Day 16: Heroes Get Remembered, but Legends Never Die

 Brothers...

Two sets of brothers formed a core of Team USA Hockey's team in this Olympics - Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Quinn and Jack Hughes. Each of them had huge contributions, with Quinn Hughes deliving the overtime goal to beat Sweden and advance, and Jack Hughes hitting the overtime winner against Canada today.

There was another set of brothers connected to USA hockey - Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who were both killed by a drunk driver while riding bikes in 2024, while in town for their sister's wedding.  Johnny was 100% going to be a part of this hockey team, and never got a chance to be an Olympian, since the NHL players did not participate in 2018 or 2022. 

Team USA paid great tribute to the Gaudreau family, having them there for this game, Johnny's jersey on the ice, and the team went to get his kids for the team picture.

For these three weeks, these guys were all brothers. 

For these three weeks, countrymen and women join together as family - united by their representing their country, representing their people, and inspiring future athletes to do the same.

Sports are such a fun, communal experience that shows us what can be achieved when we work together for a goal - we are all family connected by those stars and stripes.

THE FINAL STANDINGS:

Schrimscetti Skis ran away with the gold medal, featuring 16 gold medals won from athletes!

After a dramatic finish, Ice Ice Penne held on to keep the silver position by 2 points. Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds snuck into the top 3 for a Bronze finish, with Ebba Andersson of Sweden winning the Gold in the 50km race on the final day - the favorite, Frida Karlsson was running a fever and couldn't compete.  That gold was enough to fend off It's Jamaican Bobsled Time, who jumped all the way to 4th place.  

Thank you all once again for joining the Fantasy Olympics family - it was a really fun Olympics and we can't wait for LA 2028!!!

Citius. Altius. Fortius.

Day 15: The Final Countdown

The last US Hockey Gold medal - 1980

The biggest hockey game in our lifetimes is tomorrow - against our biggest rival. We're getting old, but this is still older.

 The Fantasy Olympics are fun - but this is the big one...the world stage...the border war...the bragging rights.  Can the US conquer the giant?

GO USA

Around the Games:

• Cross-Country Skiing - 50km race - KLAEBO - his 6th gold! Schrimscetti Skis relishes landing this pick.  Nyenget of TASMWTAM takes silver.
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Team USA Scored a dramatic and exciting unexpected gold medal in the mixed team aerials event! China, the overhwelming favorites, missed too many landings and settled for Bronze. Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and My Verona get the meager points.
  
  
• SkiMo - Mixed Relay - GOLD to Harrop/Anselmelt (FRA) of Blades of Glory/Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds; SILVER to Fatton/Kistler (SUI) of Jamaican Bobsled/TASMWTAM; BRONZE to Cardona (SPA) of John the Baptist
  
  
• Curling -
  BRONZE to Canada Women of Blades of Glory-ish.  Team USA finishes short in 4th. The interview after was incredibly sad, with even the reporter crying through it.  Cory Theisse, who did win a medal in the mixed-doubles, set a record for the most ends played in an Olympics - 192!
  GOLD to the cheaters, the pokers, the touchers, the Canadians. Ultimately, they poked their way to the championship, giving the gold to Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds. Silver goes to team GB, and It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Biathlon - Julia Simon may be a thief, but she's quite an athlete, securing her 4th medal with a silver in the 12.5km mass start for Schrimscetti Skis
  
  
• Long-Track Speed Skating - The Men's and Women's Mass Start is one of the most bizarre events...I don't know who thought it up.  All skaters start at the gun basically walking, and then there is a point system that barely seems to matter over 15 laps.  Then, you get mega points for finishing first overall, or you can lap people to eliminate them?  Anyway, Jordan Stolz got left behind and ended up 4th. No medals in the men's event for us because 2 guys decided to sort of race the thing like normal and hey, who would have thought trying to race would lead to having a lead and a win?  The women's race was very competitive right to the end, with Groenewoud of Ice Ice Penne taking GOLD, and Blondin of TASMWTAM taking Silver.  Mia Manganello, a former cyclist who picked this up recently, ended up in Bronze for Team USA!
  
  
• Ice Hockey - Finland men's team shut the door on Slovakia 6-1 to secure the Bronze for My Verona!
  
  
• Bobsleigh - 2-woman finals - An incredibly important race for our teams - Kaysha Love of the US and Ice Ice Penne had high hopes but finished in 5th. Kailie Humphries of the US was leading with a track record after the first run, but couldn't hang on, finishing in Bronze position for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! Finally, the sliding Schrimscetti's get the GOLD as Laura Nolte of Germany put together 4 consistent runs.
  

SO going into the final day of the Games, here we stand:

Schrimscetti Skis have quite a lead - much like their main man Klaebo - doesn't look like drama at the top as they cruise to the finish line.

But suddenly, there's a surge.  The battle for Silver and Bronze is very much in play!

Here's what to watch for tomorrow:

• Cross-Country Skiing - Women's 50km Mass Start - Can Jessie Diggins dig out an upset for Jamaican Bobsled? Will the Swedes reign supreme? Half of us are rooting for the fightin' IKEAs. THIS could decide the podium tomorrow.
  
