On What Propaganda is Condemned and Countenanced at Pyeongchang Winter Olympics

The 23rd Winter Olympiad in Pyeongchang, South Korea had a reoccurring theme of Peace, as was evident from the Opening Ceremonies.  It was well known that athletes from North and South Korea would march as a unified team into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium.  

One of the draws for casual sports fans to watch the Olympics is the Opening Ceremonies. The pageantry of the Opening Ceremonies, as expressed through artistic expression as well as thematic choice sets the mood for the Olympic Games.  Afterwards, there is the Parade of Nations, when all of the competitors gather in a gesture of unity and good will.  During this long march of nations, television viewers often have to endure commentary from NBC announcers to add color and context to the visuals.  Often this dialogue is pap or seems scripted.

However, when the Japanese team made their debut at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, NBC Asia correspondent Joshua Cooper Ramos offered an incredible generalization.  Ramos claimed that Koreans looked with admiration to Japan as an important example of cultural, economic and technological transformation.




Several hours after uttering this insensitive and insulting insinuation, NBC Sports issued a hasty apology.

NBC paid $967 million for broadcast rights for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, and it would seem that they did not want to insult their hosts.

With that in mind, one wonders why NBC keeps pushing North Korean propaganda while covering the Winter Olympics.  No doubt that a unified Korean team marching during the Parade of Nations was a big story.  It epitomizes the international aspiration of brotherhood and exemplifies the Pyeongchang Game's theme of Peace.  

[Front Center] Vice President Mike Pence [Back Center] Kim Yo Jung, sister of DPRK dictator Kim Jun Un

It is understandable that an Olympic broadcaster would want to capitalize on controversy by showing how close Vice President Mike Pence was seated to North Korean Kim Jong Un's sister Kim Yo Jong during the Opening Ceremonies.




The coverage of the North Korea cheerleaders during the womens' hockey game between Korea and Switzerland does raise eyebrows.  It was a cute featurette to have a piece about the some of the 200 woman squad of  the North Korean "Army of Beauty" cheerleaders leading chants during the 0-8 rout of Korea.  Some say that the synchronized chants of the North Korea Beauty Cheerleaders stole the show. But what what telling is what they chanted and how they performed.  These NPDK cheerleaders chanted "Unity" waving "neutral" flags of a unified Korea. After each goal by their opponent, they chanted: "Cheer up!".  Perhaps that exemplifies a cultural trait.  


What has been shown but little explored are instances in which the female Beauty Squad use big heads of a Korean man.  Hmm.  Who could this be?  


It is dubious that it was an everyman Korean.  The Big Head looks rather like an idealized image of North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un. What does it say about the consequences of  "Unity".  Is that something that all Koreans also believe?

UPDATE 02/12/2018  BBC News quotes Korean media that the DPRK Army of Beauties cheerleaders were holding up big heads of Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un (the first of the Hermit Kingdom's Juche post World War II dictators).  Yet the South Korean Unification Ministry insists that the cheerleaders were just holding up cut outs of "a good looking man". 

ESPN Sports Cuban Propaganda

One of the reasons why sports is a popular pastime among Americans is because it has tended to be non-partisan. It is news which mentally reconnects aged athletes back to their glory days, while stoking local loyalties and friendly rivalries and forgetting the tumult of news from the "real world".

Unfortunately, the trend in the media has been to politicize everything, including sports news.  More than seeing sports through a lens of political correctness, the sports media has segued into political propaganda. 

A case in point was a ESPN Sportscenter social media sharing in regards to President Barack Obama's visit to Cuba after 55 years of bilateral hostility.

ESPN authorized a Tweet which whitewashed the brutality of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's communist regime by promoting propaganda that Fidel was a sports fan. 

After a couple of hours of consternation, ESPN withdrew the post, but the damage was done by humanizing the despot. One of the reasons that Cubans believe that they won their long standoff with the United States is because of Fidel's romancing the American press. 

It may be true that Fidel is a big sports fan.  Fidel even yearned to play for the Yanquis in his youth. But ESPN featuring such factoids during a controversial trip to Cuba by President Barack Obama amounts to propaganda. 

To give a truer picture of the sporting Castro, it is important to understand how Fidel Castro used sports as a weapon to enforce his communist ideology.



