Forrest Gumping It At 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

One of the many clever scenarios in the "Forrest Gump" screenplay is the title character's repeat visits to The White House.

Whether Gump arrived a football star, war hero or global ping-pong sensation, his run-ins with presidents and many bottles of Dr. Pepper brought smiles.

And though not a single Dr. Pepper was consumed on site, April 27 provided some Gump-like deja vu when this blogger joined the media pool for another Team USA visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This second Blogger Nick visit to The White House featured many similarities to the first, which took place in October 2016 in the wake of the Rio Olympiad. 

In both experiences, the credential confirmation arrived at the last minute, though in 2018 I was told the week's prior diplomatic visit by the French president and first lady factored for the late-arriving green light for all media (the credential approval came in at about 8 p.m. the night before, which made for a very close booking). 

Both times included press check-in at the same gate where the accountant best friend in "Dave" drove in to aid the film's impostor-in-chief. 

This year's visit provided a repeat selfie photo opp near the lawn north of the West Wing, which this time included a motorcade arrival for German Chancellor Angela Merkel as I was leaving the property.

I also savored the experience again sitting for a few moments in the Jim Brady Press Briefing Room. 

And as in 2016, the fun of it all was centered around the athletes who competed at the current year's Olympiad, and I thoroughly enjoyed spotting many of Team USA's stars of PyeongChang for the first time in the two months since South Korea closed its outstanding Winter Games.

The biggest difference this time, of course, was the Commander-in-Chief, and longtime readers of this blog and my other social media posts know this writer is no fan of our current president nor his administration. 

But I admit that seeing Donald Trump in person -- after many youthful days and nights (early 1990s) of playing the tycoon board game that bears his name, and after all those weeks watching "The Apprentice" years later -- was interesting and memorable.

And to his credit, Mr. Trump treated his guests -- several dozen of Team USA's Winter Olympic and Paralympic delegation -- with great respect, often inviting star athletes to the mic for some impromptu remarks.

Trump also stayed on script, mostly. There were a couple of cringe worthy, albeit expected, off-the-cuff remarks (i.e. mentioning the Paralympics was "difficult to watch"). But overall he was jovial and seemed genuinely in awe of the Olympians who attended. 

Sadly in the weeks and months since the Presidential event, any "good vibes" from the experience vanished with No. 45's daily absurdities. Olympic-inspired talks between South Korea and North Korea did pique my interest amid a summer of many personally fun travel adventures. Anything that can keep my mind off of D.C. politics is a welcome relief. 

A Very TODAY Show Valentine

If you're an American at the Olympics, you might as well be leaving your patriotism at passport control if you don't make it at least once to the NBC TODAY Show set in Olympic Park.

Been there, done that in Atlanta, Athens, Torino (they brought Al Roker to my P.R. client's B.C. Canada Place log cabin pavilion), Beijing (we took client, the Premiere of British Columbia, to sit with Matt Lauer), London and Sochi.

Wednesday night (Tuesday morning stateside) brought the first opportunity to check this five-ringed ritual off the list, and it turned out to be an exciting night to be there!

I stuck around for the first hour of the show with about 200 fellow Team USA fans and a few curious South Koreans.

Behind the scenes, members of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team awaited their national TV spotlight and conversation with Al Roker to preview their competitions.

Cute to see Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan meet briefly with her boyfriend. Gotta hand it to her for gently stroking his beard with her Trump-size pretend mitts!

Roker's main updates were about the strong winds that temporarily shut down much of Olympic Park.

Other news du jour concerned four-time Olympian, three-time medalist and No. 100 U.S. Winter Olympic medalist Shaun White's triumphant return to the gold medal podium.

White, who earlier in the day got flustered when reporters asked about past #MeToo-relevant choices, took time to apologize in his TODAY interview that focused mostly on his big day in competition.

White addressed questions from co-hosts Koda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie.

"I've grown as a person over the years and it's amazing how life works, and twists and turns and lessons learned," said White. "Every experience in my life I feel like it's taught me a lesson and I definitely feel like I'm a much more changed person than I was when I was younger."

