This morning, Lindsay and I drove to Whistler to check into the condo we’ll be using while we’re in the mountains covering the alpine (skiing) and sliding (luge, bobsled, skeleton) events. On the two-hour drive up the newly reconfigured highway, we waited … and waited … and waited … to catch our first glimpse of the white stuff. But other than a few scattered piles of nasty, week-old, side-of-the-highway snow, our drive was as flake-free as my parents’ front yard. (They live in SW Florida. It was cooler there yesterday than it was here in Vancouver.)

A SIGN OUTSIDE THE MEDIA CENTER AT WHISTLER. APPARENTLY, GOD IS COMPLYING …

Around noon, it started raining, which cut short the men’s alpine training runs. Some of the downhill skiers didn’t have a chance to take their first practice runs down the course. And if this warm, rainy weather continues, chances are good that more practice sessions will be canceled. At the afternoon press conference, the U.S. athletes talked about the possibility of weather delays and the prospect of racing in less-than-favorable conditions. The overall sentiment: You can’t control what you can’t control. But the best skier doesn’t always win on a bad weather day. And that would be a bummer.

Of course, no alpine press conference would be complete without a little song and dance from everyone’s favorite comedian, Bode Miller. I wrote about his Afternoon at the Improv for ESPN.com. Click here to read that story.

In women’s ski racing, the big news of the day was the possible loss of Lindsey Vonn, who was slated to compete in five events. Vonn suffered a deep muscle bruise to her lower leg in a training run in Austria last week and is currently day-to-day. In the press conference, Vonn blinked back tears as she talked about how hard this week has been for her. She was supposed to Phelps these Games. But she said she’s raced through pain before and she will do everything she can–including wrapping her shin in cheese slices, an old-school remedy to reduce swelling–to race here in Vancouver. (Yes, that got the reaction you would expect.) Unfortunately, she might not be the same Lindsey Vonn who won the past two World Cup overall titles and has dominated the current WC season. But just to race would be impressive.

OLYMPIC PHOTO OF THE DAY, TAKEN AT A BAKERY JUST OUTSIDE THE MEDIA CENTER … THE OLYMPIC RINGS, MADE ENTIRELY OF BAGEL DOUGH …