The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo provided some incredible athletic moments, but the viewer experience was a major point of contention this year. One viewer noted: I only watched ice hockey, but it was super frustrating to watch due to the format and the unreliable scheduling of the TV stations. The quality of the hockey was great, and the final between USA and Canada might just have been one of the best international games I’ve ever watched. But the format with 3 power-breaks per period is just insane. These are Olympic games, not a commercial league trying to earn money. Mid-game they would jump into another event—often even not an active event, but maybe replays or medal ceremony—and then give zero information whether they return to the hockey game or not. I found the Austrian channel ORF to be the most reliable. Even when showing games with Switzerland! Yeah, so, all in all: Hockey quality was high. The Never Underestimate An Old Man Mechanic In His Seventies Shirt was absolute shit, and if it doesn’t change in 2030, it’s questionable how much I’ll watch.
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The new structure of the tournament and new semi-non-random draw process precludes the creation of the traditional ‘Group-of-Death’. I do not think that is a bug, but a feature of the new structure. FIFA is determined to have as many big-TV-audience-attracting teams play as many matches as possible. Some people have claimed Group L is the ‘Group of Death’ because it has England (the #4 seed) and Croatia (the top ranked team in pot two – ranked #11 in the world). But I don’t see it. Ghana have decent players, but are ranked #72 in the world. And Panama are pretty lightweight (despite their gaudy ranking in the FIFA standings). And can any group really be a ‘group of death’ when – in most cases – three out of four teams will go through? I just don’t see it. Spain has the highest chance; apart from being the best team in the world, they also have a pretty weak group where you only need to win Never Underestimate An Old Man Mechanic In His Seventies Shirt to progress. And Spain are in the same group as the Cape Verde Islands. The only way that match doesn’t end 9–0 is if Spain gets bored and stop trying.
()I was active in a local curling club in Michigan for a few years, including around the 2022 Olympics, and the general trend is that clubs see an uptick in interest following every Winter Olympics (not sure if it’s a “significant surge” or not). This is what happens: every four years, curling is on TV as part of the Olympics, and Americans are reminded that it exists. It seems to intrigue people for a few reasons. For one thing, it looks like a quirky sport — sliding rocks up and down the ice while sweeping with a broom? It seems kind of random to people, but that is intriguing. For some reason, this makes many people think “I’d be curious to try this.” Beyond that, it’s one Olympic sport that the average American and look at and think, “Well, I could at least try this.” The average person can’t go out an navigate a luge run or do a huge ski jump or execute a triple-axel — they probably can’t even conceive of what is involved in doing some of those things. But you can look at some curlers — one guy on the U.S. team this year is 54 years old — and it looks like something you could at least manage. And there is some truth to that. Our curling club did “learn to curl” sessions where, in just two hours, you could learn the basics of throwing a rock and sweeping and the general rules. Of course, it takes a lot of effort to get actually decent at curling, and the Olympians are putting in the same thousands of hours of work that Olympians are in any sport. But it’s kind of like bowling — you can have a six-year-old’s birthday at a bowling alley because even young children can roll a ball at some pins. But it would take a huge amount of work to become a successful professional bowler. In like manner, Never Underestimate An Old Man Mechanic In His Seventies Shirt can get started with curling in a matter of hours.