  
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - the Halfpipe has been delayed a lot of time, so they still have two runs to go - Eileen Gu still in play for Jamaican Bobsled
  
  
• Curling - Scrimscetti Skis guaranteed a medal with Switzerland women in the gold medal match - can they take down the Swedes?
  
  
• Bobsleigh - the 4-man bobsled will close out the sliding events.  Right now after the second run, Lochner (John the Baptist) is in the lead, with Freidrich (Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds) right behind in second.  Cool Runnings, Jamaica's real team, sits in 22nd.
  
  
• Ice Hockey - of course the premiere closing event - live at 7am central time - US VS CANADA - MOLASSES VS MAPLE SYRUP - EAGLES VS MOOSE - COWBOYS VS MOUNTIES - TONIGHT, WE RIDE! The US has not won the gold medal since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.  It's time!!!!!!!!1
  It's Jamaican Bobsled Time has the US, John the Baptist has Canada.  Who will win?

From doing some analysis - Jamaican Bobsled needs it all to fall his way, but there's still a shot at 2nd place. Im-Pasta-Bowl also has a shot at 2nd or 3rd.

TASMWTAM unfortunately is maxed on points- she has to sit in the kiss and cry and watch what plays out in front of her. 

Blades of Glory-ish need an Olympic Record in Cross-Country.

John the Baptist could shoot up as high as 4th - but it may be just too little too late.

My Verona....my condolences.

Day 14: There's no "I" in Team, but there is in WIN

 Honestly, I don't have much witty to cover today, so I'll leave you with this image:

The Canada men's team did make it to the Gold medal match tomorrow vs. Great Britain. The team events may make the final difference in winning these Fantasy Olympic Games.

Around the Games:

• Freestyle Skiing - 
  Women's Ski Cross - NONE
  Men's Aerials - Li Tamna - Bronze - Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds
  Men's Halfpipe - Alex Ferreira - GOLD - John the Baptist
  
  
• Biathlon - Men's 15km Mass Start - NONE - but bad boyfriend won his 5th medal, making him one of the biggest misses in the games that went undrafted
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating - Women's 1500m - Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong - GOLD - John the Baptist; Ragne Wiklund - SILVER - It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Short Track Speed Skating - 
  Men's 5000m Relay - Canada was the favorites - they finished 4th! NO points for Ice Ice Penne or Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.  GOLD to NED and TASMWTAM, Bronze to Italy and Jamaican Bobsled Time.
  Women's 1500m - Bronze to Corrine Stoddard of the USA and John the Baptist
  
  
• Curling - Men's Bronze Medal game - NONE

Overall not a dramatic day for our fantasy teams, but it sets up a big final weekend.  John the Baptist had a slam dunk day, and now the bottom 4 teams are all within 8 points of each other. 

12 medal events on Saturday, 4 on Sunday. USA vs. Canada gold medal hockey game on Sunday!

SO if you're in contention, who do you root for (or against)?

 Here are our teams still in contention for medals over the next two days:

It's Jamaican Bobsled time has 60 potential points on the board - that could swing him all the way to Silver position!! Ice Ice Penne may melt a bit, sweating these results.

Day 13: Golden Girls

Today felt like a banner day for the 'ol US of A, and it was the ladies that were bringing it all day!

Of course, the rivalry was renewed in the rink, with Canada vs. USA being the premiere women's hockey matchup everyone expected for the Gold Medal. 
The Bronze medal game between Sweden and Switzerland went to overtime, continuing the trend of craaazy playoff hockey from yesterday.  Switzerland (who none of us drafted!) beat the Swedes to take the Bronze.

That set up the big game - which was a rematch from earlier in the games.  The US won that game 5-0 over Canada...but this is for the GOLD.  High stress, high intensity, gotta lay it all on the line.  Both teams certainly delivered, providing a super tight game throughout. 
Canada finally scored their goal in the most improbable way - US was on a power play, and Canada happened to get a fortunate deflection that led to a 2 v 1 breakaway and a short-handed goal. 
It took until the last two minutes of the game - US pulls their goalie to put in an extra skater and boom - the breakthrough goal - game is tied, headed to overtime.

Then, in overtime, another American hero, Megan Keller, pulls a triple deek sliding the puck through her defender and blasting it under the Canadian goalie. Cue Freebird. Cue pandemonium. TASMWTAM takes home the 20 points, Ice Ice Penne left with 10.

No Canadian curler is going to touch that puck.

Speaking of curling, the US women's team faced a win-or-go-home situation today, knowing they must beat the strong Swiss team to make it into the semi-finals and have a chance at a medal. It came down to the final stone - the US holding the hammer. 

It almost didn't come to this - the US were up by 3 points in the 10th end, with the Swiss needing a rare, but not impossible, 3-point end to tie and force extras. A miscue by the US opened the door, and the Swiss did not miss.  They cleared the stone needed and landed a 3 point end.

Tabitha Peterson was not deterred, and stepped up to deliver the last rock - one which slid a bit farther than the US hoped, but it stopped with about a half inch closer to the button than the Swiss stone, securing the one point needed to close the game out.

The US will face Switzerland AGAIN in the semis - the US women's team has never won a medal.

