The Olympics: I don't even care!

[themadchemist]

Is it just me or does anyone else really not care how many medals Phelps wins or how many Central Europeans we shame in basketball?

[Chaszmyr]

I don't really care either, but in the minds of many it is a real reflection of a country's worth.

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....count me in as someone that does not care about the olympics. Far too much cheating (drugs) and corruption (judging) to make any of it really mean anything....oh yeah!

[Chaszmyr]

To me each new Olympics has seemed less significant. I wonder if that is how it is for the rest of the world too? Maybe the Olympics is just past its time

[jsw]

Chalk me up as another one who doesn't care. That's not to say I won't watch (though I haven't yet). But I won't go out of my way to watch, and I enjoy seeing good performances, regardless of nationality. I tend to root for athletes from smaller countries.

[themadchemist]

I don't really care either, but in the minds of many it is a real reflection of a country's worth.

Hmm...Yeah, I'm sorry, but I think this is flawed thinking. I personally put more stock in a nation's scientists and scholars than I do in their athletes.

While I guess I see the symbolic importance athletes have had to countries, I just think that praising mental over physical performance would encourage young people to make intellectuals their role models. Not only would that promote a more educated society, but it would also help kids shoot for more reasonable goals: It's easier to become a doctor or a researcher than it is to become a world-class athlete. Of course, this will never happen; society has always celebrated athleticism over intellect.

Anyway, even the honor and grandeur of the Olympics is tainted by all of the performance-enhancement. It's not as much about hard work anymore as it is about trying to get an upper hand any way possible.

But why say "anymore?" I was reading an article about the ancient Olympics and how Greece tried to use them to keep the newly-united city-states cohesive. Instead of promoting friendly participation and national love, the Olympics undermined the weak federalism of Greece, inspiring enmity, fierce competition, and unhealthy nationalism on the part of each nation-state. They might not have had performance-ehancing drugs, but they did whatever they could to cheat and win. Thus, the Olympics have a heritage not of fellowship, but of cut-throat competition...That made me wonder about how useful the games really are in creating an environment for world peace and joy and all of the usual rhetoric.

[Veldek]

[...] or how many Central Europeans we shame in basketball?

The so-called Dream Team seems to be in bad shape. After the almost-loss against Germany before the Olympics, now the loss against Puerto Rico. Does this make it more interesting for you?

[Chaszmyr]

The so-called Dream Team seems to be in bad shape. After the almost-loss against Germany before the Olympics, now the loss against Puerto Rico. Does this make it more interesting for you?

Oh wow.. I'm glad I'm not on the dream team this year lol

[themadchemist]

The so-called Dream Team seems to be in bad shape. After the almost-loss against Germany before the Olympics, now the loss against Puerto Rico. Does this make it more interesting for you?

True, true...That does make it a little more interesting. But I don't know, the Olympic games seem more interesting and important when there's nothing else going on. What with the election and the war it doesn't seem as signficant. Of course, having just had the MCAT has also made things pale in comparison.

[King Cobra]

Duff-Man said:
Far too much cheating (drugs) and corruption (judging) to make any of it really mean anything....oh yeah!
Specifically how much of each goes on?

Now, I watch a lot less television than I did 3 years ago, and I am not a sports fan anywhere as much as I used to be, so I also don't care about the Olympics. My point is: I'm not caring about it not because it's the Olympics, but because I'm not enough of a sports fan to watch too many sports of any sort. I have more important things to worry about. (goes back to figuring out how a hypercube is rotated in 4D when viewed along different axies)

[musicpyrite]

I will be following it somewhat.

The Olympics are the best of the best, the worlds greatest athletes, competing against each-other, to see who is the best. To me that means something.

But normally, I hate watching sports (high school football for example); just too boring.

But I also agree with Duff-Man, there needs to be more strict regulations, and less corrupt people.

[Daveman Deluxe]

themadchemist:

I think it's important that mental and athletic prowess be celebrated and rewarded in equally great measure.

