JGowans Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 I love competition. I love sport. I love seeing athletes at the top of their game. I hate federations appealing every event. I hate athletes complaining about every adverse decision. I hate athletes taking performance enhancing drugs. I hate the media's perverse desire to create heroes and villains in a moronic effort to boost ratings. I'm getting really wary of professional sports. I don't remember it ever being this bad. My contentious theory is that this type of behavior (the suing and appealing piece) stems from the U.S. culture of litigation. First in business, then the bloody general election and now it has seeped into the world of professional sports. I long for cordial behavior in sports. This win at all costs to the detriment of sporting behavior is a sad statement of our dog-eat-dog culture. Call me a wuss, but whatever happened to tea breaks during cricket and handshakes all around regardless of results? Btw, Michael Phelps IMHO has been the one shining example in the games so far. The media's effort to co-opt his feats and turn it into some cheap Hollywood production sucks though. Quote
Dru Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Olympic judging is a scandal ridden farce. In many cases the win is decided by the judges before the event even begins Quote
slothrop Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 That Russian gymnast, Nemov, is a pretty classy guy. Why do reporters feel the need to interview runners who haven't even had time to catch their breath? Let them walk a lap to cool down first, sheesh. The post-race interview is the lamest thing ever, anyway, but it's even worse when done with oxygen-starved runners. Quote
Gary_Yngve Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 That Russian gymnast, Nemov, is a pretty classy guy. Why do reporters feel the need to interview runners who haven't even had time to catch their breath? Those are the same reporters who interview family members who have yet had time to mourn their loss or the same reporters who badger the Pentagon for the latest secret battle plans. Quote
glacier Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Judged events, as always, need to be canned. Save the drama for a last-minute goal or getting passed at the finish line rather than prima-donna rantings of which judge is biased or botched scores. However, the camaraderie of teamates and competitors is always appreciated... Quote
JayB Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 Just because no Scottland can't even sue it's way to a medal in the Special Olympics, let alone the real ones, is no reason to pin the poor sportsmanship on display on the US. If the element of ligitigiousness is manifest in American culture - as best exmplified by the example of Gore's retracted concession+demanding a recount+not accepting the results of the recount after they've been validated seven different ways+whining about the results for four years - perhaps the best thing to do would be to get rid of the Democratic Party and their most loyal base of support - the trial lawyers - and ship them off into the warm embrace of their whiny ass ideological kinfolk in that grand nebulosity known as the International Community. With the looming population decline and gerontification in Europe I am sure that they'll be happy to make room for a bunch of their fellow socialists... Quote
foraker Posted August 25, 2004 Posted August 25, 2004 NO MORE caffeine and Twinkies for you JayB! Quote
slothrop Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Whoa. I think you want this thread, Jay. Quote
pope Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Yeah, the rock is kind of shitty, but if 3rd/4th class mountaineering and glacier travel is your thing, the Olympics do NOT suck. Quote
jon Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 The Olympics rock, but the coverage sucks. I love how it comes on at 8PM after Celebrity Journal, only in America. OLN can have the Tour on 24x7 but someone can't do the Olympics all day long? BTW I've enjoyed not watching but hearing about the US basketball team losing to teams whose gross national product is less than their combined NBA salaries. Those guys are a joke, and with the exception of one player have no class. Quote
slothrop Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Werd. I hope the basketball team gets their asses handed to them. I sure wish I had Bravo so I could watch the soccer finals. Quote
ashw_justin Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Judged events, as always, need to be canned. Save the drama for a last-minute goal or getting passed at the finish line rather than prima-donna rantings of which judge is biased or botched scores. However, the camaraderie of teamates and competitors is always appreciated... mmmm. Man, I gotta start watching the olympics. Quote
slothrop Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Hott. Lots of butt-slapping going on between teammates, too. The opponents of those two gave each other long, tender hugs after every point they scored. It was a little creepy, actually. Quote
Dan_Harris Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Olympic judging is a scandal ridden farce. In many cases the win is decided by the judges before the event even begins Judged events are not sport. Are they highly trained athletes? Yes! Is it competition? Yes! But not sport. Sports to me is when individuals or teams go head to head and the best one beats the others! Quote
pope Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Olympic judging is a scandal ridden farce. In many cases the win is decided by the judges before the event even begins Judged events are not sport. Are they highly trained athletes? Yes! Is it competition? Yes! But not sport. Sports to me is when individuals or teams go head to head and the best one beats the others! Yeah, but I'm trying to think of a sport that doesn't have officials who make decisions about whether play is fair and who affect the game's result. And don't offer climbing, which is recreation and not sport. Quote
Dave_Schuldt Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 NBC sucks big time, wish I had cable so I could check out CBC coverage. Cable for me would be a waste, only things worth seeing are the Olympics and the Tour. Quote
cj001f Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 If the element of ligitigiousness is manifest in American culture JayB- Perhaps the best example of litigousness in sports would be the America's Cup (sailing), the only competition to have a legal history written of it So I take it the Pinto was just a trumped up case from the TLA? Quote
JayB Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 I was just trying to troll Gowans by insulting Scottland, the Democrats, Al Gore, and socialism simultaneously - maybe if I had worked exchange students and runners into the mix.... Looks like I got some other people going though so it wasn't all in vain. Quote
cj001f Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Looks like I got some other people going though so it wasn't all in vain. No fair - with the rain the pickings are easy this week! Quote
Gary_Yngve Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 And don't offer climbing, which is recreation and not sport. What about speed climbing? Quote
Alpinfox Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 Actually, I find all this "overcoming adversity" stuff pretty inspirational. Did ya'll hear about the former siamese twins in the Olympics!?!?!? Pretty amazing. See the attachment for a pic of them in action. Inspirational. Quote
pope Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 And don't offer climbing, which is recreation and not sport. What about speed climbing? They're missing the point. One of these days they're going to dyno right past a healthy Lewisia in bloom and not even notice. Quote
layton Posted August 26, 2004 Posted August 26, 2004 I thought this was gonna be about the Olympic Mountains. They belong in Colorado. Quote
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