Olympics watched so far

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by vsp

There are athletic feats that 14-year-old, 4'7, 80-pound gymnasts are capable of that an 19-year-old or 22-year-old gymnast, having matured a bit more and added some height, weight and muscle to their frames, cannot do. There are athletic feats that the older, bigger, stronger girls are capable of that the less physically mature girls are not. All of these girls can be as physically fit and toned as their age, build, diet and exercise regimens can make them. Should elite gymnastics admit one group but not the other?

I said before, I know next to nothing about the world of gymnastics, but I wonder if it's possible or if there exists a way to standardize age groups? You can have the younger set 13-15 year olds or so doing their thing with stuff based on speed, agility, whatever else they look for then have an older set, 16-18 or 16-20 years old, whatever, where the focus is more on strength and endurance. I'm sure there's elite quality in all of these ages if they look for the right stuff.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by 99 44/100% pure

I can't believe NBN and other Cellar dirty ol' men let that one get by without comment!

There aren't any others.

[lookout123]

i guess i missed this one. i'd hate to be this guy when they "questioned" him. the greeks would have to be pretty embarrassed by this security breach.

but most importantly - could this be the beginning of a new olympic event?

*announcer voice*
going for the gold in the 3meter blue tutu event, is canada's own joe jackson.

Story

[jinx]

I love the games and I'll watch pretty much anything if I remember to turn the tv on. Watched last night; the men's team gymnastics and some swimming. You know what really annoys the shit out of me though? The minor point of interest in every event that they won't shut the fuck up about. Last night it was the 'every score counts' rules during men's gymnastics and Phelp's multiple medal possiblities during the swimming. At one point some stupid announcer had the gall to say "Not many people probably know this..." Yeah. Because it had only been mentioned 50 times at that point

[TheSnake]

I saw a report today that said ticket sales were extremely low. I think one of the problems is that there are too many sports. Once again, the economic principle of marginal utility seems to hold true; that is, the more you have of something, the less meaning it has. With sports like synchronized diving and swimming, the rest of the sports seem to suffer.

This, I believe, is one of the reasons that football, for instance, is so popular in this country. With only 16 games, each game becomes that much more fun because it seems that much more important instead of, say, 162 baseball games (blah).

I have to tell you, I am quite excited for baseball games (73-105).
Anyway, I digress.
I have had mild interest in soccer. And I will have interest in track and field when that comes on, being a former runner myself.

[lookout123]

i can't wait for the next winter olympics - CURLING - WOOOHOOOO!

or maybe not.

[SteveDallas]

Bottom line (pardon the expression) with respect to the women's gymnastics (and ice skating during the winter):

I don't like toothpicks.

[ladysycamore]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

So! Which country looked best in 'em?

LOL so many...can't choose!

For some reason, the Brits I seem to remember right about now...

[vsp]

This is shameless theft, but it's so great that I had to share. Bill "Sports Guy" Simmons on gymnastics:

As for the "women's" (and I use that word loosely) gymnastics on Sunday night ... I mean, what would possess someone to direct his or her daughter toward the seedy world of competitive gymnastics? Would you ever send your kid to the Karolyi Ranch? After the ongoing Michael Jackson fiasco, isn't it every parent's duty to avoid sending their kids to a place that features someone's last name with the word "Ranch"? Besides, what's the thought process behind pushing your child to such a sport?

My daughter's a little on the small side ... maybe we should push her toward gymnastics. This way, she'll look like a hobbit for the rest of her life; she won't menstruate until she's 25 years-old; she won't be able to eat ... EVER; she'll never meet anyone other than tiny, non-menstruating gymnasts who look just like her; she'll have a decent chance of being socially dysfunctional because she spent 15 hours a day in her formative years with a pommel horse and high bars prominently involved; and as an added bonus, a frightening Romanian will become the dominant father figure in her life. Also, she'll suffer from chronic knee problems for the rest of her life. And we'll make this gamble just in case she defies million-to-one odds and wins a medal some day, which she can hawk off some day to pay her bulimia/anorexia bills as an adult. This sounds fantastic! Sign me up!

Does anyone else feel terrible for these girls? They look so damned tortured, don't they? Like they might start uncontrollably crying at any moment? It's almost like Karolyi tells them before the tournament, "If you don't finish in the top five, I'm making you eat a double cheesburger, and you can't throw it up!" These girls would have a better chance in life if someone had steered them toward porn. Anyway, I vote for the Janet Jones Corollary for all future women's gymnastics events -- unless you're at least 5-foot-3, you have at least a 10 percent body fat, and you're at least a B-cup, you can't be on the team. That would solve everything.

[vsp]

Originally Posted by TheSnake

This, I believe, is one of the reasons that football, for instance, is so popular in this country. With only 16 games, each game becomes that much more fun because it seems that much more important instead of, say, 162 baseball games (blah).

If you're lucky enough to back a team that's caught up in a pennant race[*], you can milk a good month or two of actual excitement out of a baseball regular-season.
[*] This was true up to and including 1993, the year that Atlanta and San Francisco engaged in the Last Pennant Race Ever, the two best teams in baseball that year going down to the wire for a playoff spot. 1994 got wiped out by the strike, and 1995 introduced divisional realignment and the wild-card slot, changing September from a race to finish first to a race to finish first-among-the-seconds. Had 1993 happened in 1995, the Giants would probably have wiped the floor with the Phillies in the wild-card playoff series, instead of playing actual meaningful games in September. [**]

[**] Oh, and get rid of the goddamned DH rule, too.

[lookout123]

Update

they have tried,convicted, and hammered - i mean sentenced the 3meter tutu jumper already.

[Dagney]

Originally Posted by Cyber Wolf

So! Which country looked best in 'em?

My vote goes for the Aussies.

And the Brits.

And umm....oh damn....

[Dagney]

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

Bottom line (pardon the expression) with respect to the women's gymnastics (and ice skating during the winter):

I don't like toothpicks.

Yaaah for us non tooth picky women!

[Chewbaccus]

I've kept an eye on the basketball as much as I could. The Puerto game was a misery, and it was killing me to watch the USA-Greece game. I don't know if there's any validity to this, but it looked like they were fouling Tim Duncan for - from what I can ascertain - looking cross-eyed at one of the floor tiles, yet the Greek point guard could kick Lebron in the balls and there'd be no whistle.

[lookout123]

well, you can call me paranoid, but i think there is a little prejudice coming out in some of the events that are judged. the women's US gymnasts were getting some lower scores compared to the others. their genuinely glowing errors are what kept them from getting the gold though.

i think the same thing may be true in basketball. if you already have a prejudice against someone or some team it would only be natural to see their errors more readily.