Sunday’s Olympic Quotage on the Networks of NBC

Instead of breaking these up into separate posts, I’ll give you one man-sized post with quotage from Universal Sports, NBC’s Sunday afternoon coverage and from the primetime coverage.

First, here is what was said on Universal Sports, a network I received for a month on DirecTV, but no longer.

UNIVERSAL SPORTS AT THE VANCOUVER GAMES:

NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES FOR FEBRUARY 14, 2010

February 14, 2010 — On the third day of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Universal Sports at the Vancouver Games starts its first, five-hour programming block, starting at 10 a.m. ET and will continue daily until the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, February 28. 

Vancouver Olympic News Center and Morning Buzz:

News Alerts: Men’s luge start location lowered to the women’s start line; women’s downhill was canceled and rescheduled for Wednesday.

Jeremy Bloom, 2002 and 2006 Olympian, two-time Freestyle World Cup champion and Freestyle analyst: (on Hannah Kearney’s final run, becoming the first American to win a gold medal at the Vancouver Games, and the first American medal in moguls since 2002): “Absolutely no mistakes in her last run…She’s the last skier, she relaxed and put down the run of her life.”

(On the conditions of the moguls course): “Lot of moisture all week…The best part is that it didn’t freeze, so it left the course in great condition for these women.”

(On Jennifer Heil coming in second and denied distinction as the first Canadian to win a gold medal during an Olympics Games held in her country): “I give her all the credit in the world. She’s been carrying this pressure for the last four years and to be honest, I did not see it affect her. She skied well, but she left the door open (for Kearney).”

Picabo Street, 1998 Olympic Gold Medalist, 2002 Olympian and Alpine skiing analyst (on whether tracks and ski runs have gotten too fast/have we gone too far?): “Some people will now think we have, but sometimes you have to go beyond the envelope…I always wanted to go faster.  Do they now need to make sure athletes are ranked at a certain level before they can compete?  In the alpine events, you have to be in the top 100 in the world.”

Street (on the snow in Whistler): “[The] snow is gross.  It’s rotten and mushy. Snow on the downhill is as bad as it can be, it’s scary. Bottom line, if it gets cold enough, then they can do what they need to do. They can deal with all this moisture, we want rock solid.”

Alan Abrahamson, on the delays in the skiing events: “You can almost count on there being delays in the downhill events at the Olympics…it seems to happen every time.”

Summer Sanders (reporting from Whistler): “The weather is the story up here. There’s three different seasons going on. Up top, it’s a winter wonderland, in the middle it’s packed powder, and at the bottom, its what they call ‘corn snow’. The problem is that the ski tech can’t prepare the skis for the three conditions.”

Andy Gabel, 1994 Olympic Silver Medalist and Speed Skating analyst: (on Apolo Ohno losing 20 pounds for the Olympics): “The sport has changed and is less of a power sport and more pure speed, so his lighter weight will help him a lot.  He’s clearly the favorite every time he steps on the ice.”

Bloom (on his experiences at the Olympic Village in 2002 and 2006): “It is a fraternity; you’ve dreamt about it. No matter where you go, you look in each other’s eyes as Olympic athletes and you have the uncommon bond…Those are relationships you carry on for the rest of your life.”

Peter Carruthers, 1984 Olympic Silver Medalist and Figure Skating analyst (on his experiences at the Olympic Village): “You meet so many people, not just in your sport but in every sport. It motivates you, got us fired up. Rubbing elbows In the cafeteria:  breakfast, lunch, dinner – it’s a great fraternity of people…like Shaun White said, it’s kinda like the most amazing school field trip–and it’s true. You’re representing your country. Greatest lodging you can possibly have.”

MEET THE OLYMPIC PRESS:

Abrahamson (on the new starting position for men’s luge): “It’s been lowered 600 feet, it’s like hitting from the white tees (in golf).

Guest Ben Mulroney, CTV analyst (On Canada’s pursuit of its first gold medal on home soil, the “Own the Podium” program, and America’s attitude toward Canada): “Americans pity Canada. You guys aren’t used to this from us. If we weren’t pursuing that (gold medals), what would people be saying? That [we] have no national pride. The person who wins that first Canadian gold medal will be a national hero. Every child will know their name, schools will be named for them.”