And of course, the princess of skating was crowned today, in a free skate round full of incredible performances putting very high scores on the board.  In the end, it was the funky Alysa Liu of the USA shocking many and coming away with the Gold medal - the first for the US since 2002.

The Cleopatra hair and fish hook lip ring are not what anyone pictured in an ice princess, but those stripes fit right in with the 'ol Stars and Stripes draped around her. John the Baptist ends up getting the only double gold of figure skating, with Sakamoto of Japan giving the silver to Schrimscetti Skis. 

Here's to all the American heroes who conquered the Olympic gauntlet today!

Around the Games:

• Ski Mountaineering debuted as an Olympic Sport.  It's a bizarre mashup - athletes start on short skis, climbing a mountain, then have to navigate a kind of ski maze on the hill. Next, they reach a staircase for some reason? They have to whip the skis off, throw in a backpack, and run up the stairs, to then throw the skis back on and complete a downhill slalom course back to the start. Oriol Cardona Coll secured the first gold medal for Spain in forever in dominating fashion, John the Baptist brings home the Gold. Ansemelt takes the Bronze for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.  The women's race also occurred, with Marianne Fatton getting the GOLD for Jamaican Bobsled, and Harrop the Silver for Blades of Glory-ish. 
  
  
• Nordic Combined - Team Sprint - Norway takes the Gold for Blades of Glory-ish and John the Baptist, Finland silver for Ice Ice Penne, Bronze to Austria of Schrimscetti Skis and TASMWTAM.
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating - 1500m men's final - Jordan Stolz of USA and My Verona fell just short of his potential Gold sweep, ending in Silver behind an amazing performance from Zhongyan Ning of China. The top four finishers all posted times faster than the previous Olympic Record.  Joep Wennemars of the Netherlands set the Olympic record, which was then blown away by Ning and Kjeld Nuis in the next race. Jordan Stolz gave a valiant effort, but without the push from another competitior he finished about a second back from Ning.  Because of the order, only Wennemars and Ning will go into the record books with ORs, but what an amazing athletic display.  Wennemars doesn't get to go home with a medal, though, finishing 4th.

Here's the scoreboard after Day 13:

TASMWTAM jumped back into Bronze position with the US Hockey win, but it's close...
Don't forget that Bobsled is a "team" medal too - My Verona is only 25 points from 3rd place right now.  

Day 12: Rings of Power

 This Czech Wolfhound was staying with his owners in a vacation rental while they went to some of the winter events.  They said he loves being around people, and every day when they left he was getting very sad to be left back.  Well, today he managed to find a way out, made his way to the cross-country skiing venue, and had the best time meeting all the people he could while the crowd roared approval.

It's a good thing he's friendly and had a collar, because if I were skiing and this was chasing me, I would have thought a dire wolf was on my tail.

As he crossed the finish line, the photo finish camera even picked up his stride across the finish line.

The dog is named Nazgul, named after the ring wraiths from Lord of the Rings.  How fitting that today he also felt compelled to pursue a different set of rings - five interlocking ones.

Olympic Champion

 Around the Games:

• Ice Hockey - No medals today, but I have to give a shout out to the incredible games that happened in the men's quarterfinals. They say that watching playoff hockey is as thrilling as driving a motorcycle off a plane with a parachute while wrestling a tiger and that felt pretty much like this day.  3 of 4 went to overtime, Canada scored late to force overtime and stay alive, and won against Czechia in OT. Finland was down 2-0 to Switzerland with 3 min left, tied the game, and won in OT. USA gave up the tying goal with 1.5 min left to Sweden, but ultimately won in OT on an electric goal.  Quinn Hughes waved off the line change and stayed in - then blasted it in.  
  
  
  Hughes is an American Hero.
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing -
  Nazgul - GOLD
  Women's Team Sprint - Sweden GOLD for Blades of Glory-ish
  Men's Team Sprint - GOLD for Norway and of course Klaebo of Schrimscetti Skis and also Hedegart of Blades of Glory-ish; USA got an amazing, unexpected Silver, John the Baptist got a Bronze with Pellegrino of Italy
  
  
• Snowboarding - Two Slopestyle events, no medals for us
  
  
• Alpine Skiing - Mikaela Shiffrin finally shakes off the demons of the missed opportunities for the last 8 years, and secured GOLD in the Slalom.  She won by 1.5 seconds, which in these skiing sports is a massive margin.  For context - I read today that the combined margins of the winners of the last 7 Olympics (to 1998!) is 1.51 seconds. Shiffrin left no doubt. Blades of Glory-ish is ecstatic (and having an absolutely amazing day).
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Xu Mengtao wins GOLD in the Women's Aerials for My Verona
  
  
• Biathlon - Women's 4x6km relay - France won GOLD for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and Schrimscetti Skis; SILVER to Sweden, also for Schrimscetti Skis who doubled-up on Biathlon with a wild card pick; BRONZE to Norway and It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Short Track Speed Skating - 
  Women's 3000m relay - SILVER to Italy and John the Baptist, BRONZE to Canada and Blades of Glory-ish and My Verona. Netherlands was majorly upset in this one and ended 4th.
  Men's 500m - GOLD to Dubois of Canada and Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds, Bronze to Jens van 'T Wout of TASMWTAM.  van 'T Wout's brother took silver.

