Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies were pretty awesome. Long but pretty awesome. 

We arrived early, about an hour and half before the advertised time for the beginning. Had a good time mingling in the Olympic Family Lounge withhold curling friends from Canada, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, France, and the USA. 

("Mingling" with curling friends basically means drinking lots of free alcohol.)

We had a great time until the Canadians and Australians started inadvertently knocking into the poor Russian gals who were trying to navigate full trays of wine through the densely packed crowd.  

This commotion created quite the scene amongst the "Olympic Family," so I quickly announced that we were with "international hockey," on hopes of creating some semblance of a cover story.  


The word soon started to spread that the ceremonies wouldn't start until 8:14 pm as opposed to the 7pm advertised start time.  I announcing to all that "you know why this is right? ...Putin was born on August 14!  Didnt you know?"   

I have never seen people buy something hook, line and sinker as this false claim.  Wow.  I think it actually started to spread virally through the stadium. :-)


Once seated in the 40,000 seat Fischt arena, you could really feel the excitement building. As usual, we were given several props for the show which primarily consisted of an Olympic themed blanket (very handy as temps were dropping) and a medallion that would light up as a part of the scripted choreography of the show.  

Though I felt a little bit like Favor Flav, I was pumped, sitting next to my good friend Young Kim, the WCF VP from Seoul.  I looked around and within twenty feet of me were at enfold of countries represented.....this is what this event is all about.  Big smiles from me. 

As the show was about to start the Russian army choir performed their take on Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" which was led by some Russian General scooting around on a Segway.  To say it was surreal would be an understatement.  I understand that this wasn't aired back in the US.....you folks really missed out.   Wow.

Once the show started it was pretty awesome: An incredible display of theatrics and special effects and a recounting of the entirety of Russian history.  (When I say entirety, I mean entirety....it was a tad long :-)) but very enjoyable.

I love seeing the teams come out.  My favorites are always the Greeks (first), the Irish (there are winter sports in Ireland?), the Caribbeans  (really?), our neighbors in Canada, and of course watching our guys come out behind Old Glory herself. 

The Russians made a grand entrance but my favorite of the night was Germany.  I don't know if it was all the "mingling" with te curlers, but I am pretty sure they were donning rainbow colored  jackets, which I took to be a big, big FU to...shall we say Russian politics. 

The event concluded with the always powerful lighting of the flame.  I ran into many US athletes afterwards, including our curlers.  

Wonderful way to start what will surely be a great couple of weeks. 

The opening ceremonies were pretty awesome. Long but pretty awesome. 

We arrived early, about an hour and half before the advertised time for the beginning. Had a good time mingling in the Olympic Family Lounge withhold curling friends from Canada, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, France, and the USA. 

("Mingling" with curling friends basically means drinking lots of free alcohol.)

We had a great time until the Canadians and Australians started inadvertently knocking into the poor Russian gals who were trying to navigate full trays of wine through the densely packed crowd.  

This commotion created quite the scene amongst the "Olympic Family," so I quickly announced that we were with "international hockey," on hopes of creating some semblance of a cover story.  


The word soon started to spread that the ceremonies wouldn't start until 8:14 pm as opposed to the 7pm advertised start time.  I announcing to all that "you know why this is right? ...Putin was born on August 14!  Didnt you know?"   

I have never seen people buy something hook, line and sinker as this false claim.  Wow.  I think it actually started to spread virally through the stadium. :-)


Once seated in the 40,000 seat Fischt arena, you could really feel the excitement building. As usual, we were given several props for the show which primarily consisted of an Olympic themed blanket (very handy as temps were dropping) and a medallion that would light up as a part of the scripted choreography of the show.  

Though I felt a little bit like Favor Flav, I was pumped, sitting next to my good friend Young Kim, the WCF VP from Seoul.  I looked around and within twenty feet of me were at enfold of countries represented.....this is what this event is all about.  Big smiles from me. 

As the show was about to start the Russian army choir performed their take on Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" which was led by some Russian General scooting around on a Segway.  To say it was surreal would be an understatement.  I understand that this wasn't aired back in the US.....you folks really missed out.   Wow.

Once the show started it was pretty awesome: An incredible display of theatrics and special effects and a recounting of the entirety of Russian history.  (When I say entirety, I mean entirety....it was a tad long :-)) but very enjoyable.

I love seeing the teams come out.  My favorites are always the Greeks (first), the Irish (there are winter sports in Ireland?), the Caribbeans  (really?), our neighbors in Canada, and of course watching our guys come out behind Old Glory herself. 

