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Catching up on a few things over the last week.

First the Olympics, some observations from the first week of action:
1) USA, USA, USA!
2) Shaun White is why I love watching the Olympics. I watch snowboarding once every four years but a guy like White makes me and anyone else who watches it every four years an expert because we all knew he was the absolute best guy to hit the halfpipe and there was no maybe about it. I love to watch the person who is the BEST IN THE WORLD at something do that something that he is the BEST IN THE WORLD at doing. In snowboarding, Shaun White is obviously that guy.
3) Best Week Ever...Evan Lysecek, he captures the men's figure skating gold medal and then scores a perfect ten (see photo)! Seriously, Lysecek and Nastia Luikin, imagine what that DNA could do in the hands of cold war era Soviet Scientists.
4) Great win by the United States over Canada in Hockey, but tap the breaks on comparisons to the Miracle On Ice...one is a nice win over a seemingly superior squad in a preliminary round game...the other is perhaps the defining sports moment for any human being's lifetime if said human was born prior to 1975. I have a good, not a great memory but the Miracle on Ice is a "Where were you Moment" for me...9 about to be ten years old, the house on Harrison Street in Amarillo, Texas, sitting in front of the television with my best friend Jason Mask, and yes Al, I believe.

Elsewhere...went to Conway, Arkansas this weekend for Southland Conference Basketball. The conference tournament is just a couple of weeks away and there is still much to be decided. Sam Houston State suffered their first conference loss, falling in OT to UTSA, should those two teams meet again in the tournament it will be a war. Stephen F. Austin lost to Southeastern Louisiana which puts the Lions just one game behind the Lumberjacks in the East division. In Conway, UTA put the clamps on UCA defensively and waltzed away with a 71-47 victory...UTA is lacking in size, but they get after it on defense and they do have the silky smooth Marquez Haynes leading the way...they could be dangerous in Katy. Darkhorses include Northwestern State who has now won three in a row, and how about McNeese, defeating A&M Corpus Christi...just goes to show you that in the Southland, any team can win on any given night.

One last thing, a shout-out to the absolutely great Sports Information Directors that work in the Southland Conference. Broadcasters who work in the SLC could not do what we do without the help of those guys. Thanks.