Let’s provide the notes and quotes from NBC’s networks from the last Wednesday of the Winter Olympics. Just glad to see this coming to an end. Here is Universal Sports’ quotage from yesterday.
UNIVERSAL SPORTS AT THE VANCOUVER GAMES:NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FOR WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010Wednesday, February 24, 2010 — On the fourteenth day of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Universal Sports at the Vancouver Games continues its five-hour programming block, starting at 10 a.m. ET and continuing daily until the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, February 28.Vancouver Olympic News Center and Morning Buzz:News Alerts:· The United States has 26 medals, a record for total medals won by Team USA on foreign soil. Team USA collected 25 medals at the 2006 Torino (Italy) Games.Tom Steitz, former U.S. Nordic Combined Team Coach (on the U.S. Ski Team’s silver medal in Nordic combined): “This is absolutely a breakthrough Olympics for the ski jumpers and Nordic combined teams. We’re watching history unfold in front of us.”Steitz: “There are a lot of kids jumping off their couches saying ‘Mom, I want to be a ski jumper—watch me fly.'”Paul Wylie, 1992 Olympic Figure Skating Silver Medalist: (on the Ladies’ Short Program): “I thought (Mirai) Nagasu was under-marked, her program components were excellent.”Wylie: “Kim Yu-Na looks unbeatable for the long program…It’s going to be really tough to beat her. She has the triple-triples (in her program). She just looks masterful.”Wylie (on Rachael Flatt): “She looked like she was having a lot of fun, which is hard to do at your first Olympics.”Features:Call of the Day: A Korean TV network’s call of the Men’s 10,000m speed skating race yesterday on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, marked the second time in a row that hosts Terry Gannon, Lindsey Soto, and guest Jeremy Bloom were unable to guess the correct answer.Summer Sanders, Universal Sports’ Whistler sideline reporter, speaks with Dow Travers, the lone athlete representing the Cayman Islands and a competitor in Alpine skiing events. Travers hopes to be back for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.Vancouver sideline reporter Stacey Dales investigates the extremely popular Olympic-time hobby of pin trading and etiquette behind proper pin-trading behavior.NBC’s Alex Flannigan looks at the medals awarded at the 21st Winter Games, which draw on a design based on nature and traditions of the native tribes, with nearly $200 million spent creating the medals.MEET THE OLYMPIC PRESS:Phil Hersh, Chicago Tribune reporter (on Sven Kramer’s lane mistake costing him the gold medal): “They told us you can’t be in an Olympic lane without a permit or you’ll get fined, and he did.”John Powers, Boston Globe reporter (on Flatt and Nagasu): “I think for these two, 5th and 6th place wouldn’t be bad.”Powers: “Hearing the Austrians say ‘watch out for the Americans in the Nordic combined’ is really something.”Powers (on ‘novelty’ athletes like Eddie the Eagle (1988 Calgary Ski Jumper from Great Britain) being allowed in the Olympics:“As fun as these novelty athletes are
, these sports can kill you if you don’t know what you’re doing. WinterOlympic sports are more dangerous than Summer Olympic sports.”Steitz (on the U.S. Ski Team’s two Nordic combined medals): “One of the longest and hardest-fought battles in the Olympics that I’ve ever witnessed.”Thumbs up/Thumbs down segment:Hersh: “Thumbs up to Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater who’s mother died Sunday. Not only to do it (perform), but to do it so brilliantly in honor of her mother was just inspiring.”… and, the gold medal for the day goes to John Powers, so that Alan Abrahamson won’t be the only journalist with a medal from Universal Sports.Powers (on being awarded the daily MTOP gold medal): “I’m going to give it to (Dutch long distance skater) Sven Kramer (who was disqualified from his gold medal for an illegal lane change).VANCOUVER REVIEW/PREVIEW:Lindsey Soto talks with U.S. Ski Team Aerials Coach Brian Currutt.Currutt (on the prowess of the Chinese aerial team): “Unlike a lot of others countries, they have a transfer pool where they take kids from gymnastics schools and teach them to be comfortable in the air (jumping). They have a large number of acrobat schools, and they get the (kids) comfortable skiing and they advance quickly.”Figure Skating Review/Preview:After the Ladies’ Short Program, South Korea’s Kim Yu-Na is in first, Japan’s Mao Asada is second, Canada’s Joannie Rochette is third, with Americans Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu in fifth and sixth, respectively.On the dramatic conclusion of the Ice Dancing Event:Tracy Wilson, 1988 Olympic Ice Dancing Bronze Medalist for Canada, with the late Rob McCall (on