Olympic recap

For the past two-and-a-half weeks, I really enjoyed watching all of the different Olympic sports on the NBC networks. I can recognize the Olympic theme song from anywhere. The USA finished second in the total medal count, just ahead of the host country, Italy, and behind Norway. As usual and not unexpected, Norway dominated most of the skiing events. Most notable for the USA was both the men’s and women’s hockey teams’ exciting and historical victories over Canada in overtime in the Gold medal games.

Alysa Liu won the Gold medal in women’s figure skating after retiring at 16 after the last Olympics. But she made an amazing comeback. I was quite impressed at the level of competition in the men’s hockey, especially given the short time for all of the teams to get ready for the games. Finland, Sweden and Czechia gave the U.S. and Canada a run for their money the whole tournament. On the women’s side, I really hope the fact that the USA won the Gold medal helps the future of women’s hockey, because I didn't even know there was a professional league for women until the Olympic tournament started.

The biggest thing I’m looking forward to two years from now is when the Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. It will be 32 years since the U.S. has held the Summer Olympics in the United States. Makes me feel old, but that was when I had the honor of being a torch bearer for the Atlanta 1996 games! Go USA. 

There is only one month until the opening day for the Phillies this year. March 26 is the earliest date in history for baseball opening day. I’m really looking forward to the season, and there are high expectations for the Phillies this year. I expect them to make the playoffs again, the fifth year in a row.

During spring training, Major League Baseball is having another World Baseball Classic tournament, which is an exhibition tournament modeled after World Cup soccer. I am nervous about the tournament because the Phillies have the most players participating for the different countries. There are four very important Phillies to worry about for possible injuries in the tournament – Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Brad Keller on the U.S. team, and ace pitcher Christopher Sanchez on the Dominican Republic team. Despite this concern, I will probably watch most of the games. They start March 4 on the Fox networks. After the tournament is over, players will have a very short time to readjust to the normal MLB schedule before the official season starts.