Ok so, I think this year is going to be the first that I'm actually interested in the Olympics. I'm especially looking forward to USA's coverage of the hockey games, because I watch USA network regularly and wonder how it's going to compare to those other networks like ESPN and NBC and FoxNet. Even better, I found that nhl.com has good background info of the teams, which can be found here. So I'm all set now, and curious to see it will play out. And what the hell... might as well make a poll of it. If you want to check it out and/or vote, go ahead. And in any case, feel free to talk about any olympic-related subject here.

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Also, I should add.... if you read that page with the background info, and you're not all that skilled at pronouncing foreign names, then be warned: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MIGRANES THAT YOUR BRAIN MAY SUFFER. I must honestly admit that I got a little "mentally winded" myself trying to read all them names. Especially down there around those damned Slovakian and Russian names. GOOD HEAVENS!!!

I love Olympic hockey. It's definitely a lot more exciting than the NHL. I don't think Canada will have too much trouble winning the gold. Russia and Sweden will fight for silver and bronze. USA will lose in the quarters.

I think you may be right. Canada has a lot of good players and I'm sure they're motivated enough to win. Still, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Russians are going to take it. Maybe not, but it's just a feeling. These are medal games, not playoffs, so anything can happen. I think it will be Russia, Canada, Sweden. But then again, I've never followed the olympics before.

I think the thing that's appealed to me the most this time around is USA's claim of "interruption free" hockey. I'm dying to see an actual commercial free broadcast.

Yeah, Russia always has a ton of good players, but they're always underachievers. I always root for Finland but I don't think they'll go too far. They have the best jerseys.

Did they say it's going to be commercial free? 4 years ago I remember they'd try to fit in a commercial after every whistle and when they came back the game was already started again. So basically they missed like every face-off, which is one of the most important parts of the game. They should do it like soccer and instead of commercials put a little logo next to the score in the corner of the screen and say "This portion of the game is sponsored by...".

Yep, I saw the commercial again and they actually said "COMMERCIAL FREE" in big capital letters like that and a voice over. So hopefully they'll keep to it. I hope they don't interrupt it anyways with ads for the olympics themselves and not consider that a commercial. That's the only way I could see it still getting interrupted.

And why do you root for Finland? Is that your ethnicity, or do they have your favorite players or something?

Nah, I'm not Finnish. I just like their colors and some of their players. I always root for the United States first, of course.

Good to hear the hockey is commercial free. I guarantee they'll have a ton of network promos and stuff like that though.

They just had "technical difficulties" where they accidentally allowed a commercial during the USA/Germany game.
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I think you're right about those Finland jerseys Echoes. They're the best I've seen in this olympics so far. I'm a sucker for shiny blue and white. They remind me of those little league baseball helmets, which have actually gotten more elaborate and creative nowadays. The little league world series was like a uniform fashion show this past season... no weird interpretations intended.
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And on a side note, is anyone besides me and Echoes watching the olympics? Anyone???? People...

Canada,becuase I am candian, and becuase they invented the sport,I see only 2 people voted?

This topic should close as soon as the olympics are over. Right now it's pretty narrowed down. The only teams that are left are Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic.

As I predicted before, the Russians have advanced and I think they will win it. Whoever wins the Russia vs. Finland game will win the gold I believe. I predict it will be Russia with the gold, Czech Republic with the silver, and Finland with the bronze. Or if the Finns win the Russians, it will be Finland with the gold, Czech Republic with the silver, and Russia with the bronze.
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Canada and USA both had troubles. Canada played like an all-star team, but couldn't hold it together against the teams that had their stuff together like the Czechs and the Russians. USA just plain sucked **** the whole way through.

Yeah, the North American teams were really disappointing. I thought USA played pretty well. They were just let down by terrible goaltending. DiPietro has to be the worst goalie in the Olympics. All four of their losses were by one goal, and I felt like they should have won all four. Canada just didn't play well. They took a lot of dumb penalties and their offense wasn't clicking.

Finland has been awesome, but Russia has been playing really well too. That game is going to be a lot of fun. I'm gonna go with Finland for gold, Sweden for silver, and Russia for bronze. Czech Republic has been one of the least impressive teams in my opinion.