What an incredible day!  You may want to catch your breath before you look at the scoreboard update...

John the Baptist may have lost his head, Jamaican Bobsled Time has returned to island time, but Blades of Glory-ish is BLAZING up the charts and currently stands in Bronze position!

There's still big double point bonus coming in Bobsled, Curling, and Hockey - don't get comfortable!

Day 11: Flying to the Finish

 In Freestyle Skiing, one of the best events of the day was in the Big Air final, which saw a mega showdown among competitors throwing tricks that had never before been performed in competition. The final three competitiors set three straight olympic records to finish out the final round! In my opinion, Mac Forehand (what a name) was ROBBED, as Norway, and Tormod Frostad (another great name, especially for a Norwegian) threw some "butter" trick in there and grabbed the gold.  It was one of the most extreme events I have seen!

Falling, with style

Unfortunately, no one drafted these guys.

Around the Games:

• Nordic Combined - Monopolies reign, as Oftebro secures his second gold for Blades of Glory-ish, and Lamparter gets the silver again for Schrimscetti Skis. Herola gets the Bronze for Ice Ice Penne
  
  
• Biathlon - the men's relay finished with France getting the gold for Ice Ice Penne, and Silver to My Verona and Norway (which included bad boyfriend getting his 4th medal!)
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating -
  Men's team pursuit - GOLD - Ghiotto, Italy, Blades of Glory-ish
  Women's team pursuit - GOLD - Blondin, Canada, TASMWTAM; Silver - Groenewoud and Rijpma-de Jong, Netherlands, Ice Ice Penne and John the Baptist; Bronze - Takagi, Japan, Schrimscetti Skis
  
  
• Bobsleigh - a German SWEEP in the 2-man - Lochner takes Gold for Blades of Glory-ish, and Friedrich takes Silver for My Verona

Some events were delayed today because of weather, so overall medals were a bit lower.  Here's the score update! Back to a tie for first! 
Blades of Glory-ish had a glorious day, skating into 4th place and in range of the podium! Lots of points out there, still, but looking like a 2 way race at the moment for the Gold.

As a reminder - total medal count will determine tiebreakers:

Italy is currently outperforming expectations as the home team - 24 total medals so far!  Germany did get a boost with Bobsleigh today, but trails with 20. We'll see where the standings finish!

Day 10: Gotta Get Away

 Atle Lie McGrath of Norway was leading the men's slalom race, and the last to go on the second run down the mountain. All he had to do was put in a solid run and his lead would have likely secured a medal, if not cruise in for Gold. 

But he missed a gate, Olympic Dream over. 

McGrath lost his grandfather during the opening ceremony. It's been a taxing week, and this was the last straw.

First, he javelined his poles away and took off his skis.

Then, he decided to retreat to the forest.

We've all been there, in one way or another.

52 out of 96 competitors did not finish the first run of the highly technical course. Only 39 finished the second run.  None of ours won any medal!

Around the Games:

• Short Track: Xandra Velzeboer claims her second GOLD of these games in the 1000m for Schrimscetti Skis. Courtney Sarault takes Silver for Blades of Glory-ish
  
  
• Ski Jumping - Due to weather, they CANCELLED the final round of the men's Super Team, so the results after the second round stood as the final podium.  Unfortunately for TASMWTAM and John the Baptist, Slovenia didn't get one more jump to try and get on the podium, and Domen Prevc finished 5th in his quest for his third gold. Jan Hoerl of My Verona did secure the GOLD for Austria.
  
  
• Figure Skating - the Pairs program concluded with the pair from Japan of Miura/Kihara taking the GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! The US and Canadian pairs disappointed for My Verona and TASMWTAM.
  
  
• Bobsled - the first sleds down the track were the Women's monobob, which sounds like a hairdo. Elana Meyers Taylor of the US won the Gold, but no one drafted her! TASMWTAM drafted Kaillie Humphries of the US, who took the Bronze!
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Eileen Gu (still a sellout and traitor), ended up in silver position in the Big Air.  It's Jamaican Bobsled Time still accepts her, and the points.

Shorter day of medals, so here's the scoreboard update!

Schrimscetti Skis re-takes the top spot, Jamaican Bobsled time is now only 10 points, or one gold medal, away from getting on the podium!  Defying all the odds? We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Day 9: Halfway Home

 We're over halfway through the 2026 Winter Olympics! Team events are moving along and there's lots of earning potential if you invested in Team USA.  The men's and women's hockey teams are rolling along, and the men's and women's curling teams are defying expectations and look like strong contenders for a medal at this point.  With Canada mentally struggling among the stone touching scandal, Team USA is finding their groove, both winning in clutch final points today. Those 20 point medals could swing the standings!

Also, these uniforms are the absolute best - so clean.

Around the Games:

• Biathlon - no medals awarded for our teams in the men's event but sad girlfriend guy medaled AGAIN getting a silver. 
  Women's 10km pursuit saw THREE medals - Vittozzi gets GOLD for John the Baptist, Kirkeeide gets SILVER for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!, and Minkkinen gets BRONZE for TASMWTAM
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Mikael Kingsbury cruised to Gold in the Dual Moguls final and gets the points for Ice Ice Penne
  
  
• Cross-Country - Men's Team Sprint - GOLD to Klaebo, Hedegart, and Nyenget of Schrimscetti, Blades of Glory-ish, and TASMWTAM. Federico Pelligrino with a Bronze for John the Baptist.
  
