Snowboard cross and mashed potatoes

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More reasons why the Winter Olympics offer such a refreshing change from the regular old sports menu. It’s been a tough, long morning and afternoon at Cypress Mountain on Tuesday at the women’s snowboard cross. After several delays in the qualifying, mostly because of fog, the next rounds are about to start. Lindsey Jacobellis, a silver medalist four years ago, was asked about the course. “It’s really bumpy on the turns,” she said. “It’s like mashed potatoes.” The quote sheets were being handed out in the press center and Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke and I had a good laugh about the mashed-potatoes line. Press-room volunteer: “Mashed potatoes aren’t supposed to be bumpy.” Me: “Obviously, you’ve never had mine.” Jacobellis had another good line about the many delays in the morning, saying: “Why did I wake up at 5:30 a.m. and wait around for two hours, when I could have been sleeping? It’s not really fun to hang around and wait. You don’t know if it’s going to happen or not.” -- Lisa Dillman, reporting from Vancouver, Canada