(On Canada’s hockey team):  “If we don’t make it to the gold medal round, I don’t want to be in Vancouver.”

Figure Skating Review/Preview:

Sandra Bezic, NBC Figure Skating Analyst (on two-time Olympic bronze medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China): “Overall, they’re the pair to beat…the Germans are the next closest.”

Elizabeth Manley, Canadian Figure Skater and 1988 Olympic Silver Medalist: “This is first time Canada has gone into an Olympics with medal contenders across the board (in figure skating).”

Guests Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul, 1960 Olympic Gold Medalists, Pairs Figure Skating (on the sport back in the 50s and 60s): “Our record player (for the music) was located in the penalty box. When people walked by, it skipped…unison was the key to our success.  We spent an hour each day in front of the mirror, walking through the program.”

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist and Figure Skating Analyst  (on Shen and Zhao on taking the ice first): “You wouldn’t see it as ideal, but they’re so unique that they won’t be forgotten.”

(On Sunday’s primetime events): “You can’t gamble in the short program; you have to go with what you know you can do.”

WHAT TO WATCH FOR ON USN – MONDAY, FEB. 15, 2010:

Vancouver Olympic News Center and Morning Buzz: Elisabeth Halvorson, founder and president of Cowbell.com, is the world’s foremost cheering cowbell expert and the sole U.S. importer of golden MOEN bells from Norway. The bells were first heard cheering on athletes at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games.

Figure Skating Review/Preview:  2008 Olympic gold medalist and Dancing with the Stars Champion Shawn Johnson stops by the studio to talk with Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie and Peter Carruthers.

Vancouver Review/Preview: NBC Hockey Analysts Jeremy Roenick and Eddie Olczyk analyze the USA women’s first game against China, and preview the men’s opener against Switzerland.

FUN FACTS OF THE DAY:

• During his four-year career, (1981-1985), Vancouver Olympic Review/Preview host Terry Gannon was a two-time Academic All-American and NC State basketball’s all-time leading free throw shooter. In 1983, he was the No. 1 three-point shooter in the nation.
• Ottawa, in the province of Ontario, is the capital of Canada, as declared by Queen Elizabeth in 1857. Elizabeth Manley, Canadian Figure Skater and 1988 Silver Medalist at the Calgary Olympic Games (on the beaver being the national animal of Canada): “I’m from Ottawa, we’re famous for our beavertails.”

Next, to NBC Universal’s afternoon coverage of Day 3 of the Winter Olympics.

“The medal drought is over!”- NBC Analyst Chad Salmela On the USA’s First Nordic Combined Olympic Medal In 86 Years

DAY 3 DAYTIME HIGHLIGHTS OF NBC AND USA NETWORK WINTER OLYMPICS COVERAGE

Dick Button Primetime Pairs P
review

VANCOUVER - February 14, 2010 - Daytime coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games continued today on NBC and USA Network. Live competition coverage on NBC included the nordic combined individual (K95 jumping and 10km cross-country) gold medal final and men’s biathlon 10km sprint gold medal final, as well as men’s singles luge competition. USA Network coverage included live women’s hockey between USA and China.

For the first time in 86 years, an American won an Olympic medal in nordic combined. 2003 world champion Johnny Spillane (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) took home silver. Teammates Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) and Bill Demong (Vermontville, N.Y.) and also finished in the top six.

Dick Button stopped by the studio with Al Michaels to preview the figure skating pairs short program tonight live in primetime.

Coverage Highlights Include:

NBC:AL MICHAELS ON THE U.S. MEDAL COUNT: “That medal for Spillane is the fifth U.S. medal in just a day and a half, and that is just one less than the United States won at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.”

