February 10, 2010 – By Norman Rey. It’s snowing in Manhattan, it’s a time that happens very seldomly, where the white stuff covers up the city and deadens the sound and edge of the sleepless city. New York City is pretty much shut down and quiet and hard to believe.

So, I thought it would be a good time to provide some sports reminders. First, the Olympics start on Friday. They don’t start off with a bang, alpine events will occupy the first weekend. Figure skating, hockey, speedskating, Shaun White’s one event and Lindsey Vonn will be the highlights of the two weeks. It’s weird how Sports Illustrated has talked the Olympic females into bikinis and the dinner hour gossip shows are so on top of whom (Lindsey Vonn) will be the next star for the paparazzi to pay attention to. That in itself is a bad sign. When Access Hollywood starts telling us about our skiers, it has to be worse then the Madden curse. I don’t think that Vonn will medal now. Meanwhile, the mountain two hours north of Vancouver in Whistler is envious of the snowfall at 17th and Park Avenue South.

The biggest snow jobs remain on cable TV. In the past months and just this week, the cable virtuists have reinforced that Tiger Woods is a dolt because he’s the first guy with a thirst for sex; that Mel Gibson is a dope because he called an asshole “an asshole,” and Rex Ryan is $50,000 punished for flipping the bird in public. All of these accounts gave the pundits plenty of ammo to lecture the public on how holy they were, while these resented-specially-treated-talented-people-who-make-millions-and-you-don’t, are such bad examples of behaviour. It was especially great to hear from Tom Watson, who while he commanded the links, was at the top of the SOB list, not for fooling around, throwing clubs or swearing, but for just being mean and unpleasant to those who covered him. Of course, his public persona was of a smilin’ and humble golfer. Any temperment shown of Tom while working was attributed to his being a “fierce competitor.”

Mike Francessa last week, called it the loss of “the fear factor” that has come with Tiger’s dressing down. Now all of the jealous, I-was-never-nor-ever-will-be-that-good, closet resenters, racists and frustrated competitors are having a field day. There seems to be a comment from somebody daily, to equal every time Tiger skipped a tournament, blew off an interview, tossed a camera, dictated how it was going to be and ate up the field. Funny that no one has said too much about how boring golf is without him and, while giving him credit for fattening their wallets, no one wants to venture a pointed finger at anyone else on the tour who has ever stepped out on the wife.

And as the weekend gives birth to the Olympics, some good college basketball, the NBA All Star game and golf at Pebble Beach, pitchers and catchers will be slowly showing up in Florida and Arizona to start the baseball season. They dropped Poppy Hills out of the Pebble Beach rotation this year and replaced it with Monterey Peninsula CC’s shore course. I could never figure out why Cypress Point isn’t included in the Pebble mix. Clint Eastwood is said to be a member at both, maybe they should put Dirty Harry on the case?

Pebble Beach remains the nation’s most beautiful golf course and will give pros a warm-up for the 2010 U.S. Open in June. For plain folk like us, you can reserve a $500+ a night room at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay or Casa Palmero which will entitle you to book a similarly priced tee time at Pebble. They’ll also gladly book your golf at Spyglass Hill or Spanish Bay. It’s good to know that the place is now under control by Americans, not the Japanese, and none other than Arnold Palmer is helping rule the peninsula. And this weekend, a lucky few celebrities, who pay one way or the other, get to hack away, while we watch New York transcend from the hard to believe back to reality. Kind of just like the amateur’s handicaps.