U.S. silver medal ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White): “Their power pushes you back in your seat, and then they connect so emotionally with the music it takes everyone onto the ice with them.”Wlison: “Nobody wanted to breathe. Nobody wanted to interrupt. I fully expected, having watched a number of Olympics over the years, the skaters to pull in, play it safe and skate not to lose. But none of the skaters out there did that.”Peter Carruthers, 1984 Olympic Pairs Figure Skating Silver Medalist (on Canadian gold medal ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir): “Their performance took me to another place.”On Tuesday’s Ladies’ short program competition:Wilson (on the technical evolution of ladies skating with more trying triple jumps in combination): “There were two tried in the last Olympics, and here there will be 10 tried.”Carruthers (on South Korea’s dominant Kim Yu-Na): “She’s just the fastest lady on the ice, and that helps with her scores.”Guests Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, U.S. ice dancers, who placed fourth in Vancouver after earning silver medals in Torino in 2006:Belbin (on the progress in Olympic and international competition by U.S. ice dancers): “If we can take credit for at least keeping the ball rolling, that’s a great compliment in itself.”Agosto (on their Vancouver experience): “We were able to skate all three events the way we always hoped we would. That feeling is so rare. In Torino (despite a higher finish), there were things we weren’t personally satisfied with about how we skated.”Belbin (on the emergence of the U.S. as an ice dancing power): “It’s insane. And, the fact that we’ve gone through how many version of this scoring system? To see where this has come, and the value placed on the intricacies and athleticism. There is no way anyone would have the guts in this day to say its not a sport.”Belbin (on their future as a dance couple): “We’re not going anywhere. (But) we’re definitely closing the book on the Olympic competitive experience.”Belbin (On her description of the experience of rooming with flamboyant U.S. men’s skater Johnny Weir): “That is the ultimate question, isn’t it? You know what, it was fantastic and believe it or not we mostly kept to ourselves, which was the whole point of taking the (two-bedroom) suite. I haven’t’ seen very much of him, to be honest.”Guests Meryl Davis and Charlie White, 2010 Olympic ice dancing silver medalists:Davis (on their long partnership): “I have tremendous trust in (Charlie). We’ve been together 13 years. And he’s never let me down yet. He is a very reliable partner in so many ways.”White (on how they deliver passion on ice by becoming the Phantom of the Opera characters): “When we are choreographing, we are thinking, ‘What would the Phantom and Christine do were they to twizzle’?”White (On their training partners and fellow Vancouver medalists Virtue and Moir): “We have such a great relationship. We’ve grown up together and have been training with the same coaches for five years now. We’ve had each other’s backs. We’ve been able to talk through tough times and good times.”Tenley Albright, 1956 U.S Olympic Figure Skating Gold Medalist in Ladies Skating:(On her memories after winning the gold medal): “The American flag went up and they played ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’, not the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’”(On skating on an outdoor rink in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 1956): “I remember taking off for a double Axel in sunlight and landing in a shadow. The things we were doing were just as hard for us (in 1956) as the things the girls are doing today.”SCHEDULE FOR UNIVERSAL SPORTS NETWORK – THURSDAY, FEB. 25, 2010:10 –11:30 AM Vancouver Olympic News Center and Morning Buzz11:30 AM – 12 PM Behind the Games12 – 12:30 PM Meet The Olympic Press1: 30 – 2 PM Vancouver Review/Preview2 – 3 PM Figure Skating Review/PreviewFUN FACTS OF THE DAY:· There are only three qualified ski jumping hills for training in the United States: Lake Placid, N.Y.; Park City, Utah; and Steamboat Springs, Colo.· Whistler Mountain is named for the shrill sound made by marmots (native to the area).
Now to NBC Universal’s daytime quotage.
DAY 13 DAYTIME HIGHLIGHTS OF NBC WINTER OLYMPICS COVERAGE“That was one of the best games of the Olympics so far. Sacrifice. Willing to pay the price. What a hockey game.” – NBC’s Jeremy Roenick on USA vs. Switzerland
Team USA Takes Down Switzerland 2-0 to Advance to the Seminfinals in Men’s Hockey
VANCOUVER - February 24, 2010 - Daytime coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games continued today on NBC with live coverage of the men’s hockey quarterfinal game between Team USA and Switzerland. USA won 2-0 and will advance to the semifinal round, facing the winner of Finland vs. Czech Republic.