  
• Alpine Skiing - Giant Slalom - Frederica Brignone comes out on top again with another GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! Mikaela Shiffrin comes up short again at the Olympics, in an event she has dominated time after time.  Disappointment for Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Snowboard - Snowboardcross had their team event, It's Jamaican Bobsled Time is dancing again with a Gold medal from Charlotte Banks of Great Britain! Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and My Verona had the Australian teammates and favorites, but a crash wiped out their chance and they finished 4th off the podium
  
  
  That's not the right way.
  
  
  
• Long-Track Speed Skating - Double medals in the 500 for Netherlands again, but flipped this time from the 1000 - Femke Kok of Ice Ice Penne gets GOLD AND an Olympic Record, Jutta Leerdam of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds the Silver, and Miho Takagi of Schrimscetti Skis gets another Bronze.
  
  
• Skeleton Mixed Team Event - The GBR pair of Steocker and Weston scored a GOLD medal for Ice Ice Penne and Schrimscetti Skis - the rich get richer! Axel Jungk of My Verona gets silver, Pfeifer and Grotheer get Bronze for Blades of Glory-ish and Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Ski Jumping - Nika Prevc from Slovenia completes the one of each medal challenge and gets a Bronze for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.

Here's the scoreboard after Sunday!  We have a TIE for first place! Also. after a strong day, It's Jamaican Bobsled Time is right on the edge of medal contention. 

One week to go - who will claim the podium?

Day 8: Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'

Curling only loosely has referees, they seem to be there, but not actually watch much. I think they do bring out a fancy measuring compass when it's too close to call. Mostly. it's a game self-refereed by the competitiors.  Essentially everyone is friends that hang out all the time, love each other, and drink lots of beer. That makes it even more controversial that the double-touches are happening, which is cheating, and that teams feel compelled to try and get referees involved, which never seems to happen.  Not much love on this Valentine's day. You might say they've lost that lovin' feelin'.

One day after the Canadian men's team poked the rock, a referee, now watching like a hawk, calls the women's team for a double touch, as Rachel Homan dragged her finger down the rock. She could NOT believe it when the call was made, with the whole team protesting that they would NEVER do that.

These Canucks just can't help themselves. Sometimes when we touch...the honesty's too much.

Around the Games:

• Freestyle Skiing - Women's Dual Moguls - this is called "Dual" but it's more like "Duel" where two skiiers blast off against each other in a bracket-style tournament. SILVER to Jaelin Kauf of USA and TASMWTAM. Jaelin Kauff survived in the semi finals after totally wiping out, only because her opponent inexplicably skiied out of bounds for a few gates.
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing - Team Sweden was the heavy favorites to win the gold in the Women's 4 x 7.5km relay.  Then, this happened:

Crashing while skiiing in a straight line...on flat ground....BREAKING her right ski.


Carrying the broken ski

The coach, trying to run out a replacement ski to Ebba Andersson, also faceplanting.

Ice and snow are slippery, even for world class Olympians.

Despite the almost inexpicable crash, Sweden managed to rally through for the Silver, but knocking five points off for many of us: Ice Ice Penne, Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds, Blades of Glory-ish, and My Verona.

• Alpine Skiing - South America's first ever winter medal is a gold from Brazil - but this took it away from Marcus Odermatt of John the Baptist, who won his 3rd medal of the games, but not the color he wanted (1 silver, 2 bronze).
  
  
• Biathlon - Maren Kirkeeide took the GOLD for It's Jamaican Bobsled Time! and Lou Jeanmonnot of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds took the Bronze.
  
  
• Skeleton - Some mild upsets on the scoreboad, so only a Bronze grabbed by Jacqueline Pfeifer of Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Long Track Speed Skating - Jordan Stolz threw down the gauntlet again, blasting to his second gold in the 500m race, along with another Olympic Record! Jenning de Boo plays bridesmaid again, getting the silver for TASMWTAM.
  
  
• Ski Jumping - The Slovenian Demon, Domen Prevc, lands his second GOLD for TASMWTAM in the Normal Hill.
  
  
• Short Track saw some controversy, as Jens van 'T Wout takes the GOLD for TASMWTAM, but the rest of the favorites to medal crashed or were bumped out by opponents. In particular, Dandjinou and Dubois of Canada were big disappointments for our teams.

Here's the scoreboard update! Twizzling and Salchowing her way up the standings after a strong day on the snow and ice, the top 4 teams are not separated by much!

Day 7: Everything is Practice...Until the Olympics

 Maxim Naumov of the US competed in Figure Skating and finished 20th, but he proudly honored his former Olympian parents, who tragically died in the Washington DC plane crash last year. A maxim that Maxim said his parents repeated to him was that "Everything is Practice, until the Olympics."  Those rings that weigh above the competition every four years bring out the best to compete, and the bring the pressure that goes with the moment.  