[mj_1903]

Personally I still think its quite significant, but not on a country by country basis.

What the olympics are showing is the abilities of man to keep on achieving, no matter what the competition. Just look at Thorpe and Phelps in the pool who keep blasting records down left and right. If you would have watched the opening ceremony, you would have seen this human streak running completely through it.

The olympics is less about world competition and more about bringing the world back together. It's a model for what we should be doing, competiting in sport rather than with missiles.

As for drug cheating, I would say there is next to none these days. The tests are just that good and the rules that strict.

[Neserk]

I find them fascinating. Perhaps because I am non-athtletic. I don't understand how people can make their bodies do those things :eek:

I watched a few laps of men's swimming. They have gone from speedos and TMI to these cool things that look like bicycle shorts.

I don't particularly care how many medals the US gets.

I would like to see how the countries who sent less than 10 athletes do. It would be exciting to see them win something.

[mymemory]

What I like about the Olimpics is to see that there are new countries with even less of 30.000 people as population.

Besides, may be my country will winn a medal some day. :rolleyes:

[G4scott]

I think the olympics have a good purpose, but recently, it's been shrouded by corruption and drug use. The olympics allows athletes to show what they're truly made of, and prove who's the best, but it also gives young aspiring athletes role models to look up to. Kids will see it, and say "I want to be that guy", and they'll get off the couch, and actually go out and exercise, and do something that makes them feel good. Scientists have their share of good achievements, but they can't motivate kids to get off the couch or away from the computer, and go outside and do something active. We need to get rid of the notion that you can stay healthy, and fit by getting tummy tucks, and taking pills. If children see this, instead of athletes who have actually worked to get to where they are, they'll think they don't need to exercise or work out, and we'll just have a whole new generation of lazy kids.

The olympics have their purpose, it's just that we need to remember what they're really for.

[gwuMACaddict]

i love the olympics, though i wish that only amateurs could compete. the drug use and such is not as rampant as the media would like everyone to believe, and i'm excited to see countries like the US take a stand against drug use.

for every one of the kids (and adults) participating, it represents a culmination of all their hard work and dedication. you have to respect that. i think its wonderful to watch how happy they are when they win.

[Abstract]

Duff-Man says....count me in as someone that does not care about the olympics. Far too much cheating (drugs) and corruption (judging) to make any of it really mean anything....oh yeah!

That's hard to stop. I have lost interest for the same reasons, and even with the scandals and all these people getting caught, I'm sure there are lots of athletes who probably DON'T get caught. So its not a matter of who took performance enhancing drugs, its just a matter of whether they got caught or not. :o

And the "Dream Team".....does anybody else think that no nation should be allowed to send professional athletes to the Olympics? Why are some sports like basketball filled with pro athletes? It was never really about the pro athletes. Otherwise you'd see Lennox Lewis fight for Britain, and Tyson fight for the US in boxing, right? I don't know....it doesn't seem right. With figure skating, no professionals are allowed to enter once they start taking money for gigs, which is why Elvis Stojko will no longer be able to go to the Winter Olympics, and yet with Hockey, pro NHLers are allowed to play for their country. Its nice, but allowing pro basketball and hockey players to play in the Olympics is probably to cater to North Americans who would get bored if they had never heard of the names. :rolleyes:

[janey]

themadchemist:

I think it's important that mental and athletic prowess be celebrated and rewarded in equally great measure.
yeah well with all the doping and cheating and not-disinterested judging, bah!

the winter olympics > the summer olympics. the ones in the winter just have a different feel to it, almost like the summer olympics did years ago. now the summer olympics are just bleh. Except for some of the more (cant think of right word/phrase...something along the lines of esoteric) sports like taekwondo and handball. :p
in other news, maybe more people would attend and/or watch the olympics if this worked, hehe:
http://pokerinathens.org/

[Chaszmyr]

the winter olympics > the summer olympics. the ones in the winter just have a different feel to it

I couldn't agree more.

