I’m delighted to be rejoined by someone I’m pleased to call a friend, Jee-ho Yoo.
Jee-ho’s an English-language sports writer for South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency who, fresh off three weeks in Milan covering the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, now finds himself stationed in Tokyo for Pool C play of the World Baseball Classic where he’ll be writing about the Korean team’s bid to qualify for the knockout round for the first time in 17 years.
I first became familiar with Jee-ho thanks to another former Conversations’ guest, Andrew Chong (Season 2, Episode 14) from Sports-Reference LLC. Andrew pointed me in the direction of Jee-ho for more knowledge about the Korean Baseball Organization as I prepped for my upcoming trip to Korea and Japan as part of the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events project.
Jee-ho joined me for the first time a little over a year ago in Season 4, Episode 7. Following that Conversation, we had a brief meet-up while I was in Seoul watching the Doosan Bears and LG Twins play (Event No. 16). We connected again (as the photo above indicates) in the Milano Ice Skating Arena during the recently completed Winter Olympics.
Separately, I might have even more excited than Jee-ho was when I spotted him in this MLB video about baseball in South Korea. It’s a 10-minute view well worth your time:-)
Forty-six years ago (to the day, actually!), I was a 12-year-old in my family’s Michigan living room watching a tape-delayed prime time broadcast of the USA-USSR men’s hockey game from Lake Placid, NY.
We, of course, know how that ended.
It was the stuff of Hollywood.
Today, I watched the first USA men’s hockey gold medal victory since that 1980 team bested Finland a couple nights after defeating the Soviets.
I did not view it from the comfort of my recliner, but rather from 35,000 feet above the U.S. on Delta Airlines Flight 523 bound for Los Angeles where later today I’ll see LeBron James and Luka Doncic’s Lakers host their longtime rival, Boston Celtics.
If I could hop into Bill & Ted’s phone booth and head back to that living room and tell myself I’d be watching an Olympic gold medal victory by the USA from an airplane … well, I’m convinced I wouldn’t believe it.
And, further, if I’d tell myself that I was in that Italian ice arena where the game was played just six days ago watching the USA Women win its semifinal game …
Here’s hoping my fellow passengers didn’t notice me delicately dabbing my napkin at the corners of my eyes.
To say the past two weeks have been special would be a gross understatement.
I’d every intention of delivering a completed Inside Baseball – February, Vol. II, for you today.
Alas, when you’re in Rome for only two nights with only 10 hours, 45 minutes of daylight to see the city, well, you see the city.
As I compose this little note, I can report I’m a shade under 25,000 steps for the day, with more to come on my way to dinner. Along the way, we saw the world’s most notable Chicago White Sox fan (aka Pope Leo XIV) deliver remarks and blessings in St. Peter’s Square this morning at Vatican City, checked out Trevi Fountain, and made our way to the Colesseum (with plenty of stops in between, including my near daily dose of gelato … shh, don’t tell my doctor;-)
All of that is to say, there will be a Volume III coming to your inbox next Wednesday after a bit more time to craft something.
In the meantime, two nuggets to note:
First, as of this writing I remain in Facebook jail for posting a 20-second clip of the opening face off from the USA vs. Sweden Women’s Hockey Semifinal. The International Olympic Committee reported me for “copyright infringement. (Never mind that I was not posting it live, but that’s a post/rant for another time.) I’ve no idea when my parole hearing is due, but a message I saw attempting to reply on FB Messenger makes me think it’s a 48-hour deal, but I honestly don’t know.
Second, overnight, WDIV Channel 4 in Detroit aired a story news anchor Ty Steele did about my wife, Carol, and I, about the Around the World in 80 Sporting Events trip to Milano and Cortina. The video link is below if you’ve not seen it.
We ran into Detroit news anchor Ty Steele near Parco Sempione and the Castello Sforzesco in Milano, Italy.
The Olympic Cauldron in Milano under the iconic Arco della Pace.
I’m rejoined by my travel partners from this 2-week Olympic journey through Italy, my wife, Carol, friend, Tim, and his wife, Tracey.
