Beside The Points For Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018

Things That Caught My Eye

Kane sure looks like the best striker in the world

Harry Kane on the Tottenham Hotspur got his 100th goal in the English Premier League two weeks ago, with only Alan Shearer accomplishing it in fewer games. This season alone, Harry Kane is at the top of the five European leagues, with 23 goals from 61 shots on goals in 26 games. [FiveThirtyEight]

The Dutch came here to skate with alacrity and not much else

As of the end of competition on Wednesday, players from the Netherlands have won 121 medals of which 42 were gold in the Winter Olympics. Of those, 95.4 percent of the golds and 94.2 percent of the total medals were in the sport of speedskating, making them the top one-trick nation in the games. [FiveThirtyEight]

Try out our interactive, Which World Cup Team Should You Root For?

Kim gets Gold and Gold gets Bronze

Americans Chloe Kim and Arielle Gold medaled in the halfpipe snowboarding competition, with the seventeen year old phenom Kim taking a gold medal and Gold, who suffered a freak injury in Sochi, dislocating her shoulder on the flukey halfpipe at that games, taking third place. [The Washington Post]

Yeah, well, we’ll get ’em in the rematch

Two of the best teams in the world, Canada and the United States, had a tumultuous first game in women’s hockey at the Olympics, with Canada’s 2-1 victory meaning they clinch the top seed in pool play. The two teams could very well face off against one another in next week’s final. Meanwhile, Team USA stomped the Olympic Athletes from Russia, with Jocelyne Lamoureaux scoring two goals in six seconds, an Olympic record. [ESPN]

Try out our brand new super fun quiz, Which Winter Olympic Sport Is Best For You? I got ski jumping!

The men aren’t doing that well

Meanwhile, the U.S. men lost 3-2 to Slovenia in overtime after coughing up a 2-0 lead heading into the third period. The good news is that that game just helped to figure out the seeding for the knockout rounds, but that concludes our good news regarding the men’s U.S. hockey team for the time being. [Deadspin]

She doesn’t even go here!

About six percent of Olympic athletes do not actually live in the nations they represent, which adds up to an estimated total of 178. Of those 178, at least 37 of them are Americans playing for other teams. Typically these folks have either dual citizenship or have fast-tracked naturalization in their chosen nation. [ESPN]


Big Number

29.6 percent

That’s the percentage of alpine ski race runs that are unfinished. While skeleton certainly looks like it’s designed for people to wipe out all the time, only 0.6 percent of races end in DQs. [FiveThirtyEight]


Leaks from Slack:

natesilver:

wow BIG curling comeback for the USA
we were down 6-1 and now its 6-6
against Italy

walt:

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES

linda.tutovan:

yay curling

walt:

[i do not]

tchow:

italy just hit a great shot

neil:

OMG you guys are watching too???
We’re watching in the alcove
This match has been crazy
3+ points in almost every end, multiple steals

galen:

the USA outfits are cute

neil:

:us:


Predictions


Oh, and don’t forget
What are the men scared of?