Top 10 Stories from the Vancouver Olympics

Whew! The Olympics are finally over and I saw countless hours of coverage. Two, sometimes three channels bringing me the sights and sounds in beautiful high definition.

I must confess that I like the Winter Olympics much more than the Summer Games. The only event that I failed to see at least some of was Skeleton. Yes, I watched some figure skating, but I AM married so it's the law.

My worry is that I'll have nothing to watch during the afternoon. I'll survive, don't get me wrong, but now I'll have to make decisions. I will NOT, however, miss hearing the "Five Dollar Foot Long" song played at the start of every commercial break.

Here are my observations from the Games, Top 10 Style.

10. Death was a big story line at the Vancouver Games, starting with the death of Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili during a training run just hours prior to the Opening Ceremony. The Games ended with Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette carrying the Canadian flag at the Closing Ceremony. Rochette's mother passed away just two days before her event. Rochette skated, dedicating her performance to her Mom and earned a bronze medal. And athletes kept coming up to have their picture taken with her, which I thought was tacky.

9. Shawn White - He's a rock star at the Winter Olympics. The two-time halfpipe gold medalist is easily the American face of the Games. Aside from the fact that he seems well grounded and is just happy being a laid back snow-boarder, he simply does his event better than anyone ever imagined, setting the bar and continually exceeding the expectations of everyone but himself. I was a little disappointed to hear that he no longer wants to be referred to as "The Flying Tomato" because that's a perfect nickname for the redhead daredevil.

8. Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko called out the judges and gold medalist American Evan Lysacek for not having a quadruple in his routine. Plushenko said that Lysacek should not have been awarded the medal. That's kind of like Chris Carpenter saying Tim Lincecum didn't deserve the Cy Young award because he doesn't throw a splitter. A sissy boy slap fight on the medal stand would have propelled this to #3.

7. Apolo Ohno - By far the most exciting and eventful Olympiad has to belong to the speed-skater turned Dancing with the Stars participant. Not only did he become the most prolific American Winter Olympian, he did it with some incredible races on the short track. To tie Bonnie Blair for most medals all time, two Korean skaters had to wipe each other out in the final turn of the final lap. They did. The set the new medal record, Ohno had to leap over two skaters who crashed right in front of him. He did. To end the Olympics on the most dubious note, Ohno would have to get disqualified during what many think will be his last Olympic race. He did. (By the way, he didn't deserve disqualification, in my humble, never speed-skated EVER opinion.)

6. Curling - It's no secret that the U.S. lags behind, but with the great strides that the sport has made over the past four years, the coverage and the sponsorship, the Americans were expected to fare much better this time around. But with both skips constantly choking during round robin matches, neither team were in contention for a medal.

5. Americans make headway to end Scandinavian dominance in Nordic events. The Nordic combined team won a medal for the first time ever, winning a total of four medals out of nine possible. The events combine ski jumping and cross-country skiing, two events which don't really go together at all, and are usually dominated by the northern-most, snow and ice covered countries such as Norway, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Germany. In the team event, Americans earned their first ever medal ever, taking the silver, finishing a couple of seconds behind the Austrian team. Bill Demong won the first ever gold medal for the Americans in a Nordic event.

4. 50 km cross-country. No big surprise at who won, but the simple fact that there is such an event kills me. It's the equivalent of the Summer Games marathon, except that it's longer (31 miles) and it's on snow. You have to be some kind of masochist to want to ski 31 miles. In a day.

3. Americans ended a six-decade long drought by winning the gold in four-man bobsled. There are several great things about this, not the least of which is that driver Steve Holcomb is a former soldier. The team managed to break the course record on each run. They won by a total of .38 second, which is the equivalent of a 8-0 win in hockey. The cool trivia is that former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine designed the sled, named "The Night Train."

2. In the hockey tournament, you couldn't have scripted a better story. The Canadians need to win on their home ice in a game they invented. The face of the NHL, Sydney Crosby, is front and center all the time, prompting me to say that NBC stands for "Nothing But Crosby." The Americans win the round robin game. The gold medal game goes to overtime and Syd the Kid beats tournament MVP Ryan Miller on the short side with a laser. Crowd goes wild. Across the country, kegs of LaBatt's Blue exploded and Canadians everywhere pulled out their denim jackets to go out for a night of formal celebration.

1. In my opinion, no Top 10 sports list should end with anything other than the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. Top 10 upsets? #1 is the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. Top 10 uplifting sports stories? #1 is the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. Best team ever? #1 is the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. Best NCAA Basketball teams ever? #1 is the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team. You get the idea. Nothing (probably) can ever touch that event in the spectrum of sports. The political ramifications, the country's mood during the gas crisis and Iranian hostage crisis, the dominance of the Russian team... everything just conspired to make that the greatest sports event EVER. No argument.