Again with the resemblance, right?

President Steven Riddle, husband of President Amber Riddle, saw crushing defeat yesterday as Alpine Skier Tina Maze failed to reach the podium in the Women\’s Super Combined Downhill and Slalom by just one place.  President Riddle had famously pinned all his hopes and dreams onto the Slovenian, and named her as his captain despite being by all accounts American himself.  Yet, she fell just 0.63 seconds short of glory. And those 0.63 seconds will haunt Steven forever.

Here are the standings as of events beginning before midnight EST yesterday.

Please note: some of you may have seen a reduction in score.  Here\’s why.  A change has been made in the way that we\’re scoring hockey and curling.  On previous days, it was scored erroneously.  I had awarded two points for each team that won a game or match.  This was based on a misunderstanding about the way the tournaments work.  There are a number of different games or matches in each round.

Here is the correct scoring system for curling:

A team advances from the Round Robin round to the Playoff Round- 2 points
A team advances from the Playoff Round to the Semifinals- 2 points
A team advances from the Semifinals to the Finals- 2 points
Finals- points for medals

Here is the correct scoring system for hockey:

A team advances from the Preliminary Round to the Qualification Round- 2 points
A team advances from the Qualification Round to the Quarterfinals- 2 points
A team advances from the Quarterfinals to the Semifinals- 2 points
A team advances from the Semifinals to the Finals- 2 points
Finals- points for medals

This is more analogous to a skier/skater/luger earning points for each advancement.  If you have questions or issues, please contact me or comment below and I will be happy to address them!  Unless it involves a lot of math.

Greetings Presidents (and God-King Grogan), please make your selections now for Part TWO of the Olympic Fantasy Game.  What\’s Part Two, you ask?  Part Two is the Medal Count!  Click here: Part Two Pick \’Em Form to guess/bet which country will win the most medals in each of the Olympic sports and to name which country you think will win the overall medal count!  Some countries are well on their way!  Please try to make your selections by 10am tomorrow, February 12th.  

President Allison Buckley of Mabeltopia

Topping the leaderboard for a solid three days now is President Allison Grogan Buckley, one half of the Dynamic Grogan Sibling Duo, and wife of easily the most patriotic person currently living.  So is it any wonder that she selected a team which is almost entirely Americans?

A longtime Winter Olympics enthusiast, she once met Kristy Yamaguchi via letter (do you guys remember letters?) and is the proud owner of a signed photograph of the Hall of Fame Olympian.  This has undoubtedly influenced her draft selections, as a full one third of her Olympians are figure skaters. Will any of them follow in Ms. Yamaguchi\’s footsteps?  Probably.  President Buckley\’s only non-American team member is that really good Russian skater girl.

But it\’s lonely at the top.  Can she hold on to her commanding lead going into the first full week of Olympic competition?  Lots of slopes left to ski, folks.

Finishing a respectable but still dismal fourth place in the Women\’s 3000m Speed Skating yesterday, Claudia Pechstein of Germany cost President Amber Riddle 3 points.  Could this be the crucial three points that keeps her from being crowned the ultimate winner of the First Biennial Fantasy Olympics Game?  That remains to be seen.  But probably.

In the meantime, do they kind of look alike?  No?  Just me?

Gracie Gold\’s stellar program yesterday (Ladies and Lance, you know what I\’m talking about) vaulted a lot of people onto the board today!

Part TWO will be coming to you, shortly.  In the meantime, start thinking about which country you think will earn the most medals in the following sports:

Until tomorrow, fantasy friends!

\”At the Olympics, I generally support Americans, pretty girls, Scandinavians, and children, unless they\’re Chinese gymnasts because it\’s cheating to use kids from pre-school.\” – Lance Huffman 

Things are really heating up now! Well, maybe just for Allison.

THE LEADERS:

Allison Buckley 4
Brian Barrette 2
Steve Fohl 2
Amy Sadler 2

THE EVERYONE ELSE:

It\’s a Family Affair! Nearly half of all competitors are related to someone else in the league.  Talking heads have their eye on the battle of the brother/sister duos.  The Barrettes versus the Grogans.  Who will come out on top?  The father/child duos of Mark and Ken Fletcher and Mark and Anna Girard will be ones to watch as well!

Check out your competition below!  Captains are in Blue. Some of you already have country names, so you\’re ahead of the game.  The rest of you can name your country at any time! Just send me an e-mail or leave a comment.  Please also note that I have tentatively given each team owner the title of \”President.\”  In the event that your country is not a democracy and your leader is named something different, please let me know.

PRESIDENT: DANE BOWLES