Al Michaels hosted the daytime show live from Canada Hockey Place. Joining Michaels for analysis were Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick. Mike “Doc” Emrick provided play-by-play, Eddie Olczyk provided game analysis and Pierre McGuire reported from “Inside the Glass.” Below are highlights from the game.
NBC
FIRST PERIOD
OLCZYK ON WHY TEAM USA HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL: “It’s been the extra effort. The plays without the puck.”
EMRICK ON USA’S CHRIS DRURY AND RYAN CALLAHAN: “Drury and Callahan together have been magic.”
OLCZYK ON SWITERLAND’S THOMAS DERUNS: “Every time Thomas Deruns is on the ice, he’s a heat-seeking missile.”
MILBURY ON USA’S RYAN MILLER: “He makes it look easy.”
ROENICK ON SWITZERLAND’S JONAS HILLER: “The saves that he makes are sometimes acrobatic, sometimes desperation. He finds ways to save the puck.”
OLCZYK ON THIS OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT: "We've seen momentum in these Olympic Games. When you have it, you feel it, and you throw everything at the net."
SECOND PERIOD
OLCZYK ON SWITZERLAND IN THE SECOND PERIOD: “The Swiss are comfortable right now. They know Hiller is on top of his game. They’ve taken the crowd out of it and they’ve taken a little bit of the pace out of it. They’re comfortable in this kind of environment.”
“Penalty killing is about heart and structure. The Swiss have a lot of heart and tremendous structure.”
“You have some guys in white that just play with a whole lot of nasty. They just get in your face and they smack you. They are not intimidated at all.”
MICHAELS ON TEAM USA: “The United States have outshot the Swiss 32-8.”
THIRD PERIOD
OLCZYK ON USA’S ZACH PARISE: “One word to descr ibe Zach Parise. Persistence.”
MCGUIRE ON PARISE: “This guy’s the heart and soul of U.S.A hockey.”
EMRICK ON USA’S RYAN MILLER: “The last shut out by a U.S. goalie was by Mike Richter in ’02.”
OLCZYK ON TEAM SWITERLAND: “It was a gutsy performance by the Swiss.”
ROENICK ON THE GAME: “That was one of the best games of the Olympics so far. Sacrifice. Willing to pay the price. What a hockey game.”
And finally the primetime quotes, but they do not include Mike Milbury’s infamous “Eurotrash” comments on CNBC after the Canada-Russia game.
HOST NATION CANADA WINS GOLD & SILVER IN WOMEN’S BOBSLED, US WOMEN EARN BRONZE; CANADA DEFEATS RUSSIA IN MEN’S HOCKEY FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 1960“This is a decision that could lead to an incredible amount of emotion.” – NBC’s Ted Robinson on short track relay
“Canada defeats Russia in the Olympics for the first time since 1960.” – NBC’s Bill Patrick
VANCOUVER - Feb. 24, 2010 - Host nation Canada won gold and silver in the women’s bobsled on the 13TH day of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. US women Erin Pac and Elana Meyers earned bronze.
In short track ladies’ 3,000-meter relay, Allison Baver, Alyson Dudek, Lana Gehring and Katherine Reutter of the USA earned bronze when South Korea, who originally finished first, was disqualified, providing China the gold and Canada the silver.
Apolo Ohno, already the most-decorated US Winter Olympian ever with seven career medals, including two at these Games, advanced in men’s short track 500 meters. The competition resumes on Friday night.
Lydia Lassila of Australia won gold in women’s freestyle aerials, defeating China’s Li Nina and Guo Xinxin, who earned silver and bronze, respectively. The United States continues to lead the medal count with 28, including seven gold. Germany is second with 24, also with seven gold.
On CNBC, Canada’s men’s hockey team defeated Russia, 7-3, for the first time in the Olympics since 1960 and advanced to the semifinal of the tournament. The host nation will play the winner of Sweden-Slovakia. On MSNBC, Sweden defeated Great Britain, 7-6, in 11 ends in men’s curling.
SHORT TRACK:
Play-by-Play: Ted Robinson
Analyst: Andy Gabel
Reporter: Andrea Joyce
Robinson on China and South Korea jockeying for first place during the relay: “Two longtime rivals. They’re going to race for gold here.”
