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.

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. 

Grazie Mille

Thanksgiving ranks among my favorite U.S. holidays. It's the one around which the very best family gathering memories of youth are centered, and for which some of the most fun solo or con amigos experiences resonate.

I am thankful for so many people, places, things and ideas spanning a lifetime to recent weeks and months. It's been an extraordinary year of personal change, mostly positive, and of renewed optimism for the future.

Lots of travel, too, thanks to good timing and the generosity of clients who engage the P.R. team of partners with whom I'm privileged to collaborate.

Through visits with friends and family, some of the top Thanksgiving events spanning 1973 to present (my 44 turkey days) are fresh on the brain, so capturing a few here for posterity and shout-outs to those with whom a shared experience took place.

Love, love, love being thankful.

1978 -- Kindergarten Pilgrim hat, buckle and turkey (cut from the outline of my hand) made of construction paper, and earliest recollection of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" and consciously comparing female friends my age to the characters on the screen (yes, Lucy and the football). Can't get enough of that Vince Guaraldi soundtrack!

1980 -- Flying a Styrofoam glider and a "pheasant kite" (sort of a sling-shot and paper toy bird) at the big park in Oklahoma City with my sister, Uncle Scott, Grandpa Louis and dad. The first of many cloudless and wonderfully warm Southwestern Thanksgiving Days.

1982 -- The holiday was the eve of my sister's tonsillectomy, teeing up a father-son cooking experience featuring Campbell's alphabet soup and turkey leftovers (the tradition continues!)

1984 -- Thanksgiving in "Big D" Dallas, Texas, during which I learned about Cole Porter and Big Band music, saw "The Karate Kid" on the silver screen and we ate the best damned turkey chili

1985 -- Turkey and ping-pong during our first and only holiday trek to my maternal family's home town, Enid, Okla.

1986 to 1990 -- Trivial Pursuit, home movies and pie

1991 -- Screening "Point Break" then feasting with the Nord Family at Lake Minnetonka, which froze solid in the moonlight as we watched from their cozy living room. This turned into a house-sitting adventure and experiencing my first white-out blizzard later in the weekend

1993 -- Working a double-shift at KMSU-FM in Mankato, Minn., learning about nearby musical hero Prince in detail (the station had a complete collection of his tunes) and discovering radio God of KCRW-FM Joe Frank via his astounding holiday special "Pilgrim" (available via free download through www.JoeFrank.com this month)

1994 -- Saint Louis holiday with college first-love, Jenny, with a sumptuous meal hosted by Fran and John at their historic home in suburban University City, Mo.

1995 -- Celebrating my sister's 21st birthday in St. Louis before a day-long road trip to Oklahoma City for one of the last Thanksgivings with most of the elder family members. We enjoyed a cousin-hosted feast before the full family (about 12 of us) drove caravan-style to see "The American President" together

1997 -- My first international flight from Atlanta to Barcelona, eventually enjoying a "borrowed" bottle of red wine on the Mediterranean sands before translating the Burger King menu for a bunch of female U.S. Navy sailors on shore leave at Las Ramblas

2001 -- Buying a $30 round-trip flight to Washington, D.C. (via post-9/11 pricing), to meet longtime friend Joanne on The Mall after a wonderful solo day in several free museums

2003 -- Surprising a special woman in Milwaukee to launch a 12-year romantic adventure and partnership (now evolved into a tremendous 14-year friendship); not long after the meal, she dumped her Thanksgiving date (which I crashed) so we could share our first official date and trek to The Windy City for the third time that year

2004 -- Window shopping, ice skating and absorbing all the sites of Christmastime Chicago for the second consecutive Black Friday (see 2003)

2015 -- Connecticut holiday with newlyweds Jason and Dominick hosted by Faith and Philip. Still looking for a family game rematch (victory was robbed!)

2016 -- Fessler feast in suburban Birmingham with longtime friends, their son and mother, a source of inspiration, strength and perseverance

2017 -- Early pancake breakfast, turkey via Whole Foods Market, and a quiet afternoon packing for a weekend road trip. Destination: Manhattan/Long Island/Middletown, N.J. Enjoyed a record number of calls and messages from friends from coast-to-coast and even a Thanksgiving fan over yonder in Moscow!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver

Learning and Sharing Some Olympic Intel

About a week ago, the kind of "you've arrived" e-mail about which bloggers dream dropped in as a surprise inbox missive.

The P.R. firm (specifically, a public relations peer met on the Road to Rio last year) wrote to extend an official invitation to an Olympic press conference hosted by "Brand X" (embargoed) and the International Olympic Committee.

After sharing my enthusiastic reply ("Ummmmm, twist my arm!") and a bit more conversation on specifics, I found myself booking my first all expenses paid trip to anywhere (in this case, New York), arriving Tuesday night at the Omni Berkshire.

Part of this post (well, this sentence and most of what appears above it) was written at 3:45 a.m. as I could not sleep over the anticipated news on Wednesday.

Not long after my itinerary got locked and loaded, a handful of fellow Olympic-minded reporters and outlets started breaking the news and speculating on the reasons and timing.

However, it's now official, today in New York's 620 Loft & Garden venue, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and IOC President Thomas Bach joined fellow Intel staff on stage and live from Oregon and Utah to announce Intel is the newest IOC TOP Sponsor. Intel's new worldwide Olympic sponsorship will run from 2017 to 2024 and commence in time for the Games of PyeongChang this winter.

