winter olympics

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Maybe I should explain why I think this way. When I was a kid I was, for a while, the great white hope of my swimming coach. He was a finalist in the Tokyo Olympics, and had misguided visions that I too could be an Olympian. His name was Dave Haller, and he later became the coach of the British Olympic team. I became a dropout because I did not have the individualist mentality that was necessary to succeed. I wanted friends that might be my equal. To be a true competitor I should have wanted friends that I could squash like a bug. .....That is how a one on one sport works if you are a winner.

Forget all the bullcrap you hear from the contestants about all their friends in the biz. They want to crush them and humiliate them. This is what makes a winner.

If you are a team member, then you want to crush your opponents and raise your own team. However, you still want to be the MVP of that team because that is how good sportmen are. Arrogant bastards. The best sportsmen though, know how and when to turn off the arrogance and spend time in the real world.

 

[motobrewer]

lol, i think you have a pretty skewed view

 

[mmb]

I swam USA team swimming for 4 years during and after high school and the fastest splits I ever swam were during relay comps because of the whole team aspect of it. Even during individual events, your teammates pushed you and you pushed them. Practice, shore training, etc

Sounds like your experience was a bit too much Lord of the Flies...

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Or maybe you guys were not serious competitors. I know I was not.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I swam USA team swimming for 4 years during and after high school and the fastest splits I ever swam were during relay comps because of the whole team aspect of it. Even during individual events, your teammates pushed you and you pushed them. Practice, shore training, etc

Sounds like your experience was a bit too much Lord of the Flies...

I swam relays too, and i agree. That was kinda my point though. Team and individual events are a mile apart.

 

[friarjohn]

ok so why didnt they install snow machine on the slope in canada? dont they use them at most of the major ski resorts?

 

[twig]

They have snow-making equipment, but it only works when it's below freezing, or possibly a couple of degrees above. Vancouver just had the warmest stretch of weather in 114 years of records, so even making snow hasn't been possible.

 

[JohnnyO]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

 

[cowperc]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO had a GREAT feature on curling last night...canadian curlers are celebrities one level under hockey players -- america's olympic curling team is something like a bartender, two waiters and an unemployed dude lol

 

[brewagentjay]

Curling is teh bomb and I don't hide it......I record just so I can watch it on weekends with some beer.

 

[brewagentjay]

:rockin: Curling round 2 in 5 minutes.............

 

[BBKing]

Every four years, I get to secretly enjoy curling. How is this still an Olympic sport and baseball isn't? This is like watching the elderly play shuffleboard (on ice).

Um, baseball is an olympic sport.

I sat and watched Italy vs. Japan during the 96 Olympics in Atlanta

 

[Homercidal]

Basically, yes. Team sports are different from individual sports. If you are a downhill skier, you are on your own. Your achievements are your own, and the gold medal is yours alone. If you are a member of a team, then that is self explanatory. You are representing yourself as a member of a team. If you are a good team member, then the well being and succes of the team is more important than your own ambition. When this is the case, then yes. You will be up for team USA and want your country to win the gold as if the team were an individual competitor.

I understand your point in this post, but it only says that an individual is concerned with his own self winning, whereas on a team, each individual is concerned with the team winning. This is not the same as competing for one's nation. Has nothing to do with "representing one's country". It just means they want to win. Every competitor has that in them. If not, they will most likely not be anywhere near the olympics.

 

[cowperc]

Um, baseball is an olympic sport.

I sat and watched Italy vs. Japan during the 96 Olympics in Atlanta

not any more. it was eliminated after the 2008 games.

 

[friarjohn]

The womens curling team is hot!!!!!!!

 

[ChshreCat]

Living close to the Canadian border, I grew up with Canadian TV as well as the US channels, so I got to watch curling all the time. It's something I've always wanted to try but never got the chance.

 

[Dalarast]

Living close to the Canadian border, I grew up with Canadian TV as well as the US channels, so I got to watch curling all the time. It's something I've always wanted to try but never got the chance.

It's never to late to try man. Just go fill up a brew pot with some water and find a frozen lake and bring a broom... make sure you video tape it for us and it might help the event if you drink a few extra brews to insure the laugh errr celebrity value

 

[cowperc]

THIS JUST IN: Shaun White is pretty talented :rockin:

 

[Homercidal]

THIS JUST IN: Shaun White is pretty talented :rockin:

Damm! Did you see the AIR he got on his rounds? Not to mention the other tricks he pulled out of his bag. Are there any other Olympic sports that have a "victory lap"?