A more accurate picture of Fidel Castro's sporting sense is captured by hitting the links with the bloody revolutionary Che Guevara. 

[L] Che Guevara [R] Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro

It is dubious that Che's favorite sport was golf.  More likely it was coaching firing squads.

Huge Hype Miscue for Fox Soccer?

In order to promote the US versus Mexico men's soccer match, Fox Soccer superimposed images of prior international games between the teams with selected speeches by 2016 Republican Presidential Donald Trump.




There was adverse reaction on social media to this Trump pump up video.

Reliably liberal sources like the Huffington Post vexed that Donald Trump is not a proper representation of American Patriotism and worry that it might inspire xenophobic fan chants worse than "dos a cero" (referring to Mexican losses in international matches against the US).

But such knee jerk liberalism ignores the inspiration of the Fox Soccer ad.  In September TV Azteca produced a pump up Mexican Soccer video which exploited more sharped edged Trump-isms on Mexicans.




 It would seem that some trolls on social media and the Lamestream Media can not take tongue in cheek hype and worry about how America is perceived in the world.

Perhaps a more soothing  and politically correct portrayal of American patriotism today is conveyed by President Barack Obama bicycling.

On FIFA Corruption

Obama Unsteady After Golf Junket

It was near record cold and windy day  for the end of March in the District of Calamity.  But this did not deter the Celebrity in Chief President Barack Obama from hitting the links. He hopped on Air Force One to Palm City, Florida with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and partial owner of the Boston Celtics Glenn Hutchins to play the private Florida National Golf Club. Coincidentally, half of the foursome had close connections to the energy industry (including one from the much maligned Halliburton Corp.).

The Press Pool assessed that this was not a working trip as one wag reported: "You can tell this is a non work trip ... someone forward of the press cabin ordered 3 beers at 9:26 a.m.".   Hmm.  There were no reports on how Mr. Obama golfed on his 222nd round since assuming the Oval Office, as the Press Pool was relegated to maintenance shed at the Florida National Golf Club.

However, as President Obama returned to DC at Joint Base Andrews, in Landover, Maryland, President Obama was unsteady as he walked the ramp deplaning from Air Force One.

So what difference does it make how he handled his handicap if he had a good good time?  Well, for taxpayers, the junket was estimated to cost $850,000 just for flight (which will be reimbursed for a fraction of the cost).  But at least there was not a beheading in close proximity to the golf excursion as with ISIS execution of James Foley.

What if the World Series Extended to Election Day?

San Fran Radio Bans Lorde "Royals" During World Series

After the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals to clinch their right to represent the National League in the 2014 Major League Baseball World Series, two Bay area radio stations made waves.  Both KFOG-FM and KOIT-FM announced bans on playing the minimal art pop song "Royals" by New Zealand chanteuse Lorde.  This ersatz outrage is a silly attempt to generate civic pride for the a World Championship Series with two wildcard teams.

During interviews last year, Lorde became inspired to compose "Royals" in a half-hour writing session after seeing a photo of George Brett signing baseballs.

The song is about aspirationalism and uses pop artists' luxurious lifestyles as a counterpoint.

One would think that there would be more tolerance in the City by the Bay.  Then again, the  message might be challenging to those actually listening to the lyrics of the Lorde's song. 

The radio silence on "Royals" seems like a cheap publicity stunt which jumps on the civic bandwagon while getting earned publicity.  But this may be a desperate ploy to generate enthusiasm in San Francisco for the World Series.  

This is the third time in five years in which the San Francisco Giants have made it to the World Series, whereas it has been a 29 year drought for the Royals.  

This is reflected in World Series ticket prices on the secondary market.  It would not be cheap to see the San Francisco Giants play their World Series home games, averaging around $700 a seat. But in Kansas City, expect to pay between $1,000 to $1250 a ticket to see "Royals" in the World Series up close and personally. 

Mary Landrieu on Tailgating

Perhaps to overshadow this onslaught of bad news on the campaign trail, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) resorted to some colorful grassroots campaigning.    As Senator Landrieu toured her old stomping grounds at  Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge (class of '77), she encountered a football tailgate in which young collegiates for the 58 year old senior Senator of Louisiana  to partake in a keg stand as part of the Fighting Tiger's home-stand against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

While Landrieu declined to do a keg stand herself (even though it might earn her votes), she tried having it both ways by pouring a 20 something guy who she termed "a purple shirted bro". Alas, Landrieu's tailgate irrational enthusiasm did not help the Tigers beat the Bulldogs as LSU lost  by a score of 34-29.

