Sharp or Square - Milan Cortina Winter Games Update - Curling, USA Hockey, Eileen Gu and more

Welcome to Sharper Square, the betting show that makes the squares sharper and keeps the wise guys honest. The Winter Olympics have hijacked our group chat, so we pulled in Matt Mitchell to ride shotgun.

Thrilled to be here, longtime listener energy fully activated.

Olympic wagering is usually a niche lane, but the storylines are electric this time. Matt, set the stage for hockey betting.

Olympic hockey has been pure joy, with the women’s games delivering nonstop action and the U.S. looking ferocious. I’m sweating third periods at dawn while getting kids fed, and I would not have it any other way.

The Winter Games always sneak up on me, but I lock in fast, especially with the snowboard races and hockey. The U.S. women are bulldozers, and the men look like a real team with personality and chemistry, which is showing up at the window.

Even the village gossip is wild, from the great condom run to the resupply drop, which cracked me up.

Those branded packs are souvenirs with a resale plan, not just romance on demand.

I should have flown over, filled a duffel, and come home a mogul instead of losing a live bet to Canada in overtime.

Real talk, are the Canadians bending the rules in curling, or is this overblown?

Curling runs on self-policing and etiquette, which is why the Swedish team’s hidden camera sting landed like a thunderclap. The Canadian blowup made for perfect low-stakes, high-drama theater, and the receipts sealed it.

It felt like a dash-cam reveal where the loudest guy gets rolled by the footage. The Swedes got tipped off, set their own angle, and nailed it.

This Games has soap-level plot twists, like the medalist who used his mic time to confess a relationship mess and set the internet on fire.

Those headlines teased event cheating, then flipped to girlfriend drama, which made it even funnier and more clickable.

On the snow, we saw a skater own a pressure stumble, then Mikaela Shiffrin grabbed slalom gold and kept stacking history. And Norway’s Johann Hoesflot Klaebo is breaking cross-country with an uphill stride that turns races into solo parades.

His team dialed the wax perfectly, and he stomped each step so hard he could run uphill without sliding back. Moving at roughly eleven miles an hour while hitting that precision is unreal.

He even waits to help teammates with their skis, then goes back to training like a maniac. If his body holds, we might be watching the next decade’s standard.

If I finished that far ahead, I’d still help you two get untangled before I celebrated.

Switching gears, NBC keeps repeating that Eileen Gu is San Francisco born and skiing for China to honor her mom, and now reports say she is among the highest-paid female athletes because of it. Simon, is this a money play masked as patriotism?

The incentives sound massive, and China reportedly spent tens of millions courting American-trained talent. It is a smart shortcut to leverage U.S. development while harvesting medals, even if it makes purists cringe.

Open invitation, China: fund my Missouri Tigers football revolution and let’s topple the capitalist dogs of the Big Ten.

Serious question though, what number would make you switch flags, because for me the point is walking behind your own. I cannot imagine trading that feeling for a check.

Same in my heart, but I get why some take life-changing money, especially with family ties and limited earning windows.

Two nations bidding for my athletic services lives in the same universe as me growing wings.

Bottom line, these Games turned into must-talk radio for us, which has never happened. We are off next week and back in early March to kick off football talk, futures, and roster moves, so rate, review, subscribe, and yes, feedback is a gift—I love you.