That win being USA Hockey's win over Canada Hockey yesterday in Vancouver. It was USA hockey's first Olympic win over Canada Hockey since 1960. But that's just window dressing*.

Take a look at the bracket.

He may be a shadow of the player he was, and he probably won't hit a lot of homers or have a great batting average this season, but every time I think of Ken Griffey, Jr. in a Mariner uniform, a smile comes to my face. He's a great guy to have around. When it becomes all too obvious that his playing days are over, I hope our very capable GM keeps him on as a coach, somewhere somehow. With Junior and the addition of Cliff Lee, I have a glimmer of hope that my beloved M's can win a pennant this year.

Seems like it's at least worth a diary. Watched the opening ceremony, or parts of it, with the Lovely Deanna, a Canadian from Vancouver so there's a rooting interest in the house....

Highlights?

The Canadian rep's stirring speech during which he invoked "the magic of television", ie "Tonight, thanks to the magic of television..." (Wow. And it's even in color!)

The same speaker when he referred to "human champions." (When are the animal Olympics anyway?)

Once again, I am posting a diary to allow the inhabitants here to win bragging rights by making the most correct WAGs about random or almost completely random occurrences associated with today's national event. Without further ado. . .

--who will win the coin flip?

--which team will be penalized first?

--which team will kick a field goal first?*

--will the combined score of the two teams at halftime be an odd or an even number?

--(Tie-breaker) what will be the final score?

*--picking "neither" and being correct counts double!

(disclaimer: I like Seattle and the New York Giants, I dislike New England, I hate Denver and Dallas, and I'm pretty much neutral on the rest.)

Two great games that were much closer than the previous playoff games this year - and now we know that Super Bowl XLIV will feature the New Orleans Saints vs. the Indianapolis Colts. A better match-up than most years, and it looks to be an offensive free for all.

BTW, I will not discuss the Pro Bowl. I think it's one of the stupidest things the NFL ever did, and to hold it a week before the Super Bowl only makes it even stupider.

Courtesy hobbesist

Men's:
QFs - Federer d. Davydenko, Djokovic d. Tsonga, Roddick d. Del Potro, Nadal d. Murray
SFs - Djokovic d. Federer, Nadal d. Roddick
F - Nadal d. Djokovic

I'm tempted, based on current form, to take Davydenko over Federer - but I just can't do it. Not really sure who's coming out of the 1/8 where I picked Tsonga; he's as good a guess as any. Del Potro's a bit beat-up at the moment, so I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even make it to the quarters, and I just don't believe in Murray as a GS-caliber threat anymore.

(disclaimer: I like Seattle and the New York Giants, I dislike New England, I hate Denver and Dallas, and I'm pretty much neutral on the rest.)

A great weekend, not quite the blowouts of last weekend although most of the games this week did turn out to be one-sided by the end. Still, most of them weren't really decided until the 4th quarter and the Jets-Chargers game was in the balance right up to the last few minutes.

The Bruins are struggling and the Sox will rely on pitching and defense in the upcoming season. But the contact sport playing out in the Commonwealth may very well mirror the 2004 ACLS where the underdog ended a long standing curse.

(disclaimer: I like Seattle and the New York Giants, I dislike New England, I hate Denver and Dallas, and I'm pretty much neutral on the rest.)

(disclaimer: I like Seattle and the New York Giants, I dislike New England, I hate Denver and Dallas, and I'm pretty much neutral on the rest.)

And so we say farewell to the 2009 regular season, one that was a happy season for the fans of the 12 playoff teams and varying from apathy to acceptance to bitter disillusionment for the fans of the non-playoff teams. We now say hello to the playoffs, the best three weeks of football for fans of the game. Great games that are televised for all to see and are always full of upsets and surprises.