Landrieu allegedly expressed concern about how doing a keg stand herself would be covered by the national press.  Landrieu had nothing to fear.  The national press is covering for the Democrats losing big at the midterm elections.  As CNN's Chris Cuomo's commentary shows,  Landrieu's keg stand was a depicted as a  comedic sidelight, rather than a political act of desperation or stooping to conquer.

READ MORE at DistrictofCalamity.com

On the Battle of the Sexes

Bobby Riggs was a pro tennis star who was at the of his game in the late 1930s and the 1940s.  But Riggs is most remembered for his battle of the sexes.  In 1973, the 55 year old Riggs came out of retirement to play a couple of matches against much younger female tennis stars.

Originally, Riggs wanted to play Billie Jean King but King initially refused.  So Riggs arranged a match with Margaret Cox, who was at the time the top female player in the world.  Riggs achieved easy victory in what was dubbed "the Mother's Day Massacre" by using lots of drop shots and lobs which kept the 30 year old Cox off balance.   In the national limelight, Riggs played up his chauvinism and taunted female players over his victory over "the lesser sex".

The Mother's Day Massacre caused the 29 year old King to change her mind and agree to play Riggs.  The Battle of the Sexes was played on September 20th, 1973 at the Houston Astrodome before a record setting crowd of 30,472 spectators and a television audience estimated at 90 million.  King won the $100,000 winner take all prize on 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.  This Battle of the Sexes elevated Women's Tennis in America , fueled the politically correct womens' liberation movement and highlighted the Title IX law.




But there was more to the story than athletic prowess on the court.  The Battle of the Sexes was lots of show business.  Billie Jean King entered the Astrodome in a chair held by four bare-chested muscle men dressed like Egyptian slaves, ala Cleopatra.  Not to be outdown, Bobby Riggs entered the Astrodome on a rickshaw drawn by scantily dressed models.  Before the match, Riggs gave King a giant lollypop and King offered rigs a piglet.  This spectacle seems akin to the WWF rather than the noble sport of Wimbledon.

Behind the scenes, there were efforts to augment the women's liberation propaganda.  Billie Jean King insisted that ABC Sports drop tennis color commentator Jack Kramer because he was critical of  King and the 26 year age advantage.  Prior to the match, King proclaimed: "He [Kramer] doesn't believe in women's tennis. Why should he be part of this match? He doesn't believe in half of the match. I'm not playing. Either he goes – or I go."

There has been some speculation through a 2013 ESPN Outside the Lines feature which alleged  that Bobby Riggs might have thrown the match in exchange for the mob cancelling Rigg's debts.   Rigg's history as a hustler lends some credence to the gambling connection, as Riggs won a tremendous sum in 1939 by betting on himself to win at Wimbledon.  But Riggs supposedly took a polygraph to prove that he did not prove the match.  Ironically, Jack Kramer, the tennis voice that King silenced for the "Battle of the Sexes", insisted that Billie Jean King won the match fair and square.

The spectacle, the underlying themes and the promotion of "the Battle of the Sexes"  should be instructive to understand how sports are marketing themselves through controversy, guided messaging and chasing a profit as much as excellence on the field of play.

Talk Like a Pirate Day-- An Ersatz Holiday Borne From a Racquetball Injury

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  This parodic holiday was dreamt up in 1995 during a racquetball game between John Baur (a.k.a. Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (a.k.a. Cap'n Slappy)

"One of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. 'Aaarrr'."

[L] Cap'n Slappy (a.k.a. Mark Summers) and [R] Ol' Chumbucket (John Baur)

In 2002, the pair sent a "message in a bottle"  letter to syndicated columnist Dave Barry who championed and promoted the idea.  Part of the reason that Talk Like a Pirate Day has grown virally is because the faux holiday has not been trademarked, even though Baur and Summers have a website to garner some booty.  John Baur's "pirate" family  also participated in an episode of "Wife Swap" in 2006.

Michigan State Sen. Roger Kahn (R-32 Saginaw Twshp.)