 

[cowperc]

Damm! Did you see the AIR he got on his rounds? Not to mention the other tricks he pulled out of his bag. Are there any other Olympic sports that have a "victory lap"?

i could be wrong, but i think they all get two runs to try and secure the best score -- he was the last to go (and had already secured the best score with his first run, so there was no need for the second) but he threw down anyway...hence the "victory lap."

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I understand your point in this post, but it only says that an individual is concerned with his own self winning, whereas on a team, each individual is concerned with the team winning. This is not the same as competing for one's nation. Has nothing to do with "representing one's country". It just means they want to win. Every competitor has that in them. If not, they will most likely not be anywhere near the olympics.

I've been team motivated in the past when in competition, but never nationally motivated. I have never been particularly patriotic for any country where I have been a citizen whether it be Britain, South Africa or America. Having said that, I do have strong and strange allegiances to national teams that marked the birth of my interest in those sports. Although I am not particularly interested in rugby or cricket, I like to see South Africa beat England in those sports simply because I saw how important it was to my friends in those countries. It seems to mean more to them, ergo I want them to win.

Now that both England and the USA are in the same qualifying group in the football world cup I am almost severely conflicted. I want both teams to progress to the next rounds and hopefully meet in the final. Since though, I have supported the England team all my life through accident of birth, and the USA citizens couldn't give a fook about it all, then my hopes for the outcome are an easier choice.

Edit: Yeah, I'm not the patriotic sort, and i'm an atheist. I'm a REALLY bad American!

 

[arch1tect]

i could be wrong, but i think they all get two runs to try and secure the best score -- he was the last to go (and had already secured the best score with his first run, so there was no need for the second) but he threw down anyway...hence the "victory lap."

This is correct. 2 runs each, best score counts. He secured it in his first round so the 2nd was just a coaster because he went last, as he qualified in first.

I'm glad we won the gold but it's not as exciting anymore.

 

[Bdogg]

I've never really been big on national pride or any of that and I don't find the olympics to be very exciting. Some guy wins a gold medal in speed skating by a few hundredths of one second - uninteresting. Shaun white won gold - Oh, didn't see that coming, the guy has his own personal half pipe on his own personal mountain with a helicopter to shuttle him around. He had damn well better win gold. I dunno. To me the whole thing just seems like a lot of bluster and a great big media frenzy circlejerk - people are running around complaining about how some people train at an illegal elevation or accusing them of hiding magnetic propulsion devices in their shoes, every little thing that goes wrong with the program is made to be a crisis- I always feel like it's just another way to make millions in advertising dollars and at the end of the day the whole thing just always seems mediocre.

I do like that the torch looks like a bunch of joints though.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Good stuff last night. Womens downhill was very good imo. A couple of a really bad crashes and Lindsey Vonn gutted it out for an amazing run.

Unfortunately I saw the schedule for tonight: Primetime: Men's Figure Skating.

 

[JohnnyO]

Good stuff last night. Womens downhill was very good imo. A couple of a really bad crashes and Lindsey Vonn gutted it out for an amazing run.

Unfortunately I saw the schedule for tonight: Primetime: Men's Figure Skating.

Agree on all fronts.

Watching the women's downhil was downright frightening. That course is absolutely insane!! Crongrats to Vonn on taking the gold. However, I despise the fact that she is such a drama queen. I understand that she may have been performing in some pain, but I believe that all professional athletes do so fairly regularly. If your job is to beat the crap out of your body and continue performing, you're going to be in pain sometimes. Get over it.

Men's Figure Skating tonight? Ugh. I'm just waiting until Curling is in Primetime!! This weekend!!

 

[Memorex88]

Watching curling now, Canada vs Sweden.
Here with Bell expressvu we have 5 free PPV channels all through the Olympics. Only problem is switching to see the Biathlon and Curling being on at the same time

Other than that... THANKS BELL!

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Agree on all fronts.

Crongrats to Vonn on taking the gold. However, I despise the fact that she is such a drama queen. I understand that she may have been performing in some pain, but I believe that all professional athletes do so fairly regularly. If your job is to beat the crap out of your body and continue performing, you're going to be in pain sometimes. Get over it.!

I was very pleased to see her win. She was absolutely over the moon to win. A more arrogant person would have just been pleased. I believe her emotion was genuine and not just drama. I like it best when the person I want to win also happens to be American!

 

[jgln]

Agree on all fronts.