Way to stay on P.R. message.

I was delighted when Kotb later worked the crowd and responded to my offer of an Olympic blog pin, which she complimented while posing for selfies.

We had previously talked hours before the 2016 Olympic opening ceremony (in front of the Rio Marriott) and, as always, she was all smiles and so friendly to each of the fans on site.

Not sure when there might be another late night at Olympic Park (the live broadcasts to the States start at 9 p.m. in Korea), but it will be fun to discover TODAY sets in Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022 and beyond.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Olympic Volunteers and Media are Getting to Know Norovirus a.k.a. Winter [Olympic] Vomiting Bug

In 1972, Japan's winter wonderland Sapporo hosted the 11th Winter Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, a half a world away in Norwalk, Ohio, during that Olympiad, a nasty "winter vomiting virus" earned its namesake "Norovirus" when the Midwestern town endured an outbreak, according to this Public Health Agency of Canada page. 

What is Norovirus? 

It's a gastrointestinal virus that is highly contagious, causes diarrhea and puking, and generally brings 2-3 days of crud that nobody wants. 

Olympic "runs" of this sort are gaining attention here in PyeongChang, where last week the organizing committee started issuing POCOG Statements on Norovirus. 

According to the latest of these media missives dated this morning (Feb. 12), from February 1 to 11, about 177 confirmed cases popped up at staff and volunteer housing areas in PyeongChang and Gangneung. There are even quarantines underway for certain staff.

Last night I got a surprise peek at one outbreak response center, as volunteers assigned as National Olympic Committee (NOC) Services specialists -- a hand-picked group of volunteers recruited as drivers, hosts and "take one for the team" right hands to their NOC be it large or small -- were instructed to report for a "mandatory" screening session. 

Many of these NOC volunteers had already been given the day off or given "in quarantine" status for the day, causing light to moderate hiccups for some NOC chef de mission staff working the Olympic scene. 

Another mandatory screening -- for those unable to report in Sunday night -- was to take place on Monday by 9 a.m., according to a volunteer who asked to an NOC Services volunteer who asked to be unnamed. 

I stood in the room where the Sunday evening screening check-ins were underway, with a good, long queue of volunteers filing in to show their badges, sign some paperwork and collect two rectal swab kits.

Yes, at the Olympics, they handed out DIY rectal swab kits, which volunteers dutifully carried to the nearest loo before turning in their dip sticks and signing more paperwork. Their sweet reward? A nice PyeongChang hand towel and a bottle of hand sanitizer. 

The chatter among volunteers in line was that the process was "no big deal" or "part of the gig" and that a "better safe than sorry" approach was warranted. Some made jokes or feigned dropping their drawers in line to lighten the situation.

POCOG's statement includes the following description of how the Norovirus infection spreads:

Norovirus infection can spread through contaminated food and water or physical contact with the infected people. It can also occur when touching your mouth or consuming food with your hands after touching a tap, door handle etc. on which the infected patients have touched without washing their hands.

They also provide some tips for prevention:

1. Wash your hands for more than 30 seconds with running water (especially, after use of toilet, changing diapers, before consuming food or before cooking) 2. Cook your food thoroughly 3. Drink boiled water 4. Peel fruit and vegetables with clean water 5. Do not cook when having symptoms of diarrhea 6. Cook hygienically (sterilise knife and cutting board after cooking, use separate chopping board for fish, meat, and vegetables.

I've been washing my hands, donning a paper face mask in some areas (more common, I find, in Asia than back home) and making time for hand sanitizer. Knock-on-wood, no symptoms so far. 

Yet another example that even at the Olympics sometimes there's a lot of *stuff* you have to deal with. I can tell you that contracting this in the bitter cold of PyeongChang would be no fun at all -- some of the portable bathrooms created with recycled shipping containers are, well, freaking freezing.

I don't know what's in the volunteer handbook, but let's hope rectal probes don't make the cut for future Games.

Way better to stick with pins. 

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

It Takes A Village

I'm a longtime critic of Olympic Villages. PyeongChang's Village team nailed it!