DICK BUTTON FIGURE SKATING PAIRS SHORT PROGRAM PREVIEW:
BUTTON ON CHINA’S SHEN AND ZHAO: “The practices so far, they’ve been brilliant, they’ve been breathtaking. Pairs skating is one of the most difficult of all elements of skating because two people have to do the same thing together, in unison. All the difficulties of the lifts and the jumps have just been astounding. They’re just spectacular, the way they move together. They’ve come back at the ages of 31 and 36. Well, hats off to them. They’re really wonderful. I love watching them.”

BUTTON ON OTHER MEDAL CONTENDERS: “The other Chinese: Zhang and Zhang, and Pang and Tong and the German pairs are great, and so are the Russians. And then there are the Americans. I mean they’re wonderfully fresh and exciting and have done marvelously at pulling this together.”

BUTTON ON TEAM USA’S DENNEY AND BARRETT: They’re exciting to watch. She’s got tremendous power in that lift and the landing. They’re exciting, they’re forceful, and they have confidence. They’re an up-and-coming, and wonderfully exciting young pair. That  is very good for pair skating in the United States.”

BUTTON ON THESE OLYMPICS FIGURE SKATING EVENTS: “When the skating is good, it really lifts your heart. We’re going to see some wonderful moments in all four events here.”

NORDIC COMBINED INDIVIDUAL K95 JUMPING AND 10KM CROSS COUNTRY GOLD MEDAL FINAL
Ski Jumping: Matt Vasgersian (Play-By-Play), Chad Salmela (Analyst)
Cross Country: Al Trautwig (Play-By-Play), Chad Salmela (Analyst)
Gold: Jason Lamy Chappius, France
Silver: Johnny Spillane, USA
Bronze: Alessandro Pittin, Italy
2009 WORLD CHAMPION BILL DEMONG ON THE USA NORDIC COMBINED TEAM:
“It’s been a long 86 years in Olympic history for the United States team in nordic combined. This would be a great time to break the seal. On our team, it’s a big camaraderie. It’s almost like a band of brothers. We train hard together, and we push each other. We want to, first and foremost, win a medal in the Olympics for the U.S. nordic combined team. If we get a couple under our belts, maybe we’ll start to worry about who it is. But right now, the focus is to help each other get there and to make history.”

TRAUTWIG ON JOHNNY SPILLANE: “First ever Olympic medal in nordic combined and it goes to Johnny Spillane.”

SALMELA ON THE U.S. NEVER WINNING A MEDAL IN NORDIC COMBINED: “The medal drought is over. Spillane takes the silver for the United States. Unbelievable.”

SALMELA ON THE U.S. SUPPORT: “I’ve been at the last three Olympic events, nordic events, and I have never seen more American flags in the stadium.”

SPILLANE ON BREAKING THE MEDAL DROUGHT: “It was great. Obviously we are very excited. To have three guys in the top six is amazing. This is such a strong team now and we’ve worked really, really hard for a lot of years and to have it finally be coming together for everybody at the right time is awesome.”

MEN’S BIATHLON 10KM SPRINT GOLD MEDAL FINAL
Al Trautwig (Play-By-Play), Chad Salmela (Analyst)
Gold: Vincent Jay, France
Silver: Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norway
Bronze: Jakov Fak, Croatia
USA’S TIM BURKE ON THE COMPETITION: “Probably the most unfair race I’ve ever been apart of. In the middle of the race there when I started it was pouring down rain into a big snowstorm and now its sun again so the people starting in the middle of the pack today had no chance. It wasn’t my day I didn’t feel great and had three penalties and started in the middle of the pack. So, next time.” 

TRAUTWIG ON THE CONDITIONING OF BIATHLETES: “The key thing about this sport is that you get your heart rate so fired up in the skiing portion and then you have to somehow magically settle your body down to where that pounding heart just doesn’t allow you to hit the targets. That’s the magic of this sport. That means these are some of the most well conditioned athletes in the Winter Olympics.”

SALMELA: “They are probably the most well conditioned mentally as well because this is a sport that doesn’t allow chinks in the armor, emotionally or mentally.”

