THE OLYMPICS THREAD!

[drinkanddestroy]

Anyone watching the Olympics? I'm a big fan. Of everything. Winter and summer. Swimming, track and field, volleyball, gymnastics, you name it. (Except the field hockey, that seems kind of silly).

After Day 2 at London, China leads the medal count (12 total, 6 golds); USA is in second place with 11 total medals.

Did anyone see the women's bicycle road race? Very exciting finish, with the Dutch woman passing the Brit at the very end, to take gold. The Russian came in 3rd.

The USA Mens Basketball team looks good, whooping France today, but on a bad day this team can certainly be beat by one of the good teams (Spain, Argentina) having a good day. But still, a heavy face to win gold.

In gymnastics, USA women kicked ass on the vault. This is a very exciting team, already being called the Fab Five: Douglas, Raisman, Weiber, Maroney, and Ross. The shocking news was that Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify for the all-around finals. She was bested by teammates Douglas and Raisman. Weiber had the 4th best scores in the qualifiers today, BUT a max. of 2 entrants are allowed per country. Therefore, despite having the 4th best scores, she didn't make it cuz two Americans had better scores than her. I understand that the powers that be want entranst from many countries involved, so that viewers are watching from as many countries as possible, but IMO it is a silly rule. No reason why the gymnast with the 4th best scores can't make the all-around finals. This was a very shocking bit of news today from the USA Gymnastics team, which has the talent to have an amazing Games.

I also watched a bunch of the boxing qualifying rounds; I really can't stand the Olympic boxing rules, so I'll be avoiding it as much as I can. Although it's great fun to listen to tv commentator  Teddy Atlas (who also routinely trashes the Olympic boxing rules).

And finally, men's swimming: has Ryan Lochte passed Michael Phelps as the greatest? Time will tell. More events coming up in the next few days.

NBC has 5 channels covering events: NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, and BRAVO. So you can watch virtually any event you want to, either live or on tape delay.


And join the discussion here!!

[Groggy]

I watched the basketball game and some of the synchronized diving today. It's something I tune in and out without really following.

[drinkanddestroy]

I watched the basketball game and some of the synchronized diving today. It's something I tune in and out without really following.

I saw a lot of the second and a little of the first. (Olympic basketball kinda bores me since the USA is so dominant). The USA women won silver in synchronized diving.

I just saw that Spain was eliminated from soccer. Though Spain won the last 2 World Cups and the last Euro Championship, the Olympics only allows soccer players that are under 23, so I don't know how many of the good players are playing. I'm not much of a soccer fan anyway, but frankly Olympic soccer never interested me much. And btw there's talk that the USA may adopt the under-23 rule for Olympic basketball (partly due to pressure from NBA teams that have a lor of money invested in stars that they don't want to see get injured at the Olympics). I think it would be terrible. Just let the best players play in every sport and that's it. I hate how each sport in the olympics is governed by a different set of rules and age requirements (like boxing only has amateurs). I LOVE watching the Olympics, but I wish they just had the bets players playing in every sport and that's it.

and btw, it's a travesty that they don't have baseball or softball in the Olympics. Baseball  is huge in North and South America and the Far East. That's a significant number of countries where it's probably one of the two most popular team sports. And if they don't wanna have too many events, how about eliminating some of the other shit? Is there really more interest in archery than there is in baseball? How about focusing on what the world wants to see rather than what are merely "traditional Olympic sports."

[drinkanddestroy]

Just watched Aly Raisman's floor routine. I think every gymnast should use "Hava Nagila" for their floor exercise music. I've seen it used multiple times by various Olympians (including figure skating in Winter Olympics), and no song ever gets the crowd going more than that.

And I have to reiterate a very very loud FUCK YOU to the Gymanstics organizers for the two-competitors-per-country-limit in the gymnastics all-around. Jordyn Wieber belongs in the all-around; she's better than most of the other motherfuckers. The top finishers should all go, no matter the country. Fuck you all and fuck you again. But when do you ever expect Olympics organizers to get anything right?

And most importantly of all, how about the IOC refusing to grant a moment of silence on the anniversary of the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes in 1972 -- all because they didn't want to upset the Arab countries? This is example number 1001 -- and one of the most egregious -- of how the IOC is the absolute scum of the earth. If you are just a vile, disgusting human being but want to feel like you are a hotshot, go work for the UN or the IOC. And get AIDS and die while you're at it.