Since my first Games experience as an Atlanta Olympic Village housing coordinator/supervisor in 1996, I've looked at the housing areas with a manager's eye -- what works, what elements may remain in place as handed down from the Centennial Olympic Village, and what's new. 

South Korea's housing area featured some of each. 

Some additional context on my critiques: Later five-ringed travels afforded a day pass or two to the athlete housing areas at six Olympiads.  

More specifically, in Sydney I was a pre-Games Village volunteer (will never forget meeting Aussie hero Dawn Fraser on the bus one day after a shift). In Salt Lake I was just a visiting spectator (the director was a former Atlanta colleague), and later as an NOC guest it was fun visiting -- and critiquing -- the temporary homes of the Olympians in Beijing, Vancouver, London and Rio. 

Some Villages score on ambiance. Others on efficiency. Some exude an Olympic electricity while others get the job done with measured fun.

Visiting the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Village today, for the first time as a credentialed reporter, was an amazing experience. And the Korean village housing scored two big thumbs up from this blogger.

Here's a Olympic Village first: They have a robot! 

The PyeongChang Village near the mountain Alpensia venues sits along a river and in the foothills of a curving and wooded elevation, with about a dozen residential towers (600 rooms) close to a domed sports arena now serving thousands of meals per day as the main dining hall. 

After passing through security screening with fellow journalists and athletes from Team GB, Slovenia, Turkey and Ghana (yes, Ghana has a skeleton athlete), the Village Welcome Center opened into an international plaza decked out with flags of all 95 competing nations. 

And, yes, the North Korean flag enjoys a spot of prominence near the Olympic and South Korean banners. 

Olympic Villages consist of two main areas.

An International Zone featuring the team welcome ceremony stage, entertainment options and necessities like a post office, hair salon, general store and Olympic merchandise. 

All of the services for PyeongChang's athlete village are nestled into on giant tent (I understand the coastal village at Gangneung, with its 922 rooms, is similar).

Usually the adjacent Residential Zone forbids non-athletes from visiting, but today media got a rare chance to roam freely across a few acres of the Village, affording me photo opps in an athlete game room (i.e. billiards, pinball), lavanderia (since athletes, too, have dirty laundry) and the entry to the tower housing Team USA (the only larger nation in PyeongChang that did not deck the exterior walls with patriotic banners). 

I attended a couple of the Welcoming Ceremonies during which the host nation officially celebrates each arriving nation. 

Today's entrants included a lone alpine ski athlete and HRH Henri Grand Duke of Luxembourg, who were down for some pin trading, as well as Turkey, Australia, Thailand and India. 

According to the first of two Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) competitors met today, their competitors are/were not permitted to create a team pin. Anyone got an egg timer to see how long it takes for bootleg OAR pins to show up on the scene?

While enjoying the warmth of the retail areas, I stamped my passport with an Olympic Village post office postmark and enjoyed an introduction to an Ambassador of Morocco by IOC Member Ms. Nawal El Moutawkel, who asked me to share that her home nation will enjoy an African first: a shot at hosting a future Youth Olympic Games (she also requested a shout-out to her alma matter Iowa State University). 

Pin trading was robust both outside and in the Village. It was fun running into fellow Olympin members Bud and Sid (and his wife) trading near the security entrance. 

I arrived with about 50 pocketed pins and ran out of trading material in less than 90 minutes of trekking the Village, coming home with coveted 2018 NOC pins from Ghana, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Austria, and Mongolia, among others, and even scored a special-design IOC snow globe pin for PyeongChang ... for the win!

Most interesting conversations: short chats with arriving Team USA alpine and snowboard athletes checking in from their Seoul-to-PyeongChang bus ride. Everyone was all smiles, happy for the nomination of luge bronze medalist and four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin, who will carry the Stars and Stripes into the stadium tomorrow night.

It's going to be a great Games!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Opening Ceremonies Forecast: Awesome!

Today in the Main Press Center (MPC), I learned three key facts regarding tomorrow night's Olympic Opening Ceremony.

