The Milano Cortina 2026 cauldron might be out, but our community still has a lot to say about these Games! Hear what the listeners thought about a spread out Paralympics and the amazing sports that we watched. And there might be a feed beef or two.
Plus, Alison gives an update on her friend Eric Heiden, and Jill reports on the late 1980s downhill skiing scene in Northwest Indiana.
Thank you for being part of this podcast and community and for making the Olympics and Paralympics more fun than we could have ever imagined!
Until next time, keep the flame alive!
TRANSCRIPT
Note: This is an uncorrected machine-generated transcript and may contain errors. Please check its accuracy against the audio. Do not quote from the transcript; use the audio as the record of note.
431-Post Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympics Call in show
Alison Brown: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of Keith, the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics. If you love the games, we are the show for you. I am your host, Alison Brown, and I am not joined right now by Jill Jaracz. She will be on later with some more call in. So here we are waiting to hear from you and hear what you think of Milan Cortina 2026.
We know what we think and we’ve been sharing that with you all along on our daily episodes. But we wanna hear from you.
Listener Meredith: Oh, it worked.
Alison Brown: Yay. Hooray. You’re here, [00:01:00] Meredith, and that’s all that
Listener Meredith: matters. I’m here and.
I’m like in my bedroom. I’m not in some random place in my car in the dark.
Alison Brown: Well, we have recorded shows from Closets. Yes. From trains, from platforms. True. So random rooms sounds just about, just about normal for us.
So what can we talk about?
Listener Meredith: Oh man, there, there is so much. I don’t even, I. I don’t even know where to start. I wanna talk about the sport, but my biggest question is just like, how was this Paralympics different for you from the Paris Paralympics? Like what was easier and what was harder? ’cause it seemed like, I mean, transportation for both games was like a huge issue, but.
Yeah. How is it different?
Alison Brown: The biggest difference is the summer Paralympics is so much bigger and there are so many more [00:02:00] events and sports. Yeah. And we could get to so much more, more easily. Yeah. So that, you know, there were days, in Milan, Corina, since we were mostly in Cortina, where we had one event to go to, and that was it.
And that was never the case in Paris. And the problems with transportation in Paris were more, it took a long time or the train was really packed. This was just. You know, we were two and a half hours away. It
Listener Meredith: was impossible. Right. It was impossible. And it really makes me worried about French Alps, which I’m, I’m going to admit, I know basically nothing about French Alps right now.
I haven’t done any research at all because they named it so late that I just, that’s not where my head’s been.
Alison Brown: Right. I, I haven’t read enough, but it does concern me that they’re putting the city events in Nice. And the mountain events in Valdes Air and, and some [00:03:00] other, uh, cheval and there’s no way to get between those two places.
Listener Meredith: I don’t understand why they thought this was a good idea.
Alison Brown: I think they thought it was a good idea because somebody wanted to host.
Listener Meredith: Right.
Alison Brown: And Utah did not wanna do the back to the back to back us no. Olympics. No.
Listener Meredith: We, we don’t, we don’t, I’m sorry. We don’t,
Alison Brown: you know, because that takes away from each of them.
Listener Meredith: It’s to put on one games.
Alison Brown: Exactly. I mean, U-S-O-P-C has got its hands full.
Listener Meredith: Yeah.
Alison Brown: they didn’t need to have the, the cup overflow with.
Listener Meredith: Right.
Alison Brown: So I think that was what they saw.
Listener Meredith: Okay.
Alison Brown: What did you enjoy watching of the Paralympics?
Listener Meredith: I love the Nordic in Paralympics. Mm-hmm. Um, and I love curling, so yeah, I was, I was in heaven watching the Nordic races.
I, every race was more excited than the one before. It was great.
Alison Brown: Yes. Yeah. We really [00:04:00] hated that we couldn’t get there.
Listener Meredith: I know. That
Alison Brown: was the one that was frustrating. I know, because in Beijing we could.
Listener Meredith: Yeah,
Alison Brown: we couldn’t really get up to the Alpine. Well,
Listener Meredith: it’s okay. Sort of. Well, you’ll get there, you’ll get there in Salt Lake too.
Yes. I, I’m like, that, that is the one thing that I feel right now. I’m just like, thank God we have Salt Lake, or, well, Utah. We have Utah coming and they, they’ve already done it so they know how to do it. And hopefully nothing crazy will happen between now and, and what am I saying?
50,000 crazy things will happen between now and then. Hopefully nothing disqualified will happen between now and then.
Alison Brown: Right. I was gonna say, you can’t, you can’t hope for the not crazy because that’s just not gonna be how it works.
Listener Meredith: We’ve had 50 unbelievable things in since last Thursday, so, you know.
Alison Brown: Yeah, I was gonna say today.
Listener Meredith: yeah. Part, part of me is just like, I am ready for a return to normalcy, and honestly, I’m not sure that LA is going to be a return to normalcy.
Alison Brown: Hmm. Why do you say that?
Listener Meredith: Why do I say [00:05:00] that? the city is so busy already.
Alison Brown: Hmm.
Listener Meredith: Have you been there before?
Alison Brown: Only once.
Listener Meredith: Yeah. I’ve only been there once and it was, you know, 20 years ago, I mean, yeah, probably 20 years ago because my, my sister was, when my sister’s. Was a senior in college, her college marching band went to the Rose Bowl parade. And so we went to see her march. Nice. So that’s the only time I’ve been there.
And it was a zoo. It was a zoo, and I didn’t have to coordinate any of the transportation. My aunt did that. So I, I’m honestly really like, I want to go to la. It’s very up in the air. For me, it’s based on two things. Uh, one is, just what’s, whatever’s going on with me at work at the time. Mm-hmm. There some possibility that that will just completely derail it.
And then the other thing is I have a friend who’s trying to qualify for the Paralympics, so if she does,
Alison Brown: you wanna be there?
Listener Meredith: Yeah. And of course I won’t, I [00:06:00] could potentially not know that until, you know, like a month beforehand and so, right. I may be in a mad scramble to sell whatever tickets I have, but We’ll, we’ll see.
Can you imagine that if I had everything lined up for the Olympics and then
Alison Brown: you just have to go to both?
Listener Meredith: Yeah. I have been socking money away, but I man, oh man,
Alison Brown: I’m making a note. Meredith is socking it away for both.
Listener Meredith: I’m just, you know, like every paycheck, a little bit into the savings account, just every paycheck a little bit.
Alison Brown: I respect that and I think that is the best way to do it.
Listener Meredith: Oh man.
Alison Brown: Huh.
Listener Meredith: Um, so yeah, that was my main question is how is it different and then how is it the same and what are you, thinking about? Okay. Oh, I do have another question.
Alison Brown: Yes.
Listener Meredith: It sounded [00:07:00] like they didn’t have the most accessible transportation and seating for the Paralympics, and that is mind blowing when you really think about it.
Alison Brown: Yes. So. Certainly up in the mountains. I cannot speak obviously, to cross country and mm-hmm. In Milan, at San Ju it’s fine. Okay. Because that arena’s just built and everything is, is new.
It’s brand
Listener Meredith: new,
Alison Brown: new and shuttles, everything’s,
Listener Meredith: whatever. What are the standards in the eu? I assume they have standards.
Alison Brown: They, you know what? That’s an excellent question. I don’t know the answer to that either. But the shuttles were all accessible. Good. Um, the, the train station that is there is accessible and the stadium itself was all accessible.
Listener Meredith: Yeah.
Alison Brown: So that was not an issue in the mountains because everything is temporary.
Listener Meredith: Both temporary and the stuff is not temporary is very old.
Alison Brown: Exactly. So the town itself is not very accessible. And then. The stadiums and things were, were not, [00:08:00] the stadium was o was okay because most of it is ground level and, and they just added a few ramps and you were fine.
So where curling was, was definitely doable, but the alpine stuff was just a no go. I, I don’t know how any wheelchair could have made it up there.
Listener Meredith: Just listening to you talk, I was thinking to myself, I never in a million years would be able to take my mom there. No, never in a million years.
Alison Brown: I mean even, and
Listener Meredith: she doesn’t even use a wheelchair.
She uses a rollator.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Even if you weren’t using any mobility aid but just weren’t terribly mobile, you couldn’t have made it up that hill.
Listener Meredith: Yeah, right.
Alison Brown: And then the shuttles that they had going up and down weren’t really accessible.
Listener Meredith: And yet they host, don’t they host World Cup events there?
Alison Brown: Yes.
Listener Meredith: Wow.
So I, I mean, I will tell you that in America, even with the a DA, any [00:09:00] building that we had that was built before the late eighties, I mean, I took my mother to a figure skating event in Milwaukee once, and we. bought accessible seats because, that’s the way that I can guarantee that she’s not gonna have to take steps since she’s gonna, you know, gonna have an accessible restroom in the area and like all that, you know.
And, um, we got there and there was no way to get into the building without either going up a steep flight of stairs or using a wheelchair lift. Well, my mother doesn’t use a wheelchair. So, you know, it’s not like the US is all that everywhere, but that was an older, it was just an older stadium, you know?
Yes. I, and I’m sure there are like plad sites like that as well. But
Alison Brown: it surprised me how inaccessible the, the mountain venues were and that there wasn’t even. Um, kind of superficial attempts to make it better.
Listener Meredith: That’s the thing. Like how did they get, how did the athletes get around? Did they have a shuttle of some sort?
Alison Brown: Yes. Yes. Okay. We did see a lot of vans going [00:10:00] around, um, when we were in town that bringing them in.