The Russians made a grand entrance but my favorite of the night was Germany.  I don't know if it was all the "mingling" with te curlers, but I am pretty sure they were donning rainbow colored  jackets, which I took to be a big, big FU to...shall we say Russian politics. 

The event concluded with the always powerful lighting of the flame.  I ran into many US athletes afterwards, including our curlers.  

Wonderful way to start what will surely be a great couple of weeks. 

Sochi 2014: Hot. Cool. Yours. - Inside the Ring of Steel

Well I have finally arrived in Sochi and can't begin to tell you how excited I am!

With all the recent talk of terroristic threats from "black widows" and Cicassian Nationalists; the many postings and reports of half-built hotel rooms with "dangerous water" and bizarre toilet arrangements; and the general angst of contemplating being away for so long with so much going on in my life, I have to admit, I had not quite gotten into the Olympic spirit.

Well all of that changed as soon as I boarded Aeroflot 1782 bound from Moscow to Sochi. I immediately ran into Canadian curling friends and US Snow and Skiboard peeps, and saw the flags of so many nations bound for the the same destination as me....that subtropical piece of land between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains that is hosting the XXII Winter Olympics: Sochi.

The flight to Sochi was relatively uneventful though a man did walk by me that had the odor of .... I don't know what... but whatever it was, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

After recovering from my near odor-induced dry heave, I asked the stewardess why "Miracle" wasn't one of the in-flight movie options. She didn't find the humor in the query that I did.

My seatmate was a Japanese reporter, and we were both pretty awed by the power of the snow-capped mountains and the beauty of the pristine sea as we made our decent over the Caucasuses.....we were both snapping photographs like crazy, looking forward to what we would find on the ground.

Upon arrival in Sochi, things were immediately chaotic. Eight trillion people at the small overwhelmed airport, but I made my way through, got my credential authenticated, collected my luggage, and, after some brief confusion with the very confused Russian transportation staff, found myself in a shuttle bus with one of the curling umpires from Minnesota, and, my good friend Dieter "Didi" Kolb, the World Curling Federation Representative from Germany.

We made our way to our hotel which is inside the Olympic Park. As such, we had to get off the bus with all of our luggage to pass through the "Ring of Steel," the security perimeter the Russians have set up around the Coastal Cluster, home to all of the ice events, the opening and closing ceremonies, and the Olympic Village. But it wasn't that big of a deal, basically just an airport type screening, so fifteen minutes later we found ourselves in the lobby of our hotel.

I think we were all a little anxious with what awaited us in terms of accommodation, but we were quickly relieved to see the Bogatyr Hotel. Its medieval castle architecture (down to faux marble carpeting I might add) may not be to everyone's liking, but, hey, it was not under construction like everything else here at the Olympic Park. And on top of that, we were immediately met by full costumed, traditional Russian singers and dancers and friendly staff offering champagne, caviar, and chilled vodka. My kinda place!

In turns out, apparently the guy who built (or is building) a lot of the Olympic Park stuff is a big curling fan. So us curlers have the best hotel, and the Ice Cube, the curling venue, is the only one with with a restaurant/bar adjacent to it. Haha.

I have already heard several people complain "how did the curlers get all of the good stuff." I love it.

After checking in to my fully functioning hotel room, I met Didi and Greg Stremlaw, the CEO of the Canadian Curling Association, for a walk around the Park. As I mentioned, it very much feels under construction, and I was laughing at guys racing to plant four foot tall evergreen trees...as if that's going to matter???

But what is really cool about the Olympic Park is that all of the venues are together: Hockey is next curling which is next to speed skating which is next to figure skating etc....all arranged around a central oval. The oval itself is where the flame will be lit tonight and contains lots of outdoor seating and mingling space. I imagine it will be a pretty happening scene once everything gets going.

We ended up meeting up with lots of other curling folks and had a wonderful meal in the aforementioned "curling restaurant" which I think will be a frequent spot over the next couple of weeks.

So I have arrived. Day 1 is complete. I don't know if there are any black widows around, but I do know this:

There is a southern curler in town.

Here we go....The Sochi Adventure Begins

I have been waiting for this day for four years now. The day I left Vancouver, I started to wonder "Would I go to Sochi?" but I knew immediately the answer was yes.

The bigger questions were "What in the world is it going to be like to go deep into southern Russia for a decidedly non-North American Olympics? Will it be safe? Will it be cold? How the hell do you get there? What's the Black Sea look like? Will I allow vodka, outside of a bloody mary, to enter my body for the first time in 28 years?"

Well, sports fans, we are about to find out.

My route today takes me Lisbon to Paris to Moscow, and, God willing, to Sochi tomorrow.

That's right folks - The Southern Curler is back.

Spread the word.

Tchau Portugal.