Ciao bella

Well, sadly that is it for four more years. That’s my armchair coaching and commnentating on sports I know little or anything about over until next time. I’m sure I wasn’t the only person shouting at the tele’ for Bruce Mouat to takeout or Charlotte Bankes to straightline!

I was lucky to see a lot of this year’s Winter Olympics and I enjoyed BBC, TNT and NBC’s coverage. The closing ceremony this afternoon was also stunning. The Italians are cool bastards, aren’t they. I do need to get myself to that Roman amphitheater in Verona that was built in 30 AD. Breathtaking.

A record haul for GB, which included 3 goals medals, two actually on the snow. It was also a record medal tally for the Americans, although after today’s Ice Hockey, Trump may at least decide not to invade. And, what idiot decided that a thunderous hour of hockey be decided by a 3 on 3 over time. It’s a bit like being a kid and your Mum telling you and your mates you have 5 minutes to get indoors for your tea, so you go straight to next goal wins it. Ridiculous that the final gold medal event was decided that way. Those Canadians looked absolutely devastated, and the women lost in the same vein.

It was also great to see the traditional nordic countries do really well. Norway (pop: 5.5m) 18 golds to USA (pop: 348m) 12, and China (pop: 1.4bn) 5. The Netherlands, France, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland all did well as did the cool hosts. GB also recorded 24 top 10 places, which augurs well for the French Alps in 2030.

Other than the curling, where I guess a stone could runover your toe, every sport looks so dangerous. For those of you that know me, my idea of skiing is sat on a dog sled with a hot cocoa. My ultimate respect goes to those athletes that push boundaries and themselves to achieve incredible things. The French are considering Ice Cross for 2030. It makes Big Air look like a game of tiddly winks. Look it up.

Gutted for the four Scottish lads last night in the Curling. Viewing figures topped 5.5 million last night. I suppose the trick is now to get some of these sports into the main stream and win some seasonal TV contracts.

I was only thinking last night that Curling needs to try to follow the Darts model, but someone beat me to it and the brand new Rock League begins in April.

That’s my evenings taken care off, live Curling. The lukewarm-other-half will be pleased. In all seriousness I will miss the Winter Olympics. There never was a dull moment.