MEN’S LUGE SINGLES COMPETITION
Bob Papa (Play-By-Play), Duncan Kennedy (Analyst), Lewis Johnson (Reporter)
USA’S CHRIS MAZDZER ON HIS LUGE RUNS: “The last three runs have been great, the atmosphere is amazing. I’ve got a good fan club over there, they’re yelling, they’re cheering. It’s getting me all pumped up, I’m excited.”

PAPA ON MAZDZER: “This does not look li
ke a kid in his first Olympics, I’ll tell you that right now. You could not ask anymore from this kid, he is just driving a fantastic race.”

KENNEDY ON THE SHORTENING THE LUGE COURSE: “It’s changed everything. Shortening the course really changed the game plan of a lot of these sliders. This was a technical challenge top to bottom for the men. Now it’s a gliding course at the start. It is still technical down below, but it has changed the timing of the drives, the strength of the drives and that’s affected a few of the athletes. They’ve only had two training runs from this lower start so I think that is affecting what we’re seeing right now.”

KENNEDY ON LATVIA AND SLIDING SPORTS: “My favorite sliding sports nation. They do more with less than anybody. One of the favorites to win medal’s in men’s skeleton. One of the favorites to win four-man bobsled.”

USA NETWORK:
WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY: USA vs. CHINA
USA 12 vs. China 1
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Mike Emrick (Play-by-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst)
TEAM USA’S MEGHAN DUGGAN ON SHAKING HANDS WITH VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN:“That was awesome. We were just coming off and we see him standing there, cheering for us. It just reminds us that we are playing for our country here.”

GRANATO ON TEAM USA’S ENTHUSIASM:“You’re looking at a team that has 15 players that are playing their first Olympic game, so you can imagine how exciting these girls are to just step on the ice and get going.”

GRANATO ON STAR USA PLAYER HILARY KNIGHT: “The player you need to watch is the youngest member of the team, Hilary Knight. She is a big goal scorer. She loves to be involved in the offense, has a great release and one of the best shots I’ve ever seen in women’s hockey.” 

MLECZKO ON TEAM CHINA AS THE UNDERDOG: “You have to give them a lot of credit for being here, for battling, and for competing against some of the best players in the world.” 

MLECZKO ON TEAM USA’S PERFORMANCE VS. CHINA: “Team USA is incredibly fit and skating circles around them.” 

TEAM USA’S ANGELA RUGGIERO ON THE ATMOSPHERE IN VANCOUVER:“Just pure excitement. We have a lot of players in their first Olympics, this is my fourth, but we are all super excited to be here and to represent our country.”

And to the primetime quotage. Notice how Todd Harris’ call of Alexandre Bilodeau’s gold medal in the men’s moguls was similar to the screaming by Chad Samela as Johnny Spillane won a silver in the Nordic Combined.

Figure Skating Begins; Canada Wins First-Ever Gold on Home Soil; Team USA Moguls Skier Bryon Wilson Earns Bronze

“Oh, Canada. The drought is over. Alexandre Bilodeau has won gold.” – NBC’s Todd Harris

“To skate like that is a miracle.” – NBC’s Scott Hamilton on Shen & Zhao

VANCOUVER - Feb. 14, 2010 - Figure skating debuted at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games with the pairs short program. Gold medal favorites, China’s Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo - who have won two Olympic bronze medals and three world titles but never an Olympic gold - lead after the short program. The pairs gold medal final takes place tomorrow night live in primetime.

Alexandre Bilodeau made history at Cypress Mountain becoming the first Canadian to earn Olympic gold on home soil when he won the men’s moguls competition. Team USA’s Bryon Wilson took bronze. At the end of two days of competition, the United States leads the medal count with six (one gold, two silver, three bronze).

Bob Costas interviewed women’s freestyle moguls gold medal winner Hannah Kearney in studio and Cris Collinsworth reported from BC Place, site of Kearney’s medal ceremony.

Gold medal finals in men’s luge and women’s 3000 meters speed skating were also televised. CNBC’s coverage featured the women’s ice hockey game, Finland vs. Russia, which was won by Finland, 5-1.