Funny how a farcical pain cry became a parodic holiday.  But believe it or not, the state of Michigan officially recognized Talk Like a Pirate Day as a holiday, with Michigan State Senator Roger Kahn (R- MI 32nd Saginaw Township) introducing the resolution wearing an eyepatch.  Better to pass resolutions for farcical holidays than plundering the taxpayers' pocketbooks or truly taking away their liberty.

If you want to scrawl your own electronic missive to the Talk Like a Pirate Day holiday sponsor, you can contact SenRKahn@senate.michigan.gov.  In the spirit of the holiday, it is suggested to put it in pirate argot. To quickly translate, try using Post Like a Pirate.

Rihanna Reacts Ribaldly to SEE B.S. Sports Fecklessness

After CBS spent $275 million for the 2014 Season to win broadcast rights to broadcast NFL Thursday Night Football from September 11-October 23 (and December 20th), the Tiffany Network wanted to make a splash in prime time to draw advertiser.  Thanks to the ex Baltimore Raven RB Ray Rice incident, CBS Sports is drawing criticism.

CBS created pre-game promos which featured popular singers Jay-Z and Rihanna singing "Run This Town".   But as TMZ released the video of Ray Rice knocking his financee out in an elevator, CBS pulled back from this  marketing path.  

Rihanna had suffered felony domestic abuse at the hands of singer Chris Brown in 2009.  But CBS steadfastly denied that Rihanna's past  had anything to do with cancelling the song as well as a comedy sketch appearance with Don Cheadle.  CBS sanctimoniously stated:

We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage. A lot of the production elements we wanted in the show are being eliminated because of time or tone.

Instead, CBS Sports featured CBS Morning Show hostess Norah O'Donnell somber questions which centered on domestic violence to precede a professional football game.

One week later, when the Baltimore Ravens were not playing, CBS Sports signaled that it wanted to use the Rihanna material. The Hip Hop chanteuse saw BS and called out the network.



After Rihanna's Twitter postings, it is highly unlikely that the videos will ever be used.

h/t: Twitchy

Charles Barkley on the South

Considering his cutting critiques on Curling and President Obama's game,  Charles Barkley is certainly earning his keep as a CBS Sports Color Commentator. 

Reconsidering the Release of Raven's RB Ray Rice

On February 15, 2014, Baltimore Ravens Running Back Ray Rice and his fiancée Janay Palmer  had gotten into a fight while in an elevator at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The altercation was initially described as a minor physical altercation. Both Rice and Palmer were arrested on simple assault charges.

On February 19th, police obtained the security camera video from the Revel Casino, which showed that the 26 year old Running Back cold cocked Palmer and then dragged her out of the elevator.

When evidence was presented to a grand jury, Rice's was indicted with third degree aggravated assault.  The very next day, Rice and Palmer got married.  Although Rice rejected a plea deal on the charges, Rice plead not guilty and enrolled in a diversion program for first time offenders to receive counseling which could could legally clear him within six months.

Alas that was not the end of the issue for Ray Rice.  The NFL initially suspended Rice for two games, noting that the League and the Union did not have a policy on domestic violence.  There was a public hue and cry against what was considered to be a lenient punishment from the NFL.  After all, players caught using illegal narcotics or performance enhancing drugs could have stiffer punishment.

 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell claimed that he did not have all of the information about the event four months after the event.  This claim has come under scrutiny as the NFL had the police tape in Feburary.  Moreover, Rice insisted that he was upfront with the NFL over what occurred.

To placate the public NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted that the League "didn't get it right" with the Rice ruling. So the NFL beefed up its punishment for domestic violence, imposing a six game suspension without pay for a first offence and a virtual lifetime ban on the second instance.  Goodell said:

"I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values, I  didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will."

The question is to how the infraction is determined and when it is imposed.  For instance, Rice was not CONVICTED by a jury of his peers or a court of domestic violence.  And his diversion program would wipe the legal slate clean. And what sort of appeal process is there for the league.  It also begs the question of whether an employer should impose sanctions on players for conduct outside of the workplace and on charges not substantiated by society.

On September 8th 2014, TMZ Sports released the full Ray Rice elevator assault video.


This prompted swift response.  The Baltimore Ravens unconditionally released their star running back.  Moreover, the NFL indefinitely suspended Ray Rice.

