2014 Winter Olympics- Sochi, Russia

Winter Olympics February 12-17, 2014 Sochi, Russia After a year of planning, buying venue tickets, getting a room on a cruise ship, the back and forth with the Russian Embassy about our Visa’s, and booking plane flights, the winter Olympics are finally here! One of the hardest parts of this trip was the constant media blitz about security at and around the Olympic events. For at least 4 months prior to our arrival we heard about insurgents and suicide bombers (the Black Widow especially) that were already in Sochi and basically any American would be a fool for going because surely something bad was going to happen. I rarely stress out about trips but because so many friends and family were sending us reports and pictures, telling us about links that all described the horrific atrocities that would take place in Russia Keli was constantly worried…thus making me a bit nervous as well. But throughout I kept telling her, “this is the biggest event in the world in one of the most heavily armed countries in the world, all under a very strict Vladimir Putin, the likelihood that something will happen is nil to none”. But that did little to calm her anxieties even when in London. This is where I got completely stressed out. As I mentioned above, we booked a room on a 5 star cruise line (The Grand Holiday) because we both knew the hotel s situation around the Olympic park was going to be a problem. Combine the fact that the main hotels were still being worked on a week before the opening ceremonies, and the security issues, I found a nice room on the cruise ship so that we would have meals three times a day and anyone who wanted to board the ship needed to go through a security checkpoint. Well, the day before we were set to fly to Russia we got an email stating “unfortunately even though we were confirmed to be on the ship, our room was forfeited to the Olympic delegation and we would be placed in a nearby hotel. “What the F*&$!!!!”. To make matters worse, we were put in the media hotel where journalists have sent pictures of showers not working, yellow tap water, man hole covers missing, broken door handles, and no hotel lobby… Kel and I were furious. The final straw for us was the fact that the hotel, Alexandrovsky Sad, did not exist on Google and the address was so new that you could not find it on any maps. Our directions were, take a bus to the Olympic park and it is a 15 minute walk…in what direction we had no clue. After 8 hours in the air, including another 4 hours in the Kiev (Ukraine) airport, we landed in Sochi at 3:45am having no clue where we were going. At the bus stop we spoke with a very nice volunteer from Siberia, but he didn’t know where the hotel or street was either. A complete stroke of luck allowed us to be at the airport the exact same time Kendall Coyne’s (US women’s hockey player) parents were picking up her siblings. They were also kicked off the cruise ship and happened to be at our hotel as well. Kel and I tagged along on the bus, then walked with them to the hotel. Honestly without their help we would have been in a quandary and probably would have not found the hotel for several hours. All in all, the hotel room was fine. There were some odd things about it, the phone didn’t have an outlet, the AC couldn’t be plugged in, the towel warmer was actually a heater and burned me several times, but other than that is was clean which is really all we needed. We had issues with food as well, instead of having 3 meals a day we only got breakfast and then had to find lunch and dinner, but again no big deal in the big scheme of things. Really, besides the room, the rest of the trip was AMAZING! The day we landed we got in a bit of a nap before heading up to the mountain cluster to watch the Nordic Combined. This is a ski jump off the normal hill followed by a 10k cross country race. The longer you jump, the earlier you start the cross country portion. Prior to the Olympics we were told not to where any US gear for fear of being attacked, but we realized real quick that not only should we show off our American gear, in fact the Russians loved it. So we put on our USA beanies Keli’s sister Kim made for us, donned our stars and strips gloves, and then I put on my US flag bandana and USA cowbell that Keli’s mom gave me for my birthday. From then on we swore to never listen to the media again. Everyone wanted pictures with us, we were getting hand shakes and high fives, it was epic. As for the event, the American’s had no chance. Pour jumping lead to a bad seeding in the CC portion and therefore a miracle 10k would be in order…that didn’t happen. Instead Eric Frenzel of Germany pulled away for the gold, Akito Watabe of Japan got Silver, and Magnus Krog of Norway got bronze. Even though we didn’t have anyone come in the top ten, the German fans next to us were great and so Keli and I cheered their man on to victory. Day two we finally had a chance to go into the Olympic park. On tap was the Russia vs. Slovenia men’s hockey game and I was really stoked because I got to cheer on Anze Kopitar and Slava Voynov of the LA Kings. As we entered the park, the first section was mainly sponsor