The NFL season may be over, but the sports year still moves on.\u00a0 T.J. Rives talks all things sports media on the Last Word on Sports Media podcast.\u00a0 This week, T.J. is joined by Last Word on Sports media writer Steve Carney as the sports world have moved on to the Winter Olympics from Milan-Cortina.<\/p>\n
T.J. asked Steve how much of the Olympics he has been able to keep up with this year, and Steve admitted that he kept the Peacock streaming service almost specifically for their Olympics coverage.\u00a0 He also mentioned that his college football podcast co-host Price Atkinson is in Cortina working the curling matches as a public address announcer.\u00a0 They discussed the wild moment that saw American figure skater Ilia Malinin, who was the heavy favorite to win gold, fall twice and not even come close to making the podium.\u00a0 T.J. mentioned how people thought Malinin was as close to a sure thing as you’d find in sports, but Steve wasn’t so sure.<\/p>\n
“If there were locks [in sports,]” Steve pointed out, “there wouldn’t be big ass casinos in Las Vegas.”<\/p>\n
Both praised Malinin for the poise he showed, discussing the events of his free skate just moments after falling, and for his honesty in saying that he maybe wasn’t ready for the pressure<\/a> the free skate was going to bring.\u00a0 Steve compared Malinin’s performance to another pair of Olympic skaters: figure skater Michelle Kwan and speed skater Dan Jansen.\u00a0 Both had heavy expectations like Malinin and came up short multiple times, though Jansen did eventually get his gold in Lillehammer.\u00a0 \u00a0They also praised Andrea Joyce, who had known Malinin since he was a small child and covered his parents, who were both professional skaters, for asking the right questions and using the right tact to prevent a robotic response.<\/p>\nMLB Finds Itself Ready For Season Start<\/h2>\n