Robinson before the judge’s decision to disqualify South Korea: “This is a decision that could lead to an incredible amount of emotion.”
Robinson after the decision: “I believe by the reaction, the Chinese team is going to win.”
Costas on the outcome of the race: “Celebration, yes, for the Chinese. I guarantee you outrage in South Korea.”
Robinson on the 500m: “It is the most electric race in short track.”
Andy Gabel on 17 year old US skater Simon Cho: “I think he’s too young to know to be nervous.”
Apolo Ohno on the 500m: “Everybody can skate the 500 fast because obviously it’s half the distance of the 1000. The speeds are all out, max effort. It’s 40 seconds of pure torque and horsepower.”
Apolo Ohno on his yawning before his races: “I’m not tired-I get plenty of sleep. It’s more of a mental, psychological routine that I do, It relaxes me. If you watch the Discovery Channel or the nature channel, lions do it and I like that. And I want to be a lion.”
Gabel on Ohno’s race: “A veteran race by Apolo Anton Ohno. So patient. So relaxed.”
Ohno on his race tonight: “It went well, really well. The ice is actually really fast. So I feel good. I’m just enjoying racing, so it’s good.”
On if being in such good shape helps at this distance: “I think it helps in all the distances. This 500 is such a crazy race. So many skaters are able to skate four and a half laps so it’s going to be a struggle making every single round. But that’s what it’s all about.”
BOBSLED:
Play-by-Play: Bob Papa
Analyst: John Morgan
Reporter: Lewis Johnson
Morgan on Canada’s No. 1 sled: “Three times down. Three times a track record.”
Morgan: “Germany is the most powerful sliding sports nation on the planet.”
“There’s no Mason-Dixon line in Germany. They have four tracks, they love their sliding sports and the results have proven it.”
Morgan on Germany’s Cathleen Martini after her crash in the final round: “I’ve never seen Martini crash. I’ve never seen her close to crashing.”
“I had said the track has been tamed. I think I spoke too soon.”
Papa on Canada’s No. 1 sled: “Humphries for gold.”
US driver Erin Pac after the race: “I’m just so happy we made it down on all four runs. Elana did an awesome job, she picked up the slack for me today and I’m just so happy.”
US’s Elana Meyers after the race: “We just tried to relax and have some fun. Erin’s a great pilot and we just had to stay calm and do what we know how to do. And we did it.”
ALPINE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Tim Ryan
Analysts: Christin Cooper
Reporter: Steve Porino
Cooper on the weather conditions: “It’s going to be quite a challenge today.”
Cooper on Austria’s Elisabeth Gorgl, first after her first run: “She’s just skiing with so much confidence and so much mastery on this hill.”
Ryan on Lindsey Vonn crashing: “Looked like she caught an edge and she rockets into the fencing.”
Ryan on Julia Mancuso starting her race as Vonn was still on the course after her crash: “Meanwhile, here comes Julia Mancuso. -- She’s on the course and doesn’t know about Vonn below her. -- What a bizarre situation.”
Cooper on Mancuso being stopped in the middle of her race: “What rotten luck in an Olympic Games.”
Cooper on Mancuso’s re-start: “There’s just no way you can be as ready as were when you stood in that start gate the first time.”
Ryan: “Julia Mancuso, a victim of just some bizarre circumstances here today.”
Lindsey Vonn after her crash: “My body’s ok, I’m just frustrated. I was fighting. I really was attacking. I’m just disappointed in myself.”
Mancuso on her stopped run: “It’s always confusing because you don’t normally get yellow flagged in a GS race. I was trying to figure out if that was real or not because I didn’t want to stop and have them say, ‘Why’d you stop?’ So I finally figured out as I went by that something happened and I needed to stop. I went down and saw that Lindsey crashed and I was still just confused and overwhelmed by everything. I asked her if she was ok and then I found out the information that the snowmobile would take me back up to the top. - It was a lot of emotional and stress put into that run.”
Mancuso on her re-start run: “I had to do what I can. I went into the second run trying to stay positive. I got really, really tired halfway down. The snow definitely changed and it was not really an advantage to be starting later. But I made the most of i t.”
FREESTYLE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Todd Harris
Analyst: Jonny Moseley
Reporter: Tina Dixon
Moseley on 16-year old US skier Ashley Caldwell: “I’ve been so impressed with her poise. She has skiing ability, great technique in twisting and flipping. I think we’ll see a big future out of her.”