After spending the first several days of our trip in Dolomites for a pair of events (Men’s Singles Luge and Mixed-Doubles Curling Semifinals) we made our way to Milano – Italy’s second largest city – for four more events (Ice Dancing Free Dance and medal ceremony, Canada-Czechia men’s hockey, Short Track Speedskating, and Women’s Ice Hockey Semifinals).
As one might expect in a city whose metropolitan area population totals close to 6.5 million, there was a distinctly different vibe for the events in this area than what we experienced in Cortina (year-round population of about 5,500).
Of note, I’ve been placed in Meta jail by the bots that overlook the Zuckerburg family of social media (Facebook, Insta, and Threads) thanks to a 20-second clip I posted Monday from the USA-Sweden Women’s Hockey Semifinal. (Apparently, the International Olympic Committee considered that Copyright Infringement. With that, I’ll still post on Twitter/X (gulp:-( and BlueSky.
And, quite frankly, pursuing the goal of seeing 80 of the most iconic sporting events and/or venues must include an Olympiad. That it would be the Winter Games (due to my self-imposed June 2027 deadline for finishing this quest) was OK with me. I have fond recollections of the Winter Games dating (faintly) to Innsbruck (1976), Lake Placid (of course!), and Sarajevo (1984). Along the way, villages such as Albertville, France, and Lillehammer, Norway, have also hosted and always seemed so idyllic when viewing from my living room sofa.
That I was able to make my way to Cortina, nestled in the Dolomites, was a bit of a dream come true. Sure, these Games are splitting time between Milan (Italy’s second largest city) and Cortina and I had plans to visit both, but I’m glad the initial experience occurred in mountains in a tiny village where people milled about and mingled along Corso Italia (Cortina’s main street).
In this special bonus Conversation I’m joined by my wife, Carol, my friend, Tim, and Tim’s wife, Tracey, to discuss what our experience in Cortina was like before we spent a day traveling to Milan for more Olympic fun.
Reflections from our time in Cortina d’Ampezzo for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
U.S. Ice Dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates. (Photo U.S. Figure Skating)
Many (many!) moons ago, I worked in the sports department of The Ann Arbor News. One of my co-workers in the news department during that era was a reporter whose byline was Karl Leif Bates. We were both young journalists and, as life does, we pursued paths that took us to different parts of the country. I to Alaska and he, ultimately, to the Researach Triangle in Durham, NC.
We had a couple of mutual acquaintances who kept us apprised of what was happening in the others’ life and I was intrigued well over a decade ago when I learned his nephew was Evan Bates, an accomplished American ice dancer.
I even asked Karl about what it was like having a world-class figure skater in the family during a previous Conversation (S:2, E:15).
When I decided to make the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics one of my Around the World in 80 Sporting Events, I made sure to nab tickets to the final night of ice dancing just in case Evan and his partner (and now wife!) Madison Chock would be there. Sure enough, they are! (Read Chock and Bates’ bio here.)
That’s when the gears really began grinding and I reached out Karl to see if an opportunity to speak to Evan’s parents, Eric and Nancy, was a possibility.
The “yes” from Eric came far quicker than either Karl or I thought was possible.
And the resulting Conversation – found below and in all the usual spots – with a pair of very proud parents who are nervously excited to see what their son and daughter-in-law will accomplish in the coming week on the Milano ice was a sheer delight for me to participate in.
My hope is that you’re able to pick up on how much is – and is not – riding on what is likely the final two routines of Chock and Bates’ competitive careers. The 7-time U.S. National Champions and winners of the past three World Championships perform in the Rhythm Dance on Monday and the Free Dance on Wednesday.
The Conversation with Eric and Nancy Bates, parents of U.S. Ice Dancer, Evan Bates.
The House Party blog was created by Canadian Tiffany Assman Pope to curate, in one place, the many national and sponsor Hospitality Houses that are now a major part of the Olympic Games. (Photo from a House Party site screen grab)
An avid Olympic Games attendee and fan, my guest in this episode – Tiffany Assman Pope – identified a need while on sabbatical from her job in 2023 and began the process of doing her, her Olympic travelmate Kalyn, and Olympic attendees the world over, a huge solid.