houses such as Samsung, Audi, Coca Cola…but on the right had side it looked like Sochi built grandstands for a formula 1 race track. It is an interesting take on what the park might be used for in the future. The second half of the park, after heading over a very large bridge, had all the indoor venues including the Fisht Olympic stadium used for the opening and closing ceremonies (and from what I hear soccer in the 2018 World Cup), Shayba Arena (smaller hockey rink), Bolshoy Ice Dome (large hockey arena), Ice Cube for curling, Adler Arena for speedskating, Adler skating center for short track speed skating, and the Iceberg Skating palace which is self explanatory. Right in the middle of the park was the Olympic torch as well as the medals ceremony stage that had 3 huge big screens often showing the most popular events that were currently taking place. We headed to the Bolshoy Ice Dome for the game which couldn’t have been a better way to start off all the events we would see that week. This was Russia’s first game on home soil for a winter Olympics and the place went nuts. The Reds clearly dominated Slovenia throughout the game and superstars Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin were flying around the rink. Within a couple of minutes the score was 2-0 and I really thought it would be a ten goal night for the Russians, but the game settled down and by the final buzzer it was a 5-2 win for the home team. Very exciting, and a great boost for the fans. After the game we ran over to the NBC morning show and briefly got on the broadcast as Al Roker showed off the USA Olympic jackets. The night ended with us at the medals ceremony watching the US flags going up for the men’s slopestyle skiing…we swept the event with Joss Christensen getting gold, Gus Kenworthy silver and Nick Goepper bronze. Keli and I were really popular as we belted out the national anthem. Day three was curling at the Ice Cube. The previous day we headed into Sochi (about a 50 minute train ride…the city was clearly much bigger than I expected) to get our US men’s hockey tickets and decided last minute to pick up curling as well. Even though I have seen the event on TV the past several Olympics, the intricacies of the game still allude me. But I understand the basics of the game and had the chance to see the American women in action. There were four games going at one time, US vs. Denmark, Russia vs. Switzerland, Great Britain vs. Japan and South Korea vs. China. The Americans, Japanese and Koreans all got their butts kicked, but the Russians and Swiss went back and forth all ten rounds with the home team pulling away to the crowds delight. What made this day really interesting was the people we met. A women next to Keli came with the owner of the Seattle Seahawks on his private jet and then were staying on his yacht…a ship big enough to need the same docksas the Grand Holiday cruise ship we were suppose to be on. She was very nice and was one of the only people staying on the boat going to the events. Everyone else was content to watch the games on TV. How ridiculous is that? Fly from Seattle to Russia to sit on a boat when you have some of the best tickets to the best events at the winter Olympics, that just baffles me. Anyway, the lady gave me a bunch of US pins that I was able to trade later on in our trip. The second person we met was Erik Brady a writer for USA today. He interviewed us for about 10 minutes and you can find the article here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/sochi/2014/02/14/sochi-winter-olympics-coast-mountain-contrast/5492109/ Day four we had the men’s 1500 meter speed skating tickets. Prior to arriving in Sochi I was really excited about this event because I knew Shani Davis won the past two Olympics and we therefore had a really good chance to three-pete. But here was our dilemma, speed skating was at exactly the same time the US men’s hockey was playing Russia. So Kel and I headed to the awards area to watch the first period on the big screens then needed to head to our event. I wish I could say Shani, or any of the Americans did well tonight, but unfortunately we raced like crap. Not until we got home did I realize there was a huge controversy with their speed suits. Apparently the athletes were given new, untested suits, and everyone competed horribly. Usually the US comes away with several medals on the long track and this was the first time in decades that both the men and women were medal-less. Very disappointing but the races were still exciting. Poland's Zbigniew Brodka barely edged the Netherlands' Koen Verweij to take home gold, Brodka finished his run in one minute, 45.006 seconds, finishing .003 seconds ahead of Verweij. Canada's Denny Morrison got bronze to the extreme delight of the girls behind us, clearly friends and relatives in speed skating gear themselves. Immediately after we figured out the winner, Kel and I Jammed out to the medals area again because the hockey game was still being played. We made it there just in time to see T.J. Oshie score the game winning penalty shot (the 8th round) to take the W. I screamed at the top of my lungs to the extreme displeasure of