It's probably partially because for most of it, the winter olympics are less-ordinary activities. And I think they are in general more interesting ones too...

[virividox]

puerto rico just schooled the usa ballers

[Chip NoVaMac]

From a US perspective, the Olympics is much like any other "professional" sport. It is all about the money and the technology and drugs. Swimsuits that require 20 minutes to put on. My lover was a a swimming alternate in 1976, all he had was a razor and Nair in order to gain the edge (he hates drugs of any sort).

He and I differ on whether it should the athlete or the science. He would have welcomed the science of today, if it were available back in 1976. For me it should be about the individual or the team, without science playing a part.

He and I agree that it is all about the money today.

[MyLeftNut]

I agree with you abstract. No professionals. Too much corporate influence when people have been playing for money. Its not fair that a lot of the people who win medals dont get financially rewarded later on but professionals can go back to their multi-million dollar paychecks.

Not only that, but it gives countries with less resources a bit better of a chance to compete without knowing the larger countries have full-time atheletes going against them. We need to level the playing field somehow.

[Neserk]

i love the olympics, though i wish that only amateurs could compete.

Agreed. I was disappointed to see pro-basketball players on the US team. Well, they got beat this year.

[Littleodie914]

I watch the olympics with my friends sometimes, and the reason we watch is because:
a) We're sports fans, and the olympics is... well... chok-full of sports
b) It's kinda cool to say "woo hoo! USA just kicked <insert country here>'s behind! I win you lose!"

Guess we're just competitive dudes :D

[Rower_CPU]

I saw an interesting show on the Discovery channel about the history of the Olympics and how the modern games are slowly becoming more like the original ones.

One example is the professional athlete debate. Originally, there was no distinction between amateur and professional athletes, and taking pay for being good at your sport was fine. There was no stigma attached to earning a living by being good at something - although many pro athletes' salaries go a bit beyond simply "earning a living".

I think in order for the Olympics to be a true competition of the world's best athletes it's better to include the pros.

To address the original topic, I tend to mostly follow the sports I'm familiar with (basketball, volleyball, rowing, cycling) and admire the individual/team accomplishments in the ones I'm not. I admire the beauty of the human form and people's dedication to push beyond their limits.

[Mr. Anderson]

The Olympics still holds the idea of the greatest competition in the world.

All the bad judging, doping (which is just stupid on the part of the coaches and athletes) just adds a little drama to the whole thing. Sure we could do without it, but its going to happen. This sort of thing has been going on from the very first Olympics (Ancient Greece), how far do you go to be number 1.

When you get right down to it, there are some amazing competitors there who shine and rise above all the media and corporate crap. These people are the best of the best and they're there to see who can rise above the rest - even for a short time.

I'd love to have had the chance to be an olympiad - and I really hope that the games continue for as long as possible.

D

[Apple Hobo]

I like women's gymnastics. Yum Yum!!:o

I also like that cycling event where they race on a banked oval track. It reminds me of the carnage witnessed at the Bristol Motor Speedway when the NASCAR boys tear each other up. Oh yeah! :cool:

(The bike wrecks are good too! ;) )

Other than that, the Olympics is just another advertising festival for greedy corporate wankers.

[Don't panic]

in other news, maybe more people would attend and/or watch the olympics if this worked, hehe:
http://pokerinathens.org/

that might not too far away:
we might have bridge (http://www.worldbridge.org/IOC/IOC.htm) :confused: in the next winter olympics :confused: :confused:

maybe macrumorsmongering might be next

[Neserk]

I saw an interesting show on the Discovery channel about the history of the Olympics and how the modern games are slowly becoming more like the original ones.

.

Does that mean they will soon compete in the Nude :p

[Chip NoVaMac]

I like women's gymnastics. Yum Yum!!:o

I also like that cycling event where they race on a banked oval track. It reminds me of the carnage witnessed at the Bristol Motor Speedway when the NASCAR boys tear each other up. Oh yeah! :cool:

(The bike wrecks are good too! ;) )

Other than that, the Olympics is just another advertising festival for greedy corporate wankers.

