A Bag of Flaxseed

The Potemkin Village is a uniquely Russian concept. Back when I was studying Russian history I loved the story of Grigory Potemkin who was lover and consort to Empress Catherine II. After the Russians kicked the Ottomans out of the Crimea (Not far from here) in the late 1700’s, the area was left in ruins. Just like today, the Russians don't screw around with their enemies. Potemkin was appointed Governor and told by his squeeze in St Pete to revitalize the area. A few years later Russia was getting ready to fight the Ottoman Empire yet again. Catherine needed allies for the upcoming war so she took a group of dignitaries on a tour of the Crimea to show how the Russians had rebuilt the destroyed province.

Well, they really hadn’t. In advance of Catherine’s trip, legend says, Potemkin erected fake mobile settlements on the banks of the Dnieper River. His men would dress up as peasants when Catherine’s barge would float by. Then, as the story is told, they would dismantle these villages and rebuild them overnight at new locations down river.

While most historians dismiss the story as a myth, there still must be some truth to it. 

Now I’m not saying that “buildings” like this one (Left) down the street from our hotel are Potemkin Villages but they do seem to be in the “spirit” of . . . Things are Not What They Seem here in Russia.

Strangely enough, Friday’s stunningly beautiful Opening Ceremony, which chronicled Russian History did have its Potemkin Moment albeit accidently. Around the world TV viewers saw 5 snowflakes descend into the stadium. They were supposed to open and form the Olympic Rings. Then the rings would explode in a massive pyrotechnic display. But, oooops, the fifth ring didn’t cooperate.  It stayed closed. The Ceremony producers then moved past the malfunction to the next scene. No full Olympic Rings, No Fireworks.

BUT on Russian TV something else happened. Apparently the Russian TV Director was tipped off early that the snowflake wouldn’t open. In a brilliant move he had his EVS operator back at their control studio cue up footage from the Dress Rehearsal.  When the sequence started he rolled the machine and, Voila! For Russian TV viewers there was no malfunction! Five rings and fireworks. Photos show Putin watching the doctored version in his Sky Box.

Now there are fictitious reports that the guy responsible for snowflake-gate was found dead in his hotel room. The so-called "social media" is exploding with the story. I do think it fits in with Uncle Big Al's assessment of the social media as a "Cacophony of Crap." We are ripe for rumors to go viral. And our fine army of "objective" mainstream journalists have teed it up for the Twitterverse.

After what seemed like an interminable period of time, the Games are finally underway. I can tell because most Sochi news on the web has actually switched over to Sports coverage. The venues look stunning on TV. From afar, Olympic Park looks like Dreamland. Unlike some past Olympic sites the Mountain venues look like winter wonderlands.

And in keeping with Olympic tradition, “scandal” and silliness has already begun at our Figure Skating venue.

 “It’s the French Judge” has been a great skating punchline since the Salt Lake City scandals of 2002 which changed the sport forever. The scandal led to abolishment of the 6.0 scoring system and steered us into the current era of mechanical skating. While the new scoring system has “modernized” the sport, I do believe that it has taken some of the beauty and artistry away. Choreographers used to integrate dance and beautiful moves to make the programs works of art. Nowadays choreographers figure out how to jam a bazillion jumps and high level spins into the programs without any real regard for artistry. And then they wonder why the sport has become less popular. Scott says the skaters now continually leave out the most important element in their programs.

"Bring the audience to their feet," he says. "Entertain with your skill and artistry. This system is killing our sport. When I talk to young skaters about this they don't understand what I'm talking about."

Nobody understands the scoring. It began in 2005. I've covered the sport for more than 30 years. I'm just starting to understand a little bit of how it works.

These days the judges sit there as if they have adding machines in front of them . . . Hmm, 5 points, oh yeah, 3 pts, oops, 1 point.  They used to evaluate the total performance and take deductions. Now it's a checklist without regard to total package.

Anyway, the French Sports newspaper L’Equipe, which often resembles a National Enquirer of sport reported that the Russian and American Ice Dance judges are conspiring to screw the Canadians and make sure the American Dance Team of Davis and White go home with the Gold. In return the American judge would help the Russians win the team event over the Canadians. They quote an “unnamed Russian coach.” Now L’Equipe is misguided more than they are right . . . but they did point the finger at Lance Armstrong when the world press thought the allegations were bullshit

You gotta remember that these judges are all pals who travel the world together. What’s a conspiracy amongst friends? Who knows what goes on in their hotel rooms. But a blatant “fix” these days? It’s almost impossible to engineer. But the lemmings of the press picked up on it and the story even made the New York Times. Ah, Figure Skating!

We are covering this new event which has many of us scratching our heads. It’s a Team Event, country versus country. Figure Skating has always been centered on an individual or pair . . .  the Team Event seems unnatural.  What is truly bizarre is that the International Skating Union has never contested or held a true team event prior to these Olympics. They never tested the formula. My buddy, Russian Pairs coach Tamara Moskvina summed it up well the other day.

“You should never serve the first pancake,” she admonished.

It’s an attempt by the muckity-mucks to give the sport a boost and draw even larger audiences. As the most popular Olympic sport on TV they believe it wouldn't hurt to add 3 more days of competition to the schedule. I wonder if it will be over-saturation.

By the way, if it seems like I’m a bit schizophrenic about the Russian Olympics . . it’s true. I want the adrenaline high of the Olympics, but I want to go home. I marvel at what the Russians have accomplished but there always seems to be something fishy. I love the people one minute and then I don’t like them the next.

But honestly, it’s exhilarating. You can’t pass up a time when every day is a true life adventure.

It does seem like I've been here for months. The days pass quickly and slowly . . .  all at the same time. But I do have a visual for the end.

My breakfast partner every morning and dear friend of 30 years, Scott Hamilton carries our Hourglass. It's a sack of flaxseed which he estimates will be empty the morning we are scheduled to leave. Some days I want him to eat more!

But in reality I have two breakfasts every day. About the time Scott gets ready to leave, Uncle Big Al saunters in, eyes scanning the restaurant like a droid in Terminator. 

"Get over here you clown," Big Brother demands, "sit down and talk to me and don't tell me you need to go upstairs to make a doody."

By the time I'm finished with UBA my sides are aching. I'm laughing way too much. Today he said we should replace Obama with Putin. He made a damn good argument!

Eventually, it is time to make a doody. Ambling up to my room I pass another scene which is a Potemkin Village in microcosm. The lobby has 6 shiny new elevators. However, I have only seen 2 of them work. But they look great!

Ah, the Winter Olympics! The sun is streaming through my windows and it's hot. I mean hot, hot. I have yet to wear anything heavier than a windbreaker. I open the sliding glass door and walk onto the balcony where I have taken many beautiful pictures. Yesterday, I saw something new. 

At least he wasn't wearing a Speedo.