Sunday, February 26, 2006
Sorry for being so tardy
Well, illness had made me slack a LOT with regards to posting Olympic updates.
Nevertheless, Canada finished up with 24 medals! That is the most medals Canada has ever earned in any non-boycotted Olympics, winter or summer.
Most people who were pegged to win medals did just that. There were only a handful of disappointments, among them: Men's hockey, Jasey-Jay Anderson, Kyle Nielssen, Denny Morrison among others.
Not to mention that outside of the 24 medals, there were a further 13 4th place and 8 5th place finishes. Canada looks very poised to contend with Germany as the #1 medal winner in Vancouver in 2010.
As it turned out, the men's figure skating results were way off with my predictions
Final results - prediction in parenthesis
1) Evgeni Plushenko (1)
2) Stephane Lambiel (2)
3) Jeffrey Buttle (5)
4) Evan Lysacek (7)
5) Johnny Weir (4)
6) Brian Joubert (3)
7) Matt Savoie (11)
8) Daisuke Takahashi (8)
9) Kevin van der Perren (-)
10) Min Zhang (-)
11) Ilya Klimkin (10)
12) Shawn Sawyer (-)
Not making the top 12: Emanuel Sandhu (predicted 6th, finished 13th), Frederic Dambier (predicted 12th, finished 18th) and Chengjiang Li (predicted 9th, finished 16th).
If you thought my men's predictions were bad, my women's predictions were worse!
Final results - Prediction in parenthesis
1) Shizuka Arakawa (3)
2) Sasha Cohen (2)
3) Irina Slutskaya (1)
4) Fumie Suguri (4)
5) Joannie Rochette (6)
6) Kimmie Meisnner (9)
7) Emily Hughes (-)
8) Sarah Meier (11)
9) Carolina Kostner (5)
10) Elene Gevedanvshilli (-)
11) Yan Liu (12)
12) Mira Leung (-)
Not making the top 12, but in my top 12 predictions: Elena Sokolova (8), Miki Ando (7), Susanna Poykio (10)
Nevertheless, Canada finished up with 24 medals! That is the most medals Canada has ever earned in any non-boycotted Olympics, winter or summer.
Most people who were pegged to win medals did just that. There were only a handful of disappointments, among them: Men's hockey, Jasey-Jay Anderson, Kyle Nielssen, Denny Morrison among others.
Not to mention that outside of the 24 medals, there were a further 13 4th place and 8 5th place finishes. Canada looks very poised to contend with Germany as the #1 medal winner in Vancouver in 2010.
As it turned out, the men's figure skating results were way off with my predictions
Final results - prediction in parenthesis
1) Evgeni Plushenko (1)
2) Stephane Lambiel (2)
3) Jeffrey Buttle (5)
4) Evan Lysacek (7)
5) Johnny Weir (4)
6) Brian Joubert (3)
7) Matt Savoie (11)
8) Daisuke Takahashi (8)
9) Kevin van der Perren (-)
10) Min Zhang (-)
11) Ilya Klimkin (10)
12) Shawn Sawyer (-)
Not making the top 12: Emanuel Sandhu (predicted 6th, finished 13th), Frederic Dambier (predicted 12th, finished 18th) and Chengjiang Li (predicted 9th, finished 16th).
If you thought my men's predictions were bad, my women's predictions were worse!
Final results - Prediction in parenthesis
1) Shizuka Arakawa (3)
2) Sasha Cohen (2)
3) Irina Slutskaya (1)
4) Fumie Suguri (4)
5) Joannie Rochette (6)
6) Kimmie Meisnner (9)
7) Emily Hughes (-)
8) Sarah Meier (11)
9) Carolina Kostner (5)
10) Elene Gevedanvshilli (-)
11) Yan Liu (12)
12) Mira Leung (-)
Not making the top 12, but in my top 12 predictions: Elena Sokolova (8), Miki Ando (7), Susanna Poykio (10)
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Pairs Figure skating wrap-up
Here's the final standings, in parenthesis in bold is my prediction from earlier:
- Totmianina/Marinin (1)
- Zhang/Zhang (2)
- Shen/Zhao (3)
- Pang/Tong (7)
- Petrova/Tiknov (4)
- Savchenko/Sollokwy (5)
- Inoue/Baldwin (8)
- Obertas/Slavnov (6)
- Zagorska/Siduek (10)
- Dube/Davidson (12)
- Marcoux/Buntin (9)
- Volozoshar/Morozov (11)
Some Notes:
I predicted the who would be amongst the top 12 correctly
I predicted the 3 medalists in order correctly
The most I was off for a prediction was 3 places for Pang/Tong (4th vs. 7th place prediction)
We'll see how it goes with my men's predictions, but already, Frederic Dambier, Ilya Klimkin and Chengjiang Li appear to be out of it for top 12 finishes.