Moseley on the Chinese skiers: “They’re just really, really good in this sport right now. There’s no other way to put it.”
Harris on China’s Li Nina after her jump put her into first place: “And that’s why she’s wearing the number one bib.”
Harris on the quality of the competition: “I don’t know what they had for lunch today but this is unbelievable.”
Harris on Australia’s Lydia Lassila: “She’s one of the few non-Chinese jumpers capable to do a triple jump.”
Harris on Lassila winning gold: “It’s Lydia Lassila of Australia, the flying kangaroo, who takes gold at Cypress Mountain.”
CROSS COUNTRY:
Play-by-Play: Al Trautwig
Analyst: Chad Salmela
Salmela on Norway’s Petter Northug making up a large distance: “The fact that we’re even talking about Petter Northug right now is unbelievable. He had 37 seconds to challenge for a medal and he’s in the picture. This is an amazing young skier.”
Trautwig on Northug: “This is absolutely classic hunter and hunted stuff.”
Salmela: “And nobody hunts like Petter Northug on a pair of cross country skis.”
Trautwig on Northug’s silver: “That is one of the greatest silver medals you could ever see in just six miles of cross country skiing.”
CNBC, Men’s Ice Hockey Quarterfinal:
Canada 7 vs. Russia 3
Bill Patrick (Host), Mike Milbury (Studio Analyst), Jeremy Roenick (Studio Analyst), Mike Emrick (Play-By-Play), Eddie Olczyk (Analyst), Joe Micheletti
(Reporter)
Roenick on USA after win by Canada: “This is probably the worst scenario that the Americans could have expected. Canada coming out and just steamrolling Russia. Now Canada is rolling along, and they are feeling really good about themselves. They lost to the U.S on Sunday. This is a revenge game. If I was the U.S., I would be getting a little nervous right now.”
Patrick: “Canada defeats Russia in the Olympics for the first time since 1960.”
Olczyk: “A good old-fashioned schooling.”
Olczyk on the arena: “This place is absolutely going bonkers.”
Emrick on Canada and Russia: “Let’s just say they battle pretty hard.”
Olczyk on Canada’s Rick Nash’s speed: “Look at Rick Nash. It’s like he was shot out of cannon right through the neutral zone. Nobody had a chance on a reaction.”
Roenick: “Canada has only won one gold in the last 50 years and being on their home turf, I think they expect No. 2 to come this year.”
Patrick: “We have sat here and watched 37 hockey games over the last week and a half. None has had the feel that Canada and Russia has.”
Milbury on Russia’s Alexander Ovechkin: “This was a superstar that wasn’t ready for this situation.”
Milbury on Canada’s Roberto Luongo: “He’s a terrific goaltender. Really gobbles up pucks around the front of the net.”
Roenick on Ovechkin as a celebrity in the sports world: “He’s like the Brad Pitt of sports.”
Patrick on NHL teammates Crosby and Malkin: “Arguably the two best players on the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins are playing in this game. And while they are teammates most of the year, for a few weeks they are friendly rivals: Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.”
MSNBC, MEN’S CURLING TIEBREAKER:
Sweden 7 vs. Great Britain 6, 11 ends
Fred Roggin (Host), Andrew Catalon (Play-By-Play), Don Duguid (Analyst), Colleen Jones (Analyst), Elfi Schlegel (Reporter)
Catalon: “And Sweden is going to the semis. Sweden beats Great Britain, 7-6. They are moving on to face Team Canada.”
Catalon: “Everything else we have seen over the last week and a half has come down to the last end. It’s been a week-and-a-half filled with drama on the curling ice.”
Catalon on Sweden: “Last spring, the Swedish Olympic Committee debated on not sending a team to Vancouver. They didn’t think they had anyone good enough to compete. Up stepped a team of 24-year olds. They have risen to the occasion.”
Jones on comparing Great Britain and Sweden: “It’s such a contrast between these two teams. One with so much experience in Great Britain and then the Swedish team is so young and so new to this whole arena of international play, and here they are on the biggest stage showing no signs of nerves, making all the right shots.”
Roggin on the match: “Britain’s David Murdoch finds himself in an unexpected position this afternoon. Eight days ago he opened the Olympic tournament as the man who stood between Canada and a gold medal in men’s curling. Now, he needs a victory in the tie breaker round against Sweden to survive and advance to the semi-finals.”
That’s it.
