Goodbye, U.S. Women's Curling Team (2-7)

It was an appropriate way for the U.S. women's curling team to end their Olympics: They conceded their final match of tournament play to Great Britain after just the sixth end.

The match as a whole was a fitting summation of their nine round robin games. They started slow, showed some resolve and climbed back into it, then lost focus and gave up halfway through.

I really wanted to love the U.S. women's team, but the losing made it tough. They came in as medal contenders, but were 1-4 before they knew it. What's worse, they smiled after every loss, like they lacked the competitive fire or killer instinct you expect in an athlete. U.S. captain Cassie Johnson even said at one point "I can always go home and say, 'I'm an Olympian.'"

On the bright side, the U.S. men are surprising medal contenders, and the women's team members are young enough that they'll be back in four years. Hopefully they'll be much more seasoned and honed with the killer instinct, or at least as much as someone from Minnesota can be honed with the killer instinct.

Also on the bright side, the women's second lead Jessica Schultz has a curling stone tattooed near her butt.