Asbury College at the Olympics

Today is my day off, and chalk it up to Torino weather to be overcast and foggy.

Anyway, I need to add a corollary to my statement about American curling fans being nuts. I think the Japanese could give them a run for their money. True, it was quite a sight to see a man all decked out in Steelers gear, waving a battered American flag and yelling incoherently, but the Japanese crowd had him trumped in the costuming department. They looked like they were either trying to get onstage for “Let’s Make a Deal,” or that they came off worse in a fight with a float at a Mardi Gras parade.

I’m not being derogatory, either. But, I just never knew that it was possible to purchase a hat designed to look exactly like a curling stone.

Their dedication paid off, though. In a match with the United States women’s team (*swoon*), they managed to kick us Americans to curb, so to speak. So, that’s two straight losses for the US women in the curling. Curling is being played round robin right now, so I don’t think NBC has to pack up and go home yet.

While Neil the cameraman and I were waiting to get in position last night, TOBO loaded up a “Great Olympic Failures” video on the jumbotron. I was reminded strongly of a scene from the film “Cool Runnings”:

“In bobsled, your bones don’t break. No, no. They shatter.”

I ran into another Asburian, Taylor, today while I was wandering around the massive mall attached to the Main Media Center. It was a total chance meeting, and he was planning on just riding back to his accomodations up the mountain at Cesana Parol, because he had no means of getting around and no one to hang out with. So, now I have another blundering American tourist to get lost in the city with for company.

As for the mall, it is absolutely huge. It’s the kind of place where shopping is an Olympic sport, and the best and brightest in the world come to bargain their brains out. It is, if you will allow me the honor of one more stupid metaphor, the kind of place where you can feel your cash in your wallet struggling to get out and be spent at all kinds of different stores.

Okay, there are other adventures to be had today away from this computer terminal. Until next time.

Arrivederci!