thousands of Russians around us. Great way to end the night, I really wish I could have been there live. Day 5, our final day at the Olympics was a full day. We started with the first round of playoffs for women’s hockey, a match between Germany and Finland, and ended the night with the US men’s hockey vs. Slovenia. The women’s hockey game was ok, not too exciting as Finland dominated both ends of the ice and skated circles around the Germans. Even though they only won 2-1 it really wasn’t a close contest. Besides the score, Keli and I didn’t know any of the players and had no affiliation with the teams so we honestly didn’t pay too much attention. The men’s hockey game was a completely different story. I have been looking forward to this for months and was excited to see Kings Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick (too bad, Quick had the day off after an amazing win vs. Russia the night before). This game was no contest with the US coming away with a 5-1 win. But is was interesting to see the shift of loving the USA to not necessarily hating us but still very unhappy about the previous nights loss. The crowd was extremely pro-Slovenia, and constantly were chanting “Shi Bo, Shi Bo” meaning score a goal. In fact, the two girls and one extremely large dude in front of us were really annoying at how much they wanted the US to lose often screaming almost at us when we cheered for our team…whatever, we beat you last night, eat it! So that was our trip. It was so much fun Keli is totally on board to go to the summer Olympics in Rio and then the next winter Olympics in Korea

World game #2- Chelsea FC

Chelsea FC vs Newcastle United February 8, 2014 Stamford Bridge Saturday was the start of a crazy Europe trip that included this soccer game, or as the Euro’s call it “football”, and ended with us in Sochi Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympics. I will talk more about that in another blog but for now will focus on this portion in London. Keli and I had 3 days in England, well actually more like 2 days as we were super jet lagged from our 17 hour trip. We could only muster the energy for the soccer game but planned to do all the touristy stuff the next two days which included the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. My initial plan was to try to get an Arsenal game, but they were up in Liverpool. I also looked at Crystal Palace thinking they were a newer team to the Premier league and tickets may be easier to come by but it was completely sold out. Chelsea was a last ditch effort as I thought the seats would either be way too expensive or would be sold out as well…but all things considered $200 for decent tickets was a good deal. It was also nice because the Underground (subway) took you straight to Stamford Bridge and was only 20 minutes from Victoria station (I was a bit tired of all the “mind the gap” signs and announcements…means watch your step getting on and off the trains). I shouldn’t be surprised, the closer we got to the stadium the more blue jerseys stepped on the train. I only saw two belligerent Newcastle fans who were a bit loud on the train and only got worse as they made their way into the stadium. As you get off the train there is a sea of Chelsea supporters all heading to the venue. Honestly when we got to Stamford Bridge I thought I would be more impressed with the building but aside from the iconic team symbol you would never know it was a soccer stadium…looked more like a college library. But once we stepped into the stadium that all changed. The crowd was pumped, there were supporter flags from all over the world including America, South Africa, Japan, and even the small island of Malta. What also made the game a bit more interesting for us was that our seats were only about 10 rows from the Newcastle supporter section. They were a really rowdy bunch and the aisles were dotted with security guards clad in bright yellow vests who would not allow things to get out of control. Keli and I were not necessarily appalled by the cheers they were leading, but more surprised at their vulgarity. F-bombs were in just about every chant, they picked on specific players and coaches, and “bloody wanker” was used often. That group never quieted down even when down by 3 goals. As for play on the field it was surprising the level of skill these players have compared to MLS teams. Crisp, precise passing. The shots on goal came at crazy angles with untold speed and accuracy only to be matched by the amazing goalies. In fact, Chelsea has one of the more iconic goalies in recent memory with Petr Czech manning the onion bag and he did not disappoint with a shutout. Chelsea on the other hand manhandled the visiting team scoring three times including a PK all under the food of Eden Hazard giving him a hat trick for the day. The PK shot was a bit surprising as Frank Lampard could have made his 50th penalty shot goal, but he knew the day belonged to Hazard. There was also fabulous play by Samuel Eto’o and Ivanovic (two of footballs biggest stars). And with Hazard’s three goals that is how the game ended. Fabulous game, great experience, and now I can’t wait to come back for an Arsenal g