Olympics
The DOB Returns for Rio!
For the past eight years and five Olympics, I’ve written a Daily Olympics Blog — a once-a-day personal journal about what it’s like to cover the Olympics. Like this blog itself, it’s been a way for me to share the stories behind the stories I write while I’m on the clock at ESPN. I started…
Read MoreRemembering Aug. 5, 1984
Thirty years ago, Joanie Benoit Samuelson won the first Olympic women’s marathon. She did so in a time–2:24:52–that would have won 13 of the previous 20 men’s marathons at the Olympics. Tuesday was the anniversary of her gold-medal performance, and I had the opportunity to emcee an event hosted by Nike honoring Joanie at the LA…
Read MoreD12-14: Weekend Update
Happy Valentine’s Day !! And happy second-to-last weekend of the Olympics. (When you’re here as long as we are, you celebrate little milestones like that.) I’ve been having a few issues with the blog this weekend, so I’ll just post a few fun pix and links from the past three days. (It is now Sunday…
Read MoreD9: SUPER Shocker
If someone had told me no U.S. man would medal in snowboard halfpipe at the Olympics, I’d accuse them of being on bath salts. If they’d told me not one of our guys would land a clean run, and only one–Shaun White–would land one of his runs at all, and it wouldn’t be good enough…
Read MoreD8: X CROSS Over
Today, I slept in (went to what might be the one and only Olympic party in the mountains last night) and then headed to the mountain media center for a press conference with the snowboardross athletes. I swear I don’t attend this many press conferences in a typical year, and I’m generally not a fan.…
Read MoreD7: Believe The Hype
Today’s post is going to be a quick one. It’s Sunday, by the way. And today was the women’s snowboard slopetyle final. What a great debut. I have to admit I got a bit emotional watching Torah drop in for her first run, and watching Jamie handle the pressure and win. It was a good…
Read MoreD6: SlopeSTYLE debuts
At today’s inaugural Olympic snowboard slopestyle contest, the judges made a stand for the second-half of that word. Style won out over triple corks and triple flips. It was surprising, it was controversial, but in the end, it might be the best thing that could have happened to the sport. It was a bittersweet moment.…
Read MoreD5: Opening (Lack Of) Ceremony
This morning, I read a piece by Bill Plaschke of the LA Times called From Russia, With Dread, about how Sochi is the joyless Olympics. The saddest part of his piece, I realized, was he was right. In the mountains, we’re a bit sheltered from much of what you’re reading about back at home. I…
Read MoreD3: Trekking to the Black Sea
How many days have I been here again? One? Oh, dear lord. Today was a long one. I think I fell asleep around 5 am, woke up at 10ish and headed to the Gorki Media Center in the mountains, which is about a 15-minute walk from my hotel, for my first press conference. Halfpipe snowboarding.…
Read MoreD2: How’s the Housing?
It’s the number-one question I’ve received from my colleagues here on the ground in Sochi and from friends and family back at home. How’s your housing? Do you have hot water? Towels? Pillows? Giant, gaping holes in your bathroom walls? Stray, dying dogs littering your lobby? My answer: I’m lucky. I packed for this trip…
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