Some of us like the mens gymnastics :D

[job]

What about women's beach volleyball? ;) :D

[Neserk]

Should I post here or start a new thread?

Most boring sport to watch: rowing! I just watched the US team make it to next round for Men and Women (8s)/ It doesn't get exciting until the end.

[wdlove]

I enjoy the Olympics. It is a matter of personal achievement for the athlete. A chance for the world to meet and compete peacefully, a chance to put politics aside. Show off national pride. For many countries there isn't a chance of a medal. Just the great achievement of winning the right to compete at the Olympics and to represent your country.

[Archaeopteryx]

The so-called Dream Team seems to be in bad shape. After the almost-loss against Germany before the Olympics, now the loss against Puerto Rico. Does this make it more interesting for you?

HEHE.. i just started to read this thread.. and I read about putting basketball teams to shame.. Then I though "But they got their ass served to them by puerto rico.. those guys arent even a real country" Ned I say more :-P

I enjoy the olympics.. As do most people from most countries in the world.. Its basicly a world competition.. But I have to say.. americans tend to have a very closed mind when it comes to "the world" .. Kinda reminds me of the old "The worlds as sen by americans" Picture...

[starcrossed]

I just think USA Basketball has just gone down the toilet. Players rather stay home and relax than support their own country because money is more than pride for them is a real shame. Only players like Duncan are the ones clinging onto that pride the original Dream Team showed. I just couldn't believe us losing to PUERTO RICO, and failing on outside shooting when the Olympic 3-point IS CLOSER than NBA regulations. I think the biggest shame comes when a team wins the NBA championship and already we proclaim them the WORLD CHAMPS :rolleyes:, I say we should send the NBA championship team of that year to the Olympics and let them really work for that title. If not, just go back and send College kids who really would feel honored for the oppurtunity. I've been enjoying watching NBA players like Manu Ginobli playing with their home countries because they still have their countries close to their hearts.

Other than basketball, others sports are pretty interesting to watch because you can really see that these individuals having been working hard most of their life to get that oppurtunity to compete on behalf of their country.

[scem0]

Is it just me or does anyone else really not care how many medals Phelps wins or how many Central Europeans we shame in basketball?

I don't care about Phelps or olympic basketball, but I do care about troy and justin dumais (diving) and gymnastics.

scem0

[Neserk]

I like watching the gymnasts. Truly amazing. I can do a summersault but not a cartwheel. Never could. I'm just amazed that these girls cand do that! (I haven't seen the men's yet).

Diving also intrigues me.

[jiker]

I *would* love to watch the Olympics. My problem is with NBC. Since I live in the US, I can't get the live/taped internet feeds of the events that other countries can. Therefore I'm stuck at the mercy of a corporate TV network who gets to decide which events are worth watching.

NBC says:
So you wanna see Epee fencing, eh? Sorry, we won't be airing that.
So you wanna see Mountain biking, huh? Sorry, we won't be airing that.
But don't worry! We'll be sure to post the results!
Kayaking? Taekwondo? Judo? Table tennis? Badminton? We'll show those! 3AM next Monday!
Boxing? Sure! We have that on prime time! Just switch on the Spanish channel!

Gee.. Thanks.

A slight exaggeration, but it seems that everything I want to see is not being aired or being shown sometime in the middle of the night. I guess I can only hope for On-Demand broadcasts...

Don't get me wrong.. I appreciate the athletes I've been seeing, and I'm amazed at their talents, but I can only take so much swimming/gymnastics/track events. At least those are more exciting than basketball IMHO, which just looks like run of the mill NBA games. (I'm not a big basketball fan)

This is why I tend to like the winter Olympics better as well. It's not always the same old sports televised here in the US day in, day out.

