Sports
The 2022 Olympics Are Over – Here’s What You Need to Know
The 2022 Winter Olympics have now drawn to a close. Sunday night’s closing ceremony dazzled the small crowds of in-person attendees. It was a fitting close to a memorable event, with music, theater, fireworks, and more. The games saw over 300 medals awarded across 109 events in the 15 sports of the Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is already moving forward with plans for future Olympics, but now is a good time to reflect on what just happened.
Norway Makes Winter Olympics History
One of the biggest stories of the Olympics this year was the record-breaking performance of Team Norway. The Norway Team beat the record for most gold medals won at a single Winter Olympics with 16. This marks the second time in a row that Norway took the top spot in the medal table. Their staggering 39 medals won at Pyeongchang’s 2018 Winter Olympics was equally impressive as this year’s haul of 37 medals in total.
Russian Controversy Continues
Norway beat out the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), which took second place in the medal count with 32. Russian athletes have been required to compete under the name ROC since a 2019 state-sponsored doping scandal banned the nation from formally competing under their flag. The ban is expected to expire in time for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
However, certain events of the 2022 Olympics are renewing accusations regarding Russia’s doping practices. The most recent scandal centers on Kamila Valieva, a Russian figure skater who placed fourth in women’s singles. She also took first place in the short program and fifth place in free skating. Her performances helped lead the ROC team to a gold medal.
These achievements have been marred by scandal after the 15-year old skater tested positive for banned medication. A test revealed that she had taken Trimetazidine, a banned heart medication. Additionally, her tests were positive for hypoxen and L-carnitine, two other heart medications that are not banned. The United States Anti-Doping Agency commented that this combination would be intended to increase endurance and oxygen efficiency, providing a competitive edge.
The response from Valieva herself was that she had accidentally taken some of her grandfather’s heart medication, an excuse that many of her competitors aren’t buying. The US team, in particular, is upset that medals haven’t been awarded for the women’s team, even where they placed second. The International Olympic Committee has decided to postpone awarding medals in any event where Valieva was in the top 3 to await the results of an ongoing investigation.
More Major Upsets of the 2022 Olympic Games
Kamila Valieva falling to fourth place in the women’s singles was likely the most significant upset of the games. She had been considered, by most, to have been the frontrunner going in. There were plenty of other unexpected outcomes in other events as well..
The USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin skied out of three races despite her reputation as one of the best skiers of all time. This comes after having skied out just two races in the last four years of international competition. Shiffrin also competed in the mixed team parallel event where the US took fourth place.
The men’s hockey quarter-finals saw the US take on Slovakia, where the US carried a 2-1 lead into the final minute of play. Slovakia then tied the game with a last-minute goal and went on to win the tie-breaking shootout, advancing to the semi-finals. There, they lost to Finland, who then beat out the ROC to take the gold. Finland’s first Olympic Hockey gold in history.
China was heavily favored to take the skiing mixed aerials event, performing admirably, but ultimately star skier Jia Zongyang fumbled a landing. This allowed for Chris Lillis to lead Team USA to the gold in the event’s debut Olympic Games.
The US men’s speed skating team went into the event a strong favorite, having recently set a world record in December. However, the team only took bronze following an unexpected defeat in the semi-finals by the ROC, who was then beaten by Norway in the finals.
Samuel Ikpefan Bears Nigerian Flag at Closing Ceremony
The sole competitor representing Nigeria at the 2022 Olympic Games, Samuel Ikpefan, has been the focus of much Nigerian state news. He carried the Nigerian flag during the closing ceremonies, with 2018 bobsleigh competitor Seun Adigun carrying the flag during the opening ceremonies.
Ikpefan is the first Nigerian skier to compete at the Winter Olympics, finishing 73rd out of 88 in the qualifiers and not advancing to the next round. Nigeria news has been celebrating the fact that the nation has been represented in two winter Olympics in a row.
Bruce Dowbiggin
All Bets Are Off: Why Prop Betting Scares Sports Leagues, Police

Sunday’s Super Bowl concluded another season of wagering on the sport made great by gambling. With billions wagered legally— and billions wagered illegally—the NFL is a Frankenstein of the betting industry. Everything is done to create parity while simultaneously promoting chaos. When other leagues talk about success they are talking about the NFL’s colossal gambling industry.
The penetration of betting has only increased with legalization in Canada (Ontario is the only “open” legal market at the moment) and the United States (38 states currently allow sports wagering). It has gotten to the point where sports bettors in Las Vegas, for decades the only legal spot for sports gambling, complain that Nevada is falling behind its neighbours. Some drive across state lines to wager on sports offerings not made in Vegas.
We could do a small book on all the new betting applications that have sprung up with sharps applying stock-market analytics and trading strategies to break down a football game. But for today we’ll concentrate on the device that has turbo-charged public betting in the past generation: Proposition bets. And the enormous risk they bring.
In the bad old days when gambling was underground, dominated by organized crime, football betting meant the money line (who will win), sides (by how many points) and totals (how many points would be scored in as game). The range of options within these parameters was limited. You could parlay (two bets), tease (two or more choices with alternate odds) or do future bets.
Then along came proposition bets (props). There are propositions on everything from how many yards player X will run for, how many interceptions Player Y will throw and how many touchdowns player Z will score. There are also team props. The range of props covers almost any result generated by a football game— and a few generated by halftime shows and coin flips.

