From Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated on Twitter:

NBC says 27.6 Million watched gold medal game Sunday, most viewers for a hockey game in U.S. since 1980 Lake Placid gold medal game.

Not surprising, considering the game had much hype and little competition, other than some college hoops. But it’s unlikely this huge draw is going to create some new, huge following for the NHL in American. Does it hurt? Of course not. Will some people pay closer attention to the sport? It’s likely.

But this was a one-off popularity spree, where non-sports fans even tuned in due to nationalistic impulses. It was the perfect storm, as the host country — the country that invented the sport, mind you — was in the gold-medal game against the underdog U.S squad that had already taken them down once.

This was the “Miracle on Ice” meme rearing its head again.

This was the Super Bowl of hockey; everyone was watching for no other reason than well, everyone else was watching. It had huge cultural cache this weekend.

When suburban housewives are talking about it at work Monday morning at the water cooler, I’m not so sure this is a fanbase the NHL can try and have a realistic chance of harnessing.

But it certainly won’t hurt the league, either.

Yesterday in women’s hockey, the Canadian team beat the U.S. 2-0 for the gold medal. Frowney face.

But it’s cool, because the U.S. totally has the gold medal lead on Canada overall, and that’s what’s really important. Or something.

Anyway, the Canadian ladies decided to get down with their bad selves and celebrate on the ice with a little booze and cigars:

The IOC wasn’t cool with it, and the team sent out an apology late Thursday.

Let’s go to Luke Winn for the ultimate take on all this:

And the reason [IOC executive director Gilbert] Felli had to react to it? Because an equally lame reporter from the AP called to inform him about it and ask for a comment. Is it possible to just see something like this, laugh at it, and be happy for these girls? At least Steve Keough, the Canadian Olympic Committee spokesman whom the AP called, had a reasonable answer: “In terms of the actual celebration,” he said, “it’s not exactly something uncommon in Canada.”

A word for the IOC, and reporters casting this as a negative incident: Please, just let Team Canada have their fun. What they did was refreshingly authentic. Don’t punish them for it.

Yes, it was authentic. Yes, it’s pretty harmless. Yes, we should just let them have their fun and not punish them for it. I agree with Winn.

Yet, this just isn’t how this stuff works anymore. Image is everything. You have to do and say all the right things at all the right times if you’re an athlete these days, lest someone try and cast it in a controversial or negative light, lest your governing body gets preachy. Welcome the the 24/7 news cycle. Welcome to a world where media training trumps full disclosure.

This isn’t the first time a stink has been raised in Vancouver. U.S. snowboarder Scotty Logo had some fun with his bronze medal, which showed up on TMZ.

He then made the decision to go home before the USOC reacted.

It’s unfair and sort of silly, but it’s a trend that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Now this, this makes a lot of sense. From the USA Today:

Research by three U.S. academics, who analyzed heat-of-the-moment reactions, medal-stand temperament and interviews of Olympians, shows that bronze-medal winners, on average, are happier with their finishes than silver medalists. Take silver, and you tend to fixate on the near miss. Score bronze, and you are thankful you were not shut out altogether.

There was a time when I was a competitive runner, and I would say from experience this doesn’t translate; I was happier when I finished second rather than third. And as far as the big American sports go, I would think it’s better to make the World Series or Super Bowl or NBA Finals and lose, than to fall just short in a League/Conference championship series — the bronze in this scenario.

HOWEVA.

The Olympics are a totally different beast. If you finish in the top three, that in and of itself is oftentimes enough. Hey, I got a medal. I’m on the stand. I’m being honored. I’m not the team that is walking shamefully off the field or court, I’m standing proud with a medal around my neck.

And so it stands to reason that if you land the bronze, you’ll feel like you’ve just made it in and are happy enough. But nab the silver and though you still have a medal, you’ve just missed out on the gold, the sweet, sweet gold.

Do you remember that schoolyard saying: “First is the worst, second in the best, third is the one with the treasure chest?”

Well, none of that applies here. The end.

Why, Yes, I Would Prefer That Bronze To A Silver, Thank You Very Much

Hey, kids: the Winter Olympics are right around the corner! Be honest, now: I know you are really excited for the curling and the bobsledding and the figure skating. Yeah. See. I knew it. (Actually, I’m only kinda kidding here. This stuff might not be on TV every Sunday in the fall, but it’s incredibly interesting to watch when the Winter Olympics come around. I’ll be watching.)

