Olympic Showdown on Ice

There are only three sports in which I've been a participant in some way that makes me think I can comment all that meaningfully: Baseball (North Yuba Little League champion, 1979), Soccer (AYSO Region 150 champion, 1980; also a referee that same season and following summer), and gridiron American Football (Sutter Union High School Huskies statistician, 1982-85). So I don't know anything about ice hockey except as someone who watches it and now and then attends a Sharks game. But the final for the gold medal in men's ice hockey between Finland and Sweden has got to go down as a classic match, I think.

( But as usual, if sports aren't your bag, there's nothing to see here, move along )

The games are mostly over as I write this, although of course I won't get to see the very end until this evening's Closing Ceremony coverage. I'm sorry to hear so few people here in the USA watched it, and the bashing the Olympics took on Fox Sports Radio yesterday was irritating, especially as it reinforces the idea that anyone who doesn't get a gold medal is a loser and winning at all costs is the only important thing.

My Jacket Looks Sort of Like an Anorak, I Guess...

Today after lunch, I went for a walk down to the Centerville Train Station in the hope of being able to do the loop (about 2-3 km) before the rain started. As I went onto the platform, I saw that there were half a dozen or so people hanging around with cameras of various sorts. I asked, "Is there a special movement coming through?"

( The answer was yes )

Once the special train came through, there were more trains to watch. A UP freight pulled up to change crews, and soon after they were gone, a pair of Capitols made their station stops. I hung around for all of these, and also ended up answering questions from people coming by and discovering that the station waiting room was locked. I don't recall them locking the station on Sundays, but I reassured several people who were worried about being charged a penalty fare for not buying their ticket at the station that if they tell the conductor, "The station was closed," they won't be charged the penalty. Besides, I looked inside the station waiting room, and the ticket vending machine was out of order (again), and it's not a staffed station anyway.

With the four trains having cleared through, there was nothing else to see, and the rain had stopped for the time being, so I walked back home.