Shaun White will come home from Sochi without a gold medal. In fact, he will come home without a medal of any color - an outcome that many thought wasn't possible.

I just got done watching the halfpipe competition and couldn't be more disappointed with how things played out tonight. I'm not a snowboarding expert - far from it actually - but the conditions in the halfpipe were too big a factor tonight.

White has been battling injuries and many of the competitors have been complaining about the conditions of the halfpipe. Initially, it was too steep, then it was too slushy at the base. From what little snowboarding I've watched, these factors can go a long way in determining how impressive the performances will be.

I don't know that White was going to beat Swiss boarder Iouri Podladtchikov, who won gold. I do know that for an Olympic competition, tonight had way too many elite boarders finishing their run on their rear end.

Ayumu Hirano and Taku Hiraoka of Japan took silver and bronze, leaving the U.S. off the podium for the first time since the event debuted in Nagano, Japan in '98.

Now I'm looking forward to my favorite Winter Olympic sport: Hockey. The U.S. plays Slovakia at 6:30 AM on Thursday and I'll be drinking morning coffee instead of a customary beer as I watch.

 

 

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