As we start to wind down the 2014 Olympics in Sochi Russia there looks like two huge highlights have had the world buzzing. T.J. Oshie’s game winning goal in a shootout with Russia in the 8th overtime of the preliminary round and Bob Costas’s eyes. Poor Bob couldn’t even put his contacts in because the pink eye infection was so bad. For those of you who haven’t been watching, Bob’s left eye lid was so swollen he looked like he took a punch from Mohammad Ali and then the infection moved on over to his other eye. He put his glasses on and the cameras pulled back a bit, but it still couldn’t help the situation. Everyone noticed and I swear were tuning in more to see how bad his eyes were, instead of coverage of the games. I’ve met Bob at the Maris golf tournament and I can tell you he is passionate and highly devoted to his work and it didn’t surprise me he wanted the show to go on with him at anchor. Matt Lauer stepped in and the audience hated him. Meredith Vieira replaced Matt. Again in this day and age it seems like the majority is paying more attention to NBC’s on-air talent instead of the games themselves. Best line from Bob as he took a shot of vodka, “this can’t make my eyes any redder!”

I love to look back at some of the sports that were once officially in the games but were taken out for one reason or another. For Example “Bandy” is a sport much like hockey except you replace the putt with a ball and your ice rink is about the size of a soccer field. It was placed in the 1952 games in Olso and never heard from again because of lack of interest. Only three teams played it that year.

In 1928 there was “Skijoring”. You put on skis and then you were pulled across a lake by a horse or a dog and the fastest time won. Fast is right! It came and went and was never heard of in the Olympics again.

Speed Skiing was only in the 92 games. Fastest time downhill was the winner. The gold medal winner was clocked at better than 142 MPH! One contestant died in a fall. That was the only year it appeared.

And sled dog racing, while still popular in our neck of the woods, it was only in the 1932 winter games.

I can’t wait until it’s time for the summer games when I can tell you about the “swimming obstacle course race.”

Before I wrap this week I wanted to say a big congrats to Deb Jenkins and last Saturday’s “Celebration of Women and their Music.” Great crowd on hand at the Fargo Theatre to catch some of the current and the up-coming musical and artistic talent in the area. And I’m happy to say a number of those on stage have appeared on “Nighttime Life” with me on KFGO and performed some of their original music for us. The stories of devotion to their particular art form are inspiring.

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