Winter Olympics

[AlpineK]

Tele Racing an Olympic sport...over my dead body

As for ice dancing I agree the women are hot. The male dancers, well I can see why some might find them gay. I wish I was a better dancer though. Laugh if you will, but ask yourself this; will I get more dates because I've got a bunch or rad climbing stories to tell, or because I can dance.

[erik]

telemarketing in the olynpics!!!! yeah right dudes who wants to watch a bunch of fat people chain smoking in a little office bothering people during dinner??!?!?!?!

and alpinek is right if you can dance oyu get lots more ladies attention then if you are talking about that sick offwidth...

[specialed]

Busting out some cool dance moves at a party or club to impress the honeys is one thing.

Being a competition ice dancer is quite another.

Know what I'm sayin.

[David_Parker]

Originally posted by AlpineK:[QB]Tele Racing an Olympic sport...over my dead body

I'm a little torn about the snowboarding. Overall, it was inevitable with how popular it became to be in the Olympics. The part I don't like is that it involves judging....and we know all about those politics. But they do have snowboard racing which to me is just as obscure as telemark racing. So if they have snowboard racing, why not telemark racing?

Maybe to introduce the oldest form of skiing to the Olympics, they should some sort of birkenbiener race that involves hiking, skiing untracked slopes and drinking at the finish line.

I like curling because you can drink while you do it; just like horseshoes, croquet and bowling! That's probably why it's so popular in Canada, eh?

[philfort]

It would be cool if they had an uphill/downhill race, like they do with some telemark races.

Telemark racing per se, where you're just going through gates, seems a little silly to me. 'cause downhill gear is so much better for that. I once volunteered for a race on the telemark circuit, where we had to stand at gates to make sure the racers were in proper telemark position at each turn. A little contrived.

[Beck]

.. I think Tele's going to be a demo sport in the next olympics, and it will have both uphill and downhill legs to the race- I think there's a tele race official FIS version that's already done in Europe. Anybody correct me if I'm wrong...

I'm giving up Teleskiing to take up Curling, I found the competition fascinating.

[Fairweather]

I watched an "extreme skiing" competition last month on cable TV. (OLN?) Guys skiing 55 degree 4000' vertical with short cliffs thrown in for good measure. Somewhere in NZ I think. These guys weren't just doin' little hop, hop, hop turns either! Big sweeping high speed turns. Incredible to watch.

A future Olympic sport?

[payaso]

I've enjoyed watching the "adrenaline" events at the Winter Games and agree that the "ice dancing" crap belongs Disney. I've watched most of the games on the Canadian channel we get and the other morning rather than watch Nascar (yawn) I watched a little curling (serious yawn) They should rename this "game" "Yelling and Sweeping" because that's all they did.

[lisa]

The USA takes a licken' but keeps on ticken. Another Gold tonight, two nights in a row, and both from the NW...Way to go athletes!!

[pope]

Did you see that trendy little hat Jean Enerson was wearing this eve? Well, I've got a friend who's supposed to bring me one of them when she returns! Place your bids.

[AlpineK]

quote:

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Originally posted by pope:

Did you see that trendy little hat Jean Enerson was wearing this eve?

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I wonder if she bought it or shoplifted it.

[pope]

quote:

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Originally posted by AlpineK:

I wonder if she bought it or shoplifted it.

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Good question. Those hats are nearly impossible to find, according to one report I heard. I haven't put on my little beret in years, but if I score one of these, I'm going to have to make an exception.

What's the feeling on short-track skating after our local boy's results were, once again, determined by luck and judgement? I agree he deserved to win last night, but I think we're left to ask whether he would have been able to win if the Korean racer hadn't changed lanes and been disqualified.

[allthumbs]

No offense Pope, but I immediately think of a French faggot whenever I see a male in a "cutsy" beret.

...incidently, I don't feel that way about the military berets. But, I think it was a huge mistake for the U.S. government to make the beret standard issue. I feel it downgrades the importance and pride of the Special Forces soldiers that have worn the berret with honor and as a symbol of their commitment to "being the best". My Swat buddy, who trains at Ft. Lewis with the Rangers tells me that no Ranger wears the beret anymore due to this fubar.

So anyway, to each his own I guess. Enjoy your beret!

[ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: trask ]

[gregm]

it looked to me like ohno was about to fly past the korean before he got cut off. i also got the feeling the korean cut him off on purpose. then again, ohno definately played up the foul with his body language, giving me the impression it might have been his strategy to draw the foul.

[specialed]

quote:

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Originally posted by gregm:

then again, ohno definately played up the foul with his body language, giving me the impression it might have been his strategy to draw the foul.

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Obviously, but like in basketball thats just part of the game. Espescially in a sport like short-track where everyone's crammed togethor.

Tele skiing in the olympics: I've done some tele racing before and slalom's cool but there's a race known by some fucked up norwegian name that Ican't remember but you do some gates, go off a jump, do a 360 turn, skate uphill, more gates, go downhill, then finish on a long uphill skate. It was on the pro tele race circuit (I was competing in the amateur chump division obviously) but the pros are bad ass and wicked good. Most of them are Euros.