[moviesceleton]

and btw, it's a travesty that they don't have baseball or softball in the Olympics. Baseball  is huge in North and South America and the Far East. That's a significant number of countries where it's probably one of the two most popular team sports. And if they don't wanna have too many events, how about eliminating some of the other shit? Is there really more interest in archery than there is in baseball? How about focusing on what the world wants to see rather than what are merely "traditional Olympic sports."

I don't know what the hell is softball but wasn't baseball in the Olympics for quite some time? Although I don't watch it, it seems odd that such a popular game is not included - especially when field hockey is...

I'll probably keep the Olympics on my telly muted and have a glimpse at it every now and then. But the javelin throw final is something that I'm gonna really watch - it's the only sport where Finland has any chances. But of course the real fun part is catching some odd sports that I otherwise would never a chance to see - like fencing or ping pong!

[drinkanddestroy]

I don't know what the hell is softball but wasn't baseball in the Olympics for quite some time? Although I don't watch it, it seems odd that such a popular game is not included - especially when field hockey is...

I'll probably keep the Olympics on my telly muted and have a glimpse at it every now and then. But the javelin throw final is something that I'm gonna really watch - it's the only sport where Finland has any chances. But of course the real fun part is catching some odd sports that I otherwise would never a chance to see - like fencing or ping pong!

softball is basically the exact same thing as baseball; the only differences are is that they use a bigger ball, they pitch underhanded, and the field dimensions are smaller (shorter distances between the bases, the pictcher's mound, and the outfield wall).
Yes, baseball and softball used to be in the Olympics but were dumped for 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/08/sports/08iht-oly.html

I am not sure how big softball is around the world (all I know is that women's college softball is a very big college sport in America). Here is a one-minute highlight clip of a game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rhSG5XBcZA

But baseball?? I mean, are you kidding me IOC? Nevermind how big it is in America -- we know that the IOC is one of the most American-hating entities out there. But what about South America and the Far East? In places like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, baseball is either the most popular sport, or one of the 2 most popular.  It is nothing short of a travesty that baseball is not included. (Yeah, they mentioned that theMajor League players would not be available -- the summer olympics are always smack in middle of the major league season -- but so what? Let them use college kids, or minor leaguers. Many sports don't use pros in the Olympics, eg. Olympic basketball didn't use American pros until 1992, and boxing still only uses amateurs). I know that baseball is virtually non-existent in Europe, but considering how big it is in North America, South America, and the Far East, it's exclusion is simply a travesty. I'm hoping that men's baseball and women's softball get put back permanently in 2016, especially baseball. Those sports would get far more viewers than so much of the other shit that nobody knows about. If you look at the list of Olympics sports, you probably wouldn't have ever heard about half of them. Any one (heck, any 5!) of them could be dropped and nobody but the few people who play them would know or care. Baseball would get 100 times the viewers of field hockey.
In case I didn't mention it, the IOC are some of the biggest assholes that walk the earth. Fuck them fuck them and fuck them again.

btw, I did watch the ping pong today; it was really cool. This 16-year old American girl almost upset a  Chinese girl who is ranked second in the world.

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Unfortunately, some big events are being shown on tape delay so that NBC can get them into prime time hours. Eg. the mens team gymnastics Final is happening at 11:30 AM New York time today, and there are 4 Finals in swimming that are happening at about 3 PM in New York.... but none of those are being shown by NBC till after 8 PM tonite.  

So if you are a big Olympics fan like me, and want to watch events without knowing what happened earlier, then avoid any sports reports on any other forum (on tv, internet, radio) during the Olympics. So for the next few weeks, I'll be glued to the NBC channels but I won't look at any other sports outlets, perhaps until after midnight or so when I know that I've seen all the big events of the day. Only then will I look at news roundups, and keep myself up to date on medal counts.

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Happy watching!  

[drinkanddestroy]

had fun watching USA beat Hungary in women's water polo. There seems to be bad blood between the teams



And at least important as the games is: Who are the hottest Olympians you've seen? (I'm talking about people that we basically only see during the Olympics; not the people we already know of like tennis star Maria Sharapova or soccer star Alex Morgan. Oh, and please don't mention anyone who is less than 18 years old. Please).

