02/17/10 Turns out I picked up one of the “must have” items from the Vancouver Olympics without even leaving town. USA Today reports on the huge popularity of the $10 pair of red mittens with the Olympic logo on one side and the maple leaf emblem of Canada on the palm. Demand has completely exceeded supply. The original run of 1 million pairs has been changed to a projected 3.4 million pairs. USA Today: “But they’re hard to get. They’re currently out of stock on the Vancouver 2010 site. Hudson’s Bay has them in stock in stores, but isn’t licensed to ship them outside Canada. Some folks are turning to eBay and paying twice the price, or more.”

Here’s a similar story from Yahoo Sports.

I got mine the easy way by attending the the opening night ceremony watch party at the Embassy of Canada last Friday night. All of the guests coming into the party got a pair.

[Bro Tim shows off the mittens at the Embassy of Canada’s opening ceremony watch party.]

USA Today Red Mitten Slide Show here.

Speaking of the games and photos, Foreign Policy magazine has a cool slide show called “Olympic Outliers: Forget the Jamaican bobseld team. This year, there’s a pack of Olympic underdogs from countries that aren’t well known for cold-weather sports.”

And here’s a story from Yahoo Sports on the “semi provocative pose” by skier Lindsey Vonn on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Winter Olympic preview issue.