OMFG! There were inflatable beavers???11!1???

Apparently so.

I had the telly on but left the room after the embarrassment of the rekindling of the flame. (Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe mimes?)

When I heard 'O Canada' for what seemed like the fifteenth time, I came back and turned it off.

And missed the inflatable beavers.

Thank the goddess for small mercies.

'We' Didn't Win Anything

A bunch of talented and dedicated athletes named Hayley and Sid and um, other names (I follow only the hockey) won.

I find it totally weird and more than a little sad when sports fans, however fair-or-foul-weathery, shriek 'We won!'

Both gold medal hockey games were awesome. Both could have gone either way.

Congratulations to all.

And STFU you wankers claiming that 'we' won anything beyond the obligation to pay for this extravagant bunfest.

Olympic Hockey = NHL Hockey? Screw That.

I was so looking forward to Olympic hockey -- men's and women's. I am a life-long fan, but am kinda weird in that I don't pay attention to trades and rules and hype. Like Chance said, I just like to watch.

Tonight, Canada v. USA. Men's.

It was a pretty boring game between two middling-skill NHL teams.

Because it was all NHL style. Same ice size, same rules.

Here:

Changes from previous tournaments

The 2010 tournament marks the first time since NHL players have been allowed to compete that the Olympics will be held in a city with an NHL team. For the first time, Olympic games will be played on a narrower NHL-sized ice rink, measuring 61 m × 26 m (200 ft × 85 ft), instead of the international size of 61 m × 30 m (200 ft × 98.4 ft). This change is expected to save $10 million (CAD) in construction costs and allow more spectators to attend games.

This will also be the first Olympics in which the four-official system, with two referees and two linesmen, will be used during the men's tournament.[2] The NHL began using the two-referee system in the 1998–99 season,[2] while the IIHF first started using it in its major men's championship tournaments in the 2008 IIHF World Championship.[3] However, for the women's tournament in Vancouver, the IIHF still plans to only use the standard three-official system with one referee and two linesmen, saying that the four-official system is not currently needed in women's international hockey.

Who knew?

The fun of Olympic hockey used to be not just the jingoism. But watching the hot-shit stars of the NHL deal with bigger ice, different rules.

It's official. I'm done with the fucking Olympics.