When blog favorite Magdalena Neuner isn't competing in the biathlon, she's reading about Summer Olympic sports in the 2012 Fantasy Summer Olympics Blog. You should be too.
Volume 63 Issue 6: April 2020
6 years ago
Northug edged out German Axel Teichmann (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) by just 0.3 seconds. John Olsson (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined) took the silver, only one second behind.
The gold moved Nordique Combined into second, but Cornballers had already clinched the title last night. I'll double check the final standings tomorrow, but here they are. Their manager Ellis Kunka can celebrate while the defeated teams start working on their 2014 draft strategies.
Just as I have admitted that Derek Jeter is a Hall of Famer, so too must I admit that Ellis Kunka is the best Fantasy Olympic manager.
Apparently the difference in the Fantasy Winter Olympics is that while Cornballers manager Ellis Kunka made good picks throughout, Nordique Combined manager Brian Schwartz got a lot of points from a few of his top teams. That and cloud seeding.
Nordique Combined (Brian Schwartz) is in second, 60 points behind, and took only 11.3 points today. They still are in the race by virtue of the fact that they could get 50 more points if Canada wins Sunday's gold medal hockey game. They need a good day tomorrow to keep things interesting. If they enter Sunday less than 50 points behind though, their chances look good as Canada will clearly be favored.
The Women's 1000 is the event that I think will end the hopes of the Dynamos and Paragons. Wang Meng of China is my pick to take what would be a huge gold for the league leading Cornballers. Another Chinese skater, Zhao Yang, is my pick for silver. Ha-Ri Cho and Park Seung-Hi are good skaters for Korea, but I think the USA's Katherine Reutter, my pick for bronze, is the only other skater in the same league as the Chinese.
Cornballers still lead Nordique Combined by 33.3 points, but Nordique Combined could more than make up that difference if Canada takes the men's hockey gold medal.
5 PM PST - Figure Skating
Canadian Kyle Nissen is my choice for silver. He has only won two World Cup aerial golds in his career but is always near the top. Guangpu Qi of China (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) has three World Cup silvers this year in aerials and is my pick for bronze.
Undrafted Tina Maze of Slovenia is in fifth while two German skiers, also undrafted, are in sixth and seventh. Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) are out of the running.
The men's finals start at 2 p.m. with world #1 Canada taking on world #8 Sweden. Canada went 9-0 in the round robin including an easy 7-3 win over Sweden. Sweden went 5-4 but got a huge upset of world #2 Great Britain to move on to the medal rounds. Canada is obviously a heavy favorite and has clearly been the best team so far with six easy wins among their nine matches.
Continuing his penchant for controversy, Ellis Kunka got a disputed short track gold from the Chinese team in the women's short track relay. Korea appeared to have secured the gold for John Binz's Da Nang Dynamos but was disqualified for pushing, giving the 12.5 point gold to Cornballers. Replays showed that the push was a response to contact initiated by the Chinese. Cornballers' Chinese freestyle skiing team also took silver and bronze in the women's aerials. Ellis Kunka also advanced his Finnish hockey team to the semifinals and is the clear favorite to win.
Banker's Club had a rough day, getting just a silver from Norway's cross country relay team. They failed to get expected medals from German bobsleigh and Zach Chromiak's squad was eliminated from contention in men's curling (Britain) and men's hockey (Switzerland). That could spell the end for Banker's Club, which will need everything to go right to have a shot at first.
Team USA (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches) has the second place sled with Erin Pac and Elana Meyers just 0.13 seconds behind. Canada could get two medals with Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown currently in fourth.
Team Canada (Dave Spence/Paragons) - Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais and Tania Vicent - has won the bronze at every World Cup event this season. St-Gelais, Gregg and Roberge all finished in the top 6 in the 500, but I think they'll get shut out in the relay.
Guo Xinxin of China is my pick for bronze. According to her Vancouver Olympic profile her hobbies are "Collecting personal accessories, shopping and spending time with her parents." It seems like she has a lot of time to practice.
1:15 PM PST - Alpine SkiingIn the women's giant slalom, each skier makes two runs down two different courses on the same slope. The times for both runs are then combined with the fastest total time determining the winner.
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland (undrafted) won the season title in this event last year and is another contender. Finally, this is usually the worst event for the USA's Lindsay Vonn (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) but she can't be counted out either.
Apart from Norway the best distance skiers belong to Sweden (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined), as we saw in the 30k. Although Italy took a surprising win, Norway's archrival Swedes are the only real threat to beat them this year and are my pick for silver.