When props first began to catch the public interest, they were a novelty. Snobs saw them as sucker bets for squares. In Vegas, books would stage a glitzy launch ten days before the game to announce their props. No more. The first props for SB LIX were out minutes after the conference final games were decided. The brushfire is now a conflagration.
The two weeks before SB LIX were saturated with experts breaking down the teams, their predilections and their models for predicting prop winners. In a game with no appreciable favourite this meant every microchip of data being examined. (We had at least a dozen props then added a couple more during the game to hedge against any losers.)
The great fallibility of prop betting is their individual nature. With totals and sides the results are determined by efforts of the 92 NFL players allowed to suit up each week. Outside of the QBs, kickers, coaches and perhaps the referees, no single person could determine a W or L. Not so with props.
A player can drop a pass or miss a tackle— affecting his prop— without anyone being the wiser. The NFL scrutinizes players for erratic patterns, but on a single basis anything is possible for a player who is being influenced by bettors. Integrity of the product is paramount for the NFL and its gambling partners. So a rogue player is like a communist in Joe McCarthy’s America.
There is also betting on non-football props concerning length of national anthem, colour of Gatorade used to douse the winning coach and clothing choices of the halftime performers. Here, bettors are truly on their own as the NFL has no control on Kendrick Lamar’s playlist. (Considering KL’s associates “in the hood” this a very Wild West way to lose money) own the colour of Gatorade used (yellow).
So far the NFL has avoided any public gambling scandal like the one that landed the personal translator for Dodgers’s star Hideki Ohtani in jail for tipping off gamblers. (So far MLB has managed to wall off Hideki from the crimes). But the possibilities are there in NFL and other sports where a player compromised by debts, drug issues or sexual activity can be leveraged for profit.

The league with the most visible prop problem is the NBA with its small rosters (15 players game day). For a reminder the NBA was forced to admit that there is a current police probe into player Terry Rozier, now of the Miami Heat. “In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman said. While the NBA has cleared Rozier police area not satisfied.
In the 2023 matchup between the Hornets and the New Orleans Rozier pulled himself from the game after just nine minutes. As a result Rozier finished well below his prop bet of 32.5 combined points, assists and rebounds. Bettors howled about the suspicious nature of Rozier’s exit with a foot problem.
What made cops suspicious was that the network of gamblers placing money on Rozier was the same network that had allegedly manipulated former Raptor Jontay Porter’s prop numbers. Porter has been banned for life over charges he shaved numbers for the nefarious characters cited in the rosier story. Police are still investigating him.
The NBA is still reverberating from the 2007 scandal of referee Tim Donaghy who used his knowledge of the NBA to bet on professional basketball games and tip off crimes figures. He was banned for life and sentenced to 15 months in prison. Now released from prison Donaghy continues to warn about the vulnerability of betting NBA games.
Then there is the risk associated with U.S. college athletics now that players are paid to attend a certain college. Money and temptation flow freely in the new portal system that allows players to transfer schools midway through their eligibility.
Sunday’s game produced a one-sided windfall for Eagles’ bettors and the usual controversial referee calls did not affect the outcome. But it should not be seen as a reason to be less vigilant, particularly with props.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster. His new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org. You can see all his books at brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Sports
The Top 10 Best Super Bowl Commercials of Super Bowl 59

The price for a :30 Super Bowl ad space is up to $8 Million
#10 – Pfizer
As much as it pains me to say it, this was an effective ad.
Unfortunately, many viewers will fall for this propaganda using a cute kid to sell the narrative of Pfizer “knocking out” cancer.
#9 – Bud Light
They are at least trying to salvage their image after the Dylan Mulvaney disaster.
#8 – “He Gets Us” – an ad campaign promoting Jesus Christ.
@BehizyTweets responded to the commercial, saying, “‘He Gets Us’ just aired a Super Bowl ad promoting Jesus, and it’s a massive improvement from last year’s woke ad.”
#7 – Rocket.com
@annamlulis reacted to this ad, saying:
“The Super Bowl just showed the most beautiful pro-life ad. Instead of fearmongering people out of having a family, it showed U.S. service members getting married and having kids.”
“Everyone deserves their shot at the American dream.”
#6 – Coors Light
#5 – Duracell
#4 – Michelob Ultra
#3 – Hims & Hers
As a company that donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, the ad aligned well with Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) messaging—despite the company primarily operating within the pharmaceutical space.
“Something’s broken, and it’s not our bodies. It’s the system.”
“The system wasn’t built to help us. It was built to keep us sick and stuck.”
#2 – Mountain Dew
The only ad that made me laugh out loud.
#1 – Jeep
They dropped $32 million on this ad—and they’re about to get their money’s worth and then some.
Starring Harrison Ford and the American flag, the ad featured several patriotic statements, including:
“Freedom is for everybody. But it isn’t free. It’s earned.”
“There are real heroes in the world, but not the ones in the movies. Real heroes are humble, and they’re not driven by pride.”
“The most sacred thing in life isn’t the path. It’s the freedom to choose it.”
Thanks for making it all the way to the end! If you enjoyed this list, follow me (@VigilantFox) for more.
Fun fact: Each 30-second ad spot cost about $8 million this year. Which ad was your favorite?
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