Listener Meredith: I mean, they must have gotten up to the top of the mountain somehow. ’cause they got down it.
Alison Brown: Exactly, exactly. So somehow some way they were getting them up, but it was not the same access for fans and such.
Not good. Not good. Oh, and now we’ve
Listener Meredith: got Book of Claire’s clear. I haven’t seen you since we went to that. Um, swim Meet.
Book Club Claire: That’s true. That was a long time ago.
Listener Meredith: A long time ago. Yeah. How are you?
Book Club Claire: I’m pretty good. How are you guys?
Alison Brown: Good to see you, Claire. What’s going on?
Book Club Claire: Uh, not a lot. I’ve got my little mascot down here.
Wants to see why I’m talking to the computer.
Listener Meredith: Oh, we wanna see your mascot. Hello?
Alison Brown: Hello, Risa. Oh my gosh. Always good to see our mascot in the
Listener Meredith: She’s furry
Alison Brown: flesh.
Listener Meredith: Oh, she’s so cute. We love you, [00:11:00] Risa. All right.
Book Club Claire: She’s confused and she’s gonna go away now. So, whatcha guys talking about,
Listener Meredith: oh,
Alison Brown: uh, we were talking
Listener Meredith: about
Alison Brown: inaccessibility.
Listener Meredith: I’ve been a downer of a guest never. I’ve been asking all kinds of depressing questions.
Alison Brown: Okay. Do you have a happy question for us, Claire?
Book Club Claire: A happy question. Um, I really enjoyed your, episodes. I thought they were all fantastic. I’m just on the last one for the Paralympics, so it, it. Took up a lot of my, hiking time, uh, excellent.
And so it was just, it was just a lot of fun. And I happened to be on the hike when my friend Eric Heen popped up and people were, people were passing me as, I’m trying not to die laughing on this hike. so
Alison Brown: the be the best thing about that was. I say a lot of stupid things on the show, let’s be honest. A lot of offhand, one-liners [00:12:00] that come up, but that somehow that is the one that has, has taken on a life of its own.
And, and Eugene got that amazing signature, and I think it was listener Brian made the meme, you know, I can be your imaginary friend too. It’s like that, that is the thing that has, that has hit the, the nerve and that everyone has, has glommed onto which I. Think it’s absolutely fantastic.
Book Club Claire: It’s hilarious. I suspect a, a lot of that had to do with Jill’s reaction because she was so sleep deprived that she just had no idea what was going on.
And all of a sudden she cannot, she cannot speak ’cause she’s laughing so hard. And that’s what did it, that’s
Alison Brown: what did it. Absolutely. I agree. We were, we were, I thought we were sleep deprived in Paris. And when I, especially when I got sick. ’cause when I got sick, I really was struggling. This time we were much more just straight on not getting enough sleep, and I was getting way more sleep than, than, [00:13:00] Jill was because she does the editing and the publishing.
So when we finished recording, I, I make the artwork and then I go to bed and she’s up for at least another hour.
Listener Meredith: Oh, wow.
Alison Brown: Wow. So. I don’t know how she was even mobile by like day five of the Paralympics, especially because we were consistently getting up, you know, there was no day to sleep in. There was no, extra hours and she wasn’t even napping on the bus.
Mm-hmm. Which I just, once I got Dramamine, I’m like, I’m napping on this bus. No problem.
Listener Meredith: Yeah.
Alison Brown: So she was running on probably. Three to four hours a night the whole time.
Listener Meredith: Wow.
Alison Brown: Yeah. I can’t do that. I’m too old for that.
Listener Meredith: And now she’s stuck in Pennsylvania somewhere.
Alison Brown: She, yeah, her flight was canceled, but I think she got back home, uh, today.
So she’ll mention that I’m sure when she does her call in later.
Listener Meredith: Excellent. I’m just glad she got to sleep.
Alison Brown: I know. I know. That last night I don’t think she [00:14:00] slept. The last night we were there at all,
Listener Meredith: probably not.
Alison Brown: Um, because she had to leave so early for her flight and I did get some sleep and I was very grateful that my flight actually took off because the weather that canceled her second flight I thought was gonna cancel my first flight.
Book Club Claire: Mm.
Alison Brown: So, but all the connecting flights got canceled. Yeah, so it was, it was so funny. In the day I flew home from the Olympics, um, was a blizzard, so I had to switch my flight, that one as well. So I was cursed to the strip with bad flying weather.
Listener Meredith: They posted this picture on, I don’t, one of the social media accounts, the, um, like the, the, the main games account did, and it was like this.
Beautiful video with like Instagram music in the background and like snow falling. And they’re like snow at the Paralympics and like I’m like, oh, maybe, maybe not. Maybe not considering you just had no snow for most of the [00:15:00] games and Yeah. A mess.
Alison Brown: Yeah, they had snow the last day,
Listener Meredith: the last day. Maybe just don’t.
Even,
Alison Brown: yeah, draw attention that, let’s not highlight that. Stop. Bring that up. You look like you were about to ask a question, Claire.
Book Club Claire: Yeah, I, my biggest question is since the, you know, two European Olympics in a row for U2, um, compare contrast, is there a lot of things that Italy did better or France did better?
Um, just in a general sense,
Alison Brown: you know, it’s very. It’s very hard to compare summer in winter because they are such different animals. the biggest thing that Paris did well is we had so many events that we could hop on the Metro
Book Club Claire: Sure. Yeah.
Alison Brown: And go to, and that just made it a very packed schedule. Whereas this time around, we had big empty spaces.
Book Club Claire: Mm.
Alison Brown: And that was incredibly frustrating, where it’s, we’re here, we’re trying to cover them, and we just can’t.
Listener Meredith: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: what Italy did [00:16:00] better? I mean there were certain things about the Italian experience that made it very Italian. Again, it’s very hard to compare the two. It’d be interesting to, to compare two European summer games or two European winter games to see, you know, when we get to nice.
Mm-hmm. To see how France ends up doing this French Alps. That will be a very interesting comparison to see one, how France does two different Olympics, Paris versus French Alps, and then how two European hosts handle the year, the, uh, the winter games. That’ll be interesting to compare as well.
Listener Meredith: Okay. Do I feel like they fed you better at this game?
Alison Brown: no, it’s not so much that they fed us better. Okay. It’s that we managed to get more food.
Listener Meredith: Yes. That’s that. Yeah. Was it just more accessible, like Yes. Or was it it just that you had more time? I’m not sure.
Alison Brown: We, we both had more time and we had a grocery store and a kitchen.
Listener Meredith: Yeah.
Alison Brown: So that made a huge difference in us being able to eat.
Whereas in, in [00:17:00] Paris, there were days where we just didn’t eat, where we just didn’t have access to get food. Yeah,
Listener Meredith: you
Alison Brown: know it. I remember I would get one meal was so
Listener Meredith: concerned
Alison Brown: and that was it. Oh, no, Meredith, I could live on two weeks, just the fat in one leg. Don’t ever worry about me not eating. I would survive so long without food that we would have no problem.
Here. It, it is not an issue.
Listener Meredith: That’s not how your body works, Allison.
Alison Brown: It’s just. I could survive. You’re
Listener Meredith: not a whale or a penguin or a bear,
Alison Brown: you know, but I am, I am of their ilk. Let’s just put it that way. That, that I would be fine for, for the two to three weeks of the Olympics,
Book Club Claire: do you think that Beijing spoiled you a little bit, having all those little snacky snacks and then you were kind of expecting it in Paris and so then you kinda learned from from experience then?
Alison Brown: Beijing spoiled us in a lot of ways, but certainly with, in terms of what they gave us. Was the snacky snacks were [00:18:00] amazing. Um, the fruit bowl, the, the little, buns everywhere. I mean, that’s what we thought was typical.
Listener Meredith: And
Alison Brown: the
Listener Meredith: food court.
Alison Brown: And a food court, yeah. And just a cafeteria that was open at normal hours.
And also we spent a lot of time in the media center because of the way the transportation worked in Beijing. We kept going back and forth and would end up there, um, because that was where the hub was. S. Whereas there was a cafeteria at the media center in Milan and we just weren’t there. And then the food in Paris, we weren’t there when it was open.
Book Club Claire: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: So that was the trick, you know? But the Chinese did spoil us in in certain ways. They gave us the best backpack, man.
Listener Meredith: Yeah.
Alison Brown: We were both still using our Beijing backpacks.
Book Club Claire: Excellent.
Alison Brown: No backpack this time.
Listener Meredith: LA will give you a backpack. They’ll just get somebody to sponsor it.
Alison Brown: We’ll see.
Book Club Claire: Yeah, the lo the logo will be
Alison Brown: how holding my breath.
Book Club Claire: The logo will be nice and tiny, and then the, the [00:19:00] sponsor logo will be huge.
Listener Meredith: The ring, yes. The Olympic rings will be one 10th the size of the sponsor logo, but you’ll get your backpack.
Alison Brown: We’ll see, you know, I will bring my Beijing backpack. I learned my lesson in Paris to, to always be prepared with a backup and go from there.
Listener Meredith: yeah, I don’t know. I’m I wish that we, I, this is, and this is an US thing. I wish we had gotten you some more hockey games.
Alison Brown: Mm.
Listener Meredith: Uh but I’m glad that you got to go to the ones that you went to. ’cause I know how much you love sled hockey.
Alison Brown: I do. Do,
Listener Meredith: I am sorry. Para of hockey,
Alison Brown: para ice hockey.