Ilia Malinin seemed to have unending confidence and bravado, embracing every interview and, until now, embracing every moment in his career - he's won basically everything for three years. But all of that was practice - this was the moment, the stage, the chance for coronation as Olympic Champion. It was hard to watch as he completely mentally lapsed on trick after trick - for someone who spins for a living it seemed like the room was spinning out of control for him.

  

It was also hard not to immediately think of Simone Biles, crowned "The GOAT," even wearing a necklace championing the moniker, much like Ilia embraced the "Quad god" title with shirts, etc. Both have now had moments under the brightest lights where the pressure of the moment was too much, those rings hanging overhead and on every wall tighten around them, humanity entered the picture.  Nothing is ever completely a "sure thing" in sports.

Condolences to Blades of Glory-ish. No medal for Malinin in this event. No medals for any of us from the men's final.

Speaking of tensions on the ice, we had juicy curling allegations flying, where the Canadian curling team came under fire for some illegal touching of the granite.

Tempers flared, Sweden asked the officials to watch closely. Kennedy exploded, flinging curses across the ice.  It will be interesting to see if they are able to adjust, or get swept away in the distractions.  

Around the Games:

• Cross-Country - KLAEBO GOLD again, 3rd of the games, now tying the all time winter mark with 8, Schrimscetti Skis is very pleased with this pick. Hedegart managed a Bronze for Blades of Glory-ish.
  
  
• Biathlon - the dude with the girlfriend story got another Bronze! Guess he's not too distracted. None of the favorites hit today though, no medals awarded to us.
  
  
• Snowboard - the men's halfpipe final is arguably the most entertaining event at the Winter Olympics. This was truly an epic battle, scores were so high that the competitors were forced into having to push tricks so late into the run that they had to land after the end of the halfpipe to try and get some extra points, but couldn't pull it off. None of us had the medal winners, but it's worth a watch! 
  
  In women's Snowboard cross, Josie Baff did take home the Gold for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Skeleton - Matt Weston wins the GOLD for Schrimscetti Skis, Silver to Axel Jungk of My Verona, and Bronze to Christopher Grotheer of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  
• Speed Skating - Men's 10k, no winners from our teams.

Ice Ice Penne did NOT have their name called today, so that means, for now, there's a change at the top of the leaderboard! No wire-to-wire victory this year:

Congrats to the Schrimscetti Skis on taking over the top of the podium!  

Hope you all feel golden love tomorrow on Valentine's Day!

Day 6: Jezebel

Busy day for me today, so I'm low on narratives, but wanted to get the scoreboard updates out.

I do want to be sure to note...the Ice Dance controversy did make the news cycle today as expected.  The scores from each judge were reviewed and the FRENCH JUDGE once again center stage of scandal. Quite fittingly, her actual name is JEZEBEL. 5 of the 9 judges ranked the US higher than the French team, but Jezebel's scores for France were so much higher that it overcame the difference and secured the Gold for her home country.  This is why judging in sports is, as the McAllisters would say, "les incompétents."

Around the Games:

• Alpine Skiing - GOLD for Frederica Brignone of Jamaican Bobsled Time! in Super-G
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - SILVER for Mikael Kingsbury of Ice Ice Penne in Men's Moguls
  
  
• Cross-Country Skiing - Second GOLD for Frida Karlsson of Ice Ice Penne and Second SILVER for Ebba Andersson of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.  Jessie Diggins of Team USA and Jamaican Bobsled Time takes the Bronze!
  
  
• Snowboarding - SILVER for Eliot Grondin of Ice Ice Penne; SILVER for Chloe Kim of Team USA and Schrimscetti Skis
  
  
• Long-Track Speed Skating - BRONZE for Ragne Wiklund of It's Jamaican Bobsled Time!
  
  
• Short Track - Women - GOLD for Xandra Velzeboer of Schrimscetti Skis, and a WORLD RECORD bonus that she achieved in the semi-finals! SILVER for Ariana Fontana of John the Baptist, and BRONZE for Courtney Sarault of Blades of Glory-ish
  
  
• Short Track - Men - GOLD for Jens van 'T Wout of TASMWTAM, yes, that's how you spell his name.
  
  
• Luge - the team relay event had a single man, woman, and a double mens and womens teams combine to blast down the track one at a time. At the finish line they have to sit up in the sled and smack a level that releases the gate at the beginning for their next teammate.  It's a crazy event!  GOLD goes to Germany, making many of our teams happy - TASMWTAM, Jamaican Bobsled, and Schrimscetti Skis all get a gold. Austria got the Silver, and that gives points to Ice Ice Penne, Blades of Glory-ish, and My Verona.

Lot of points today (not for me!), here's the score update! Jamaican Bobsled Time felt the rhythm and rhyme today!

Day 5: Ponds, Pancakes, and Petty Theft

The biggest event of the day was the men's 1000m long track race - where Jordan Stolz of team USA threw down the gauntlet and set an Olympic record on the way to his first Gold of the games. This guy learned to speed skate on a backyard pond in Wisconsin after watching Apolo Anton Ohno in the 2010 Olympics.  (Apparently the only two weeks his parents let Jordan and his sister watch TV!) My Verona celebrates the pond of points opening up for their team!