[Rower_CPU]

Neserk-

The nudity/uniforms was another of their points in that program - compare uniforms from when the games restarted to today. ;)

As for rowing being the most "boring" sport to watch - it depends on your understanding of the sport and the appreciation for the amount of technique and conditioning that goes into preparing for <6 minutes of complete hell. There's a lot of drama that takes place in those 2000 meters, if you know what to watch for.

It's just like watching the runners do the mile, or swimmers do 400 meters...

[Neserk]

Neserk-

The nudity/uniforms was another of their points in that program - compare uniforms from when the games restarted to today. ;)


I remember that. That is actually why I remembered that they used to do the olympics in the nude.



As for rowing being the most "boring" sport to watch - it depends on your understanding of the sport and the appreciation for the amount of technique and conditioning that goes into preparing for <6 minutes of complete hell. There's a lot of drama that takes place in those 2000 meters, if you know what to watch for.


It takes so looonggggg... I didn't even want to watch until it was almost over. I got tired just watching them. I can't even imagine. And they make it look so easy!


It's just like watching the runners do the mile, or swimmers do 400 meters...

I'm not a big fan of watching runners or swimmers. I keep thinking of all the times I sucked water up my nose. I'm a fascinated though because I can't swim like that. *cough, cough*

[FriarCrazy]

The Olympics are a beautiful thing. It was pointed out before that the Olympics create an atmosphere of competition with physical strength, grace, and dexterity instead of WMDs and AK-47s. If we lose that, then the world has become a very sad place indeed.

[LethalWolfe]

yeah well with all the doping and cheating and not-disinterested judging, bah!

Yes, because cheating, lieing, and scandals never, ever happen in the academic world...


I'm not a huge fan of the Olympics but i did watch a few hours of events this weekend. Some gymnastics, volleyball (indoor and beach), soccer (some mens and some womens) and some of the swimming events.


Lethal

[Mord]

mark me down for not careing

[Black&Tan]

Jiker, I have to agree. The US coverage of the Olympics is abysmal. In Europe, you can get 6 internet feeds, in the US, one or none, I'm not sure. Unless a US team has a chance of winning a medal, we most likely will not see it. Football (soccer) is arguably the most popular sport in the world, what sort of coverage do we get? Telemundo or Univision? It's ridiculous! What we can actually see is a pale representation of the actual events.

I tried to watch some of the broadcast Saturday afternoon. It was women's volleyball, US vs China. Almost EVERY 5 minutes, there was a commercial break for 3-4 commercials. Practically clockwork, every 5-7 points scored, we needed to cut to commercials. And since it's "live," the event is joined "in progress." I missed 3 or 4 rallys to tie the match. Just pathetic.

I'm cutting down my television viewing for this very fact. Out of a 30 minute prime time show, we see, what, 13 minutes of actual content? And how about those hour broadcasts, maybe 40 minutes of content? I thought Fox was bad in its coverage of the winter Olympics a few years back, NBC has just pissed me off. All they're in it for is the money-how many commercial breaks can they take?

I wonder if there's a "video pool" where all the countries' individual news organizations tap into and edit broadcast as they see fit. I can't see 100-200 broadcast cameras set up at every event, it would overwhelm the arena (i.e. beach volleyball). There just isn't room. So this is just a "cash cow" for NBC.

Wasn't cable originally billed as commercial-free?

[johnnyjibbs]

The Olympics are a wonderful thing. In a world where we do nothing but try to blow each other to pieces, something like a this just shows how united the world can be. We must not forget that.

It's a magnificent spectacle and, in general, does far more good compared with the minor amounts of corruption or drug use that you hear about.

The BBC's coverage of the games has so far been superb too - I can choose between 5 different sports so it doesn't matter if I get bored of swimming or whatever. However, they should simplify it. Why have team sports such as football and basketball? It should be fastest, strongest, furthest, smallest...