I know. With we, we will continue it. Sled hockey for a while. Yeah. And they didn’t even call it sled hockey there. There’s all the people who still call it sled hockey. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which is a whole other. Confusing. Piece there, but
Listener Meredith: it’s just like a European American vocabulary difference.
Alison Brown: Yeah. Bobsled.
Bobsled.
Listener Meredith: It’s still amazing. Yeah. Bobsled.
Book Club Claire: I did really enjoy, these Olympics, I have to say. Especially [00:20:00] spending I, because I was in Paris. For a lot of the Olympics. Um, I, it was nice to be back home and to experience it and also to just channel it via social media and see, you know, my algorithm just feed me a bunch of things.
I think I enjoyed even more that my algorithm, algorithm figured out that I was really into the Paralympics and it started sending me, you know, various accounts from people that were there. That was really fun and it also kind of solidified that I’m definitely going to the Paralympic. In Los Angeles.
Alison Brown: Outstanding.
Book Club Claire: Oh, good. Yeah. And everybody’s like, are you going to the Olympics on Los Angeles? I’m like, I’m gonna the Paralympics. And then they gimme me. This, they gave me this weird look, and I’m like, you just don’t get it, do you? It’s just, it, it makes me a little sad,
Listener Meredith: but I, I would say, I would say maybe roughly 40% of the time that I mention the Paralympics to somebody, they are confused.
They’re still confused about whether or not it’s a Special Olympics, and I’m like, no. Those are both great things. They are very, very different.
Book Club Claire: Yeah.
Listener Meredith: But yeah, I am. I would really like to go to the Paralympics. I. I’m really up in the [00:21:00] air.
Book Club Claire: I ended up getting onto this one account called the Trailer Park Sports Network.
Ooh. It’s one, one guy, I think he is like broadcasting or set putting up, uh, reels from his. From his house and he just, everyone during the Paralympics, he was talking about how great the Paralympics were and how amazing these athletes are. And everyone, he was lambasting peacock for their terrible coverage.
Mm. Okay. Every single one.
Listener Meredith: That is so interesting. So what I missed on Peacock is I honestly, and I realize people are gonna, there are some people who will violently disagree with me on this, but I really miss the gold zone.
Book Club Claire: Yeah, that would’ve been fun. But there was just so few, uh, events that it was harder to, to have that for the Paralympics.
Listener Meredith: Yeah, that’s true. You’re right. It, that would’ve been a lot harder.
Book Club Claire: And if you went to like their regular coverage, which I never did ’cause I was it, so, but
Listener Meredith: just having more of a recap show. I mean, they did, they did, they did have like, um, like a coverage of the day sort of,
Book Club Claire: yeah.
Listener Meredith: [00:22:00] Which I think was a lot of what they were putting on CNBC.
I really appreciated the coverage. it was harder because there were fewer events to cover. Mm-hmm. And I did keep hearing people say that there were some events where they didn’t get any coverage at all, but I couldn’t figure out exactly which ones those were. I don’t know if there were preliminary runs for some of the.
Events that had multiple runs.
Book Club Claire: Uh, one of them was the snowboard cross training or, um, time trial to get seating. Okay. For the actual event. Got it. Um, but that was, that was the only one that I did, I noticed, wasn’t there. And then the only one I noticed that didn’t have commentary was the first day of alpine skiing para alp.
Where I, I tuned in and all of a sudden it was, it was men’s downhill and it was, you could just hear the drone. That was it. but
Listener Meredith: yeah.
Book Club Claire: You know, and people really latched onto that.
Listener Meredith: I think people tune into Peacock during the Olympics and the Paralympics, and they think it’s always like that.
Book Club Claire: Mm-hmm.
Listener Meredith: And [00:23:00] honestly, I can’t tell you how often I have no commentary at all for figure skating or else I just have whatever. the ISU pays somebody to commentate and it mm-hmm. That’s what you usually get on the European, like the Eurosport networks. Mm-hmm. And, so sometimes I have that and I have, you know, no, no NBC coverage, which is fine.
Like I’m. I’m fine either way. As long as I have a score box and I can follow it, I’m happy.
Book Club Claire: Yeah, that’s the big thing. Don’t just show me the video, I’m gonna need
Listener Meredith: some graphics. Go
Book Club Claire: with it. No, I need
Listener Meredith: box. Yep. Yeah. but yeah, I think maybe if you don’t follow the sport all the time and you’ve never seen, how often you actually get it without commentary is probably really shocking.
But. For Americans following these sports. A lot of the time we don’t have commentary if, if it’s just like a challenger cup or something like that, you know?
Book Club Claire: Yeah. I train of thought here. We were talking about commentary and peacock and all that, and I was thinking about Alison and Jill what, what they were watching.
Uh, you were probably watching the OBS feed. [00:24:00]
Alison Brown: Yes.
Book Club Claire: Okay. I now can recite the entire Italian opening to your show, so I, I would, I would be, I would be miming all the Italian, even though I know it’s zero Italian and I’m not gonna try it now ’cause I’m gonna botch it. But you know, when he screams vivo at the end.
You know, I, I’m sitting in my bathroom brushing my teeth. I’m going, so that was very clever.
Alison Brown: Used. You get used to their, uh, it’s just like a theme song.
Book Club Claire: Yeah. Yeah.
Alison Brown: You learn the words after a while, whether you or you learn what you hear.
Book Club Claire: Yes.
Alison Brown: Not necessarily what the words are.
Book Club Claire: Yeah.
Alison Brown: Which could be just as, as, as fun.
Book Club Claire: So please.
Alison Brown: It’s just as accurate.
Book Club Claire: Yeah. And it is if, I don’t know if it was you or Jill, Jill to put that together, but, um, that was very clever. I liked
Alison Brown: it a lot. That was all Jill. I absolutely, she put that whole thing together.
Book Club Claire: Yeah.
Alison Brown: And enjoyed doing it and surprised me with it. I didn’t even know that she was doing it.
So yeah, she likes to, she loves to put these things together then just throw them on me. Very [00:25:00] confused. ’cause then she gets a reaction. But she has to wait until we’re taping. ’cause she’s like, I always wanna tape the reaction.
Book Club Claire: Oh yeah. I’m glad she taped your reaction to, um, Eugene’s picture for you. That was, yes.
That was awesome. I was just sitting there just
Alison Brown: laughing. Well, what you, what you missed is, so I was, we had a, a, uh, a one bedroom hotel room. So it had a bedroom and a, and a, a living room. I was in the bedroom. She was in the living room, and all of a sudden I just heard her scream and I didn’t know if it was good or bad.
So. I was like, are you okay? And she’s like, no. Come here, come here. Come here. And I’m in my pajamas. So everyone got to see what I would sleep in. And oh, you
Listener Meredith: looked adorable.
Alison Brown: It was ridiculous. And I was so frightened I did not know what she was gonna be showing me. So the look of sheer terror is because she screamed first in her reaction to it.
And then I came in and, and yeah, and watched it. So that’s on our, our [00:26:00] Facebook group. Uh, if anyone hasn’t seen my pajamas yet, um, they can go back and take a look at that go
Listener Meredith: Facebook group to see how, in her pajamas,
Alison Brown: to see me in my pajamas and which are to see how terrified I can look.
Listener Meredith: Which turns just totally normal.
Like, just normal person, like, you know, just,
Alison Brown: yes, they’re just, you know, they’re little shorts and a t-shirt. It’s nothing, it’s nothing interesting. I’ll tell you that right now.
Listener Meredith: Just normal.
Alison Brown: Just normal, you know, given the fact that I could live on the fat of my body for the entire length of the Olympics, that Allison, that
Listener Meredith: is not true.
Alison Brown: That’s why we have to keep the pajamas normal. But yeah, it was, it was just probably one of the best things a listener has ever come up with
Listener Meredith: that is,
Alison Brown: was getting, he really
Listener Meredith: does win, like listener of the century. Like that amazing mean
Book Club Claire: it was, and the timing, like that was within a month.
Listener Meredith: How did he do that?
Alison Brown: I don’t know, but somehow he managed to, to make the, the most amazing moment and yeah, I agree. I’m, I’m glad Jill thought to [00:27:00] to record it. ’cause it was late. We were tired.
Listener Meredith: But that’s what we love about Well, that’s what we love about the two of you is that you are, you’re just like us.
Alison Brown: That’s the point.
That’s why we do it. Yes,
Listener Meredith: yes. So I have to go
Alison Brown: post, post a podcast. We’re just the same.
Listener Meredith: Did you get your Italian bread? What was that? The,
Alison Brown: the Panton
Listener Meredith: pan you get?
Alison Brown: Did not,
Listener Meredith: no,
Alison Brown: I did not. The store was closed. Both when we got back and then. It wasn’t open yet in the morning when my had to leave that
Listener Meredith: bummer.
Alison Brown: I know I was a little disa. You know, it’s so funny because my sister texted me last night after I got home, and the only thing she didn’t say, are you okay? How was your trip? She said, did you get the pan, Tony? And I did not, so
Listener Meredith: Oh, bummer.
Alison Brown: I had to leave without my panton, which is, which is quite all right.
I, that’s okay without, it’s,
Listener Meredith: it’s sometimes, depending on the store, [00:28:00] sometimes it shows up at Easter time. Here. Um, it ease, I mean, they do eat it at Easter time, I think.