The complete press room for the event is online. Here's one of several videos Intel released.

The ceremony included additional executives from Intel and The Olympic Channel (specifically, the network's CEO Yiannis Exarchos, a veteran of the Games since they reached his hometown in Athens 2004, I learned).

Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings helped press a button at Intel's global headquarters to officially launch the sponsorship.

Back in New York with our media audience, Bach presented Krzanich with a 2018 Olympic torch and an invitation to join the upcoming torch relay.

"Through close collaboration with the Olympic family, we will accelerate the adoption of technology for the future of sports on the world's largest athletic stage," said Krzanich.

Paraphrasing Intel's press release, Intel's contributions to the Olympic Movement will include tech developments rolled out in sequence. Advancements include Intel's 5G platforms to be deployed during Korea's Games.

Intel drone light show technology will create new skyward images at Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Virtual Reality (VR), 3D and 360-degree content development is on deck, too (we tried out some VR headsets with live feed to Park City's ski jump training center and the views were amazing).

Here's another video with an aspiring Olympic snowboarder for Team USA.

On VR specifically, Krzanich and company explained there will be at least 16 live VR experiences from key competitions in PyeongChang.

Imagine the gold medal hockey game with a VR view from inside the net facing center ice, or 360 elements surrounding a luge athlete hurling toward the finish line. Intel's freeD sports technology (already in use with MLB and other network sports) is another emerging tech element demoed on site.

When I asked about the history of the Intel:IOC partnership, Krzanich responded that talks began during and after the most recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) only a few months ago. If a look at the punch list for today's flawless announcement looked daunting, imagine the massive effort commencing to meet deadlines for February 2018.

I, for one, am really excited about this sponsorship. Some really smart and forward-thinking minds collaborated in a pressure cooker of time, and the potential this sponsorship brings to the Olympic Family, other sponsors, the broadcasters, media, athletes and, of course, fans will forever change the Games in positive ways. I am so appreciative to have enjoyed a front seat at the launch.

After the formal Q&A, I spoke with Bach and his communications handler about the history of technology innovations at the Games, bringing up that when Bach competed in 1976, live broadcasts and improving color coverage may have been the "hot new thing" and whether he ever imagined the potential for such a big tech announcement on his watch at the IOC.

"I think nobody could expect that the [technology] development would move so fast," said Bach. "If you see the potential [of Intel's] 5Gs is offering, and how fast it's coming, if you asked people three years ago if would have said it may take maybe another decade but here we are already and it is fascinating to see."

Thank you very much to Intel and their Olympic P.R. team for the opportunity and support in the form of providing travel and accommodations for the journey to their announcement.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

One Year To Find Passion. Connected.

A few of my Olympic buddies and I seem to be in similar boats with regards to the upcoming Winter Olympiad.

One year from now the world will gather in PyeongChang for the 2018 opening ceremony, and some of us are not yet sure we'll be there. 

Rio 2016 really did a number on me, an unexpected, unwelcome and unprecedented turn for my Olympic fandom of three decades. I know the passion is still in there, but for some reason the Brazil Games experience left that passion girding its loins, reluctant to return.

Fortunately, some online updates and a recent U.S. Olympic Committee media call, and a holiday peek at some Korean maps, proved there's still a five-ringed pulse in this blogger. 

Just after Christmas, at a destination bookstore in Oklahoma City, I spent some time studying Korea in the travel section. Driving in Asia seems daunting at first glance, but then since navigating the Italian alleys around Torino in 2006, a trek from Seoul to South Korea's eastern coast seems doable.

During the call with Olympians Mikaela Shiffrin, Elana Meyers Taylor and the 2018 Team USA Chief of Sports Performance Alan Ashley held Monday, it was good to hear the athletes' determination and passion as they described their personal journeys to PyeongChang in progress. Ashley described his recent visit to the Olympic host region and positive observations of the Korean staff and volunteers working hard to welcome visitors. 

On the call I asked the status of USA House planning, which remains in progress, and the extent to which the athletes on the call valued access to past house venues. Meyers Taylor's answer and talking about her experiences in the Sochi USA House with family members got me interested in the prospect of a future visit in Korea.

"It's huge to have a home away from home, a place to relax," said Meyers Taylor. "My father and husband had a great time there [in Sochi]." 

The scene with Meyers Taylor and her family rang a bell. She was kind enough to pose for a photo during the Russia Games experience three years ago. 

Today I glanced at several sections of the PyeongChang website and YouTube Channel for the first time in several months. The schedule is helpful. Some of the venues intrigue me -- I have yet to experience an Olympic biathlon finish line, and checking out Olympic ski jumping (as in 2014) could be fun. 

The "Coastal Cluster" in Gangneung looks like it may be in close proximity to some interesting waterfront architecture.

The theme of the host organizers -- "Passion. Connected." (with periods for emphasis) -- got me to thinking about connect the dots to revive my love of the Games. 

Only time will tell how and when I'll come around and commit to the Korean Olympic experience. Anyone else considering options? What's inspiring you, or holding you back? Please share. Additional connectedness for 2018 is certainly welcome. 

Top images via PyeongChang 2018 website and SI.com, respectively.