Light The Cauldron

So remember last week when I said I wasn't going to have a blog this week because of Thanksgiving? Well, I ended up with a free Saturday evening on my way back home from Pennsylvania and remembered that The Next Olympic Hopeful was airing on NBCSN. Then I remembered how crazy busy my December is going to be and that I probably won't be putting out any articles that month, so I should probably put one out now.

And thus, my live blog of The Next Olympic Hopeful began. Enjoy!

If you want to view this as you read, you can catch it online at nbcsports.com. I'll put down times so you can easily track along with your viewing!
(PART 1 and PART 2)


:00 Aw, Opening Ceremony memories...

:01 I wish I was fit enough to put out an audition for this show. Instead I'm watching it. Bummer.

:02 I totally remember visiting that gym in Colorado Springs! Such a cool place - you all should go there. (It's free!)

:03 I will admit that I hate reality shows - mostly because of the editing that…

This week, the city of Calgary voted against hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics, with about 54% of the voters voting "no" to the referendum.

This means that there are only two cities left in the running for these Olympics: Stockholm, Sweden and Milan, Italy. In the past few months Sapporo, Japan; Sion, Switzerland; and Graz, Austria have all dropped out. Even Milan's host bid is unique: it is actually a dual-city bid with Cortina, spreading out the host duties.

Coincidentally, I was catching up on my Olympic YouTube videos and watched this video, which was recorded during the Olympism In Action forum last month. It's about 40 minutes long, but worth your time:

In short, there were several people directly involved with hosting the Olympics in their respective cities, and one - Chris Dempsey of the No Boston Olympics movement from 2024 - who was involved with making sure the Olympics never came to his city.

The spectacle of hosting an Olympics has now been overshadowed b…

I watched the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating today on NBC, where we got two competitions - men's and women's figure skating - in just an hour and a half. Without too much fanfare, we got barely any of the short programs and a handful of free programs. No pairs, and no ice dancing.

The supreme editing makes sense since it was on NBC proper, but still a bit disappointing. The crew actually doesn't travel there, either, which is why we don't get any interviews.

But at the end of every broadcast, we are urged to check out NBC Sports Gold to get even more figure skating, including live broadcasts of many of the competitions NBC would air instead of the tape-edited features.

It frustrates me, because as much as I want live-streamed coverage, I don't want to fork over more money since I already have the yearlong pass for track and field.

Here are some details for the Gold pass:

NBC offers a Gold pass for a given yearly period for certain sports, includingTrack and Field…

I have a love/hate relationship with Sam Mikulak.

Love, because c'mon. The dude is gorgeous, AND he attended the University of Michigan and helped their gymnastics squad win two NCAA titles. He always has a smile on his face, and is very upbeat and supportive of his teammates.

Hate, because when it comes to international competition, Mikulak fades. At least, that's what I've always thought.

Last week was the artistic gymnastics world championships, and while the world was talking about Simone Biles (as they rightly should), I decided to take a different spin by looking at the only US male gymnast to get a medal. He had to wait until the very last event to get it, but he did.

This is a time of peak performances in the male gymnast world. It is absolutely incredible the things that they are able to do with their massive muscles and tumbling skills. It is an entirely different sport compared to women's gymnastics, and doesn't get the publicity that maybe it deserves …