Costas Watch: Day 7-HE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

     Okay guys, I'm over the moon ecstatic right now, all because of one thing.  BOB COSTAS CAME BACK TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!  Somebody play the Hallelujah Chorus!

     That's right folks, AMERICA HAS BEEN SAVED!!!!!!!!  We made it through the struggles, and we came out on the other side better people for it.  No more Matt Lauer, more Meredith Vieira, and thankfully NBC didn't have to hand the ball over to Al Roker.  Now that that distraction is out of the way, we can get back to our normal business of cheering on Team USA over the final 6 days of the Games.

Costas Watch: Day 6

     Well, we turned on the Olympics last night and what did we see?  Not Meredith Vieira, but no Bob Costas either.  Instead, it appears that NBC has gone back to Matt Lauer this time, because Bob Costas is still out.  At this point, I'm tempted to hand the commentary over to Oprah:

     Will he ever return?  Will our great nation ever be restored to its former glory?  Will The Olympics ever be the same again?  Stay tuned to find out.


     LATE BREAKING UPDATE:  According to MSN, Bob Costas is supposed to be coming back for tonight's coverage.  Now I'm not sure if I want to bet the farm on it yet, but this is clearly the best sign we've gotten in a while.  So I'll be watching VERY closely along with the rest of you, and hopefully I will have glorious news to report to you after tonight's coverage.

Costas Watch: Day 5

     We've had to make it through a fifth day now without Bob Costas welcoming us to the Fortress of SolitudeInternational Broadcast Center.  Luckily, the greatest medical professionals of our time have finally come to a completely scientific reason for Costas' absence:

     That's a really good thing, because as we all know, it is necessary to know the cause of something before we try to treat it.  However, just because we know how to fix something, doesn't mean there's any hope of fixing it.  WE ARE FACING A DISASTER HERE, PEOPLE!  Get worried, get panicked!  Because without Costas around to guide us through the Olympic Games, I am deeply afraid that the State of our Union going forward could be depicted in this picture:

     While NBC has so far fielded a good spread of fill-ins, Bob better get back quick if we ever want this great nation to be the America of our forefathers again.

Costas Watch: Day 4

     Okay everybody, things are getting interesting now.  We've gone through the 9th Day of the Games, and Bob Costas has an eye that still looks like this:

     And not just that, but it seems that the hosting desk has now become the Sochi equivalent of the Tonight Show at the start of 2010.  After going with Matt Lauer for the first 3 days of Costas' absence, NBC continued raiding the Today Show and brought out Meredith Vieira for hosting duties.  At this rate, it won't be too long until NBC decides to bring back Jay Leno(for a third time) to do the Olympics.   As we head into the second weekend of the Games, who knows what NBC will come up with tonight?  Just one more reason for all of us to stay tuned, I guess.

Costas Watch: Day 3

     Everybody, this is bad news.  Bob Costas isn't back yet.  MY WORLD IS FALLING TO PIECES! 

     But even in light of this terrible news, I shall persevere.  Why?  Well, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?  NO!  Was it over when Derek Redmond lamed up in Barcelona?  NO!  Heck, was it over when Jeremy Abbott wiped out yet again tonight?  NO! NO! NO!  Olympians keep going, Olympians are never discouraged, and we must dig deep and try to survive the absence of Bob Costas for a little while longer.  Hang tough America, we can do this together.

Costas Watch: Day 2

     Forget the First American medal in Luge.  Forget the overspending on Sochi.  Forget the dethroning of Shaun White.  Forget the compelling storylines.  Forget EVERYTHING ELSE!  Clearly, the BIGGEST story to come out of Sochi so far has come from the Fortress of SolitudeInternational Broadcast Center.  Bob Costas, the veteran of NBC Olympic coverage dating back to the 1988 Seoul Summer Games, is out with an eye infection.

     This is a national disaster, people!  Matt Lauer said he'd be back today, but he wasn't!  Oh, Please Lord, help us!  What are we ever going to do without Bob Costas?  I don't know, and we as a nation may not survive much longer without the soothing voice of Bob Costas.  We'll be back tomorrow to see if Costas has returned, and indeed to see if our nation lives to see another day.

An American First, Family Affair Pt. 3, the End of an Era, and NBC goes to its Bullpen: Sochi Day 6

     For those of you tuning in to NBC's Primetime coverage last night, you may have been questioning the accuracy of your vision.  No, you don't need to run out and get glasses, that really was somebody other than Bob Costas anchoring the Olympics, something that hasn't happened since 1998.  The reason for the sudden switch?  Well, that's quite simple.  It turns out that Costas hasn't been wearing those glasses all week in an attempt to look like an aged Harry Potter.  He's actually been in the throes of an eye infection, one that left him looking, in the words of Matt Lauer, "like the losing boxer in a prize fight".  And so, yesterday marked the first time in 26 years that Costas would miss an Olympic broadcast.  But the show must go on, and so Matt Lauer was pulled from the couches of the Today show to come over to the Fortress of SolitudeInternational Broadcast Center.

     And with that, it's back to Rosa Khutor where the Women got their crack at the Slopestyle course.  One difference though, this time they're on skis.  The competition was dominated by skiers from Canada(because what else is new), but one of the winners was Canada's Kim Lamarre, who has yet another family connection to the Olympics.  Her Grandmother was a Alpine Skier in the 1956 Winter Games.  Lamarre continued the family tradition and actually bested her Grandmother's performance by taking home the Bronze.  Team USA won Silver, and Canada won the Gold.

     Also on the slopes was the Men's Halfpipe event.  Going into this one, Shaun White was the center of attention, as his quest for a 3rd straight Gold was ever-present.  Once the heat started though, all eyes left White and moved over to an iPod.  No, not the ground-breaking/overpriced MP3 Player from Apple, but Iouri Podladtchikov, the 23-year old competitor from Russia, competing for Switzerland.  This is a guy who has invented his own ground-breaking snowboard trick, the YOLO flip.  This entails doing a 1440 in the air(which is 4 full revolutions).  Needless to say, it's quite the crowd-pleaser.  After Padladtchikov wowed the crowd, two Japanese phenoms got their own runs in.  And then it was all up to Shaun White.  A big problem that has persisted all through these Games has been the warm temperatures, and those were making the halfpipe not nearly as firm as it should be.  The pipe had already claimed several competitors in the prelims, and it reared its ugly head again in the Finals.  White was well into his first run when the sloppiness of the terrain ate his momentum and caused him to crash.  On his second run, he did better, but was still unable to best Padladtchikov.  Thus, the 23-year old won Gold, and the King of the Halfpipe had been dethroned.

     But it wasn't all bad news for Team USA last night, especially after what went down at the Sanki Sliding Center.  Luge has been a part of the Games since the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games, and in all that time no American has ever made it onto the podium.  Well, Erin Hamlin changed all of that last night.  Racing in memory of her Grandmother, who had passed away in December, Hamlin turned in a quality performance that ultimately was good enough to get her the Bronze, the first Olympic Medal ever earned by Team USA in Luge.  Hamlin wasn't the only attraction from Team USA though.  Kate Hansen has earned herself a cult following online for her warmup routines, which see her shaking it to Beyoncé.  She may have gotten 10th Place at the Olympics, but she's blowing it up on social media.  And you know what they say about the Internet, what's up there lasts forever.