[Chip NoVaMac]

Jiker, I have to agree. The US coverage of the Olympics is abysmal. In Europe, you can get 6 internet feeds, in the US, one or none, I'm not sure. Unless a US team has a chance of winning a medal, we most likely will not see it. Football (soccer) is arguably the most popular sport in the world, what sort of coverage do we get? Telemundo or Univision? It's ridiculous! What we can actually see is a pale representation of the actual events.

I tried to watch some of the broadcast Saturday afternoon. It was women's volleyball, US vs China. Almost EVERY 5 minutes, there was a commercial break for 3-4 commercials. Practically clockwork, every 5-7 points scored, we needed to cut to commercials. And since it's "live," the event is joined "in progress." I missed 3 or 4 rallys to tie the match. Just pathetic.

I'm cutting down my television viewing for this very fact. Out of a 30 minute prime time show, we see, what, 13 minutes of actual content? And how about those hour broadcasts, maybe 40 minutes of content? I thought Fox was bad in its coverage of the winter Olympics a few years back, NBC has just pissed me off. All they're in it for is the money-how many commercial breaks can they take?

I wonder if there's a "video pool" where all the countries' individual news organizations tap into and edit broadcast as they see fit. I can't see 100-200 broadcast cameras set up at every event, it would overwhelm the arena (i.e. beach volleyball). There just isn't room. So this is just a "cash cow" for NBC.

Wasn't cable originally billed as commercial-free?

How soon do we see the IOC having "commercial break" periods like they do for baseball and football?

[FelixDerKater]

Other countries definitely care about the Olympics, most notably, China. Atheletes from other countries dream of this their whole lives. Our atheletes, on the other hand are self-absorbed, unpatriotic, pampered brats. I always find this amusing, that, for thousands of years, atheletes were from the lowest of classes, being either slaves, or just above that position, while today, they earn more money than engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and even the president.

[Black&Tan]

they earn more money than engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and even the president.

Well, I don't mind that they earn more than lawyers. :D

[janey]

Yes, because cheating, lieing, and scandals never, ever happen in the academic world...
im not saying they dont happen elsewhere. im just saying its a big shame cuz it just shows you how desperate some atheletes are to win something, screw level ground, screw fairness, screw the rules. It's the freakin Olympics, why cant they be happy that they even _went_ because that is a big achievement in itself. Win a medal and its only so much better.

Meh, I despise NBC too. I don't want to watch half the crap they show, seems to be only gymnastics and swimming :rolleyes: . If only there was some simple way to watch it over the intarweb..

[LethalWolfe]

Jiker, I have to agree. The US coverage of the Olympics is abysmal. In Europe, you can get 6 internet feeds, in the US, one or none, I'm not sure. Unless a US team has a chance of winning a medal, we most likely will not see it. Football (soccer) is arguably the most popular sport in the world, what sort of coverage do we get? Telemundo or Univision? It's ridiculous! What we can actually see is a pale representation of the actual events.

Agreed for the most part. Although I did see some Team USA Women's football on NBC.

I tried to watch some of the broadcast Saturday afternoon. It was women's volleyball, US vs China. Almost EVERY 5 minutes, there was a commercial break for 3-4 commercials. Practically clockwork, every 5-7 points scored, we needed to cut to commercials. And since it's "live," the event is joined "in progress." I missed 3 or 4 rallys to tie the match. Just pathetic.

Agreed.

I'm cutting down my television viewing for this very fact. Out of a 30 minute prime time show, we see, what, 13 minutes of actual content? And how about those hour broadcasts, maybe 40 minutes of content? I thought Fox was bad in its coverage of the winter Olympics a few years back, NBC has just pissed me off. All they're in it for is the money-how many commercial breaks can they take?

I wonder if there's a "video pool" where all the countries' individual news organizations tap into and edit broadcast as they see fit. I can't see 100-200 broadcast cameras set up at every event, it would overwhelm the arena (i.e. beach volleyball). There just isn't room. So this is just a "cash cow" for NBC.

Commercial time is growing but it's not that bad yet (I think it's 6 or 7 minutes of commercials for a 30min show and maybe 10 for an hour long show).