By chance, the first Thursday Night Football game on CBS featured the Baltimore Ravens versus the Pittsburg Steelers. CBS initially planned to use a promo which featured the song "Run This Town" with Jay-Z and Rihanna, the latter who suffered felony assault  at the hands of rapper Chris Brown in 2009. The network also pulled a comedy sketch between Don Cheadle and Rihanna.   Instead the CBS Sports pregame consisted of somber interview by CBS Morning Show host Nora O'Donnell which harped on domestic violence.

Much of the media seemed flummoxed when Ravens fans proudly wore their Ray Rice jerseys for the Thursday Night Football game. Such fans believed that it was a one time event, Rice apologized and had been punished once by the League.  Moreover, other players with domestic violence charges hanging over them, like Carolina Panthers Defensive End Greg Hardy was convicted of assault charges yet was able to play on Week 1 while the charge is on appeal.  But there probably was no videotape.  Rice was not legally convicted yet he has suffered the playing death penalty on what might be called double jeopardy in a legal context.

While domestic violence is reprehensible, there are already existing remedies to redress the offense.   The Ray Rice videotape seemed to skew the process and railroaded Rice while not equally applying punishment for similar offenses. The NFL has become notorious for political correctness. Based upon the controversy as to when Goodell saw the Rice videotape, the League may be hoisted on its own PC petard. 

Mike Ditka on Political Correctness

Considering ESPN's recent rash of suspending sports commentators and analysts for saying "controversial" things, Iron Mike is testing is metal. 

Sarah Palin on Life in Amazing America

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) continues to be a conservative cultural vanguard who is adept at reinforcing her own brand.  

Palin's latest project is a reality series Amazing America with Sarah Palin on the Sportsman Channel.  

The series is intended to be an anthology which explores the people, places and pastimes which makes America great as exhibited through outdoor living.  Ms. Palin, who some have dubbed "The First Lady of the Outdoors", will host the weekly half hour show in which she chooses the topics and the guests.

Amazing America will be co-hosted by comedians Mark Christopher Lawrence and Jerry Carroll.  Carroll claims: "I bring that good ol' boy, dare I say redneck, blue-collar experience to the viewers."  The patriotic rockers Madison Rising wrote an original theme song for Amazing America theme.


Amazing America will highlight outdoor sports and spectacles not normally in the limelight, like a blacksmiths' championship, or spotlights on professional shooters,  knife makers and taxidermists.

But Momma Grizzly's creative control should allow for messaging which reinforces her political and cultural weltanschaaung, such as her selfie challenge to young women.

Amazing America premieres at 8 PM EDT on the Sportsman Channel.  

h/t:  Breitbart

Vin Scully's Unshakable Disposition

Vin Scully, the legendary 86 year old Hall of Fame broadcaster of the Dodgers since 1950, is well renowned for his dulcet voice and steady demeanor.  These professional attributes were at the forefront during the bottom of the sixth inning of  Freeway Series Exhibition ballgame  between the l.A. Dodgers and the L.A.Angels of Anaheim when an earthquake shook Dodger Stadium.




This temblor was a shallow quake 1.2 miles beneath Brea, California. This was unlike the 2.2 earthquake coming from raucous cheering from Seattle Seahawks fans in December, 2006

Some say that Scully's laid back attitude toward the shaking was typically LA.  Others may point to Scully's 65 year experience in being a consummate professional.  Both of those points have elements of truth to it.  However, one should not discount Scully's sunny disposition.  Scully's call projects a calm cheerfulness which invites viewers into the action.  This understated announcing would not emphasize the geologic event.

That being said, Vin Scully sounds best when speaking in his own voice.  The Ozzie accent which Scully tongue-in-cheek started the 2014 MLB Season Opening Day in Sydney Australia rubbed some baseball fans the wrong way.

Charles Barkley on Obama

In conjunction with the NBA All Star Game, President Barack Obama is offering a media availability with a reporter.  TNT is putting up Charles Barkley to interview the Celebrity-in-Chief.  Perhaps having an adversarial interview with FNC's Bill O'Reilly prior to the Super Bowl or even an obsequious interview with Bob "Red Eye" Costas for the Sochi Winter Olympics opening  was too draining.   Instead, Mr. Obama granted an exclusive interview to a former NBA star now turned hoops color commentator. 

A political junkie should expect little from the interview which was prerecorded on Thursday as Barkley is an  an unabashed Obama supporter.  But the two questions that undoubtedly will be avoid are about the Benghazi bungle and POTUS' questionable hoop skills as demonstrated at the White House 2013 Easter Egg Roll. 

