From Battle of the Blades to "So You Think You Can Luge"

Gotta admit I got a kick out of watching Battle of the Blades last night.

It was a well-executed concept and a lot of fun, which is why I’m putting in a call this morning to CBC Sports honcho and one-time whiz kid Scott Moore to propose the next hit Canadian sports reality series:

So You Think You Can Luge.

Doubles luge, that is.

If you found it amusing seeing Tie Domi and Bob Probert strut their stuff as figure skaters, how about as a doubles luge team rocketing down the Olympic track in Whistler?

One whole episode could be done on the battle to decide who gets to be on top.

(Of course, the whole thing would be called off after watching a video like this one.)

Really, there is no end to where CBC or any of the Canadian networks could go via the Olympic route in creating new shows.

How about Synchro Nation? Former hockey greats and tough guys are teamed with some of this country’s top synchronized swimmers – Olympic champions Sylvie Frechette and Carolyn Waldo come immediately to mind -- for duet routines in the pool.

Just picture Tiger Williams with gelatin in his hair and sporting a pair of noseplugs.

Okay, we’re getting carried away, but one suspects Battle of the Blades will spawn many successors and it’d be nice to be on the front end of this gravy train.

Send along your suggestions.

Samaranch Earns "The Tool": We’re going to give former Olympic boss Juan Antonio Samaranch that seldom bestowed upon honour – the Sunnyside Hardware Tool of the Week  award – for his shameless play on IOC the delegates’ consciences to get Madrid the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Samaranch told the delegates they should give Madrid the Games because he is very “near the end of my time.”

What he forgot was IOC members do not have consciences.

But we have them here and not only are we giving Samaranch the Tool of the Week award but we will send him one of our spanking new t-shirts if he can pass along a mailing address. We hope to give the t-shirts out as prizes (some may say booby prizes) to readers of this blog along the way to the Vancouver Games.

Oh yeah, Juan, send along your shirt size, too.

(Here's a look at the t-shirt design)