First, in a moment akin to Charlie Bucket discovering his golden ticket to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the Team USA press office handed me a media desk ticket to PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, so I'll be able to blog from the big event live, in person and (hopefully) in the comforts of a heated press box about 24 hours from now. Amazing!

The to-the-bone frigid mountain temperatures here bring me to the second news flash for Opening Ceremonies.

Point No. 2: It's freakin' cold here, but the South Korean national weather service predicts slightly warmer than normal temperatures -- closer to zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) -- for the hours-long celebration. 

They won't ignite that cauldron soon enough (sidebar: the cauldron is spectacular-spectacular!).

On a patriotic note, the third big item du jour is that Team USA luger Erin Hamlin -- in her fourth consecutive Games and first since winning bronze in 2014 -- will carry the Stars and Stripes into Olympic Stadium during the parade of nations. 

I first met Hamlin at USA House in Sochi during a press event for then-client (by-partnership-with-UEG) Citi. What a great Olympian and person to represent USA on the world's stage. Newly engaged, she is a sweetheart with a lot of support from across the nation and her home stomping grounds of Remsen, N.Y.

At a press conference in MPC this morning, Hamlin answered questions about the announcement.

When I asked her how the flag bearer selection might rank in terms of life moments, as compared to qualifying for her first Games or winning bronze in Sochi, Hamlin said she's taking a wait-and-see approach to determine where the experience fits.

"It's up there pretty good," said Hamlin. "Winning a medal and accomplishing my athletic goals is a different feeling than being honored with something by my peers. It's exciting in the same aspects at being able to represent the U.S., and just being a part of the whole thing is awesome, so just gonna keep all of the [life moments] on the same level -- I haven't done it yet, so maybe [carrying the flag] will get it a couple notches higher afterwards."

Hamlin is the fourth U.S. luge athlete to be selected for Winter Olympic flag bearing duties. She said she won't change her routine now through Friday night, but maintaining her world champion shoulder and arm strength will be in the back of her mind while holding Old Glory aloft, not to mention managing a few butterflies in her stomach while billions of people are watching.

"The nerves will be flying for sure," said Hamlin. "

Olympic ticket and Erin Hamlin photos by Nicholas Wolaver. Weather image via PyeongChang 2018. 

Crossing South Korea by Rental Car

View from my first kilometer of solo driving in South Korea.

"It's going to be OK ... there, there!"

Words to live by -- and drive across South Korea by -- as spoken by the Avis car rental attendant, Jay, to this Olympic blogger as I burst into tears of anxiety around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

Why the fuss? 

My first driving in Asia experience: A 3.5 hour whopper that ended with glee!

Though I had pondered an Olympic car rental for PyeongChang a few weeks ago while stateside, actually signing the contract and accepting the keys turned into a whole other story. 

By last night I was so anxious about the driving option (a DIY alternative to surrendering control to the Olympic transportation network and taxis/Uber), this writer logged almost no zzzz's Tuesday night in the Seoul hotel. 

Confidence was intact until the flight from Atlanta on Sunday, during which a fellow traveler who resides here said, "absolutely do not drive in Korea ... the drivers are crazier than New York or Rome!"

Then yesterday, on the Seoul Metro, a trio of Chicago-based business men echoed the anti-driving sentiment with comments like, "There are 50 million reasons not to drive in South Korea ... the other drivers!"

In the pre-dawn hours today, I psyched myself up reciting "if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, it's up to you, just drive to PyeongChang ... da, da-da-da!" 

It worked, sort of. 

After crying with the rental car attendant, who (thankfully) programmed the on board GPS with accuracy, I also cried with the gas station attendant, the first toll booth lady and in the direction of the eastbound driver in a Bentley next to me in the lone Seoul traffic jam we traversed around 7:30 a.m.

By 8 a.m., however, confidence reigned and my appetite returned, eventually stopping for coffee and croissants at a Highway 50 rest area about half-way across the Korean Peninsula. 

Sidebar: A fun culinary discovery came in the form of a cream-puff by Olympic sponsor Beard Papa's, offering a "cheer UP!" five-ringed pastry in time for the Games. 

