Temperatures were in the teens yesterday, but there was no direct sunshine.
During the afternoon feeding, I found the pans dry and immediately set about trying to warm the lines with my hands while Cyndie hustled back to the house to heat a kettle of water to pour over the tubing. It has worked simply enough to solve the problem each time it occurred the last times we’ve dealt with this. Of course, since it stopped happening, I didn’t pursue buying a new heat tape for that line. D’oh!
Since we weren’t prepared to be doing this, and our latest snowstorm was just getting underway, afternoon chores were suddenly getting complicated. While I was waiting at the waterer for Cyndie to return, Mia came down from her feed bucket looking to get a drink. It’s an awful feeling to disappoint a horse that just wants a drink of water.
When Cyndie popped out of the barn with the thermos, she was also bringing some water in a scoop she planned to use to clean the waterer. Mia stuck her snout in the scoop and guzzled what she could get out of it. I took the thermos, and Cyndie went in to fill another bucket with water for Mia. It didn’t take long at all for me to get the waterer flowing again.
If the horses keep drinking from it, the line is less likely to freeze at these relatively moderate temperatures simply because of the flowing water that refills it. If there is no flow, freezing occurs. We’ll be bringing hot water with us at the morning feeding.
Then I’ll start clearing snow. Just two days ago, I scraped the nuisance trace of snow off the pavement up by the house.
It’s all buried again now.
One more thing that’s not simple is the trick of prey surviving the threats of predators. We suspect that friendly pigeon we started calling “Plucky” may have fallen victim to a prowling cat or fox. There wasn’t a lot of evidence left, but the wing feathers were a dark color.
The predator got a meal for another day.
Life goes on. Cyndie and I are headed to a somewhat rare gathering of my Hays siblings today for an afternoon of catching up on each others’ stories. It’s my chance to tell them all the things I don’t write in this space.
Later tonight, I hope to take in a little sports spectating in the form of the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament game between the USA and Canada. Hockey rivalry much? I have a feeling this one won’t simply be just any old tournament hockey game, given the current state of government affairs.
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Not Buying
Today, I am going to take great pleasure in not buying what the NFL and all of their corporate sponsors are selling. I have an undulating, on-again-off-again spectator relationship with America’s National Football League that started a little before the Minnesota Vikings first made it to the Super Bowl in 1969. Overall, I feel bad for what broadcasting the games on television has done to the sport, even though televised games have provided me with many benefits.
I’ve taken the good with the bad, but it has meant I’d rather stay home and watch than attend a game in person. While the athletes are standing around looking bored during commercial breaks, I can work on my jigsaw puzzle or entertain myself in other ways.
While still on my expedition to avoid news about the political disaster playing out, I saw a report that the NFL had chosen to remove an anti-racism message from the end zones of the field. That’s their prerogative. At one time, they chose to add such a message, and it is their right to stop or change it at any time. There is no requirement that they have to keep doing something forever after they have started.
However, the timing of this decision is something that triggered me and soured my opinion of the league once again. At a time of the kleptocrat-in-chief and all of the billionaires who support his bigoted money-grabbing ways wreaking havoc on society, I don’t want to catch myself chuckling at a creative multi-million dollar commercial during a broadcast on a network I abhor during a game that is hyped beyond reason to be the biggest thing the human race has ever accomplished.
I don’t want to buy the beer or pickup truck or sports gambling app or big pharma wonder drug or snack chips or energy drink or future crypto investment opportunity. I don’t want to know how many times the broadcast will insert a glimpse of Taylor Swift in a suite when Travis Kelce makes a big play.
I also hope to avoid learning which team’s fan base celebrations turn into a festival of drunken property damage.
In its place, I am going to snack on chips and salsa just because I still can. I am going to think about the people who are suffering in the world and gaining nothing from the money being exchanged by corporate advertisers, the NFL, and the FOX broadcast network.
Speaking of snacking, check out the job some critter did on this dead tree:
It munched holes through the snag!
That’s what I plan to do to a bag of tortilla chips later today.
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Watchin’ Football
During halftime of the Orange Bowl college football semifinal playoff game last night, I switched to the weather channel and watched snow images in Little Rock, Arkansas. They were doing a feature listing all the ways people tend to get injured trying to clear snow.
They were telling kids in Memphis to be ready to make snowmen and have snowball fights in the morning. In a blink, they switched to a commercial warning about some moderate to severe affliction for which pharmacology wanted to sell solutions. That was my trigger to switch back to the football channel. There was a concert going on in the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
One fascinating feature of live team sports competitions is the aspect of momentum. It can be so easy to discern sometimes, especially when it really starts to roll. Oftentimes, it is the sudden shift in momentum from one team to another that causes it to stand out. The team that is on the wrong side of momentum appears helpless to stop the landslide of energy flowing against them.
As a fan, I feel frustrated when momentum goes against my team, and coaches, players, and fans all seem incapable of doing anything to interrupt it.
In last night’s football game between Notre Dame and Penn State, momentum swung around a couple of times. As one who watches games that don’t involve a team I support, I am inclined to multitask and rely heavily on instant replays to catch interesting action when announcers get riled up. That wasn’t working so well for me last night because the teams were running offensive plays so quickly that there was no time between downs for slow-motion replay.
I needed to start actually paying attention. I’m glad I did. That was one heck of a playoff game. Notre Dame fans enjoyed the ecstasy of victory in the end.
Cyndie received a quote on replacing the spoiler stolen from her car. They couldn’t find one from any of their scrap parts sources (which might explain why spoilers are a target), so they told her it would require painting, take a full day, and cost us almost $1000. It’s just so sad. The clips that held the spoiler in place broke when the thief pulled it off and will need to be replaced as well.
With the significance of the losses occurring for so many people in the California wildfires right now, the criminal damage we suffered is not something I should be whining about.
(In case you wondered, I threw in the picture of a window on the barn that I took yesterday for artistic effect. It doesn’t have anything to do with the football game, momentum, or the stolen CRV spoiler. The framing was just something that caught my eye.)
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Relative Something 