Early Results - Day 6
Early results for Canada, not looking that great
Jasey Jay Anderson was disqualified in his semi-final of men's snowboard cross due to apparent "intentional" contact with another snowboarder. Yikes, very unforutnate.
Sara Renner did finish 8th in the women's X-C 10KM classical - not bad at all, she just didn't have the mettle to handle the ending hills. She should fare better in the sprints coming up next week. Beckie Scott struggled all day, finishing 30th unofficially, but was later disqualified for finishing in the wrong lane of ski track.
Shannon Kliebrink lost her morning curling match to Switzerland, and now sits 2-2. I think 6-3 is necessary to make the playoffs, she still has to play Rhona Martin, Dordi Nordby among others.
Jasey Jay Anderson was disqualified in his semi-final of men's snowboard cross due to apparent "intentional" contact with another snowboarder. Yikes, very unforutnate.
Sara Renner did finish 8th in the women's X-C 10KM classical - not bad at all, she just didn't have the mettle to handle the ending hills. She should fare better in the sprints coming up next week. Beckie Scott struggled all day, finishing 30th unofficially, but was later disqualified for finishing in the wrong lane of ski track.
Shannon Kliebrink lost her morning curling match to Switzerland, and now sits 2-2. I think 6-3 is necessary to make the playoffs, she still has to play Rhona Martin, Dordi Nordby among others.
Day 6 - Make it or Break it Day for Canada
Day 6 may prove to be quite telling if Canada is to come even close to the 25 medal total
proposed by the COA.
Check out the following athletes in the medal hunt tomorrow
Speed Skating- Men's Team Pursuit
Women's Team Pursuit
Cross Country Skiing - 10KM classical - Beckie Scott and Sara Renner
Figure Skating - Jeff Buttle - 6th after the short program
Emanuel Sandhu - 7th after the short program
Skeleton - Melissa Hollingswoth - women's
Snowboard - Jasey Jay Anderson - Men's Snowboard Cross
it would probably be a disappointment if Canada doesn't get at least 3-4 medals tomorrow. Hopefully, the medal total will double tomorrow.
proposed by the COA.
Check out the following athletes in the medal hunt tomorrow
Speed Skating- Men's Team Pursuit
Women's Team Pursuit
Cross Country Skiing - 10KM classical - Beckie Scott and Sara Renner
Figure Skating - Jeff Buttle - 6th after the short program
Emanuel Sandhu - 7th after the short program
Skeleton - Melissa Hollingswoth - women's
Snowboard - Jasey Jay Anderson - Men's Snowboard Cross
it would probably be a disappointment if Canada doesn't get at least 3-4 medals tomorrow. Hopefully, the medal total will double tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Men's Figure Skating - Olympics Predictions
Alrighty,
Fearless Top 12 Predictions for the Men's Event
1) Evgeny Plushenko
2) Stephane Lambiel
3) Brian Joubert
4) Johnny Weir
5) Jeffrey Buttle
6) Emanuel Sandhu
7) Evan Lysacek
8) Daisuke Takahashi
9) Chengjiang Li
10) Ilya Klimkin
11) Matthew Savoie
12) Fredreric Dambier
I predicated who top 12 pairs would be, albeit not in the exact order (Pang/Tong was the most off, they finished 4th but I predicted them 7th).
Fearless Top 12 Predictions for the Men's Event
1) Evgeny Plushenko
2) Stephane Lambiel
3) Brian Joubert
4) Johnny Weir
5) Jeffrey Buttle
6) Emanuel Sandhu
7) Evan Lysacek
8) Daisuke Takahashi
9) Chengjiang Li
10) Ilya Klimkin
11) Matthew Savoie
12) Fredreric Dambier
I predicated who top 12 pairs would be, albeit not in the exact order (Pang/Tong was the most off, they finished 4th but I predicted them 7th).
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Pairs Figure Skating Predictions - Olympics
Alright, the competition begins in 15 minutes, time to make predictions
1) Totmianina/Marinin
2) Zhang/Zhang
3) Shen/Zhao
4) Petrova/Tikhnov
5) Savchenko/Sollokwy
6) Obertas/Slavnov
7) Pang/Tong
8) Inoue/Baldwin
9) Marcoux/Buntin
10) Zagorska/Siduek
11) Volzoshar/Morozov
12) Dube/Davison
Phew!! The fearless forecaster has spoken!
