Back to Prime Time last night--it’s Women’s Hockey time, as they take out host country Italy. But of course the main story has to be: “Quad God Falls From Grace”, right? Nope--Mike (from the Duomo) is pretending it didn’t happen yet. Interesting call, NBC.
Over to a rerun of Women’s SnowboardCross. From the commentator--”…she is tough to get rid of--she’s like bad luggage…” I replayed it several times, that’s what he said.
Then it’s the Men’s Free Skate. The only people in the viewing audience who didn’t know the outcome by this time must have just come out of a coma.
There’s a break in the middle--Shawn White sets up the Men’s Half Pipe, then we see the rerun. Meanwhile, Shawn teaches Snoop how to Board (this was set up early in the games), and Tucci checks out Cortina’s spaghetti. When the (spoiler--winning) Kazakhstan skater competes, Tara talks about how he’s “planting the seeds” for the NEXT QISE. Oops.
Obviously, the “Event of the Night” is Quad God Malinin. Just before he performed, Johnny says “(Malinin) likes to surprise us”--well, he did. I think it takes a lot of pride to include your own voice in your musical selection. He barely managed to hold it together in the post-event interview.
Over to more Klaebo-rific Cross-County, before Tara and Johnny drop by to break down Maliningate in a flood of platitudes. Norway moves into the top spot in the Medal Count--US remains in #3.
Late Night--Taylor at the Duomo sends us over to the Men’s Biathlon Sprint. Cue the James Bond music. This is a sport where the commentators really throw numbers at you. Then it’s a FaceTime with Ski Jumper Kevin Bickner, as he rides in a gondola back up the mountain.
We move to Men’s Skeleton--the difference between this and Luge is that you go face (well, helmet) first. The UK get the gold for the first time ever. Taylor then returns to the subject of Malinin to wrap it up.
Over to Daytime--Lowe sends us straight to the finale of Women’s 4x7.5km Relay Cross-Country. Norway takes it. There’s a quick glance at Hockey, then it’s Men’s Giant Slalom. In the midst of a storm (snow at the top, rain at the bottom), Brazil’s Pinheiro Braathen (originally played for Norway, but moved over--his mom is Brazilian) earned the country’s first Winter QISE medal EVER--and it’s a gold.
Mary Carillo drops by to review the Malinin crisis, then back to the Women’s Biathlon, followed by a new event--Women’s Dual Moguls. Two athletes go down the hill at once, with the winner moving up the bracket. Seems like they are now just pulling skiing components out of a hat. We get a video package about the US Women’s Moguls team, but the Auzzies take it (3 golds for this games--only 6 total in Winter QISE before these games).
Carillo takes us on a tour of Verona, where Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet. It’s considered the City of Love despite all the historical family feuds. Another check-in on Hockey before we go to Speed Skating. It’s the Men’s 500m, which means another video package on Jordan Stolz, this time featuring his main rival, Damian Zurek of Poland. Stolz takes the gold.
Lowe then interviews Maxum Naumov at the Duomo. He’s the US skater who’s skate champion parents were killed in a plane crash last year. He looked like a deer in the headlights, which is understandable. It’s a touching discussion.
A check-in on Curling and Hockey, Adam Rippon grabs a Starbucks, and over to Women’s Skeleton. Then it’s a rerun of the Women’s 4x7.5km Relay Cross-Country from this morning. This time, it looks like we’re going to see the whole thing--and I’m fast-forwarding. On the other end, Tirico steps in for the final run of Women’s Skeleton.
Off to Women’s Ski Big Air, (as opposed to regular Big Air, which involves a board). The play guy could just be AI, generating random trick names. One of the competitors is down an ACL--so do you really need an ACL, or is it like an appendix?
TIrico sends us to Women’s Dual Moguls Finals and the Men’s 500m Speed Skaing--again, it’s coverage they aired earlier today. I think NBC had to time it out to allow the Sportsball event to start on time.
And speaking of--that’ll do it for today.
#Its_a_me_QISE