2 nations, 2 crowds, 2 great anthems. A serious tattoo question. And a bizarre new ballpark food

My post the other day about the Portland Timbers and their bizarre new tradition of having their mascot saw off a log after each goal got me wondering about this team, and I discovered that their fans did something incredibly cool last week.

The entire crowd sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the game. Check it out above.
I so hope this catches on, because it sounds so damn cool.
For my money though, and don’t call me unpatriotic here, this was even better, from a 2006 Edmonton Oilers playoff game:

**So I’m watching Game 1 of the Denver Nuggets-Oklahoma City Thunder series, because even thought I don’t really care much about the NBA anymore, my friend Tony Jones who’s a huge NBA fan said I have to watch this series, it’ll be awesome. And based on Game 1, he was right. Really great game.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about Nuggets forward J.R. Smith and his neck tattoos. J.R. has like 20 tattoos, including the ones on his neck (above).
And here’s my question: How is having a man with a needle maneuvering around your carotid artery not extraordinarily dangerous? I mean, you’ve got to have a lot of trust in your tattoo artist to allow him to come that close to killing you.
Seriously, readers who know more about tattoos than I do: Isn’t this really, really dangerous? And do you think the tattoo guy makes you sign a waiver clearing him of any liability if he happens to kill you?

**You may know I sometimes like to write here about bizarre or awesome or disgusting new ballpark food (depending on your point of view), being invented.
Well my friends, the Milwaukee Brewers have gone and done it. They’ve forced me to write about something so vile, or perhaps so tasty.
This season the Brewers are selling a pulled pork parfait at Miller Park. Yep, it’s got pulled pork, mashed potatoes, and chives.
Listen, I’m an enormous fan of pulled pork. But there’s no way I’d drink or eat that crap.

The greatest “Oh Canada” performance ever. Apolo freaking Ohno! And psyched about Olympic hockey.

**So you may think I’m just getting swept up in all things Maple Leaf because the Olympics are in Vancouver, but I can assure you I’ve had this clip on my Youtube Favorites since it happened. I’ve always loved the Canadian national anthem, maybe because I heard to so much growing up watching NHL games (True story: when my cousin Robby was like, 5 years old, he and my uncle sat down to play a game of table hockey. After my uncle and Robby sang the Star-Spangled Banner, Robby insisted they sing “Oh Canada,” too.)

Without further ado, the greatest, most spine-tingling anthem by 18,000 fans I’ve ever heard. This was from a 2006 Edmonton Oilers playoff game:

**Have to tell you, I watched the short track speedskating last night after we got back from dinner, and if there’s a more exciting two minutes in sports than a short-track race, I’m not sure what it is (don’t give me the Kentucky Derby. Those aren’t always exciting.)

Couple of fantastic races, with our American Apolo Ohno getting a bronze medal after all the dust (and the wipeouts) had cleared. Can’t believe American J.R. Celski made it out of the arena alive after he basically threw down that Canadian guy in the semifinal. He better not walk into a bar in Sasketchewan anytime soon.

Truly breathtaking, how fast things turn in speedskating. It’s like bumper cars, or NASCAR, or whatever else you want to call it when things constantly crash into each other. Love, love, love it.

And how ’bout that huge American women’s win in curling? Down 5-3 to the Brits, the U.S. girls, led by Debbie McCormick, rally to win 6-5 in extra ends (or whatever it’s called). My father-in-law and I were totally riveted.

I love this sport!

***Tremendous day of hockey coming Sunday. Just tremendous. The capper is the U.S.-Canada game at 7:40 p.m. Eastern Time, a rematch of the 2002 gold-medal game (won by Canada). The U.S. and goalie Ryan Miller (above) are definite underdogs. Canada needs this win, psychologically, I think. Both teams will advance to the quarterfinals,I’m certain, but if American can spring the upset here, man oh man, the amount of Maalox that’ll be sold in the Great White North on Monday? Off the charts. It’ll be a great, hostile environment for the U.S., kind of like the one Rocky Balboa faced when he fought Drago in Russia in “Rocky IV.”

Here’s a great preview of tonight’s game from the terrific hockey writer from the L.A. Times, Helene Elliott.