How it basically happens is probably something like this. There is one entity that over sees everything video production related in regards to shooting all the events (talk about a nightmare and a half). That entity beams a "clean" feed of the events (no graphics, no annoucers, etc.,) up to satellite and that feed is then pulled down by companies that paid for the rights to the broadcast (i.e. NBC in the US) and those companies then add their own annoucers and graphix and what not. All of the interviews, and other "localized" touches, are probably done by a handful of camera guys that get passed around. Then, of course, all the major outlets will have their own mini-studio's to do sit-down interviews, re-caps/highlights, and all that other stuff as well as their own productions & broadcast trucks. I'm sure the video village over there is huge. Man that would be a fun gig to work.

Although I'm sure NBC is going to make a profit showing the Olympics I wouldn't call it a "cash cow." Even if they aren't responsible for the actual TV production of the games is still a large investment of time and money.


Wasn't cable originally billed as commercial-free?

Yes, but cable originally was just a way for over-the-air channels to reach people that couldn't get OTA signals. Then it advanced to showing movies and reruns. Now it is creating original programing and competeing w/the big 4 (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX). So it makes sense that the cost went up. But it's gone up too much. I blame a lot of the inflated prices on a deregulation of the industry back in the mid-90's. Hell, I blame a lot of what's wrong w/the business/money side of the media industry back on deregulation back in the mid-90's.


Lethal

[LethalWolfe]

im not saying they dont happen elsewhere. im just saying its a big shame cuz it just shows you how desperate some atheletes are to win something, screw level ground, screw fairness, screw the rules. It's the freakin Olympics, why cant they be happy that they even _went_ because that is a big achievement in itself. Win a medal and its only so much better.

I agree that cheating period is BS. But it happens in all walks of life. I think that justification for not watching the Olympics is kind of weak as I don't believe the Olympics is a hotbed of dopers and cheaters. There are academics that fudge findings or plagarize work but I'm not going to dismiss the whole of academia because of it.

Meh, I despise NBC too. I don't want to watch half the crap they show, seems to be only gymnastics and swimming :rolleyes: . If only there was some simple way to watch it over the intarweb..

I think this is a chicken/egg problem. NBC shows what's popular in the US. I'd love to see a greater variety of sport (not just Olympics but sport in general) on US TV. But networks, just like everyone else, have to pay the bills and you can't pay the bills if no one is watching your channel. NBC can either take a chance and show people "new" stuff and hope they like it or they can show them what they know they like.


Lethal

[janey]

I think this is a chicken/egg problem. NBC shows what's popular in the US. I'd love to see a greater variety of sport (not just Olympics but sport in general) on US TV. But networks, just like everyone else, have to pay the bills and you can't pay the bills if no one is watching your channel. NBC can either take a chance and show people "new" stuff and hope they like it or they can show them what they know they like.
well if they're not going to show it, or show it at weird times why dont they let people do webcasts of the event so we here in the US can watch what we want when we want. All they're showing right now is really like one or more of these three things
1) Swimming
2) Gymnastics
3) US athletes winning medals

Really, I'd like more than that. Just because there arent US athletes in other sports or whatever doesnt mean people aren't interested in it :rolleyes: . Sigh.
And hey I do enjoy watching the Olympics. The Winter Olympics. I don't see why more people obsess over the Summer Olympics. *shrug* just might be me though.

[cheekyspanky]

I think the Olympics have been great so far this year, I thought the opening ceremony was really good and the synchronised diving (which I didnt know they did) and the gymnastics and judo have all been great to watch so far.

I guess having the BBC means we get to enjoy it to a greater extent due to the more varying coverage by the sounds of things.

[themadchemist]

themadchemist:

I think it's important that mental and athletic prowess be celebrated and rewarded in equally great measure.

That's fair, but it's a little unbalanced now, wouldn't you say? A professor gets paid a 100,000 bucks if he's lucky...An athlete?