Alison Brown: Yes,
Listener Meredith: in Italy, and sometimes it shows up here too. I haven’t seen it yet. But
Alison Brown: I don’t actually like it is part of the
Listener Meredith: what?
Alison Brown: Yeah, that’s part of the thing.
I don’t actually eat this. It just comes out at family events.
Listener Meredith: Why does Jill think I need to send you one that I made from scratch? ’cause Ellison, I’m here to tell you, those are not easy to make.
Alison Brown: No, they’re not. That’s why, that’s why in our family, we buy them. We don’t make them. Who makes Patoni? You buy one.
Listener Meredith: Well, I’m a baker.
Alison Brown: You are a baker. You are a baker, but poni is not like making a cake. It’s
Listener Meredith: no bread is bread. I, but I’ve been making yeasted bread since I was, I don’t know, eight years old. So
Alison Brown: yeah, it is, it is not an ordinary yeasted bread though. it’s very persnickety
Listener Meredith: and then you have to hang it upside [00:29:00] down to cool, or it falls in on itself.
Alison Brown: Wow. Oh yeah. It’s, this is why the Italian Americans, it’s really Don’t buy them. What? Yeah, we buy them. We, we don’t make them. We know better.
Book Club Claire: We have reached them beyond my scope of, uh, knowledge here. I’m like, I don’t even know what panton is.
Alison Brown: Come by. We’ll make some, we’ll have some coffee. It’ll be lovely.
Listener Meredith: You might recognize it if you saw it, but, uh, so Allison, I did buy the little penoni pin.
Alison Brown: Oh, you did?
Listener Meredith: Yes.
Alison Brown: In the city.
Listener Meredith: Yes, because they’re popping up on eBay now. So I, I got it, but it arrived and the back of it is a little bit. Crushed.
Alison Brown: Aw. Just like a pan Tony.
Listener Meredith: Just like patoni. So I gotta figure out if I can, I know I can replace like the wing back pin part, but I gotta figure out if I can straighten the post
Alison Brown: you.
You can, yeah. That’s, you just need a little,
Listener Meredith: a
Alison Brown: little jewelers hammer and that’ll get that right up.
Book Club Claire: [00:30:00] Or even better, you make it a magnet.
Alison Brown: Mm
Listener Meredith: oh
Book Club Claire: slap. Slap a magnet it to the back of that. Put it on your fridge.
Alison Brown: Even better.
Book Club Claire: Mm-hmm.
Alison Brown: Well, on that note, we have reached the end of our time and now it’s gonna be Jill taking over the call in.
Jill Jaracz: Thank you so much, Allison. Jill here and I am back in the us. Happy to be back home. It was a very long day of travel as, uh, you heard on the train show on closing ceremonies night. Uh, we got off very late and uh, got off the train, probably 11:00 PM or so. Both of us had to pack and I have had like six weeks worth of stuff to pack, minus one large box that made it home.
Uh, and then I had a 6:00 AM flight, 6:15 AM flight. And, uh, wanted to be the airport early because I really had no idea [00:31:00] how long everything would take. Uh, got to the airport at four 15, which meant I didn’t sleep at all that night. Uh, flew to Rome on flight number one. Uh, dozed there on the way there a little bit.
Then had the long flight from Rome to Philadelphia and there’s been a lot of weather on the East coast. There was a lot of weather there. And Producer Ben told me that the flight path was drastically different instead of just cutting across the Atlantic, we flew way north. And came down over Canada and that was not the original plan.
The flight felt long, it was probably nine hours or so, really cramped back in coach and it was not a pleasant experience by the time. And I didn’t sleep very much at all on that flight. And by the time I got off the plane, I wasn’t feeling great, just ’cause I hadn’t slept. Then discovered that my [00:32:00] third flight, which was Philadelphia to Cleveland, got canceled.
So I was stuck in Philly for the night. Thankfully, American Airlines, uh, got me a hotel voucher, uh, Uber rides to and from the hotel. Gave me a little bit of money to cover a little bit of food at the airport the next day. So that was really smooth and easy, which I was grateful for because I was just exhausted at that point and went to the hotel, took a much needed shower and.
called family, then went to bed at eight 30 at night. Woke up around three, went back to sleep after a little while, slept for a few more hours. Got home eventually to Cleveland at, uh, that that flight was delayed as well. I don’t know if you saw it on the Facebook group, but the planes kept changing.
But then when we finally got our plane, birds had flown in the cockpit and, and they called maintenance. [00:33:00] Eventually I saw a maintenance guy come out of the cockpit and release a bird, and the bird flew away. So then we could board the plane and head to Cleveland where, uh, got home later than I had anticipated, and, uh, got some dinner and went to sleep again.
And so now I’m catching up on jet leg and it’s, uh. I’m tired trying to unpack everything and do laundry and, uh, hopefully get the Milano Corina Metal platform song out of my head. And when that’s not there, it’s either by Air Swung, which was the Chinese hockey pair of ice hockey theme song for when they got goals, or if that’s not in my head.
It’s Freebird, which was the USA’s goal song for all of the hockey tournaments. And, uh, those three songs have been living rent free in my head for a while. [00:34:00] But I have a theory about the why I like the Paris 2024 medal ceremony music more than the Milano Corino one, because they’re both kind of similar, where they have the, you know, ethereal stuff going on, but.
I think, if I remember correctly, Paris 2020 fours takes this weird kind of disco hooked on classics turn. And at that point in the medal ceremony, that’s when everybody starts celebrating and the crowd can dance along and cheer in a, in a different kind of way. And everybody’s happy together. In the Milan Cortina one, I don’t recall that kind of shift in from ceremony.
And everyone excited about the gold medal. This is the highest standard. Oh. But it, it didn’t evolve into something that we could all have [00:35:00] fun with and, and I think that’s why I like Parises more. If I’m remembering all the music wrong, let me know. I.
Hey, Brittany.
Listener Brittany: Hello. How are you?
Jill Jaracz: Good, how are you doing?
Listener Brittany: Good. How was your the flight home?
Jill Jaracz: The flight home was very long and a couple of days. Oh. So I, uh, we got home from the train at like 1115 and both of us had to pack. So I was done maybe about two, and my flight left at six 15. So I was getting picked up for the airport like at 3 45.
So luckily, uh, producer Ben and I talked for like an hour that kept me awake and then, flew out and I saw a bunch of people in the airport. It was like, oh, you know, likeon Masters and Aaron Pike were having breakfast with a group of people. And I thought I saw Sidney Peterson walking around. Like I didn’t want to geek out on them.
But that, that was, uh, [00:36:00] fun. flute to Rome. S hung out in Rome for a while. Long, long flight to Philly because I guess there’s, there’s been weather on the East Coast. Mm-hmm. So we like flew instead of going across, we flew up to Canada and then down. Geez. So yeah, it was, it was not fun. And then my flight to Cleveland got canceled, so I was in Philly for the night.
Listener Brittany: Oh wow.
Jill Jaracz: So not fun. But, uh, I flew American Airlines and they put me up in a hotel, got me travel vouchers, a little bit of food money, so that helped out. That’s good. At least the, the nice thing is like, I pretty much took a shower and crashed out and so, uh, so that was nice that I didn’t have, I like, could just sleep on my own and then be better, better rested, but I’m still falling asleep all over the place.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So what did you think of the Paralympics?
Listener Brittany: overall I thought. The sports were really [00:37:00] good. What we could all see of it, I guess. Um,
Jill Jaracz: oh yeah. Again, right.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. I mean the thing is, I know at the very beginning, ’cause I only watch the stuff through the NBC, the Peacock app, I don’t have cable or anything, so I can’t say what it was like as a cable thing.
Um, and I pay for peacock, so. Mm-hmm. Um, but I know when it first started, like day negative two day negative one, they didn’t have it in the main area. Like you had to go into sports and then click on a little circle. Okay. But the day of the opening ceremonies, they did give its its own spot like they did for the Olympics where you could go to the actual Paralympic thing.
But it wasn’t until the day of the opening ceremonies.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. Okay. Well that’s not bad. That’s better, I think than before.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. and I think the only time I was really frustrated was the day when they were doing, um. The snowboard, cross. And [00:38:00] they were doing the, the original run, like the Yes. Runs you, you and
Jill Jaracz: me both.
You and me both. Well,
Listener Brittany: NBC had it on and then it was like, oh, this will start shortly. And it never started. And I went away from it and then I tried to go back and it was gone. And then you had mentioned something about them Not actually, no one actually broadcasting it.
Jill Jaracz: Yes. It was so weird because, so we were down at the, the bottom of the hill.
Listener Patrick: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: But behind, so, uh, we were kind of low broadcast was a little above us if you’re tearing down a hill and we could see like the last 20, 30 meters of racing. Mm-hmm. And that’s it. And you could kind of see, well, we had a a, a screen on for us in the mixed zone and. There was something on the jumbotron, well, the mix zone TV never worked and the, the people running the zone kept trying it and they finally just turned it off and we could [00:39:00] see people at the start for a little while.
Listener Brittany: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: And, uh, then all of a sudden that was gone too. And then we found out, oh yeah, they’re not really broadcasting this one today.
Listener Brittany: That’s
Jill Jaracz: so weird.
Listener Brittany: Like, guess. ’cause they definitely had a spot in the NPC app that they were going to.
Jill Jaracz: Wow.
Listener Brittany: And then it just, it disappeared.
Jill Jaracz: Wow. it was frustrating. It was frustrating for the athletes when they found out that they weren’t on and mm-hmm.
I mean, I get that people would go and I, I could totally see OBS going. Oh, we’re not gonna bother if this is a, a seating run, nobody cares. It’s just an individual going down a, an easier course, but it would’ve helped to have seen it.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. Yeah. And then I think overall with the Para sp, winter Paralympics specifically is just, it’s such a, so much smaller than any of the other ones.
And that it just, at halfway through, it just felt very repetitive because there’s only so many sports and it’s like, okay, I have now seen a [00:40:00] ton of people go down the same mountain and
Jill Jaracz: it’s like, I would like to watch
Listener Brittany: something a little different.
Jill Jaracz: I, you know, I totally get you on that too. And I am hopeful that they add women’s hockey for 2030.
Yes. That would be fantastic. I know pair of bobsled keeps trying. To get in. So that would be nice if they could get into, ’cause that would be totally different to see, yeah. See sliding. But it does get pretty repetitive and then you’re like, okay, here’s more wheelchair curling ’cause mm-hmm. We’ve got that.
At least it would be nice if there were enough wheelchair curlers to have a women’s division two and not have this mixed team. Yeah. Because I’m sure there’s enough men who will make up a team. But yeah, I, I’m hopeful that with the increased viewing and oh my gosh, like the IPC was so thrilled about how much viewing increased over Paris, which was incredible,
Listener Brittany: right.
Jill Jaracz: That maybe more people will [00:41:00] get involved with para sport and
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: And then hopefully winter. I mean, we gotta, like,
Listener Brittany: they gotta do something. But at the same time, like the barrier to entry for winter sports is such a. Big thing, and then you add disability on top of that, it’s like,
Jill Jaracz: yes,
Listener Brittany: you’re not gonna get a lot of people wanting to pursue that.
Jill Jaracz: Right. So it’s, it’s so hard and because yeah, you’re dealing with snow, so you gotta be in a place where you can get to snow stuff.
Listener Brittany: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: And the equipment is so expensive and mm-hmm. You know, it’s, you’re right. It’s just, it’s tough. It’s really, really tough. Yeah. And it’s hard. It’s hard because the Paralympics are so fun to watch.
Mm-hmm. And they’re so fun to be around. And it was really, really cool to see the ice hockey arena full for the final game. So that made me so happy that we came out, I’ll say
Listener Brittany: I watched it on television and you could hear the crowd through the television. [00:42:00] It was so loud. Even just watching it on television, I’m like, wow.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It was a real. Treat, uh, treat is not a fun a great word, but it was so exciting and so exciting that like you get a country like Italy that doesn’t have a huge hockey culture
Listener Patrick: mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: At all. I mean, they’ve got some hockey here and there, obviously, but to get them out and, and I don’t, everybody from Canada seemed to come to the game and then of, and some US people, but it was so full and they had to, I guess they had to open another section.
Mm-hmm. And really the only thing that was not full were suites. There were a couple suites that had people in them, but like everything else was pretty much full.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So that’s here’s hope in here’s Yeah.
Listener Brittany: At least there’s, there’s hope for the, the ice hockey,
Jill Jaracz: so. Right, right. Yeah. I, I don’t know. And it was, it’s tough because the snow was really bad.
And, [00:43:00] uh, you know, it, it just makes it hard to have people, especially in the, the Alpine when all these favorites were going down and Yeah. DN Fing and it’s just, that was frustrating, but I wonder what they’ll do. I was reading a little bit, I skimmed it and went, ah, interesting. But, uh, the Rich Perlman from the sports examiner was talking a little bit like, oh, I’ve got an idea.
We’ll just move, just move the Paralympics one year ahead. And then you’ve got the Yeah, I know. And I thought, well, if you’ve got ’em a year ahead Yeah, they get their own time. But you’d also need the organizing committee to be ready a year ahead of that and do all the test events. You can’t do the test events on Paralympic stuff.
Yeah. Plus you have this village that has to be done and then it’s gonna sit there for empty for a year.
Listener Brittany: Well, why one year ahead and not one year after though.
Jill Jaracz: I don’t, you know, it, I think that’s the same [00:44:00] problem again, you’d have to book all these venues. You’d have to keep a village around, although, right.
Not as much of a village because they’re, the Paralympics aren’t as big, but, mm-hmm. I don’t know. I mean, I, I kind of like the idea of just moving everything up a month or trying to compress the time in between, the two games a little bit more. This one felt a lot closer. Mm-hmm. But, and I understand there is a lot of, well, we had to switch the branding over and mm-hmm.
The, the Paralympics, the, all the atos have to come out and. do all that on the, like the, the fencing that they have. and then the Paralympics will have advertising on the field to play. So you gotta put all that down. Mm-hmm. So that, that does take some time and you’ve gotta get the Olympians out of the village and prep it for the Paralympians to come in.
So how fast you can do that? I don’t know.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. Because it was only two weeks between the two, right?
Jill Jaracz: [00:45:00] Something like that. That was, hold on.
Listener Brittany: Definitely.
Jill Jaracz: So the, the Olympics ended the 22nd of February and the Paralympics started March 6th, but I think they really started March four.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: With the, the minus two.
yeah, I don’t know. And, and with the, I mean, the spread out games and having to have three different villages basically. ’cause you had mm-hmm. Three different sites. So that probably complicates things as well.
Listener Brittany: Right. Did they say the French Alps? Is it gonna be more than two spots for the French Alps?
Jill Jaracz: I think so.
I’m gonna pull that up. ’cause I, I feel like I, I feel like I don’t know much about French Alps. I
Listener Brittany: know nothing about French Alps.
Jill Jaracz: I’m guessing that the French don’t know much about French Alps either.
Listener Brittany: I’m trying to think.
Jill Jaracz: They’re supposed to get, um, uh, let’s see, four years to go. Oh, they presented their vision of the games. Mm-hmm. [00:46:00] Uh, this at the, IOC session that happened just before Milano Cortina. oh, they’re finalized. Oh my gosh. They’re still finalizing their venue Master plan and sports program.
They’ll have that by early summer. So I think that’ll be in the, like the June meetings that they have. And they only got four years to go. This is gonna be fun. But I did see, like on social media, they said something about wanting to do the closing ceremonies on the beach in Nice. Yeah. I’m not so sure what I think about a winter closing ceremonies on the beach.
Listener Brittany: I don’t know.
Jill Jaracz: I mean, it’s winter, keep it winter.
Listener Brittany: Huh. Interesting.
Jill Jaracz: So yeah, I am very curious to see what French Alps is gonna do. I think I, I wouldn’t not be surprised if they use existing venues as well. They have a big biathlon venue. Mm-hmm. Big mountain stuff going on. It’s a speed skating, like where [00:47:00] they’re gonna put that.
Listener Patrick: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Don’t know. And they probably have at least a couple of arenas that can handle hockey and the other skating.
Right. So. Hopefully, hopefully they’ve got ’em.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: You know, something left over from Albertville maybe. But
Listener Brittany: are the French Alps close to Albertville? I know nothing about French
Jill Jaracz: yogurt. Yeah. Um, well I don’t love the fact they call ’em the French Alps either, because where is that even? We’re all, we’re all learning together.
Listener Brittany: Well, we also have four years to figure out.
Jill Jaracz: Well, yeah, exactly. Exactly. But, uh, so, well niece is in the,
let’s see, let’s, let’s see how far Niece is from like, shaman. ’cause that’s, that’s a, a good.
So if you go, oh, and from Albertville, so if you went from Nice up to Shay slash or like Albertville, that’s close to six hours in a [00:48:00] car.
Listener Brittany: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: So again, we’re talking about something that’s likely spread out.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: they’ve talked about speed skating being either in, maybe in tur, maybe in Netherlands. But Turin is kind of on the way to Nice and it’s kind of in between because of the geography of Italy kind of cuts through this part of France.
So maybe if they put him in Turrin, it’d be a little bit easier to deal with, but it’s still gonna be pretty spread out.
Listener Brittany: Okay. Now, was Beijing very spread out when you guys were there?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. You know, they said it wasn’t gonna be spread out, but it was spread out. I mean, they, so we had three different clusters.
There was the Beijing cluster. Mm-hmm. And in Beijing was, uh, speed skating and figure skating and short track and hockey and curling. And then, um, big air [00:49:00] and curl and, and hockey had two venues. The men’s was like right there. Mm-hmm. And, uh, the women’s was maybe 45 minutes away, even though it was still Beijing, big Air was like an hour away, even though it was still Beijing.
That was kind of really a, a hike. Then if you wanted to go to Alpine and sliding, that was, they kept telling you, oh, it’s just a 20 minute train ride, which was true. But to get there for us, we took a bus to the, from the hotel to the press center, took another bus to the train station. Took our 20 minute train ride.
Mm-hmm. And then we had, got on a bus that took us to, like a rest area in the middle of nowhere. You get off, you have to get onto another bus that takes you up to the mountains. Mm-hmm. And then, from there, I think there were gondolas involved with getting to where we needed to be for the skiing.
And then another bus took you across the road to [00:50:00] sliding.
Listener Brittany: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: And that was, that turned into a very complicated hike that neither of us, both of us, almost a nugget back from. So that was when I went there once and I said, never again because Right. Uh, it was bad and. And then Allison went and she almost did not get back.
And then the other complicating fact was all of the sliding was at night where you could not get back from anyway. Mm-hmm. And, uh, the, it was hard to get to the alpine stuff too on time and see it. The last cluster was a 50 minute train ride away.
Listener Brittany: Oh my gosh.
Jill Jaracz: Which, which was actually very nice. HighSpeed new high speed trains.
Okay. And, when, and, and when you got off, you either went to the right and that was ski jumping cross country and, uh, biathlon or you went to the left and that was, uh, all of the freestyle skiing stuff and snowboard [00:51:00] and uh, moguls and things like that. There were a couple of complicated bus situations once you got off of the train because you’d take a bus to the direction where you wanted to go, and then there was kind of like a, a stopping point.
Mm-hmm. And then you had to get on a, go through security again, and then get on another bus to go within those clusters kind of thing. So that was complicated. But it felt easier even though you were dealing with like a three hour trip or so. Yeah. And then you could take a bus. I, which I did one day, I did this, the day Allison flew in because I wanted to see something different and I needed to kill time so that she could get into the closed loop.
And that bus ride was three to four hours, I think, from Beijing to Tai Chen, which was all the way out. So it was interesting. It was something different.
Listener Brittany: Do you think it would’ve been longer had it not been a closed loop? [00:52:00] Like had it been like a a, a normal,
Jill Jaracz: A normal, yeah, it, you know, it might’ve been a little shorter because they probably would’ve taken out a, a stop here and there for the, at least on the last part.
’cause there seemed to be a lot of security areas, but it, it may have been longer because you’re dealing with more people coming in too.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: But, but, uh, at least in Beijing then you would’ve gotten public transportation, so that would’ve cut out some of your hassles too, and you could have walked to a couple of places.
Listener Brittany: Right. I do remember Utah. Very closed off areas, so.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Listener Brittany: Huh. It’ll be interesting to see come France, what your opinion is on the, the different transportations ’cause
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I’m. I am not looking forward to it, I’m gonna be honest, because if it’s gonna be spread out again mm-hmm. This was so hard and so frustrating.
And ideally we’d get a [00:53:00] budget where we could split up for a couple of nights mm-hmm. Or something. And have, or the, the other option is like, you pick up and move every few days, which I know some people did, but that’s really hard for us to do right. When we’re recording at night. So, yeah, it’s just, we wanna see slides, you know, we, we go to these things and like, oh, we’d really like to see some sports that we don’t get to see very often.
So when sliding was off the table and biathlon was off the table, that was frustrating. And curling was off the table for the Olympics. And, then we couldn’t also get to, because of the weather, we couldn’t get to any of the snowboard and freestyle stuff. Mm-hmm. That got frustrating and just then it, then it gets, then it just gets tough because then you’re like, okay, even with the Olympics, you’re kind of on repeat of, oh, which skating or hockey event am I going to today?
Listener Brittany: Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: So that, so
Listener Brittany: it feels maybe like less of a, an [00:54:00] Olympics and more of just a figure skating world championship or a ice hockey where it
Jill Jaracz: should just in a, in a way, in a way, I mean, you mm-hmm. You started getting to choose between three or four sports.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. ‘
Jill Jaracz: cause so that got really frustrating.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: But I mean, our complaints are. Way down on the totem pole of what they care about. I’m sure. So, and I’m curious to know, like behind closed doors where, people when we heard, oh, this, this ga Gaines wide open, or whatever concept they want to call it, the, the spread out venue concept. Mm-hmm. Uh, everyone, uh, they, it, it’s working.
It’s working. And, and people seem to love, they, the athletes love the venues and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you’d hear grumblings, you know, you’d hear athletes go, Hey, we don’t really have a village. Mm-hmm. Or, Same with the, the pair of ice hockey. The, [00:55:00] we, we heard like, oh, it’s all the, they don’t have, they got the big village.
Mm-hmm. But it’s only ice hockey there, so they lose, they see each other all the time. They don’t, they want to have a, a, the village experience where you’re meeting people from other sports.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So I felt bad for all of the athletes in both the Olympics and Paralympics who were stuck with just people they saw all the time on the regular basis.
And that, that’s not the way the, the game should be.
Listener Brittany: Yeah. But with, as like, where are consult like condensed areas where you don’t need to spread out Winter games?
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well, Utah’s gonna be great because Park City and Salt Lake are like 20 minutes away from each other.
Listener Brittany: Okay.
Jill Jaracz: So that’s really close. The heart, the farthest thing out at Salt Lake right now that I know of is, uh, soldier Hollow, which is the.
Nordic and Biathlon venue, but even so that, that might be an hour away. [00:56:00]
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Hour and a half tops. So it’s all really close and condensed. Okay. And that’s gonna be fun. And the last I heard they were going to do something like put big air downtown and just construct a, a big scaffolding for it and have it just in the middle of the city and they’ve got hockey.
They may spread out the hockey and, and stuff a little bit north and south, but it’s not gonna be so spread out as either one of these.
Listener Brittany: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So I think they’ll be a little, a little, there’s some public transportation, they’ve got a light rail and, uh, I don’t know how good that will be for getting out to Park City per se, but they’re probably gonna have shuttle buses or something because Park City is tiny and it gets crowded pretty quickly.
So, but it’s, it’s gonna be nice. Okay,
Listener Brittany: well at least
Jill Jaracz: there’s one,
Listener Brittany: one
Jill Jaracz: city. Yeah. Right.[00:57:00]
So other than feed Beefs, uh, what else did you think of the Paralympics? I know, I, it’s, it’s a bummer that feed beefs keep coming up, but hey,
Listener Brittany: I mean, I had, I really enjoyed quite a bit of it. Like watching the gold medal game for the ice hockey was a lot of fun. Um, at least the first half of it there at the end, it just kind of, the Canadians just kind of fell apart and I’m like, oh.
That’s sad. I wanted to be close all the way to the end. and then I will admit I got way too invested in the last game of the wheelchair curling when they had like three seconds left on their clock.
Jill Jaracz: Right. Oh my gosh. That was unreal.
Listener Brittany: I was like screaming, just throw the students
Jill Jaracz: and like, if they had to go to an extra end Oh no.
They couldn’t go to an extra end. ’cause there was some kind of rule about they don’t go to extra ends. Yeah. In the medals. And I didn’t understand that and I forgot to look it up. And I thought, what if they have to, what if they’re [00:58:00] tied and there’s gonna be some extra stone throwing and you don’t have, you don’t have time on your clock.
Like just forfeit. That’s crazy.
Listener Brittany: But I feel like, I don’t remember the guy’s name, but I’m, he just seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing. So like he just, oh, yeah. Like, yeah. I’m definitely just waiting and just dragging this out to stress everyone out. That’s what
Jill Jaracz: that Right. I think, I think his name is Mark Ien.
I, I believe, don’t quote me on that’s, but, uh,
it’s
Jill Jaracz: okay. Um, but, uh, yeah, and, and I gotta say, I was happy the Canadians had two women. It’s, it’s not, not easy to find more women to be on these teams, but boy, what a, what a surprise. Hello, Patrick.
Listener Patrick: I’m in
Jill Jaracz: from Chicagoland. How are you? I’m in,
Listener Patrick: uh, I had so much trouble.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, I’m sorry.
Listener Patrick: Um, I, I was like, you know, I’m just gonna [00:59:00] delete the app and then I deleted the app. I’m like, all right, I’m in.
Jill Jaracz: Excellent. Excellent. Patrick, meet Brittany. Brittany beat Patrick from Chicagoland.
Listener Patrick: Hello. Hey, Brittany. Hey, Brittany. How are
Listener Brittany: you
Listener Patrick: doing? Good. I’m just driving to, uh, Costco, so
Jill Jaracz: good times.
so Patrick, what did, did you have a favorite moment of the Paralympics?
Listener Patrick: Ooh, ooh. Um, probably I think just watching some of the, watching some of like the slalom, like some of the, uh, downhill, uh, downhill races or down downhill competition. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And the alpine skiing, which I never really watched, but sometimes I would wake up early enough to watch, like, uh, watch some of the competition or if not early enough, but maybe just watch it maybe on 20 minutes delay, so.
Okay. Because I never really watched that before. I watched the highlights, but never like the full runs and like with waiting in anticipation for the next competitor.
Jill Jaracz: Right, right, right. And it was. [01:00:00] Cool to see like the sit skiing in person and
Listener Patrick: yes,
Jill Jaracz: eventually I got to see the visually impaired in person too, and I’m dying to know how that works.
Listener Patrick: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: And just
Listener Patrick: all, yeah,
Jill Jaracz: but just the idea of not being able to see and throwing yourself down a mountain that’s not too, you know, it’s steep. And I, I wanna know how the communication with Guide and Skier works out and how long it takes to memorize a, a route. ’cause I’m sure that the, the athlete has to memorize as much as possible what’s going on.
Listener Patrick: Like, what words are they saying? I wanna know, like, I, like I know with like F1 or another Motorsports, you can hear the audio that they’re communicating with the drivers. I wanna know what that audio is like between the guide and the visually impaired person.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. You know, like when they mic people up for curling, did they mic people [01:01:00] up for curling on the, on the feeds?
They did.
Listener Patrick: They did.
Jill Jaracz: Okay.
Listener Patrick: And they did. So, yeah,
Jill Jaracz: they absolutely did. So I wish they could mic that up for the feed anyway. ’cause they’ve got, some of them had headsets. Mm-hmm. Some of them had these contraptions. The, the guide would wear some kind of contraption on their waist that looked like it could be a speaker that broadcast backwards.
Mm-hmm. So, I don’t know. I would think that there’s some way to tap into that, to hear what’s happening. Unless like NBC would do it for an American, but we don’t really have very many Americans on the, the circuit. I know there was at least one in the visually impaired of a woman, but I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t know what it would take to get that level.
Listener Patrick: Oh yeah. It was like Meg Gustafson, I remember.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah.
Listener Patrick: It was her and then her brother was the skier.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. And she was not happy on her last run in the mixed zone, let me tell you that. Oh,
Listener Patrick: oh no.
Jill Jaracz: She was not [01:02:00] happy. that’s tough. But you know, she’s young and so hopefully this is the first games of many.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. 16. Yeah. And her and her brother’s only, so
Jill Jaracz: yeah,
Listener Patrick: 18.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. They could go for a while,
Listener Patrick: so, but no, it was, it was a joy to watch and, uh, at work they would, I would always show them some clips and they would be like, oh, there’s no excuses. If they could do it, why can’t I?
Jill Jaracz: Right.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. You know, so yeah, it was,
Jill Jaracz: have you have either of you skied before, downhill?
Listener Brittany: Once in like seventh and eighth grade we went on a trip and that was the only time I don’t live anywhere near,
Listener Patrick: I have no excuses. I could, because where I live. Uh, I lived in Green Bay for five years and lived here almost for five years as well, but I’ve only put on skis once, and that was for like 10 minutes. Just doing some cross country skiing at a demonstration, so no. Oh,
Jill Jaracz: okay. I have not. Okay. Never. Yeah, [01:03:00] I, I’ve gone downhill.
I did a little bit in, in high school we would go like once or twice a year, but I mean, the hill is laughable ’cause it was in, in Indiana, north northwest Indiana. So there’s not really hills there. Yeah. And anything around where I would go is also not very hilly. And then, when I, I studied abroad in Vienna and some of us went to Innsbrook for the weekend and we said, oh, let’s go skiing.
And we were at where the 1976 women’s run was. And so like the bunny, the bunny hill, we did that a few times. And the bunny hill was nothing. It was almost flat. And we’re like, okay, we’re ready to go. And we go up the mountain and there’s a huge sign that says, don’t go off the trail. And the first thing they, they had to do a hairpin to get onto the, the, the main mountain pass.
And the first thing I did was go off the trail and I was in snow up to my hips for [01:04:00] a long time. And it took like me all, it took me a whole hour to get down. I did not ski very much that day. I think I may have gone down once more. And I said, that’s it, that’s, I’m done. And I’m kind of done with skiing at that point.
Listener Brittany: I think you mentioned you the northwest Indiana. I think that’s where I went. Well, ’cause I lived up in northern Indiana.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, okay. Okay.
Listener Brittany: That was our, our field trip was up to that one ski area in Northern. Oh
Jill Jaracz: yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we had the, the, the best thing about it, well, not the best thing, but you think about it and go, oh my gosh, I don’t know how this exists.
Like, the hill ended at the parking. And when, one time I went, one of my friends crashed into the car and messed up their knee and somebody else, oh, I think she, she fell right at the end and got a pole in her face and, you know, messed up one of her teeth. So yeah, it was, it was one of these places that [01:05:00] was just like, I cannot believe they just, it ends and there’s nowhere to stop really.
If you don’t know what you’re doing and bam, you’re in a car.
Listener Brittany: Oh, no.
Listener Patrick: And, and these athletes, they’re doing it with one leg. They’re sitting, they’re visually impaired.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Listener Patrick: It’s just incredible. Mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Or they’re doing it with no arms. We saw No, yes. Yeah. Saw, saw no arms. And, and you think about, and even like one arm, or if you had the one arm that’s different lengths, what does that do to your balance and.
And I mean, there’s gonna be a lot of athletes who will go, well, this is just the way I’ve always been, so I don’t really know anything different. But it’d be interesting to see somebody who studies that and can, can share like what, what that does.
Listener Brittany: I’m always curious about that factored time, like
Jill Jaracz: mm-hmm.
Listener Brittany: Where, what is the, like the math behind their factored time as far as like that decision about, okay, these people have, you know, this [01:06:00] level of disability, so it is in relation to, to this amount of dime.
Jill Jaracz: Right? Right. Allison wrote a really good, newsletter about that. Mm-hmm. And, but getting to that, that formula.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. What did, how did they sit there and think about that and, and say, this is what you need, this is what the level of disability is to factor a time kind of thing.
Listener Patrick: Mm-hmm. And it’s so, and it’s so exact. It’s not like, oh, your factor time is 95%. No, your factor time is 95.46%. I mean, it is down to hundreds.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It’s, it’s pretty incredible.
Listener Patrick: I’m sort of glad that, like the mixed relay Wasn’t factor time at all. It was like whoever’s first, you know?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. And I ended up watching that after, I think you posted about it, because I wanted to see what happened. And I was just also shocked where you had, oh, you could have three people in your relay.
You could have four, and somebody’s just doing two [01:07:00] legs.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. And then you had like, people with dis and disabilities going against each other one-on-one and different genders too. So it was, it’s probably the craziest. Relay out of any relay I’ve ever seen in any Olympics or Paralympics.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. Yeah. Even the summer one, where they do it on the track is a little bit more straightforward.
Mm-hmm. And more balanced across the, across the teams.
Listener Patrick: You don’t have like a wheelchair person going against someone with, one leg or something like that?
Jill Jaracz: No, not necessarily. No. They all seem to, to do it in a, a pretty standard order. Mm-hmm.
Listener Patrick: what was the coverage like in where you were watching in Italy, if you could tell? Because here in America, for example, I’m not sure if you knew, they didn’t show every curling match. Like you could, like you, like they did with the Olympics. I knew that. That was the disappointing thing. Like you couldn’t watch every curling match.
They just showed the US until like the semifinals are finalists. [01:08:00]
Jill Jaracz: Wow. so we would watch a little bit and then the housekeeping came in, and then our remote control was broken after that. And so we couldn’t turn the TV on anymore. And, uh, we could watch some on Eurovision sports, and that we had a problem seeing every feed, but then we figured out that the Paralympics were just broadcasting everything on their YouTube channel.
So we would go to the YouTube channel and be pretty much okay there. but I don’t think they were getting the same type of coverage. And it was a lot harder for us to find it because it, it wasn’t like the Olympics where we got a. Uh, and HBO max login. ’cause HBO Max wasn’t Discovery owns them in, in Europe, we weren’t getting that login anymore ’cause they weren’t showing them.
So that was really weird that all of a sudden that kind of coverage went away.
But we’d get [01:09:00] a little bit on, the, the broadcast channel, like Rye two would have stuff, but it wouldn’t have it necessarily all day long. So I think it’s the same, the same deal where places where broadcasters have to really say, okay, we’re going to really cough up and, and, and make some sacrifices in order to have this on.
But for, for like Peacock, it’s just bandwidth really. You could take the OBS feeds. Yeah. And just play them as is. I mean, they do. They do do that service. So I don’t, I don’t know what the hangup is.
Listener Patrick: I think that was like the big one. In terms of the curling, I think they pretty much showed almost every other race, unless Brittany could correct me.
Is there anything else they missed besides the curling matches?
Listener Brittany: Um, yeah, I think it was just the curling that was missing. And then the, we talked earlier about the missing, um, [01:10:00] time trials, whatever. Seating for the para cross. Oh yeah. Board cross. But I think that might have been an O BS OBSU, not an NBC because it originally have it as something to watch on NBC and then it disappeared.
So,
Jill Jaracz: yeah, frustrated that felt so bad for the snowboarders. Not only did they not get their first thing televised, they also had this really easy course. And Brittany, you said it looked really easy on tv.
Listener Brittany: It looked really easy. It honestly reminded me of, you know, those, at the like county fairs where they have the, the little kitty roller coasters
Jill Jaracz: uhhuh,
Listener Brittany: like the little dragon roller coaster over it.
That’s what it reminded me of. And it’s like, oh
Listener Patrick: my, whoa,
Listener Brittany: this is like a junior edition of what their course should have been.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, oh. So frustrating. So frustrating. And it was funny because when we were talking with the [01:11:00] snowboarders in the mix zone, especially after, because I went to the seating run and then, Allison came along when they were doing their final run.
And, I love the Paralympians because they don’t care. They’re gonna tell you what they, they got an, they got a bigger fish to fry elsewhere. If they’ve got a beef, they’re just gonna kind of share it. And there’s some old guys there, like, uh, Keith Gable, who we hadn’t talked to, but is my new favorite person.
this was his last go at the games and he had been going since like, Sochi. And he is like, yeah, this course is like Sochi again. And because it, well, that’s when they first added it in. And of course it was easy then the sports progressed so much and they made the course, I don’t wanna say they made it too difficult, but where they put stuff, just, people were wiping out like crazy on the training runs.
And so they just obliterated way too much of the course and you couldn’t put it back then. So they just [01:12:00] overcorrected and then the athletes were stuck with the overcorrection. So that was really, really frustrating to hear what, like they couldn’t show off what they could do and everybody could do so much more, but they took out too much, too much of the course to make it safer.
Mm-hmm.
Listener Patrick: Uh, that had to be, yeah, that had to be, frustrating for, you know, for the competitors training all these years. And then you get a course like that, like back to back in time.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And especially for some of these guys who are, this is it. And they’re, they’re definitely done. But, you know, they had the games that’s, they made it work.
They made it work. And we had, uh, on the, the women’s side, which we need more women in snowboarding. But hopefully that’ll change. the seeing Cecile Hernandez from France win and her daughter going just sobbing, mess. How proud she was and thrilled. And, and it was really kind of bizarre ’cause we’re all packed into this mix [01:13:00] zone and all of a sudden this girl runs in and pushes, like, pushes me out of the, not out of the way a lot, but like ducks in front of me so she can have a place right at the metal stand.
She’s got a big flag with her mom’s picture on it. And, then we figured out, oh, that’s her daughter. And she, she was just crying the whole time.
Listener Patrick: That’s probably an image you’ll never forget.
Jill Jaracz: No, no, not at all. And it, and it was funny because then by other reporters who were speaking French, they started talking to her and got her story and she was one, this rarely happened. So in the, the media zone, which is the little intranet that we get access to for all of the results and other information about the sports and the athletes and what’s going on, um, they always do stuff called flash quotes.
And so they’ll talk to athletes as they go through the mix zone and then just pull these random quotes together so that you can use them. And we used a lot of them in the show actually. [01:14:00] So they actually interviewed the daughter and put her quotes into our flash quote section so that uh, wow. Uh, people could, could find out what was going on there too, if they had seen it.
So that was, that was funny.
Listener Brittany: Well, thanks so much for having your podcast every day. It was so nice. Oh, every
Jill Jaracz: day. Oh, thank you, Brittany.
Listener Brittany: I need to go. Appreciate,
Jill Jaracz: appreciate you calling, and thanks so much for being in the group and making it fun. Take care. Bye bye-Bye.
Listener Patrick: Yeah, Jill, I’d like to, yeah, that the podcast is a, the podcast is a godsend in terms of just Oh,
Jill Jaracz: thank you.
Listener Patrick: I mean, like you said, it’s like, yeah, we can watch the NBC coverage, but you guys provide the behind the scenes for the Paralympics and then even, and then the Paralympics.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah.
Listener Patrick: You know, it’s like, oh, oh, that’s really what’s going on, you know? Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. We try to make it be your eyes and ears so you can find, figure out what’s going on.
Listener Patrick: Yeah, and I’m hoping, uh, come, I’m hoping [01:15:00] come LA you guys will do a show in the four or five, so
Jill Jaracz: I am hopeful I would love to do a live show because I think enough listeners will be out there.
Listener Patrick: Well,
Jill Jaracz: and it’ll be fun to do. That too.
Listener Patrick: Oh, a live, like in like pod? Yeah. Like a live podcast with like sort of like an audience or in a way or, yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah. It with an audience. Yeah.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. That
Jill Jaracz: would be fun. But yeah, we could get stuck on the four or five as well. I’m sure. I’m sure we can find out a way to make that happen.
Listener Patrick: I, I do get, I do have one other question I wrote down to make sure to ask. Do you think the Olympics on para, do you think the Paralympics will be done in terms of like, maybe not for 2030, but in January, like January, 2034?
Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: You know, I would not be surprised if they said let’s move everything up, uh, a little bit more because, it’s bad and getting worse. Yeah. And you can’t, uh, uh, the levels of snow that disappeared
Listener Brittany: mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: As the time went on was, it was not [01:16:00] good, to be quite honest. Mm-hmm. And. Even the Olympic stuff sometimes has problems with snow.
Mm-hmm. Although they got a lot of snow while Milano Cortina was on, but yeah, it’s so unpredictable and getting warmer and warmer. Mm-hmm. They’ve, they’re gonna have to do something.
Listener Patrick: Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: So I don’t, I mean, I, they’ve got dates for French Alps already, but they don’t have their venue plan done yet.
So I wonder if there’s still time to move the Olympics up a little bit. I,
I,
Jill Jaracz: or try to shorten that time in between.
Listener Patrick: I, I think they could. I hope they do. of course, I’m not looking forward to the nice Olympics in term or the French shops. They’re gonna have the same issue with the distances, aren’t they?
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, I think so. I think so. We, we, I mapped it out with when before you got on with Bri, with Brittany. And it’s like if, if you went to Shaman from Nice and Drove. It’s almost six hours. Oh, come on. So I’m not sure. Yeah. So I’m not sure where they’re gonna [01:17:00] put everything, but even if you did, let’s see, GR Noble, which is, looks like it’s a little closer, but driving time, that is also five hours.
So it’s just gonna be another rough go.
Listener Patrick: Uh, well, looks like, looks like 2034 will be the, I guess, the
Jill Jaracz: next great hope.
Listener Patrick: Yes. Yeah.
Jill Jaracz: Because that at least is close. Yeah. That, that’s all really close together. So I think that’s gonna, everybody’s gonna be all excited about that again. So I’m, I’m curious to see what other, what other places are gonna host.
Yeah, I, I mean, I get it. You wanna use stuff that venues that already exist and not spend a lot of money, but really the trade off is a lot of other people get strapped.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. And, and plus the, the, the opening ceremonies and close and with the, with the no athletes. Oh. It’s a pretty much unwatchable, in my opinion,
Jill Jaracz: you know?
Yeah. It’s really hard that, that, that Parade of Nations was, [01:18:00] it was a little disorienting to have it in so many places, and then you’d see it in front of you and there wouldn’t be anybody. But, um, yeah, it’s, I mean, I think, I thought that having the different locations, at least for the Olympics
Listener Patrick: mm-hmm.
Jill Jaracz: Made it a better experience for the athletes.
Listener Patrick: It, it wasn’t too bad. I mean, the, but the Paralympics was just sad
Jill Jaracz: that,
Listener Patrick: it was just sad.
Jill Jaracz: That was sad. That was very sad. And it’s sad when you have a ceremony that nobody can attend because they have to get up the next day. It’s one thing if you could like, go and sneak out, can.
Listener Patrick: Yeah. Could they have like maybe, I know the schedule and stuff, maybe have the Olympic, the, the, for the Paralympics have a ceremony and then the day off and then, I dunno, I, it’s,
Jill Jaracz: you know, that would not be bad. I I would not, I mean, that would not be bad either because Yeah. It, it just would say like, oh, you’re gonna start your ceremony on a Thursday instead of a [01:19:00] Friday.
Which
Listener Patrick: is, which I think. Yeah. And I think they’ll like that. They’ll be like, okay, then we can go.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was different having curling on two days early because there wasn’t enough time, but maybe, you know, they only had three sessions curling a day. Yeah. And I, I wanna say that during the Olympics they may have had more sessions curling a day, but, uh, yeah.
Do something where, where you can at least send people. Mm-hmm. And it was a real bummer when they said, oh, You’re gonna have a couple people there, and then all of a sudden half of the Italian team shows up.
Listener Patrick: It’s like, oh, well, yeah, they worked it out.
Jill Jaracz: Yeah, right.
Listener Patrick: You know? but no, I, again, I, I really enjoy the coverage.
It’s, this is like, yeah, this is like the peak of the podcast in terms of what you guys do during the Olympics and Paralympics.
Jill Jaracz: Oh, well thank you. I mean, that’s so much, it’s
Listener Patrick: massive. I mean, yeah.
Jill Jaracz: [01:20:00] But it’s a lot of fun and it’s nice to have the whole community to, to do this with.
Listener Patrick: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.
Absolutely. So. But, uh, again, it’s a joy. And, uh, and like I said, when the, when the schedule came out to be like, it was gonna be, you guys separate, I was like, all right. Last time I talked to Allison, I’ll talk to Jill now next. So,
Jill Jaracz: well, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I know. We just couldn’t make it work this time around.
Yeah. So that was, that’s a bummer. But we’ll do another call in show at some point soon, maybe when we know more about French Alps. Absolutely. Or something. And, and definitely we’ll both be on Yeah. And, and have a big party again.
Listener Patrick: Well, thank you again, Jill.
Jill Jaracz: You’re welcome, Patrick. Great talking to you. Okay,
Listener Patrick: you too.
All right. Bye.
Jill Jaracz: Take care. Bye-bye. Bye.
All right. And that is gonna do it for me. And, uh, thank you Brittany and Patrick from Chicagoland for hopping on, and thank you all for being a part of the show and part of our community for Milano Cortina 2026, or [01:21:00] as I always hear in my head, it has been so much fun to do this with you and to. Hang out in the Facebook group and try to look for things that everybody’s going to enjoy and get a kick out of. And it’s just been a real blast. And, we started the show so that we could have more fun watching the Olympics.
And it is so much more fun than I ever imagined because you all are here with us and because you all said, uh, hey, start doing the Paralympics too, and discovering that world. The sport has just been amazing and we really appreciate it and we appreciate everybody who donated so that we could get to Milano Cortina and uh, stay there.
And, and, uh, broadcast from the train and things like that. So we appreciate all the support you give us and, uh, we, we wouldn’t be able to do it without you. So thank you for being a vital part of this show. don’t go anywhere ’cause [01:22:00] we are still around and we are getting ready for LA 2028 next. It’s gonna be so much fun and we are really excited to, bring you, the next couple of years full of shows to get ready for those games and to explore more of the history of, the, the games and people behind the scenes and all the fun that we have all, all year round.
And, uh, we’ll do some more call in shows too, because it’s great fun talking with you as well. Uh, so programming note, we’re gonna take a couple weeks off. Catch up on sleep and catch up on, uh, some other stuff in life that happened, uh, while we were gone. Then we’re coming back. Probably gonna be a Cortina 1956 history show and, uh, if you’re missing Milano Cortina, well we’ll be back with Cortina and, uh, have that going as well.
And we’ll get back into regular shows in April. So thank you again for being [01:23:00] part of this community, and thank you so much for listening. And until next time, keep the flame alive.