2 weeks’ worth of Shoutouts: Bleacher Report on the Olympics
I don’t want to brag, but if Bleacher Report’s Winter Olympics coverage were a national team, it would be Canada’s hockey team. Maybe even curling.
If you’ve already lost your excitement for the Games, remind yourself with this video preview by BRtv and Jonathan Snowden‘s comprehensive, relatable, visual Ultimate Guide to Sochi 2014.
Then enjoy this very abbreviated rundown of some of B/R’s best Olympics content over the last two weeks.
Hockey
The U.S. men’s hockey team’s seeming dominance early and crash and burn out of the medals was one of the biggest stories to come out of Sochi for Americans. Follow that story in this series of articles that, with these rewritten headlines we might call “The Rise and Fall of the USA offense”:
Feb. 13: USA 7, Slovakia 1
Dave Lozo: Seven goals! Can anyone stop us?
Feb. 15: USA 3, Russia 2
Lozo: TJ Oshie can score at will and is an American hero
Feb. 16: USA 5, Slovenia 1
Adrian Dater: Can anyone stop the US offense?
Feb. 19: USA 5, Czech Republic 2
Steve Macfarlane: Even the USA third line is awesome
Jonathan Willis: Not so fast—look at the rosters and tell me Canada isn’t better
Willis: Further, that USA offensive explosion is a statistical aberration
Feb. 21: Canada 1, USA 0
Lozo: OK, Willis was right—Canada’s better
Feb. 22: Finland 5, USA 0
Lozo: Despair, disappointment, offensive collapse
Lozo wrapped up the tournament with How Canada Slowly Found Its Golden Formula at 2014 Winter Olympics
Of course, Canada’s stunning overtime win over the Americans in the women’s gold-medal game was as dramatic a moment as the Games produced. National Lead Writer Dan Levy captured it with US Women’s Hockey Let Gold Slip Away in Gut-Wrenching Loss to Rival Canada.
Tara and Johnny
One of the breakout teams at the Sochi Olympics wasn’t a national team, it was American figure skating commentators Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. Two fine pieces told their story: NBC Figure Skating Team of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir a Revelation at Dawn by Diane Pucin
How Gay Figure Skating Icon Johnny Weir by Jonathan Snowden
A bit of snark
Enough with Lolo Jones Already: Why Should We Care About Team USA Bobsledder? by Snowden
Hater’s Guide for the 2014 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team in Sochi by Lozo
Video
Lolo leads off this list of some of BRtv’s best output. Just some.
How Lolo Jones’ Summer Olympic Failures Inspired Her Bobsled Dream in Sochi
Why Skiing Phenom Mikaela Shiffrin Could Become America’s Next Olympic Superstar
Why Gracie Gold Is Prepared to Be the Next Great American Olympic Megastar
Fast, Faster, Fastest: GoPro of Ted Ligety on the Slopes: Sochi 2014
Fast, Faster, Fastest: GoPro of Olympic Slopestyle Freeskiing with Bobby Brown
More great pieces
Lastly, I just want to list some stories that were identified by B/R editors as standing out. Again, this is just a sampling of the terrific Olympic coverage B/R featured over the last two weeks.
Yulia Lipnitskaya Skates into Pantheon of Young Superstars at Olympicsby Tom Weir
Jamie Anderson Completes Rise to Snowboarding Superstardom with Slopestyle Gold by Lindsay Gibbs
Don’t Shed Tears for Shani Davis Yet: Speedskating Star Eying 1,500-Meter Glory by Tom Weir
Sochi Proving IOC Can Hold a Winter Olympics Without Any Winter by Dan Levy
Inside the BMW Bobsled Batmobile: Why America Is Betting on Gold in Sochi by Meri-Jo Borzilleri
Steve Holcomb Drives USA to Historic Bobsled Medal at Winter Olympicsby Tom Weir
Mikaela Shiffrin Fifth Amid Tough Conditions in Olympic Debut by Tom Weir
You have any favorites I left out? Let me know in the comments.