Curling

SHOW NOTES: The winter Olympics had a boring opening ceremony except for Andrea Bocelli. Some of the events seem duplicative, especially figure skating and skiing. Some seem like efforts to avoid death or injury, and not just competing—skeleton, luge, giant slalom, ski jumping, distance skiing. Skiing in ruts is rather boring, and then the women collapsing over the finishing line and gasping for air is frightening. The giant slalom hits about 85 MPH. Luge and skeleton runs are between 80 and 100 MPH. On the ice, men are tossing women around who have knives attached to their feet. The French judge in figure skating obviously downgraded the American and inflated the French scores so that the latter pairs won. That judge has been known to have done this throughout the last year. Now onto curling, which is a game played with stones and brooms, has suffered cheating accusations for the Canadians “double touching” the stone on launch. After a profane, long outburst by the accused, slow reply showed he, indeed, did commit the infraction. In a manner of speaking he “gave them the finger” before tongue lashing them with obscenities. So much for the Olympic spirit. (And for Canadians being nice people.) At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Canadian curlers Marc Kennedy and Rachel Homan were accused of "double-touching" (illegally touching a stone after its initial release) in separate matches. Sweden's Oskar Eriksson initiated the allegation against Kennedy on Feb. 13, while officials flagged Homan on Feb. 14. Curling is basically the same as shuffleboard, which older people play in retirement villages, or bocce which specifically older Italian people play on dirt. Then there’s the cousin, English Lawn Bowls, which I’ve never been able to finish watching without falling asleep. Johnny Weir, the former Olympic figure skater and NBC commentator, is renowned for his highly, flamboyant, and gender-neutral fashion choices while broadcasting, often featuring makeup, jewelry, and avant-garde, designer clothing. He and Sarah Lapinsky are worth the time spent watching people jump around on ice. Yes, it is true that the Olympic Village at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games ran out of free condoms within the first three days, according to reports in La Stampa and The Guardian. Approximately 10,000 contraceptives for about 2,900 athletes were depleted quickly, prompting emergency restocking due to higher-than-expected demand. Now THAT’S the competitive spirit!