Sports Then and Now

The  top six teams in the men’s Olympic hockey tournament play each other today in the final game of the seeding round.  The winners today and the loser with the best record will grab the four tournament byes into the quarterfinals. Win the quarter final game and you’re guaranteed to play for a medal.

The match-ups feature the countries that met in the last three olympic gold medal games. Group A features the USA versus Canada game a reprise of Salt Lake City. The Czech versus Russian gold medal game from Nagano is also the final match-up in group B. Group C is a game  between Turin’s gold and silver medalists Sweden and Finland.

The point system for this olympics has a bureaucratic complexity that makes one fear the NHL will be adopting it for their regular season immediately.

The Russians have lost a shoot-out game to the Slovaks already.  A loss to the Czechs will drop them behind Slovakia to be seventh seed in the tournament. Canada with their overtime win over Switzerland garnering them only two points will not  get a bye without a victory over the Americans.

Hopefully it won’t come down to goal differentials to determine final seeding. Then the complexities will grade into byzantine ones. Read the rest of this entry →

Shaun White's joy during his Olympic medal ceremony epitomizes what is good about the Olympics.

I must start this article off by saying that I know absolutely nothing about snowboarding, the lingo or what qualifies someone as being good at the sport. However, after watching how Shaun White has handled himself off the slopes, I’m willing to learn.

With his long red hair, non-traditional outfits and crazy tricks, White is not exactly typical of the athletes that I generally gravitate toward. And while I have always enjoyed winter sports like skiing and ski jumping, I have not warmed to what I see as the brashness of participants in some of the newer “X Game” type sports.

But, after watching the now two-time Olympic halfpipe champions pure joy at being part of the Olympic experience, I’m beginning to think that I should rethink my bias.

While some athletes such as Bode Miller and Shani Davis seem to epitomize the definition of surly, White has been bouncing around the Olympics like a kid in a candy store. That seems especially amazing considering that this is his second go around as part of the Olympic experience. Read the rest of this entry →

Evan Lysacek became the first American man to win gold in figure skating since 1988.

The scintillating Olympic performance by Evan Lysacek not only brought the American a gold medal, but also helped lift the United States back to prominence in an event it once dominated.

From the time Dick Button claimed the first medal by an American with the first of his consecutive gold medal performances in 1948 through the gold medal winning skate of Brian Boitano in 1988, the United States was regularly contending for and winning Olympic medals in men’s figure skating.

Overall, the U.S. won six gold medals and 12 total medals during that 40 year stretch. In 1956, the U.S. became the first country since Sweden during the first Olympic figure skating championship in 1908 to sweep the victory stand.

Other U.S. stars including David Jenkins (1956 bronze and 1960 gold) and Scott Hamilton (1984 gold) continued the American prominence in the sport.

However, following Boitano’s victory in Calgary and a silver medal by Paul Wylie at the 1992 games in Albertville, the U.S. suddenly fell from prominence in the sport while Russia and Canada seized control. Read the rest of this entry →

South Carolina's Beau Welling provides the U.S. Curling Association with ideas from someone from a non-traditional curling background.

Given that the sport of curling was invented in Scotland and perfected in Canada, you might be surprised to know that one of the biggest fans and advocates for the game is a golf course designer from South Carolina. Yet, when the Olympics start later this week Beau Welling will take his place among representatives from more typical winter sports locales as a board member of the Unites State Curling Association.

That someone with no background in the sport could become a decision maker at the national level illustrates the desire by the leadership within American curling to grow the popularity of the sport with a non-traditional fan base across the country.

Welling’s road to Vancouver is an interesting tale that started in 1988 when curling was a demonstration sport at the Calgary Olympics.

“I remember briefly watching it in 1988 with the rocks and brooms and thinking it was one of the most ridiculous sports I had ever seen,” Welling recalled.

It wasn’t until 14 years later in 2002 when Welling’s compulsion with the sport started to be cultivated.

“I saw it on television in Salt Lake City and was inexplicably drawn to the sport,” Welling said. “One of the guys in our office was from Canada and knew the sport, so I would come in every day asking him questions.”

By the time of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, curling was a ratings bonanza for NBC and Welling couldn’t get enough of it.

Just weeks after the 2006 Olympics, the US National Championships were being held in Bemidji, Minnesota and for some odd reason Welling felt that he should be there. Unfortunately, he was scheduled to be in Europe on business at the same time.

In a moment that would have lasting implications, Welling’s trip was cancelled at the last second leaving him an unexpected free week and feeling like fate was sending him to Bemidji.

“When my trip was cancelled I felt like it was a sign that I was supposed to go to Bemidji,” Welling said.

Thanks to his secretary, Grace Bishop, Welling had tickets and unbeknown to him was the talk of the town. Read the rest of this entry →

The US men's hockey team will look to earn gold in Vancouver.

The US men’s team has actually had a good record historically in international hockey. The two gold, seven silvers and one bronze medal the US has won at the Olympics puts them third in Olympic men’s hockey medals behind only Canada and the Russian/Soviet/CIS teams. They’re ahead of such perennially successful hockey powers Sweden and Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. This historical international success hasn’t generally translated in the ability to produce top quality NHL players. It generally speaking, hasn’t correlated with America’s ability as a hockey playing nation.

Despite amateur international success the US was producing very few hockey players in general and much fewer good enough to play in the original six NHL. Despite four franchises in the United States the NHL was dominated by Canadian born players. There were a few great American players at the time. Frank Brimsek the hall of fame Bruin goalie comes to mind.

Major Frederic McLaughlin the first owner of the Chicago Blackhawks was famous for a variety of things he did with his new franchise. One of the more bizarre things though was to ice a starting lineup of all American born players towards the end of the 1936-37 season. It wasn’t really an indication of how good American players had become and in fact had a side-show promotional feel to it. Read the rest of this entry →

Jim Craig

The February Sports Then and Now Athlete of the Month, was a crucial member of a squad that registered one of the most unexpected and memorable performances in Winter Olympic history.

Massachusetts native, Jim Craig was an integral part of the impossible dream and Olympic victory in Lake Placid, New York. February will mark the 30^th anniversary of the “Miracle On Ice” when the United States hockey team stunned the powerful Soviets and went on to capture the gold. Read the rest of this entry →