Watching the women's downhil was downright frightening. That course is absolutely insane!! Crongrats to Vonn on taking the gold. However, I despise the fact that she is such a drama queen. I understand that she may have been performing in some pain, but I believe that all professional athletes do so fairly regularly. If your job is to beat the crap out of your body and continue performing, you're going to be in pain sometimes. Get over it.

Men's Figure Skating tonight? Ugh. I'm just waiting until Curling is in Primetime!! This weekend!!

She was shaking like a leaf at the gate moments before her run, she looked cold but maybe just nerves? Maybe a way to warm up? Looked like she gained control though when it was time to leave the gate.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

She was shaking like a leaf at the gate moments before her run, she looked cold but maybe just nerves? Maybe a way to warm up? Looked like she gained control though when it was time to leave the gate.

And that weird 'visualization' thing she does. I thought it was pretty amazing when they showed her favoring her good leg even when it was the uphill leg. And all on an icy/fast course. Pretty amazing imo. Her emotion seemed genuine to me.

 

[jgln]

And that weird 'visualization' thing she does. I thought it was pretty amazing when they showed her favoring her good leg even when it was the uphill leg. And all on an icy/fast course. Pretty amazing imo. Her emotion seemed genuine to me.

That was her? I saw her doing it but did not catch who it was. Yeah, pretty freaky.

 

[Homercidal]

I've been team motivated in the past when in competition, but never nationally motivated. I have never been particularly patriotic for any country where I have been a citizen whether it be Britain, South Africa or America. Having said that, I do have strong and strange allegiances to national teams that marked the birth of my interest in those sports. Although I am not particularly interested in rugby or cricket, I like to see South Africa beat England in those sports simply because I saw how important it was to my friends in those countries. It seems to mean more to them, ergo I want them to win.

Now that both England and the USA are in the same qualifying group in the football world cup I am almost severely conflicted. I want both teams to progress to the next rounds and hopefully meet in the final. Since though, I have supported the England team all my life through accident of birth, and the USA citizens couldn't give a fook about it all, then my hopes for the outcome are an easier choice.

Edit: Yeah, I'm not the patriotic sort, and i'm an atheist. I'm a REALLY bad American!

No worries!

I could not care less about the soccer games, but I just don't care that much for soccer. I just don't get it. Well, I mean it's not that much different than hockey, fundamentallyso I ought to enjoy it. I just don't see why everyone in the world adores it so much.

But then I don't see the attraction in NASCAR either, so I feel pretty even.

And it's not like I expect every athlete to want to win "for their country". I mean, I don't remember getting my portion of the gold medals at the last olympics...

What I like about the snowboarding, is that it's still a very young olympic sport, so there is a huge potential for new moves to be shown. Not so much in figure skating.

And the skiing is pretty exciting. The course looks pretty dangerous, so you know those guys are right on the edge of a really bad crash all the time.

 

[Memorex88]

Bobsleigh starts later today WOOT!!!

 

[cowperc]

suck it Canada!! that was on hell of a hockey game, hosers! eh?

USA! USA! USA!

 

[buffalobrewer]

suck it Canada!! that was on hell of a hockey game, hosers! eh?

USA! USA! USA!

something tells me that might be a little premature as they might be telling us to suck it, suckers when the medals are on the line.

 

[Homercidal]

It pisses me off that there were a ton of games on Sunday, and I missed them all. I played Wow for a while and a friend said that the US game was going to be on a little later. I looked and looked and could not see a single hockey game on the schedule.

WTF?

I would have watched ANY of the hockey games if I could have found them! Then to miss USA beating Canada just sucks.

Well, the curling was nice, even though the men lost.

 

[DMace]

That game was amazing last night. I can't believe that they had ice dancing on NBC, which is the only station that shows HD on my cable. I had to watch the hockey game on MSNBC. Oh well, what an atmosphere. And what a nail in the coffin as Ryan Kessler dove to direct the puck into the empty net. The Canadians need more guys named Ryan.

 

[Memorex88]

suck it Canada!! that was on hell of a hockey game, hosers! eh?

USA! USA! USA!

Hey cowperc SUCK IT!!!! That was one hell of a game!!! One hell of an Olympic. PROUD TO BE CANADIAN!!!

 

[cowperc]

Hey cowperc SUCK IT!!!! That was one hell of a game!!! One hell of an Olympic. PROUD TO BE CANADIAN!!!

lol...guess i deserved that one! hell of a game. congrats

 

[DMace]

If Canada was going to win, that was how I hoped it would end. Crosby is the man.

 

[cowperc]

as a lifelong Rangers fan, that was about the worst way it could have ended. *sigh*