Prior to her launch of the House Party Blog leading up to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, there was no single website fans traveling to the Games could turn to that attempted to collect, curate, and provide the inside scoop in a single language (in this case English) of the myriad Hospitality Houses that have become such a major part of the Games recently.
During my Conversation with Tiffany she explains how the idea just sort of came to her that day back in 2023 and how she proceeded to create something from nothing that’s led to thousands of connections worldwide.
And, as noted previously, Tiffany is a major Olympics’ fan. The 2026 Milano-Cortina Games will be her seventh attending in person, but the first for her 10-week-old daughter who’s making the trip from Vancouver to Milan with mom and dad.
We learn about her favorite Olympic memories which, unsurprisingly, include a few Hospitality House moments, and her sports fan bonafides in general (her mom was the impetus for her passionate fandom).
My Conversation with Tiffany is a wonderful way to kick off no fewer than a half dozen Olympics-centric episodes over the coming 17 days.
An exterior shot of the Cortina Olympic Curling Stadium in the Italian town of Cortina in the Dolomites. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Getty Images)
There is a very real likelihood that by the time you read this post I’ll be on a plane bound for Venice, Italy, the first stop during 2-week odyssey through the northern tier of the country.
And, might I say, it is still absolutely bananas to me to think that I’m going to the Olympics!
Sure I’m a man of retirement age now, but internally there’s still a part of me that’s the shaggy blonde-haired kid of my youth in small town in Indiana who bore a bit of a resemblance to “Cousin Oliver” from The Brady Bunch.
Bobby Brady, cousin Oliver, and Cindy Brady.
I’m not sure Oliver ever made it to Milan!
Yet, that’s exactly where I’ll be on Tuesday. And before that, in Cortina, a town of about 5,500 permanent residents (even smaller than my hometown) nestled in the Dolomites.
My wife, Carol, and I are traveling with longtime friend and Sports Fan Project supporter, Tim, and his wife, Tracey. Our agenda is a full but not overly so in hopes that we’ll be able to stop for a beat or two soak in what we’re experiencing. We have tickets to six events over the 11 days we’ll be in the Olympic communities. They are:
Men’s Luge Heats 1 & 2 in Cortina
Mixed Doubles Curling Semifinals in Cortina
Ice Dancing Free Dance in Milan
Men’s Hockey Pool Play, Canada vs. Czechia in Milan
Short Track Speed Skating, Men’s 1500-meter Finals, in Milan
Women’s Hockey Semifinals in Milan
As for you, the readers, I may not be bringing back souvenirs for all of you, but I do have a few things in store.
First, on the podcast – Conversations with Sports Fans – there are eight episodes in the can (e.g. scheduled to air) and two more to be recorded by our traveling team in Italy. So, if you’re following along, that’ll be 10 episodes of Conversations during the month of February (that’s more than one every three days!). Among the episodes that are Olympics’ focused:
One with the mother of first-time Olympic cross-country skier, Kendall Kramer – Susan Schwartz
One with an employeer at Kays Curling in Ayreshire, Scotland, the sole manufacturer of Olympic curling stones since 1998 – Ricky English
Second, if you’re a subscriber of The Sports Fan Project’s blog (sign up along the right column on the website) you’ should’ll be receiving the subscribers’ only “Inside Baseball” posts twice while I’m in Italy. One each week of the Olympics that I promise will be heavier on photos than prose. (If you’re not already a subscriber … whatcha waiting for!?! It costs nothing and the goods get sent directly to your inbox. Sign up over there to the right. I’d love to deplane Thursday morning in Venice and see at least five new subscribers which would pass another milestone.)
Finally, keep your eyes peeled upon my return as I do hope to pick up a trinket or two that will make great giveaways and look forward to sharing some of the Olympic experience with readers and supporters.
And speaking of giveaways, the deadline to enter to win an author-signed copy of Madness: The Rise and Ruin of Sports Media by Mark Hebscher (last week’s Conversations’ guest) is Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST (email me your interest in being entered at hilldouglast@gmail.com).
There’s a better-than-average chance I’ll see Milan’s Il Duomo at some point while I’m there. (Photo by luismb/Reddit)