Distant relative, thrice removed, Jenning De Boo of the Netherlands finished with a silver for TASMWTAM.

Elsewhere around the games:

• Alpine skiing - Franjo von Allmen grabs his THIRD gold medal of the games for Ice Ice Penne, what a clutch pick. Marco Odermatt held on for the Bronze for John the Baptist.  Schrimscetti Skis had Dominik Paris as a hopeful medalist for this event, but his ski fell off mid run! 
  
  
• Nordic Combined had their first event, with Oftebro of Blades of Glory-ish taking the gold, and Lamparter of Schrimscetti Skis gets the silver
  
  
• Freestyle Skiing - Women's moguls - Jaelin Kauf of USA gets the silver for TASMWTAM and Perrine Laffont of France gets the Bronze for Schrimscetti Skis.
  
  
• Figure Skating - Ice Dance finals - plenty of controversy with these judges, but USA's Chock and Bates finish second to the French. Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds is disappointed. Chock and Bates looked ticked off. The French team are full of scandal, and I'm sure the news cycle will continue with this one. To be honest, the figure skating is kind of getting old already.
  
  
• Men's and Women's double luge - one of the strangest events - where it's a human pancake stacked on top of a luge sled.
  Some ideas just can just be left on the drawing table...
  
  
  
  
  Both events blasted down the tracks today, and the home team of Italy won both the men's and women's gold.  Not drafted by any of our teams, only Bronze medals given out to us - to Blades of Glory-ish and TASMWTAM.
  
  The Babylon Bee wondered how extreme the event could become...
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Biathlon - Julia Simon of France secures her second Gold of the games for Schrimscetti Skis, and Lou Jeanmonnot won the silver for Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds.
  
  However, Julia Simon does carry a lot of controversy. She has been caught stealing her trainer's credit card and her teammate's credit card on multiple occasions - spending over 2000 euros on her teammate's card. She has denied the offense repeatedly, until evidence of photos of the credit cards saved on her phone convinced her to admit guilt. Although she hasn't really accepted blame: "I confess the accusations but I don’t remember committing them," she said at the time. "It’s like a blackout." Simon explained at the time that she found her actions "incomprehensible" and that she was "working with a psychologist to understand what happened." 
  
  Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
  
  The French biathlon federation gave her a weak punshiment that didn't affect her ability to qualify for the Olympics - special treatment for a winner.
  
  Simon made a "shhhh" sign as she crossed the finish line, trying to silence her haters.
  
  
  
  
  In reality - she created so many more.

Despite a strong day from many teams, Ice Ice Penne stays on top of the standings for another day:

My Verona blasts out of the cellar, likely not looking back.  Schrimscetti Skis now has the most medals won of our teams, right on the heels of first place.  

Onto Day 6!

Day 4: It was a good day.

 Team USA had a solid day overall - scoring 5 medals, as well as the women's hockey team absolutely curb stomping Canada 5-0! A good day, but getting some Golds would have made it a great day.

One of the medals was a silver won by Ben Ogden, from a small town in Vermont with plenty of open space to learn cross-country skiing.  Ben won the first US medal in Cross Country in 50 years! Incredible effort to compete with the dominant Norwegians.

Klaebo did win Gold as expected for Norway and Schrimscetti Skis.

Unfortunately, the USA mixed doubles curling team (The Coreys) fell short on the last shot of the gold medal match.  They played extremely well in a close match, but were bested by the brother-sister team from Sweden.  Isabella Wrana was an absolute assassin with the stones, hitting 98% of her shots in a gold medal worthy performance.  Here's Darth Glasses, going for the kill:

Hard to overcome the ferocity.

TASMWTAM did pick up the Bronze as Constantini/Moser of Italy secured a medal after their home disappointment loss to the Coreys yesterday.

In another disappointing finish in Alpine Skiing, Michaela Shiffrin was paired with Breezy Johnson for the combined event, and Breezy delivered another #1 time in the downhill portion.  All Shiffrin had to do was hold serve through the slalom, an event that she has won 7 of 8 in the past years, and finished 2nd in the 8th race.  Today, she was 14th. Another Olympic disaster for Shiffrin, who we all hope can get her groove back for the individual events upcoming.  The finish was so bad that the team finished in 4th.  This did open up the bronze medal position for the USA "B team" of Wiles and Moltzan, who snuck in for the medal!  This is no solace for Blades of Glory-ish, who drafted Shiffrin and acheived no glorious points in this event.  No one received any medals from our teams, in an event that saw 10 DNFs recorded.

In Luge, Schrimscetti Skis continued their strong day, with a gold from Julia Taubitz of Austria. USA finally got their second women's Luge medal ever with Ashley Farquharson sliding in for the Bronze!

Elsewhere around the games:

• Ski Jumping - Slovenia finally got up to throw down some mega jumps as expected, securing the mixed team Gold for Im-Pasta-Bowl and TASMWTAM. Blades of Glory-ish landed a Bronze from Japan.
• Cross-Country Skiing also had the women's sprint event, with a SWEDE SWEEP. Only one of us drafted the right Swede though, and that was My Verona, who gets the gold from Linn Svahn (not the NFL hall of fame WR).
• Biathlon Men's 20km gave a gold to Botn of My Verona, and a silver to Perrot of Ice Ice Penne, but the Bronze was won by Sturla Holm Laegreid of Norway, who took the opportunity to awkwardly confess in the post-race interview that his girlfriend of 6 months broke up with him after finding out he cheated on her after 3 months, but now he's distraught about it and thought embarassing himself in front of the whole world would make her see how much he's sorry.
  