Bob Costas Sees Red in Sochi

Sports fans may not have recognized Bob Costas in his early reports from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics because of his unfamiliar eye wear.  Wags likened the bespeckled sportscaster as doubling as Clark Kent or more mature Harry Potter.  There is even a parody Twitter account chronicling the situation

As NBC started its 18 days of intense coverage of the XXII Winter Olympiad, Costas came down with an eye infection, so he needed to wear glasses on air.  Network doctors think that it is a minor infection which should resolve itself by the weekend.

Considering all of the Sochi Problems, especially with the special non-potable Sochi water coming from "five star" hotel taps, it is easy to see how Costa could get pink eye.

It is a reminder to don't drink the water.

             

Problems Sochi-izing (sic)

In the run up to the XXII Winter Olympiad being held in the Russia Federation's Black Sea resort city of Sochi, there were concerns about attacks from so called black widow Chechian terrorists and  Vladimir Putin's drive against homosexuals.   That being said, now that the world's media are arriving to the Caucus to cover the games, more immediate infrastructure issues are evident.

The Russian Federation has invested $51 billion to make the Sochi games a hallmark for the new Russia. Yet with days before the start of the games, six of the nine  mountain hotels meant for the media were fully operational. While organizers maintain that 97% of the hotel rooms are finished, construction workers are rushing around two days before the opening ceremonies.  They boast that the hotels are 95% booked.

Organizers may pride themselves on the rooms being finished but a more salient question is are they ready.  Organizers expect 11,000 accredited journalists to cover the games. Some hotels do not even have lobbies yet, which promoted a Twitter post suggesting that guest's check in at the owner's bedroom.  While that could have been some Black Sea humor,  knowing the myriad of other infrastructure issues and work arounds, it may not have been a tongue in cheek comment.

A German photographer sought to check into a media hotel and found that his first room was unfinished, the substitute room was occupied by still busy construction workers and the third room was occupied by a stray dog. So much for first chances to make a good impression.

Lightbulbs were such a premium at the media hotel room that Yahoo Sports columnist Dan Wetzel was willing to barter them for a single working door handle.  Per (Canada) National Post correspondent Bruce Arthur, there may be a hot black market for shower curtains.   Wetzel noted that his room has two single beds, one pillow and no shower curtain as workmen laid the brick sidewalk outside.  Well at least construction workers were not spray painting the grass green near him.

One journalist lost his hotel key. As the hotel did not have a copy, instead of giving him a new key, the management removed the whole door.  Not that the rooms with doors are secure.  Brian Costa from  Wall Street Journal reported had an unexpected  4 am Stranger in the Sochi night. Costa wondered if it was graveyard shift housekeeping, a construction worker or something more sinister.  Sean Walker, the Moscow Correspondent for The Guardian, quipped on Twitter: “If you bring 4.9 stars we can add it to what we have already and it’ll be a five star hotel!”

Then there are the toilet situations.  As some of the venues facilities were constructed, there were no partitions for separate commode stalls in the Men's Olympic Biathalon.

Perhaps it was a failure in communications as construction workers thought Biathlon meant Two for Loo.  Rest assured it was not the very real  ToDaLoo or the satirical Love Toilet  of SNL fame.   For those visitors to Sochi with running water and can use their toilets, there are idiosyncratic operational signs.

But there were also signs which warned not to flush toilet paper down the commode but to use the bins which Sochi organizers provided. Classy.

Then there are less fortunate guests, who do not have water, at a supposed first class hotel for the media.

There was good reason not to use the water when it was restored as it looked like urine.  The Chicago Tribune's Stacey St. Clair looked on the bright side of the situation, and shared via Twitter that she was washing her face with Evian, like a Kardashian.  But then again, look at what drinking that water has done for Bruce Jenner.

These Olympic infrastructure issues are enough to make a tourist laugh lest one cry.




Although these are niggling problems for visitors which Sochi is in the spotlight, it is much more for local inhabitants.  In Akhshtyr , a mountain village near Sochi, the pristine nature reserves lost its status as a national park when Sochi was picked in 2008 to host the XXII Winter Olympiad.  Quarries and waste dumps mushroomed.  A chagrined resident lamented:  "All you can fish from the river these days is construction waste." 