By 10:30 I was parking at the Holiday Inn Alpensia -- home of the Main Press Center (MPC) -- and checking in at the Team USA office for the first time. 

Further up the mountain I also checked into the PyeongChang Grass Fragrance Pension, a super-rural private home turned hostel for ski bums and Olympic bloggers, not to mention a security manager for Worldwide Olympic sponsor Bridgestone (we both discovered the pension via Hotels.com). The pension has its own YouTube Channel!

An enormous cat greeted me in the parking lot, and I was so very happy to land in my heated pension mattress and enjoy the proprietor's cappuccino in my room.

The owner/barista also served up a hot baked potato from her garden, roasted in her cedar-fueled pot-bellied stove!

There will be more driving and more stress, for sure. 

But today was a win. Tomorrow I'll post more about the MPC. 

Must catch up on zzz's.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

View from the PyeongChang Grass Fragrance Pension balcony.

PyeongChang Packing Complete

About eight hours from posting this, it's gonna be wheels up for this writer heading west on a direct Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea.

I'm tired of the buildup. Let's get this Games going!

Truth be told, it was uncertain PyeongChang 2018 would be in the cards. 

This is to say I always knew I'd go, but thought perhaps for only a few days of this Olympiad.

With thanks to the U.S. Olympic Committee Media Relations team, a full media credential was, of course, a massive tipping point to book three full weeks for the winter sports experience. 

Now the pins are packed, the AirBNB's are booked, a rental car is secured and a blog schedule, of sorts, is finally starting to gel. 

Here are some target activities on the books so far:

• Securing a coveted ticket to the Opening Ceremony (one event for which the media credential does not guarantee access)
• Checking out Intel's first Games as a worldwide sponsor
• Attempting to share a coffee date with one of North Korea's hand-picked female sports ambassadors
• Another presidential selfie like this one
• Trading pins with my longtime five-ringed friend Nippy F. in the Olympic Village (where he is helping Team Australia)
• Cartwheeling through Beijing 2022 House
• Interviewing as many of Team USA's 243 or so winter Olympians as possible!

The past six months were challenging both professionally and personally. 

While 2017 was the "best year ever" in my independent public relations business, on the home front, as my inner circle of friends heard ad nauseum, I kind of got my guts kicked in on the romantic side and in terms of a seismic shift in personal growth. 

It was tough. It remains challenging. There's a long road ahead. And PyeongChang 2018 may help make some great strides while affording a clean break from curious influencers and influences. 

Looking for the "Where's Waldo?" good in a forest of poo emojis, with the help of some real friends, not to mention close family members, things are already on the up-and-up in 2018. 

Snow Angel (left) with Nick (no saint)

In the last 10 days, I enjoyed a "do over" with one acquaintance (friend? meh? -- tough call much of the time) who visited the South, while later I was popping north for a day to visit former stomping grounds in Milwaukee, mostly to surprise a longtime bestie (see photo) who celebrated a milestone birthday. 

While in the land of "Laverne & Shirley" I also stopped in to the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wis., and got a nice surprise in spotting Olympic champion Bonnie Blair on the speed skating oval in training with her daughter (see photo). So slick!

Olympic Champion Bonnie Blair (left)

The Pettit staff were understandably all abuzz about Team USA's speed skaters who embarked that very morning (Jan. 30) for PyeongChang. The Olympic excitement is contagious. 

Looking forward to touching down in South Korea soon, and welcome questions, ideas, topics or other inquiries and suggestions for this site in the weeks ahead. It's going to be a great Olympics!

Images via NBC and Yahoo! with personal photos in Wisconsin by Nicholas Wolaver

Samsung: It's Now Apropos to Download PyeongChang 2018 Mobile App

Fresh from the PyeongChang 2018 home page, Samsung is encouraging free downloads of the Games' new mobile app.

Interpreting the Korean/English promotion, I gather this new app -- which took about 10 minutes to upload to my Galaxy 3 purchased after a slick demo during Sochi 2014 -- is free now through January 31.

It's unclear whether the app will then be available for a buck, er, won or two during February (make that 1,000 or 2,000 won).

