In a bizarre conclusion to its telecasts of the 2010 Vancouver Games, NBC awkwardly cut away to air the premiere of the much-hyped reality show, “The Marriage Ref.” Viewers were abruptly informed that coverage of the Ceremony would continue at 11:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s how it went down: At 10:29 p.m. ET, the network abruptly cut to commercial after singer Michael Buble finished a swinging, Sinatra-like rendition of “The Maple Leaf Forever”. After a few ads, NBC cut back to a wide shot of the ongoing Ceremony (there were a number of inflatable animals on the floor at BC Place, making it look like an indoor version of the Macy’s Day Parade) and viewers heard Bob Costas say:

“We’re back in an hour with the Closing Ceremony party from Vancouver. Nickleback and Avril Lavigne are among the acts that will be performing. But right now we take you to the premiere of Jerry Seinfeld’s new series, ‘The Marriage Ref.’ ”

And then, suddenly, coverage of the Olympics was over and the intro to Jerry Seinfeld’s show began.

All that NBC does in over-dramatizing the Games and that’s how they choose to end coverage for a vast majority of viewers? (Because, let’s face it, most people aren’t tuning in for the 11:30 p.m. coverage.) No Costas sign-off? No end credits? No cheesy summation of the triumphs of the Olympic spirit? Where’s our closure?

[Source: Yahoo! Sports]

When watching figure skating on Tuesday night, the Fourth-Place Medal Investigative Unit wondered aloud how the women could spin so much without getting nauseated. It brought back tough memories of riding the teacups at Disney World in 1989. But then we thought, “We’re the Fourth-Place Medal Investigative Unit, darn it. We don’t make mysteries, we solve them.” And, with that, the Case of the Not-Dizzy Skaters was born.

Some background: The FPMIU doesn’t know our Salchows from our Lutzes, and we think of a 1980s band or movie trilogy whenever we hear the word “axel.”

Still, we can’t help but get into skating every four years during the Olympics. And that’s mostly because of the spinning. One can’t help but wonder: How do skaters spin so fast for so long without getting dizzy?

The answer, it turns out, is deceptively simple. It’s the same reason fighter pilots can hit 5 G’s without problem and acrobats can do flips and still keep their balance: They’re used to it.

Joe Rosato Jr. from NBC Bay Area talked to a former pro skater, who keyed him into the secret:

Former National skating champion Shane Douglas said the key to getting over dizziness is to keep skating. “What we tell our students is keep spinning,” said Douglas. “The more you do, the less dizzy you get.” Douglas said it could take skaters about a year to get used to the dizziness.

So, skaters initially get dizzy, but then it becomes second nature. That’s how we felt when we first got our monocle.

Techniques for initially dealing with the dizziness include staring at a fixed point, closing your eyes, and concentrating on something else.

Bonus fact: We mentioned it above, so we had to check it out. The jumps called Salchow, Lutz and axel all come from the names of their respective founders, Ulrich Salchow, Alois Lutz and Axel Paulsen.

[Source: Yahoo! Sports]

This week, Weir addressed the criticisms at a news conference, joking that he grew out his beard just to prove his manhood.

Joking aside, though, Weir answered questions about the commentators’ critiques with class and grace. He did not ask for an apology; instead he championed free speech and said that he wouldn’t want these men fired.

“I hope more kids can grow up the same way that I did and more kids can feel the freedom that I feel to be themselves and to express themselves,” Weir said.

Weir has been the subject of criticism for much of his career. His jokes about illegal drugs drew the ire of the conservative skating establishment, and the use of fur in his costume for the U.S. championships angered animal-rights activists.

The criticisms must have given Weir a thick skin. He has shown nothing but a calm face and responded in good humor to those who tried to tear him down.

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Shaun White’s gold-medal coronation in the halfpipe finals at the Winter Olympics was marred Wednesday by vulgar statements made by coach Bud Keene and aired on NBC live to the East Coast before White’s final run. White was the last to go, but since nobody had beat his score from the first round, he was the automatic winner. There was much joy and celebration atop the run, as there should have been. Unfortunately, a few of those words were picked up by NBC cameras.

At first there were whoops of celebration. But then things got a little R-rated.

Keene: What do you want to do?
White: I don’t know, man. Ride down the middle?
(Chorus of noes.)
Keene: No, have some fun.
White: Drop a double mick?
Keene: Yeah, drop a double mick at the end. Do whatever you want and [expletive] send that thing. Make sure you stomp the [expletive] out of that thing.

It went downhill from there if you can read lips, at which point NBC announcers Pat Parnell and Todd Richards apologized for the language and defended it by saying that a lot of energy was running through White and his coaches. The apology was necessary (even if it did draw more attention to the curses – they were tough to hear without rewinding), but NBC was apologizing for the wrong people. They shouldn’t be apologizing for Bud Keene; they should be apologizing for the network showing it in the first place.

Don’t blame Bud Keene for speaking as he does. He’s a grown man talking to another grown man before a gold-medal victory lap. Those two have been working for this very moment for four years. All the training runs, all the practice moves, and all the jumps into the block pit were done for those few minutes when Shaun White would win Olympic gold. And, having reached that lofty goal, we’re supposed to expect Keene to be cognizant of a camera and boom mike in his face? To censor his words? That’s ridiculous.

Keene is under no obligation or responsibility to clean up his language at any point unless he’s specifically giving an interview to a network. He’s talking to his athlete, not to Bob Costas or the 25 million people watching at home. He shouldn’t have to clean up his language because a family of four in Boyertown, Pa., was settling in to watch Shaun White make his final run. The only obligation Keene has is to himself and his athlete. He understands as much. He told Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan after the race that he realized he’d been caught swearing, but “usually there’s not a camera in my face.”

For you conspiracy theorists out there, when the same segment aired on the West Coast later in the night, the potty words were more difficult to make out. Did NBC muddle the audio instead of bleeping the offending words, or did it edit the exchange out of the show altogether?

[Source:  Yahoo! Sports]