But what about the events that need snow? Like skiing. Or snowboarding. Or snowblowing. (I made that last one up.)

Well, there’s a bit of problem with those right now. There’s no snow in Vancouver.

High temperatures and rain have melted much of the snow-pack at the North Shore mountain site. Technicians have been replacing that with snow from higher up the mountain and building up the runs with wood and hay.

Now a spokeswoman for the Vancouver organizing committee says VANOC is trucking in about three dozen loads of snow a day from as far away as Manning Park, more than two hours drive east of Vancouver.

VANOC’s vice-president of communications Renée Smith-Valade said it was always part of the contingency plan to augment snow at the Olympic sites from outside sources.

Guys, this is why we must protect our environment; global warming is a real phenomenon, and  by the time our grandchildren get to be our age, the only site left to host the Winter Olympics is going to be Antarctica. And travel costs to Antarctica this time of year are through the roof.

And I’m pretty sure their only lodging is igloos. In short: vote no on global warming.

Something in my feeble brain is vaguely remembering  Stephen Colbert being tied to the upcoming Winter Olympics. Probably just some zany gimmick. Nothing more. Nothing less. This is Stephen Colbert, after all.

So it is with great joy that this video is bringing things into a clearer picture for me now: “Colbert Nation” is actually sponsoring the US speedskating team this year. No joke. And some people are pissed.

Observe:

Oh, and if you think Colbert was kidding around about the Sports Illustrated cover, he most certainly was not:

Is it too late to get Colbert on the bobsled team?

HT: SB Nation

The Chicago delegation to Copenhagen is getting ready to leave to try to woo the International Olympic Committee to award the 2016 games to Chicago. Michael Jordan won’t be making the trip, but Oprah will join Mayor Daley in pitching the city to the committee. I knew Oprah was a proponent of the games in Chicago, but I hadn’t been aware that she once said of a group of people protesting bringing the Olympics to Chicago, “I don’t know what’s wrong with these people.”

I’m not sure if I want the Olympics in Chicago or not. But I do know there are valid reasons to be concerned. Aside from the fact that we live in a famously corrupt state where it’s likely money will find its way to places it’s not supposed to, there’s just the hassle the Olympics pose. One point of comparison is what’s going on in Pittsburgh for the G-20 right now:

Security plans, including a vehicle-free, three-block perimeter around the convention center and a ban on most vehicles elsewhere in the city’ dense, triangular downtown, mean protesters and foreign dignitaries will likely experience an emptier-than-normal Pittsburgh when the two-day summit begins Thursday. Commuters must park outside downtown and either walk or take mass transit into the business district.

Chicagoans can likely expect similar restrictions - for a month or more - if the city hosts the Olympics in 2016. With Olympic events slated for McCormick Place, Monroe Harbor and Grant Park, there’s simply no way the city wouldn’t basically come to a standstill.

No doubt there would be good things about the Olympics too - it might be the only thing to spur the city and state to make some much-needed infrastructure improvements. It would no doubt be a boon for anything even remotely related to tourism in the city. But there are drawbacks too, and Oprah shouldn’t be quite so dismissive of those who don’t want their lives turned upside down for the games.

Outside of Barack Obama and Oprah, Michael Jordan is pretty much the biggest Chicago celebrity name. (Sorry Jim Belushi!)

So who better to give Chicago’s Olympic bid the final nudge by taking a trip to Conpenhagen for the city’s bid delegation? I bet they even have casinos there.

Well, it’s looking like it ain’t gonna happen. Despite some inquiry, Jordan is still floating around in the ether somewhere.

“I have no reason to believe he will be there,” Ryan told the Tribune today after addressing the U.S Olympic assembly at the Palmer House Hilton. “We haven’t given up on it.  He hasn’t said no to us yet.”

Really, this isn’t that big a deal. Jordan is free to do what he wants, and it’s not imperative he be there. There’s a bazillion factors going into the decision; though Jordan’s presence would be nice, he’s likely not going to put Chicago over the edge at the 11th hour.

Unless someone on the IOC committee was a really big Bulls fans in the 90s. Then he’s sort of dropped the ball.