[gregm]

quote:

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Originally posted by specialed:

you do some gates, go off a jump, do a 360 turn, skate uphill, more gates, go downhill, then finish on a long uphill skate.

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that would amke a little more sense in that it would be something you'd do in tele gear if you had all choices (reflects what tele is good for - rolling terrain). doing a slalom race in tele gear where you get judged for lifting your heel is just plain faggy.

[pope]

quote:

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Originally posted by gregm:[QB]then again, ohno definately played up the foul with his body languageQB]

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Yes, with that body language, he could be a superb soccer player, drawing frequent penalty kicks in crucial situations!

[pope]

quote:

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Originally posted by trask:

No offense Pope, but I immediately think of a French faggot whenever I see a male in a "cutsy" beret.

...incidently, I don't feel that way about the military berets. But, I think it was a huge mistake for the U.S. government to make the beret standard issue. I feel it downgrades the importance and pride of the Special Forces soldiers that have worn the berret with honor and as a symbol of their commitment to "being the best". My Swat buddy, who trains at Ft. Lewis with the Rangers tells me that no Ranger wears the beret anymore due to this fubar.

So anyway, to each his own I guess. Enjoy your beret!

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No offense intended, although when you say, "I immediately think of a French faggot whenever I see a male in a "cutsy" beret,"....I'm sure that you conjure up such images even when you don't see the beret!

I used to wear the beret as a silly ploy to make women think I was mysterious. It is amazing how little effort one can put into creating an image that women find to be attractive/hip!

[specialed]

quote:

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Originally posted by gregm:

that would amke a little more sense in that it would be something you'd do in tele gear if you had all choices (reflects what tele is good for - rolling terrain). doing a slalom race in tele gear where you get judged for lifting your heel is just plain faggy.

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Yeah the pros were racing with skate skiing poles. But tele slaloming isn't faggy, even less so than fixed heal slalom as far as I'm concerned. Its an extra challenge to make tele turns around gates than with your heal down. If people just alpined it than what's the point? It is a little contrived, but its a necessary evil I think.

[allthumbs]

quote:

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Originally posted by pope:

I used to wear the beret as a silly ploy to make women think I was mysterious. It is amazing how little effort one can put into creating an image that women find to be attractive/hip!

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Funny you should mention that. As with the Peacock, our male plumage never shimmers brighter than when lusting after gregarious females in heat.

[pope]

quote:

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Originally posted by trask:

Funny you should mention that. As with the Peacock, our male plumage never shimmers brighter than when lusting after gregarious females in heat.

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....which is always indicated by copious amounts of ruby-red lipstick.

[allthumbs]

quote:

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Originally posted by pope:

....which is always indicated by copious amounts of ruby-red lipstick.

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and a certain "come hither, big boy" demeanor.

[David_Parker]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dan Harris:

I'm happy an American won a gold medal, but hey, isn't blocking part of any racing where you are not restricted to a lane? Autos, cross country, etc. I've even seen blocking in distance racing in track meets. The stuff that happened in some qualifying heats and the medal race last week were much worse than last night.That is part of the event in my mind. My $0.02 worth.

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If you watched the Daytona 500 on Sunday, you'd see what happens when you try to block! (18 car pile up.) I think the rules are made to try to keep crashes to a minimum because they are so dangerous in STSS (and auto racing). Also, from my observations, most of the passing happens in the begining of the turns, not the staightaways. The korean guy blatantly moved in front of Ohno in the staight section, thus the foul. I don't think Ohno "sold" the foul to try to get a call that wasn't deserved. I think he HAD to pull up to avoid the crash and used his hands to show he had to do it. Without that block, Ohno wouldn't have lost momentum and would have toasted the Korean in the final turn. The judges don't get to review instant reply. You have to bet he's a little shy on crashing. That's why he hung in 5th place until the last 2 laps. I have heard that Ohno has recieved 16,000 email threats from Koreans today. Maybe we should send email threats to the Korean guy who dragged down Ohno in the first race! Give me a break. He deserved the Gold and the Korean guy was a total sore sport afterwards. Ohno had more to bitch about in the first race than this guy did in the second and Ohno was a true gentleman about it. GO APPOLO!!!

[ 02-21-2002: Message edited by: David Parker ]

[Dan_Harris]

I did watch the Daytona 500. There were two big pile-ups related to blocking, but the a bigger culprit is the restrictor plates the teams are forced to use. Blocking takes place in all the races, the only time there are huge wrecks are restrictor plate races.

I would like a little more consistancy in rulings. Either say blocking is illegal and enforce it consistanly or let blocking take place. IMHO blocking in a no lane race is legit as long as contact does not take place. To me that is part of race strategy. As I said earlier, the blocking that took place in earlier races was much worse in my mind and there were no sanctions. How come? And yes, Apollo is awesome.

[Dan_Harris]

I'm happy an American won a gold medal, but hey, isn't blocking part of any racing where you are not restricted to a lane? Autos, cross country, etc. I've even seen blocking in distance racing in track meets. The stuff that happened in some qualifying heats and the medal race last week were much worse than last night.That is part of the event in my mind. My $0.02 worth.