2014
02.25
02.25
class="ui-droppable">Russia didn't just lose at the 2014 Winter Olympics. It was embarrassed and outplayed during a tournament that had been seven years in the making. Sochi was awarded the Winter Games in 2007 and it seemed like everything outside of the Bolshoy Ice Dome and Shayba Arena was just window dressing.
Vladimir Putin didn't loom in the stands like a gargoyle during slopestyle events, but he was on hand for Russian hockey games.
Just imagine the pressure Putin's presence put on the players—it's akin to Barack Obama heavily petitioning for a Summer Olympics just to show the world how dominating men's basketball is in America while on home soil.
That was the weight that Evgeni Malkin carried to his home nation. With ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - Pittsburgh Penguins
Vladimir Putin didn't loom in the stands like a gargoyle during slopestyle events, but he was on hand for Russian hockey games.
Just imagine the pressure Putin's presence put on the players—it's akin to Barack Obama heavily petitioning for a Summer Olympics just to show the world how dominating men's basketball is in America while on home soil.
That was the weight that Evgeni Malkin carried to his home nation. With ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - Pittsburgh Penguins