Upon launching the app, I found it easy to navigate and fairly basic, likely to become expansive and delightful in ease-of-use during Games time when daily activities, venue updates, results and transportation items are all the buzz of many an Android and iPhone.

Very handy: weather updates on the home screen (in Celsius -- it's minus 12 in Korea as I write this post). A finger click on the weather plus sign (+) expands the to a venue-by-venue page and list including temps and icons indicating snow, sun or other current conditions across the Olympic region.

The home screen also dons Omega's Olympic Games Countdown clock followed by sections for news and a series of boxes in Korean that I suspect may become the advertising/promotional nod.

The list icon at the top left of the home page expands to two core sections for Games and Spectators, with schedules, sports, venues, cheering/fan, official partner/sponsor and links.

In these app sections, I simply LOVE the link to the 2018 Olympic Torch Relay in progress (great calendar, maps and photos).

Also LOVE the section for the Cultural Progamme. Did you know the Korean National Ballet will perform "Anna Karenina" at the Gangneung Art Center, for instance? And I just bought my ticket for the Jarasum International Jazz Festival on Valentine's Day, also in Gangneung, via the app. Music to my fingers.

Rounding out the Spectator section: Explore Korea, Tickets, Transportation, Accommodations and Store links to official merchandise.

The only thing silly I found about the app is the image created to promote it. Is the guy in the over-sized red sweatshirt supposed to be Korea's answer to illusionist David Seth Kotkin?

Samsung's 2018 Olympic app -- apropos for any Korea-bound traveler for next month!

Images via PyeongChang2018.org

Final Push Toward PyeongChang

Two weeks from now (Feb. 4), this blogger will be aloft on a Delta Air Lines flight half-way across the Pacific. Destination: Seoul, and a couple of days later via rental car, PyeongChang and the 2018 Winter Olympics.

It's exciting this countdown to the Games, my fifth consecutive snowy Olympiad and 11th overall trek to a new host city.

This will be a first-time adventure in South Korea, and I'm as pumped about exploring the historic 1988 summer Games sites in the nation's capital as much as experiencing the shiny and new venues in the mountains and on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Photo via KoreaHerald.com

As with prior travels to Olympic competitions at destinations deemed "unsafe" (Rio with Zika), "un-secure" (Athens w/terrorism) or "scary" (Sochi or Beijing and "being watched"), friends and family already inquired about the outlook for PyeongChang safety and the Olympics' proximity to potential aggression from North Korea.

Honestly, since 2016 I was always more hung up on the potential for a Rio-repeat (abysmal and frustrating fan/volunteer logistics) than ever concerned about the Communists a few mountains away from the snow venues south of the 38th Parallel.

Photo by Amy Sancetta/AP

Fortunately, North Korea's pro-Olympic stance announced on January 1, and subsequent friendly conversations involving International Olympic Committee top brass and diplomacy from Korea's North- and South-based leadership, put many folks' (and my own) further at ease that peace will reign in PyeongChang. Will a Nobel Peace Prize result from this? Maybe.

It's historic and exciting to read about the unified team, individual athletes from both South and North, and the delegation crossing the border in just over 21 days. I'm definitely going to try to score an interview with some North Korean athletes or fans (wish me luck).

Let's just hope The White House avoids mucking up things in the next 18 days to the Opening Ceremony and the 16 Games-time days and nights that follow!

Thankfully (sort of), the Team USA delegation leader-designate is Vice President Mike Pence -- what thin ice will he manage to skate and create next month? We'll see.

Blog and PyeongChang mascot image by Nicholas Wolaver; ski jump photo via KoreaHerald.com; Torino 2006 Opening Ceremony photo via Associated Press.

Director Aaron Sorkin Deals Audiences A Club Flush With Olympic-Tethered Film "Molly's Game"

While exiting the theatre after "Molly's Game" -- a new Olympic-tethered film penned by director/screenwriter Aaron Sorkin -- I wished for better recall of a Winston Churchill quote used toward the film's end in scenes on the slopes of a 2002 winter Games qualifying event.

