Now that the Olympics are over, Turin can start gearing up for something really big, coming in May.
The chess Olympics!
The brain-over-brawn games is officially known as the 37th Chess Olympiad.
And, just like the real Olympics, the Chess Olympiad has a big, goofy mascot, too, something that looks like a 7-foot tall inflatable rook with a blue-and-white chessboard pattern.
Some 2,300 players and coaches from about 150 countries will converge on what has been the Olympic speed skating venue for two weeks of matches, to play as many as 450 matches per day.
The chess tournament is the first in a series of events planned to keep the city busy after the Winter Olympics. Initial estimates say that 1.5 million tourists have stayed at least one night in Turin during the Olympics, and that doesn't count visitors who came for a day trip. Turin received 2.5 million visitors the whole of 2005.
Marketing malaprop
Before the Games, Bode Miller was doing commercials and endorsements for shoes, credit cards and pasta. He was the centerpiece of a giant marketing campaign ... and he went splat in Turin.
But he may not be the biggest Olympic flop after a big-time ad campaign.
Remember the “Dan and Dave” decathlete commercials for Reebok before the 1992 Olympics? ESPN's Darren Rovell does, and writes:
“The problem was (Dan) O'Brien, who won the 1991 World Championships, missed the opening height in the pole vault and failed to qualify for the Olympics. Reebok, which spent a reported $25 million, was left with egg on its face. Dave (Johnson) took home the bronze, but – to make things worse – Czech Robert Zmelik, who won the gold, was also a Reebok endorser. Zmelik didn't appear in a single piece of advertising.”
A red menace
So, was their deeper meaning in the fact American figure skater Johnny Weir wore a red glove in one of his programs?
Weir raised some eyebrows by appearing at Turin's Russia House with a red jacket that bore the Cyrillic initials of the former Soviet Union.
“I certainly don't think Johnny espouses the principles of communism,” said USOC Committee CEO Jim Scherr.
Perhaps principles of fashion.
The skater owns more than 100 pairs of designer sunglasses and almost 40 pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage.
Weir, Take II
Weir is an unabashed lover of all things Russian.
“I've gotten a lot of e-mails about the Soviet Union being similar to going out and wearing a swastika,” Weir said, in talking about his visits to the parties at the Russia House in Turin. “I don't think about that, because it's not my art. It's not my skating, so it's not something I really take seriously, but when people openly say you're a disgrace to our country, that's a little hard to take.”
Worth the pain
Finnish hockey player Teemu Selanne lost two teeth – knocked out on a high-stick in a quarterfinal victory over the U.S. – and probably cracked another.
“Of course I'm disappointed to lose two teeth,” Selanne said, speaking through a cut lip earlier this week. “But that's an OK sacrifice for the gold. You can always get new teeth.”
He had no comment about dentures after settling for the silver.
Parting shot
“If anyone said they had the Swedes and Finns in the gold medal game, they are lying. It's like saying you knew the ending of 'The Usual Suspects.'”
– Ray Ferraro,
NBC hockey commentator
Departing observation
“You win the bronze, you win the gold, you lose the silver. You always want to win. It's hard right now, but over the years it probably will (become) good.”
– Olli Jokinen,
Center on Finland's silver-medal hockey team
