Best Game Faces

Tessa Virtue
Torah Bright
Yu Na Kim










Clair didn't quite qualify for US snowboard team.....but wowser










I think Tessa Virtue wins the Michael Timothy McAlevey Olympic beauty contest....with Torah Bright and Yu Na Kim finishing a very close second and third.

And the torch gets snuffed and next stop is Soshi, Russia in 2014.....God willing.

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Bill Demong is 30 years old and has appeared in four Olympics. The fact that he has continued in an event that rarely gets noticed is only part of the story.

He had never won a medal in Olympic competition.

On Thursday Bill won the Gold Medal in the large hill Nordic combined.

He is the first American to ever win a gold medal in a Nordic combined event.

NORDIC combined events are dominated by Norway, Sweden and those other cold places east of New York.

It can be announced now that the United States is officially competitive in the Nordic events....except of course for ski jumping.

BILL DEMONG

JOHNNY SPILLANE

TODD LODWICK

BRETT COMEROTA

A TEAM FOR THE AGES

in an event that nobody cared about before now. Hopefully they will get to do the talk show circuit and be able to enjoy the rewards of having worked extremely hard for many many years.

Maybe they could do a song on American Idol.

"Climb every mountain.....

Michael Timothy McAlevey

If you ever had a mom

This is easily one of the most emotional moments I've ever witnessed in sport.

The Joannie Rochette story reaches deep into the heart and soul of every human being who has had a mom or a dad or a husband or a wife or a lover or a brother or a sister or a son or a daughter or a very close friend who had one of the above. Some people are lucky enough to have had them all.

Emotional is the absolute best word to describe the performance of Joannie during last night's Olympic figure skating short program.

I'm assuming that you are well aware of what she has gone through in the last five days.

When one thinks about the commitment from family members regarding the success of an ice skater then one can really feel the sorrow watching Ms. Rochette skate last night. I have no idea about her spiritual beliefs but I trust that she took every jump knowing that her mom was not going to let her fall or stumble.

The few shots of her father in the audience were just as emotional.

And please note that I fell asleep before her skate and my tears flowed during a DVR session early this morning. I can't even imagine how drained the audience was after she finished.

And she skates again on Thursday night but I'm sure it won't be quite as emotional.....unless she does a triple quad....or a spin that levitates her off the ice.

The ultimate would be if everybody else fell down and she ended up winning the gold.

I'm pretty sure Kim Yu Na isn't going to let that happen but stranger things have taken place during an Olympic event.

Just ask Sven Kramer the Dutch speedskater.

Talk about bad coaching.....ouch!

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Virtue and beauty equals gold every time

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the Ice Dance competition and fans of beautiful faces got our fix.

Between Tanith, Meryl and Tessa we got to see the beauty queens of the Olympics but when your last name is Virtue and you look like that, you probably have to fall down and get a bloody nose to lose.

It didn't happen and she is Gold.

I personally think Tanith and Ben should have been on the podium but the Russians would have had a stroke if they had finished fourth.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White will win a Gold Medal someday if they stay together.

She is like a Disney character with her grace and high pitched voice.

A night of less crashing and burning and a lot more beauty.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

A Trifecta for Bode

And now we can add a Gold to the Miller legacy...and an end to all the crap he took in Torino.

He is officially the King of United States Alpine Skiing and we will be hard pressed to see anything like him for quite awhile.

The dude abides!

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Mo for Bode and the new kid gets one

Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the Super G today but Bode got the Silver and ANDREW WEIBRECHT from Lake Placid NY won the Bronze.

The fact that Svindal can levitate ( as he demonstrates in the photo) has to be taken into consideration.

The United States skiers and snowboarders are ripping up the Olympics and there's still more to come.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Evan's work ethic pays off and Johnny gets robbed

Evan Lysacek beat the defending champ Evgeni Plushenko by a very narrow margin

and the next few days will be filled with QUAD debaters. Should a male win the gold

without doing a Quad?

I think if we replay both skaters it will be easier to determine the tiny flaws. I don't have an opinion on the Quad issue because I look for the entire program being as clean as possible.

Evan just looks cooler on the ice......and that's all I got on that matter.

Johnny Weir finished sixth and the fact that he didn't move up after his performance is simply a raw deal.

Plushenko said yesterday that he would be happy with any color medal so we shouldn't feel too bad for the ruskie.

There hasn't been any talk about Evan and Tanith Belbin dating so maybe that cooled down.

I'm sure we will find out in the next few days.

I know you can't wait to find out more about the love life of Evan and Tanith.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Shaun, Shani, Lindsay....Julia and Chad

Big day for hard workers.

Julia Mancuso might have been the biggest surprise by finishing second in the downhill. She won the gold medal in the Giant Slalom at the 2006 Torino Olympics, but wasn't expected to medal in the downhill in Vancouver. Chad Hedrick quietly won his fourth Olympic medal by finishing third in the 1000 meter speedskating.

The other three athletes would have been considered unsuccessful with a silver or bronze medal.

Shani Davis is the first American to win back to back gold in the 1000 meter speedskating event.

Watching Lindsay Vonn cry in her husband's arms was worth the price of admission. The fact that they had it miked was a huge bonus for all of us sappy viewers.

Shaun White seems to be in his own league.....and it has huge air and hair.

Michael Timothy McAlevey