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

Or was is, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" or similar?

The perseverance quotation, spoken by Jessica Chastain -- in the film's title role portraying Salt Lake Olympic hopeful Molly Bloom moments after a dramatic, career-ending crash on a Deer Valley ski course -- are just a few of the many apt cultural and literary references served in this delightful drama that delivers as much excitement, speed and anticipated jolts as the toughest moguls line. 

Key to skiing success, as stated by Bloom's father Larry (Kevin Costner) in opening scenes: "Check your line." 

There are a number of fine lines and risks that could have taken Sorkin's storytelling out of bounds, but each time this viewer thought the story was gonna veer off course, it came right back to center for a flawless run. 

And though in trailers the "Molly's Game" marketers do not mention the title character's five-ringed aspirations, from the opening shot Olympian-level successes are at the core of Sorkin's writing and in Bloom's autobiography on which the film is based. 

Perhaps underscoring the marketing team's obliviousness (or disdain?) for Bloom's Olympic dreams, not one publicity photo for "Molly's Game" pertains to the ski incident. 

As with Sorkin's other outstanding projects like "Newroom" or "Malice" and "The Social Network" or "Moneyball," this film provides a fun and challenging game to determine the smartest person in the room because everyone's brilliant and one-up-man- (and woman-) ship through intelligence is celebrated. 

Not surprising, Molly Bloom often may be the smartest on screen, holding her own with tycoons of business, technology, Hollywood and other fields. Her Achilles' heels eventually show up, starting with the unfortunate twist of fate that left her unconscious and bloodied on a Utah ski slope.

After the ski accident and during a soul-searching break to regroup and consider law school aspirations, Bloom stumbled into a secret world of high-stakes poker. 

While her brother Jeremy Bloom became a two-time Olympic skier later drafted by the NFL, Molly channeled her superior intellect and business acumen into what became "the most exclusive high-stakes underground poker game in the world" (the partial title of her book). 

Through flashbacks during interactions with her New York attorney, who is crafted with originality by Sorkin and superior acting chops delivered by Idris Elba, Bloom takes her lawyer and viewers through the often glamorous though treacherous world of high stakes gaming.

Sorkin expertly delves into the lingo, the statistics, the excitement, the losses and intrigue as though tying in the best of "The Cooler" and "Let It Ride" or any other poker-faced film. 

Sidebar: I kept looking for Ricky Jay to make a cameo or show up as a consultant as many scenes evoked his work in "House of Games" and "Deceptive Practice."

I liked how Sorkin wove in Olympic-level near-misses also tied to the Berlin 1936 Games, describing how baseball legend Jackie Robinson's older brother Mack set a world record in the 200m athletics competition only to later become a janitor (he came in second to Jessie Owens by less than four-tenths of a second). 

Also enjoyed several cameos that brought together favorites from previous award-winning films. 

Graham Greene (previously with Costner in "Dances With Wolves") appears as a federal judge. 

Michael Cera finally appears against typecast as the darker "Player X" at the poker table. 

And Chris O'Dowd provides some comic relief as a drunk poker player turned unwitting Trojan horse in taking down the operation. 

A nice surprise from "Molly's Game" is a look at the psychology of father:daughter dynamics. At the risk of divulging moderate spoilers, some of the best scenes involve Costner as the elder Bloom leveraging mental fitness in nudging his daughter to greatness. 

Later scenes introducing Elba as a star attorney involve his mentoring of a teenage daughter reading "The Crucible" assigned to her as literal "home" work out of the classroom. Some of these conversations are brilliant. 

One line for which to listen (more about iniquitous gambling): "You just don't want to break the law when you're breaking the law!"

A friend who informed me of "Molly's Game" and its Olympic connections asked whether I plan now to read Bloom's book, which was new to me (somehow missed the publicity machine when it debuted and on the run to the film's release). Not sure the movie will inspire me to invest that time. 

But for those looking for great screenwriting, acting and poker-centric drama, "Molly's Game" is a winning bet. 

Photos via MollysGame.movie. Sorkin/Chastain photo by Chris Young of The Canadian Press.