Winter Olympics: Speedskating Team Pursuit

Jim Lampley, kicking to Speed Skating Pursuit at 4pm today: "Just think cycling pursuit on skates."

Clearly, he knows that the type of person watching the Olympics at 4 on a Wednesday is the type of person who knows something about cycling.

He's right. This is right up The Sports Sauna's alley!

I was confused for the first race between the Canadians and the Americans. Then I saw it...a bracket! OK, I'm on board! Any sport that involves a bracket automatically becomes 20% more entertaining. No exceptions. So we're weeding down the field to the final four today.

Hey! Melissa Stark! Where's she been these past few years? She's reporting on the Dutch passion for speed skating. And now it's the Netheregion against Ze Germans for the 3rd spot in the semis... uh oh, the Germans have a sizable lead.

The cool thing about this team pursuit is they are on the same track across from each other, so every lap NBC shows a split screen showing the teams crossing the line on opposite sides of the ring, so you can see how close it is. This race isn't. The Germans knock out the Dutch. Bummer.

Here's the final four:
Canada v. Japan - The Battle for the Best Red and White Flag
Germany v. Russia - WWIII: The Eastern Front