Caucus mountain village of  Akhshtyr with Sochi Olympic construction waste (photo: DWM Bushuev)

Denizens which will not suffer anymore are the stray dog population.   There have been thousands of stray dogs in the mud and rubble of Olympic construction sites that roam the streets and snowy mountainsides.  As the Games drew new, Sochi organizers hired a company to catch and kill the animals so that they do not create a nuisance.  No wonder the stray was hiding in the media hotel room, to blend in among kindred spirits.

It is dubious if NBC will cover much of this construction chaos as an official media channel for the International Olympic Committee.  However, the curious can follow the construction schadenfreude on Twitter #sochiproblems

h/t:  Euronews
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Drama with the US Womens' Olympic Skating Team– Go Figure!

[From L to R] Polina Edmunds, Gracie Gold, Mirai Nagasu and Ashley Wagner (photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Figure Skating fanatics who watched the U.S. Championship in Boston this weekend may be scratching their heads at the selection for the U.S. Womens’ Figure Skating squad.  At the competition, Gracie Gold glided into a first place finish, with 15 year old Polina Edmunds coming in second and Vancouver Olympic veteran Mirai Nagasu took third.

Two time national champion Ashley Wagner fell twice her long performance in the U.S. Championships and came in fourth. The 22 year old Wagner, a graduate of West Potomac (MD) High, was so chagrined at her routine that she mouthed “I’m sorry.”  as she left the ice. Wagner labeled her performance in Boston as being a “tearful little wimp out on the ice.”   Yet when the U.S. Figure Skating Association announced its selections to represent the United States in the XXII Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia Federation, Wagner made the team and Nagasu did not.




Before the selection committee’s decision, the 20 year old Mirai Nagasu emoted:

 Hopefully, they pick me to the team. I haven’t always been the most consistent skater, but I know I’m always good under pressure – most of the time. The only thing I can brag about now is I’m the only person with Olympic experience. I’ll have to respect any choice that they make.

Nagasu had a few factors which worked against her.  She finished fourth in the Vancouver Games, and she came into the U.S. Championship without a full time coach.  After learning her fate of not making the Olympic team, Nagasu free skate was filled with tears.

Mirai Nagasu Free Skate routine at 2014 U.S. Championships

USFSA President Patricia St. Peter explained that the selection decision making included the most recent nationals but was not ruled by that competition.  The USFSA considers performance over the last year.  St. Peter said: “If you look at Ashley Wagner’s record and performance, she’s got the top credentials of any of our female athletes.”  Wagner finished fifth in the 2013 world championships and won a Bronze medal at the Grand Prix final.

Ashley Wagner

In reaction to being named as part of the Sochi Olympic squad, Wagner said: “"I'm happy that my federation was able to see beyond one bad skate.”  This was after a sleepless night with Face Time, a big glass of wine and watching the film “The Seven Year Itch”.  It was a marked contrast to Wagner’s  pre-nationals statement that:

 "I don’t want to feel like I am taking away an Olympic spot from someone.  I want to earn it.  That’s my goal here. For me, I need to get in the top three to really feel good with myself being on the Olympic Team."

Figure Skating is renowned for being an art as much as a sport, and there certainly are elements of drama associated with it.  Some disappointed Nagasu supporters have proffered that racism drove the decision to exclude Nagasu from the Olympic squad. I am highly skeptical of this charge, but I do think that marketing may have in part drove the decision.

At the XXI Winter Olympiad, the US Womens’ Figure Skating Team was kept off the dais for the first time since the Innsbrook, Austria Games of 1964.  So the USFSA wanted to hedge their bets with a stronger overall prospect rather than a “fluke”.  And Nagasu not having a full time coach might have hurt her in backroom negotiations.


 However Ms. Wagner, with her string of recent wins (aside from the 2014 US Nationals) may be easier to market rather than Ms. Nagasu, who Tara Lipinski noted had a hard year and was not expected to do well.   With US Woman Skier Lindsey Vonn not participating in Sochi due to injuries, having another marketable woman's star would be useful for NBC to hype it's $775 million investment for broadcasting 1,500 hours of the Sochi Olympics.

The wisdom of the USFSA inclusion of Ashley Wagner will soon be evident when the Olympic Games kick off in Sochi on February 6th.