Rebecca R. Ruiz, a sportswriter at The Times, and Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter who previously worked in Moscow, get the credit for exposing Russia’s systematic doping program last year. This week, that led to the country’s expulsion from the upcoming Winter Olympic Games. As a follow-up to that decision Ms. Ruiz has come up with a fascinating guide to gaming the system, Russia style.

The absence of Russia has already prompted speculation that Canada will see big medal gains at the Winter Olympics—the ones that matter most to Canadians. Before getting too excited, however, it’s worth reading this analysis of what the ban actually means by the always well-informed Jeré Longman.

Read: How Russia Cheats

Read: Russia Banned From Winter Olympics by I.O.C.

Read: Did Russia Get Off Easy in Olympic Ban? Read the Fine Print

A Long Road

James G. Robinson, the director of global analytics at The New York Times, and his wife were confronted by all parents’ worst fear: the death of a young child.

To cope with the loss, the couple and their two other sons took a month-long “crazy road trip” across the United States. “Because all I really wanted was to get away, preferably at 65 miles an hour,” Mr. Robinson wrote.

His moving account of the trip appears in Travel.

Read: Road to Recovery

Canadian Comment of The Week

From the list of most popular comments on a Times article by a Canadian this week, here is “D.S.S.” from Ottawa on President Trump’s plan to shrink two national monuments in Utah by about two million acres:

“Even if there were lots of money guaranteed to fix the drilling and mining sites that will be disfigured, it would never be the same. So no matter what they say, some areas of the country should remain untouched, period.”

Connecting

The Times’s Reader Center, which is a key way for you and all readers to connect with the newsroom, is looking for dedicated readers-listeners-viewers to nominate themselves for membership in The New York Times Reader Center Facebook community. All the details are here. You do not have to be a subscriber (much as we hope you’ll subscribe) and the deadline is Dec. 20.

Apply: The New York Times Reader Center Facebook community

Big Screen, Little Screens

The approaching holidays means the arrival of lists looking back over the past year. The Times’s two chief film critics, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott, have ranked their favorite films.