A bit about male figure skating in general (and Plushenko!!!!)

In general, I was quite underwhelmed by Men's figure skating programs during these Olympics. There was no-one I really liked. Everyone fell into one of three categories: 1) quite non-inspiring (Lysacek, Takahashi) 2) divas more concerned with their costumes than with their skating (Weir) 3) Non-successful jumpers (Lambiel) . No-one at all to write home about. I am ready for the new generation of male skaters so that I can find someone to follow.

Gosh, one person I can never decide what should I think about is Evgeniy Plushenko. I start these Olympics liking him because : a) my mother likes him, b) I love his jumps. Then I do 180% turn after his 2010 Olympic free program because of a) his idiotic sore-loser remarks, b) because he let me down and didn't jump all that well, and c) because he was a bit silly/overconfident and didn't pad his program with valuable elements (how stupid is that!). But!! As soon as I was ready to join Plushenko-haters , seven_trees brought the following video to my attention.

I'm afraid I won't be able to hate him . EVER. Genya!!! Look at what you used to be! Give up you sore-loser diva ways, find your ability to laugh again , train more and come back. I'll forgive everything.

Ice hockey EEEEEEEEEEE!

YAY! Russians!!!!!!!!!!!! Winning 4:2 against Czechs, hopefully Russians securing their place in the finals. And quite an awesome game too! I might stay awake tonight - there will be also USA/Canada and Sweden/Finland (this is always good to watch) tonight. So so exiting - finally my favourite parts of the Olympics started.



EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Edit: Ice Hockey rules: It has been a while since I watched much hockey and now I am feeling lost among IIHF (adopted at the Olympics?) hockey rules. Why aren't all wins of the same point value (some are 4, some 3 and some 2)? What is draw's point value?

What does it mean: "Upon completion of the preliminary round, teams will be ranked 1D through 12D. The top four ranked teams (1D though 4D) will receive byes to the quarter-final round. The remaining eight teams will compete for the remaining four quarter-final positions." The remaining eight teams will be in play-offs? This is not how it used to be 10 years ago!