1) Totmianina/Marinin
2) Zhang/Zhang
3) Shen/Zhao
4) Petrova/Tikhnov
5) Savchenko/Sollokwy
6) Obertas/Slavnov
7) Pang/Tong
8) Inoue/Baldwin
9) Marcoux/Buntin
10) Zagorska/Siduek
11) Volzoshar/Morozov
12) Dube/Davison
Phew!! The fearless forecaster has spoken!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Tuesday, Tuesday, It was all I hope it would be
Workouts today
swim - 25 min
weights - shoulders + back
abs, glutes
No running since Sunday due to those damn shins. Will try again tomorrow - probably 3 miles.
The following teams remain on Skating with Celebrities
1) Kristy Swanson - Lloyd Eisler
2) Jillian Barberie - John Zimmerman
3) Bruce Jenner - Tai Babilonia
David Cameron, you now have something in common with Belinda Stronach - congratulations!
swim - 25 min
weights - shoulders + back
abs, glutes
No running since Sunday due to those damn shins. Will try again tomorrow - probably 3 miles.
The following teams remain on Skating with Celebrities
1) Kristy Swanson - Lloyd Eisler
2) Jillian Barberie - John Zimmerman
3) Bruce Jenner - Tai Babilonia
David Cameron, you now have something in common with Belinda Stronach - congratulations!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Weekend's Over :(
Brief review of today
Exercise -
10 min Elliptical warmup
5KM Run on the Treadmill
Weights - Chest/Triceps/Biceps
Shins started to act up again on the treadmill - argh. Time for the ice...
As for the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10. Bill Cowher, probably among the last in the breed of true tenured coaches, finally wins after coming up short 11 years ago.
As for other winners:
Golf: Tiger Woods, J.B. Holmes
Tennis: Elena Dementieva, Ivan Lbuicic
Exercise -
10 min Elliptical warmup
5KM Run on the Treadmill
Weights - Chest/Triceps/Biceps
Shins started to act up again on the treadmill - argh. Time for the ice...
As for the Super Bowl, Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-10. Bill Cowher, probably among the last in the breed of true tenured coaches, finally wins after coming up short 11 years ago.
As for other winners:
Golf: Tiger Woods, J.B. Holmes
Tennis: Elena Dementieva, Ivan Lbuicic
Saturday, February 04, 2006
In memoriam - Karen Carpenter (1950-1983)
As I do every February 4th, time to commemorate the passing the Karen Carpenter, who died
23 years ago (gasp!) today. It is interesting that her legacy (famous and infamous) grows more and more with each passing year. As late as last year, the Carpenters' Hit Collection "Gold" hit #4 on the UK Album chart. Quite astonishing for a deceased artist.
Much postulating has been done on what her career path would have been had she lived. I'm pretty sure she would have tried musicals, recorded more solo albums, and possibly tried movie cameos. Unfortunately, these will forever remain "what ifs".
23 years ago (gasp!) today. It is interesting that her legacy (famous and infamous) grows more and more with each passing year. As late as last year, the Carpenters' Hit Collection "Gold" hit #4 on the UK Album chart. Quite astonishing for a deceased artist.
Much postulating has been done on what her career path would have been had she lived. I'm pretty sure she would have tried musicals, recorded more solo albums, and possibly tried movie cameos. Unfortunately, these will forever remain "what ifs".
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Survivor Tonight - EXILE ISLAND!
The new season of Survivor started tonight.
Some new ideas - 4 tribes of 4 this time around, organized by gender and age:
1) Older Men
2) Older Women
3) Younger Men
4) Younger Women
It appeared that the younger men were on the verge of not winning immunity, but snuck out the win over the older women. Tina, a lumberjack who seemed comfortable outdoors, was voted out by the 3 other older women. There's gotta be sub-mergers happening soon when a team is down to 2 members.
An idea re-hashed from a previous season (when Janu was exiled in Guatemala), was having a tribe member exiled for an evening. This time around, Misty from the Younger Women was the unlucky member.
We'll see what happens this season. We already have some personalities popping up - a new-age yoga instructor, and a guy who's suffering withdrawal from smoking.
Some new ideas - 4 tribes of 4 this time around, organized by gender and age:
1) Older Men
2) Older Women
3) Younger Men
4) Younger Women
It appeared that the younger men were on the verge of not winning immunity, but snuck out the win over the older women. Tina, a lumberjack who seemed comfortable outdoors, was voted out by the 3 other older women. There's gotta be sub-mergers happening soon when a team is down to 2 members.
An idea re-hashed from a previous season (when Janu was exiled in Guatemala), was having a tribe member exiled for an evening. This time around, Misty from the Younger Women was the unlucky member.
We'll see what happens this season. We already have some personalities popping up - a new-age yoga instructor, and a guy who's suffering withdrawal from smoking.