Below are highlights from NBC's Primetime coverage:

Kearney on defeating gold medal favorite and Canadian Jenn Heil: “I came here to win the gold medal. I had consciously thought about how your skiing would change if you were skiing for the silver medal. It would’ve been easy to give it to Jenn. She’s on her home turf. She’s an unbelievable competitor. But I had made up my mind days before that that was not going to happen.”
 
Kearney on redemption: “It really did truly feel like redemption. - And there’s no way to describe the extreme disappointment I felt after Torino. I was absolutely devastated. I felt like my life was over. - I just felt like I let my friends, my country, myself down. And that’s a pretty big burden to shoulder. So coming back and winning here in 2010 in front of all my family, and the closest I’m going to get to a home Olympics, was so satisfying.”  

Collinsworth on the medal ceremony: “You can only imagine for these athletes. They work an entire lifetime for this one moment and they’re about to hear their national anthem. You can’t get more special than that.”

Costas: “The Indianapolis Colts only have to wait a couple months before training camp starts again. Hannah Kearney, standing atop the medal podium, had to wait four years after a disappointing performance in Torino; had to wait four years for a run that is only a matter of moments. Everything is compressed into that one final burst of competition that took her past Jenn Heil, past Shannon Bahrke and to the gold medal.”

FIGURE SKATING:
Play-by-Play: Tom Hammond
Analysts: Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic and Tracy Wilson 
Reporter: Andrea Joyce
Hammond on Shen-Zhao: “On this Valentine’s Day, their story is essentially a love story but also a story of courage and of dedication and of determination.”
 
Hamilton: “To have an Olympic dream like this and to have it mean so much, so late in their career, and to skate like that is a miracle.”

Hammond on Mark Ladwig’s and Amanda Evora’s performance after explaining their financial difficulties: “The credit cards are maxed out, the bills just keep coming, but how do you put a price on that?”

Evora on her performance: “I felt every moment that I was supposed to be there. It was meant to be and I was meant to live that moment.”

Hamilton on Canada’s Annabelle Langlois and Cody Hay: “Well the one thing about skating on home ice at an Olympic Games is that you’ll never hear anything like this. What a thrill for this couple.”

FREESTYLE SKIING:
Play-by-Play: Todd Harris
Analyst: Jonny Moseley
Reporter: Tina Dixon
Harris before Alexandre Bilodeau’s run: “All of Canada holds their collective breath. From Cape Spear, Newfoundland to White Horse, Yukon. Will tonight be the night the home soil gold medal drought ends?”

Harris: “Oh, Canada. The drought is over. Alexandre Bilodeau has won gold.”

Bilodeau: “I love to compete at home. And it’s a great place. Canada is the best. It brings the best out of me. It’s amazing, an amazing feeling. You can’t have a better feeling than that.”
 
Bilodeau on his older brother who has cerebral palsy and inspires him: “Growing up with a handicapped person puts everything back into perspective. You learn from people like that. He doesn’t complain when he has every right to. It’s very inspiring.”
 
Costas on Bilodeau’s on-air kiss from his girlfriend: “Judging by the scene with Bilodeau immediately after Tina [Dixon]’s interview, this is going to be a very good Valentine’s Day for him all the way around.”

SPEED SKATING:
Play-by-Play: Dan Hicks
Analyst: Dan Jansen
Reporter: Andrea Kremer
Hicks: “[Martina] Sablikova wins gold for the Czech Republic for the first time in this sport -- She could be the distance queen here in Vancouver.”

LUGE:
Play-by-play: Bob Papa
Analyst: Duncan Kennedy
Reporter: Lewis Johnson

Papa on Germany’s Felix Loch winning gold: “And Felix Loch has locked up gold.”
 
Kennedy: “Absolutely a top-to-bottom dominating performance. No arguing this guy’s championship.”

Below are highlights from CNBC's Primetime coverage:

CNBC, Women’s Ice Hockey:
Finland 5 vs. Russia 1
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-by-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst)

Mleczko: “In this first round when Team Canada and Team USA are such favorites, trying to figure out who is going to make that cut at second is going to be a big factor.” 

Granato: “Finland is quietly one of the powerhouses in this tournament.”

Coming up, CTV’s press releases for Sunday.