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Eye On The Ball: CBS coverage of Olympics leaves a little to be desired

Jamie Ball

I wonder if I would watch any of the Olympics if I didn’t have this job.

CBS hasn’t exactly been doing a bang-up job, and the problem has been compounded by the fact the Olympic Committee saw it fit to put the Winter Olympic Games on a tropical island in the Pacific during wet season.

Anybody else sick of figure skating? I enjoy watching the sport for a little while, but I don’t need to see for the third night in a row the story about how the woman about to skate miraculously awoke from a coma last week only to board a freighter full of heroin smugglers so she could be reunited with her partner whose sister was just mauled in a freak potato-distilling accident.



That’s not the Olympics; that’s Jerry Springer.

American glory



Anyway, how about Jonny Moseley? Tahoe’s first gold medal for skiing, and the people up in Squaw are stoked, along with the rest of us who heard the CBS announcers talk about Moseley training in Tahoe.

Liz, from Squaw’s marketing department, told me there are plans for a Moseley Day coming up, but no definite dates are set yet.

With an appearance on Letterman last week, Jonny’s America’s golden boy right now and I personally think he’s representing all of us here quite well.

Daron Rahlves also has a good chance in the slalom this weekend.

Coming off a seventh-place finish in the Super G, he’s hungry.

When I spoke to him last week, he impressed me as the kind of guy who doesn’t want to leave Nagano with seventh as his best finish.

Like they’re saying in the commercials, watch for him.

Thoughts on cross-country

You’ve got to feel for Marcus Nash.

The Europeans are such dominators in cross-country the Americans don’t have much of a chance this year, though many, myself included, think the USA can win in 2002. Which brings me back to the whole CBS thing.

Tahoe-Truckee High School nordic coach Olof Carmel mentioned last week that the only time you’d see cross-country on Olympic coverage would be when one of the racers falls or collapses from exhaustion.

I thought he was kidding until I started watching the Games.

Sure enough, wedged between three hours of non-stop figure skating coverage was a 10-second highlight reel of the cross-country racers falling to some ridiculous symphonic music.

Still, you have to give propers to Phillip Boit of Kenya, the only Olympian from his country. Pawn of Nike or not, the guy has determination.

And what about Myllylae, the winner of the race, who stuck around an extra hour to watch Boit cross the finish line? That’s a real sportsman.

Random thoughts on state playoffs

I guess you never know what’s going to happen in the playoffs.

Despite saying his team wasn’t very good at the moment, TTHS boys’ basketball coach Mike Flohr conceded zones are a whole new game.

Watch for Truckee to give 9-1 North Tahoe a serious run for its money on neutral ground in Spring Creek this weekend.

As for the girls, they can advance past Fernley Friday night, but on Saturday they will be staring down perhaps the best team in the league: Spring Creek.

Not just Spring Creek, but Spring Creek at home.

Mike Merriman’s girls can do it with a lot of focus, and if they remain calmly aggressive throughout the entire game.

If Ali Back can force a lot of turnovers, and, if Sandy Theil and the rest of the girls can convert them, plus, if they remain in control at the free throw line, the girls can be state champs. They have years of experience and maturity on their side.

The TTHS nordic teams should breeze through state, on the other hand.

I know Olof cringes when I say that, but it’s a distanced observation, and a prediction backed by history.

The only tough time Truckee will have will be in the boys’ varsity race.

Despite being 50 miles from the closest real snow, Nevada Union possesses the best nordic racers in the league.

The real competition will come from NU’s Ian Case, Zach Violette and North Tahoe’s Scott Hill.

Truckee’s Spencer Archer, Jesse Steverman and James Beauchamp all have the skills to beat these guys, so watch for an extremely close race in this one.

In girls’ varsity, Jenny Rassuchine will win, capping off a brilliant high school career in which she only lost one race, her freshman year.

The JV teams will sweep, as well, living up to their predecessors.

The alpine team at TTHS should also be a lock for its basin league title.

The real shame is that there is no state championship for alpine skiing through. Truckee would take it without a problem, but there aren’t enough teams to warrant a championship.

The TTHS wrestlers traveled to the state championship at Virgin Valley last weekend, but results were unavailable at press time, so look for that next week.

It will be a good week for Truckee sports, with playoffs, finals and the continuation of the Olympics.

Let’s hope Daron Rahlves can return for a gold in slalom. Either way, I hope those of us in Truckee treat him with a welcome like the one Moseley got.

Sierra Sun E-mail: sun@tahoe.com

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