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The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic games just ended a few days ago and I could not be any happier. By far, this event was the most controversial and soap (opera) like of its kind. I still wonder why there were so many shady things tainting this particular Olympiad.

I am really not shocked by "Skate-Gate" or "Ohno-Gate". The movement to get the games to Utah was one of many discrepancies from the word go. I am surprised that the games actually took part in the land of Osmonds.

At first, there was the sexual favors scandal with Olympic officials. This was a terrible blow for the Olympic movement. A house cleaning and a thorough investigation followed to clear the five rings organization. Eventually the Games once again were in route to Salt Lake City.

The events of September 11th also caused the Olympic governing bodies to rethink the logistics and safety of the Games. There was a lot of uncertainty about having any competition at all. Ultimately, money among other factors gave the green light.

Many experts, including myself, thought the Games would be a complete failure. NBC was to loose major cash here. The ratings for the previous Summer Olympics in Sidney Australia were down below expectations. Those Games did not have half of the improper behaviors.

A few days before the Opening Ceremonies, there was a lot of bitching about a certain American flag. This was the same surviving flag from the World Trade Center. The International Olympic Committee did not wanted to favor the United States by letting the ceremonies become something of an American pep-rally. Like our National Anthem states; "Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there", and so it was.

The Red, White and Blue Games began with the expected bang and enthusiasm a car crash gives rubber neckers on the highway. Many of the participants were complaining about the favoritism towards American athletes. Most of the complaints were unfounded, at least to my eyes. I mean c-mon, where the hell are the Games being held?

The innocence of a Saturday afternoon turned into a nightmare of an evening when Canadian skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier bladed to a gold medal performance. One problem, Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were given the gold. After watching the tape, it was easy to see how they could be upset.

An admitted goon judged in favor of the Russians as a form of "pass the pasta fazule". French judge Marie Rein LaGoone, admitted giving the Russians her vote for Gold because she was pressure by unspecified sources within the clicks. The judge was disbarred and still to this day nobody really knows why did she really, really do it.

In the meantime, the Canucks bitched and whined and pushed all the right buttons for a week. They worked the media enough to turn their performance into gold. This, of course, opened Pandora's box wide open. Can you say, 1972 men's basketball final where the United States lost to the Soviet Union under the shadiest of conditions.

Just when you thought the scandals were over, American speed skater favorite Apolo Anton Ohno was given a gold medal when a South Korean skater was disqualified for doing his best bumping impression of Dale Earnhardt. Ohno, who had won silver under shady conditions a few days prior as well, was awarded the gold.

Ohno, unlike the Canadians, did not cry foul and showed a lot of class throughout the whole incident. It was class indeed what the South Korean delegation lacked. They even made the threat of pulling out. If it were up to me, I would have showed them the door.

The women's figure skating finals also got the scandal bug when Americans came first, third and fourth. Wait a minute what is so scandalous about that? There was a chance of an American sweep after all. It was Sarah Hughes and not Michelle Kwan that won the gold. So why are the Russians bitching?

The ruskies were wondering how did Hughes jump from forth to first place. She kicked ass while Kwan and Irina Slutskaya goofed. The favorites banked on their previous scores and took it easy. The Russians claimed foul play and threatened to pull out as well. If they would have done that in Afghanistan a few years ago, I wonder if things would be any different.

Lets not forget Wayne Gretzky's crybaby attitude in the hockey arena. He felt that the officiating was biased against Team Canada. I could not really tell you if that was the case or not because of all the curling action I was spoon-fed by NBC.

Nevertheless I am sure NBC loved the controversy, because people were watching their lame coverage. The Nothing But Costas network decided to do about 10 minutes an hour of live feeds while cramming feel good stories the rest of the time.

The games ended with the United States getting 34 medals over all. This was an amazing feat for Winter Games since they were only shooting for 20. In the end, NBC did come out ahead and not in the red. I don't think the same could be said for the International Olympic Committee and their little clicks.

Good luck Jacques Rogge!

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