[AhmedFaisal]

...best performing nations (among them USA and China) refuse to cooperate with the world doping commission and where the doping tests are announced and tests are used that allow a doped athlete to stop using the drugs 36h prior to the announced test even though a test is available that would allow detecting doping up to three weeks after the end of substance abuse? Is that what you guys are talking about? Naw, I don't give a rats ass about that sorry crap.
Cheers,

Ahmed

[Daveman Deluxe]

That's fair, but it's a little unbalanced now, wouldn't you say? A professor gets paid a 100,000 bucks if he's lucky...An athlete?

I can look at that a lot of different ways, but as a rule, I agree with you. I think, however, that there's this myth that every professional athlete makes buckets and buckets of money, when in many cases, that's not so true (major league baseball excepted). It's not uncommon for a professional athlete to take on a job in the off-season to make ends meet.

On the other hand, I could just as easily say that professors and athletes alike get paid the fair market value based on the economic profit brought to the employers. The point is that only in the most extreme cases is there as huge of a disparity in pay between athletes and academics as most people believe.

That said, there still is a disparity, which is unfortunate.

I mainly have a problem with the people that suggest that athletics is all garbage and that nobody worth anything aspires to be an athlete... drives me up the wall. I knew one guy who said that sports have no place in school at all and should be removed entirely from school at all levels of education. It seems to me that sports bring economic and social benefit to the community, keeps some kids in school that otherwise wouldn't go, and generally provides a more well-rounded character to participants. But I think most people support sports as a part of education, and I never thought very highly of that guy anyway. :D

[AhmedFaisal]

I like women's gymnastics. Yum Yum!!:o

Aren't we a little pedo here? Its not been women's gymnastics for a LONG time. Its all overdoped bulimic kiddies nowadays. Girls that grow older and actually start looking like "women" get told they are fat and starve themselves to death. What a great sport *pukes*.
Cheers,

Ahmed

[voicegy]

Is it just me or does anyone else really not care how many medals Phelps wins or how many Central Europeans we shame in basketball?

It's not just you and count me in as one who couldn't care less, except for the opening festivities, which, this year, were especially jaw-dropping. Anyone else catch Bjork's giant parachute dress covering all the athletes? Amazing stuff.

[Neserk]

Aren't we a little pedo here? Its not been women's gymnastics for a LONG time.


This is true. They were definately little girls... 14... and underdeveloped sexually, overdeveloped muscularly. I doubt any of them are having their periods yet because there body fat probably hasn't reached 17%...


Its all overdoped bulimic kiddies nowadays. Girls that grow older and actually start looking like "women" get told they are fat and starve themselves to death. What a great sport *pukes*.
Cheers,

Ahmed


Bulimia and anorexia are two different things. Anorexia is self starvation with significant weight loss and may or may not include binging/purging. Bulimia is binging/purging and usually those with it are not underweight but normal to slightly above weight. Some do become anorexic, though.

[stubeeef]

Almost forgot it was on, i love the bad(good)mitten, pingpong, golf, and am still waiting for pac-man to get recognized! Would too much sugar be dopping for video games? :o

[windowsblowsass]

The so-called Dream Team seems to be in bad shape. After the almost-loss against Germany before the Olympics, now the loss against Puerto Rico. Does this make it more interesting for you?

well i dont care about the olympics but i DO care about basketball they lost to italy and beat nowitzkis germany with a buzzer beating 3 pointer

[windowsblowsass]

Almost forgot it was on, i love the bad(good)mitten, pingpong, golf, and am still waiting for pac-man to get recognized! Would too much sugar be dopping for video games? :o

i can see them banning bawls as a performance enhancning drug :) :D

[stubeeef]

i can see them banning bawls as a performance enhancning drug :) :D

I am sorry tiny teen acrobat, but you have gotten too much testosterone!

[Apple Hobo]

Aren't we a little pedo here?

Did I mention my age? I don't think so. Please go away with your perverted assumptions. :mad: :rolleyes: