Record Updates

I wanted to give everyone a final update on the two record chases we were following:

• The United States won the medal count for the 2010 Winter Olympics finishing with 37 medals, easily beating out its closest competitors in Germany with 30 and Canada with 26. Canada finished with the most Gold Medals, however, finishing with 14 after a late surge, beating Germany’s 10 and the U.S. and Norway’s 9 Golds. This was the first time since 1932 that the United States won the winter games’ medal count and was actually the most medals in Winter Olympic history. First, winning the most medals in Winter Olympic history (beating Germany’s record of 36 in 2002) does not mean a whole lot when they add a number of events every year. In 2010, there were 258 total medals available, in 2006 there were 252 total medals, in 2002 there were 234, and only 114 back in 1980. So that accomplishment is not nearly as great as it may sound. Second, I understand that the U.S. does not have as long and as proud of a tradition in the winter sports as some other countries may have, but the money and resources this country invests in its athletes should lead to more than one medal count victory in 78 years. I would hope and expect that the U.S. builds on this momentum in future Olympic years.

• Kevin Durant’s consecutive games streak of 25+ points was ended last week against the San Antonio Spurs. Durant’s streak ended at 29 games when he “only” scored 21 points against the Spurs in a game that also saw the end to the Thunder’s 9 game winning streak. Durant’s 29 game streak was the longest since Michael Jordan had 40 games all the way back in 1986-’87. Durant is in a dead-heat with LeBron James for the scoring title, trailing James by only a few percentage points with approximately 20 games remaining.