  
  
  
  
  I think if anyone HAD drafted him, this would have met criteria for the rule covering embarassing online post resulting in a deduction.  This same guy was in major trouble in Beijing 2022 for discharging his biathlon rifle in his hotel.  We MAJORLY dodged a bullet, and I think his former girlfriend did, too.
  
  
• Short track had their first medal event, the mixed team relay - lots of points and took quite a bit of research!
  
  Gold to Italy for John the Baptist and It's Jamaican Bobsled time!
  
  Silver to Canada and Ice Ice Penne, My Verona, and Blades of Glory-ish. Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds also gets a Silver because Steven Dubois skated with the Canadaian team in the Semi Finals and also is awarded the medal.
  
  In a strange turn of events with Fantasy Olympics implications, there was a Final A and a Final B.  Final A was the main race - the 4 teams qualified for this in prior heats and determined the medal winnners.  Final B was somewhat of a consolation race.  The Netherlands won Final B and did not get a medal, but they DID set an Olympic record time, faster than any team in Final A.  That awards 5 bonus points to TASMWTAM and Schrimscetti Skis!

After all of those points totaled up, here's what you've been waiting for:

WHEW what a day! The Olympics is the gift that keeps on giving!

Day 3: Record Setting Races

 In one of the marquee events for our Fantasy Olympics, we get some of the high-speed Long Track Speed Skating blasting off with the Women's 1000m final.  In one of the new wrinkles to the rules this year, I'm counting Olympic or World Records set at any point as eligible for the 5pt bonus.  Interestingly, during this exciting event, this created an opportunity for Femke Kok, a competitor for Ice Ice Penne (NED) to set an Olympic Record, and then to have that record only stand for about 10 minutes before Jutta Leerdam of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds surpassed her teammate from the Netherlands and set a NEW Olympic record, taking the gold medal. Miho Takagi of Schrimscetti Skis took the Bronze, but no Olympic record on this day.  In all that means it's a 15pt GOLD, 10pt SILVER and 3pt bronze.

I also learned during the broadcast that Jutta Leerdam is engaged to Jake Paul, who I have seen before is a boxer that fought Mike Tyson on Netflix, and my kids pointed out he "invented PRIME" the drink.  PRIME is gross and was once beloved by middle schoolers (but no longer?). This sequence of connections is pretty strange, and he posted this image, which was close, but technically incorrect. 

Consider yourself caught up on pop culture now.

What really popped today was the semi-finals of the mixed doubles curling event. Team USA's electric pair of Cory and Korey had to face the defending Olympic champions, Italy, on home ice in back to back matches today.  First, to finish out group play, which they narrowly lost playing it too safe toward the end of the match.  Then, they took the lesson and had to face Italy again in the semifinals of the playoff.

In the playoff, the Coreys pushed and curled and yelled and brushed their way through each end, at one point capitalizing on the Italian's mistakes and scoring 3 points.  The pressure set up a decisive final 8th end where they held the hammer. With the final rock, they could have played it safe and secured a tie to force additional play, or go for the win.  This time, they didn't play it safe and let skill rule the day, clearing out two rocks to give them 2 points and the decisive victory, putting Team USA from also-ran status to the Gold Medal match tomorrow.  The heavily favored Italians (of TASMWTAM) are forced to compete for a disappointing Bronze medal tomorrow. The only other mixed doubles team drafted, Norway of Ice Ice Penne, were frozen out and did not make the playoffs.
But we can all say GO USA tomorrow!

Ski Jumping had the men's normal hill finals, and NONE of the favorites even came close to the podium.  In a wild final, Philipp Raimund of Germany took the Gold after never winning a previous event anywhere on the Ski Jumping World Cup tour.  Peaking at the right time...
There was even a tie for third, so 4 medals awarded, but none to our drafted athletes.  Perhaps the "enhancing" scandal brought to light before the games started scared off some competitors. Today, it was truly the size of the jump that mattered.

Elsewhere around the games:

• Freestyle Skiing - Elieen Gu (traitor who disavowed her US citizenship to compete for China), took Silver for It's Jamaican Bobsled time in Slopestyle
• Alpine Skiing - The Men's Team Combined saw Franjo von Allmen take home another gold for Ice Ice Penne, Silvers to the Austrian Duo of Vincent Kriechmayr of Im-Pasta-Bowl Odds and Manuel Feller of TASMWTAM, and Bronze to Marco Odermatt of John the Baptist

Nowwwwwwww, we can take a look at the scoreboard:

Ice Ice Penne continues a commanding start....My Verona I'm sure is frustated by the initial gains.  However...My Verona has Jordan Stolz waiting in the wings for his first opportunity on the ice - the Wisconsin juggernaut is coming and could flip the script quickly. It's not even halftime - no Bad Bunny needed when you have a Bad Badger on the way.