[emmo26]

My favorite Olympic moment of all time Barca 92




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSA9xUUXj6E

[drinkanddestroy]

My favorite Olympic moment of all time Barca 92

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSA9xUUXj6E

nice! I was way too young to remember that Olympics, so this is the first I've seen of that. Thanks for sharing!

of course, there was another torch-lighting moment that is still one of the poignant moments in sports history: Muhammad Ali, his body ravaged by Parkinson's, lighting the torch in Atlanta 1996 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TaITzi64Sw

On the HOT front: this has been a pretty ugly Olympics so far. But I've finally found a pretty one: Marketa Slukova, the Czech beach volleyball player. (She is the tall blond one on the team that lost to Americans Misty May and Kerry Walsh tonight. btw, Misty and Kerry are so famous for their bikinis and that's why many men watch that sport, although they are actually two of the ugliest women you will ever see).
Marketa Slukova (she is the tall blond one): http://goo.gl/VQ2k8O

[drinkanddestroy]

Just got done watching the day's events:

In swimming, America won 2 Gold and 2 Silver. Ryan Lochte failed to medal in his event, the 200M Free, so let's not annoint him yet as the new Michael Phelps.

 In men's team gymnastics, the Americans made numerous brutal mistakes and didn't medal. But the big news was japan's successful appeal of a disputed scoring decision. China dominated and won gold. But in the initial standings, the UK won silver, Ukraine won bronze, and Japan was fourth. But a the Japanese believed that one of their gymnasts had erroneously been deducted for not making a handstand motion on the dismount; they appealed, and after review, the judges agreed. So, Japan won Silver, the UK won Bronze, and Ukraine did not medal. A very interesting turn of events there.

After 3 days of competition, China and USA are tied for the lead with 17 medals, although the Chinese lead the USA 9-5 in Golds.


For Tuesday's major Finals events: there will be the women's gymnastics team final; and 4 swimming Finals, including the 200M butterfly, which Phelps won in '04 and '08. I guess that tonight's events will be a big test for all the Phelps panic. If Phelps does well tonight, then his 4th-place finish a couple of days ago will be viewed as an aberration. But if he does not do well (which for him means anything less than Gold), then the talk about Phelps being done will renew tenfold.

[drinkanddestroy]

Is anyone aware of any websites, perhaps in the UK, that show live coverage of the Olympics? I've mentioned previously how in America, NBC is not showing the major events live, but holding them off until "prime time" (the  8PM -- midnight time New York time. Therefore, besides not being able to watch the events as they happen, I also have to avoid all tv and internet throughout the day, so that I won't hear of any results before I can watch it). So I'd love it if there was some website in some other country that showed these events live, or perhaps posted video of each event shortly after it takes place? I know there will be many unofficial sites, but those often have terrible picture quality and can have viruses and shit; so I am looking for official sites, which most likely would be run by whatever tv network is showing the Games in that country? I'd prefer if the website was in English so that I'd be able to navigate it; if anyone knows of any such site I'd greatly appreciate it 

[Jill]

That Barcelona torch lighting is badass. Definitely better than this year's which ripped a hole in the fabric of time and space by changing a fixed point.

I saw Barcelona but don't remember the opening. Only our Egerszegi and her 3 gold medals.

[drinkanddestroy]

well what a day Day 4 was for USA. The women gymnastics team won gold in the all-around; Americans medaled in all 4 swimming events; including team gold in the men's 4X200 freestyle relay, in which won Michael Phelps won his Olympic record 19th medal (15 of them gold). In Phelps's individual race earlier, the 200M Fly, he only won silver, so we're again gonna hear about how he is slipping.

So after 4 days, China and USA are still tied with 23 medals, although China continues to lead USA in the gold medal count 13-9.

Big story is Chinese 16-year old swimmer Ye Shiwen. She's absolutely been destroying the field in her events; shaving 5 seconds off her previous time, and equaling the men's gold winning time. So there's been lots of allegations about her doping, although no hard evidence. Especially after an IOC official said he has no confidence in China's dope testing.


Anyone see the Canada-Sweden women's soccer game today? Sweden led 2-0 but Canada came back to tie, so both teams advance. One of the Swedish girls missed a wide open net when the score was still 2-1.

Good times 

[drinkanddestroy]

The BBC provides the main coverage in the U.K.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

Thanks. Do they show live video of events? I need a site that shows the video live, so that I can watch the events before I hear the results.

[drinkanddestroy]

I can't stand NBC's continual insistence on showing these mini-documentaries about the athletes' lives, right in the middle of events, so that we have to wait to watch the performance. I don't give a fuck about how small their town is, how much their family sacrificed for them, how many hours of practice they've put in, and how everyone in their town is rooting them on. All I care about is watching them perform. It's enjoyable to see someone do something that they're great at. That's why people watch. That's why someone is successful: cuz they can do something better than anyone else can. That's all. I don't give a fuck about their personal lives any more than they give a fuck about mine