Winter Olympics 2006

[rickvanr]

Well we got our first gold in the moguls. Congratulations Jennifer Heil!

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/sports/f...ational/2006/02/11/Sports/mogulsw_060211.html

 

[Lau]

Well we got our first gold in the moguls. Congratulations Jennifer Heil!

Congratulations indeed. I was just watching that, and that was the strangest sport ever!

 

[rickvanr]

Congratulations indeed. I was just watching that, and that was the strangest sport ever!

I thought it was awesome to watch, very exciting, and as a bonus many of the skiers were very pretty.

 

[Counterfit]

The driver was actually Valentino Rossi. At least thats what the Dutch commentator said when I was watching.

I dunno, he looked a little old for Rossi...
According to Wikipedia, it was Luca Badoer:

Italian driver Luca Badoer drove a red Ferrari F1 car bearing only the Olympic Rings, Torino 2006 name and Italian tricolore to the centre of the stadium, performing 'donuts' and revving the V10 engine for nearly five minutes.

It sounds good to me, since he's been there almost as long as Schumi (who was busy testing with Massa).

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Well, the British team has won its first Gold medal of the Games. Kind of...

We've had the Gold medals we won in the 1924 Curling event upgraded – that competition was regarded as a demonstration event back then, so the medals never counted. But the International Olympic Committee has bowed to pressure and upgraded them to 'official' Olympic medals, meaning the plucky British team of 1924 are now counted as the inaugural Olympic Curling Champions.

I'm welling up with national pride just typing this...

 

[EricNau]

I know. I mean, skiing is just a fundamentally unsound idea -- to take waxed pieces of wood, strap them to your feet, and then propel yourself down an ice coated mountain. I guess the rising and wannabe bourgeois need to find risk somewhere.

And boarding is just weird -- clearly a sport for the privileged, but simultaneously positioning itself as "young and subversive." But what exactly is boarding (surf, skate or snow) actually subverting? Just the abstract concept of authority? I guess it fits adolescent psychology, but there are so many better things for adults to subvert ...

(Which is why, in the end, we go skiing?)

Really. I'm still stuck on the mascots, though ...

Believe it or not, there is more than just skiing and boarding to the Winter Olympics. There is also, Hockey, the Luge, Bobsledding, and Skating.

The winter games are so much better.

 

[EricNau]

Peter Gabriel sucked. Someone put him out of his misery.

Torch lighting was cool though.

Once you can sing better than him, I give you permission to criticize.

I thought he was great.

 

[Thomas Veil]

I have to say, while the Olympics don't interest me much anymore, there are two facets to these Olympics that I couldn't ignore:

One was the funny tirade that Keith Olbermann did on Countdown about how NBC keeps calling it the Torino Olympics, even though it's held in Turin. Torino, he said, is their pronunciation, not ours, and calling it that makes about as much sense as our referring to Germany as Deutschland or Poland as Polska. Besides, it makes it sound like an old Ford car is involved somehow.

The other thing was a report ABC did the other night about women not being allowed in the Olympic ski jump competition because...well, because they're women. That's right, they even slowed a clip of one of the IOC guys saying that women weren't allowed in because the stresses involved on the muscles are just too much for the poor dear things.

Then ABC showed a few shots of some of the top US women skiers doing some jumps from incredible heights. They even strapped one of those mini-cams onto one a skier's leg so you could see what it looked like from their point of view, and let me tell you: it scared the hell out of me. I deeply respect any woman who can do that!

But the story left me very angry that the IOC could take such a patronizing attitude.

 

[rickvanr]

Ouch

http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/sports/i...006/02/11/Sports/womenhockey_italy060211.html

It's too bad they have to do it for home ice advantage, but still..

 

[takao]

One was the funny tirade that Keith Olbermann did on Countdown about how NBC keeps calling it the Torino Olympics, even though it's held in Turin. Torino, he said, is their pronunciation, not ours, and calling it that makes about as much sense as our referring to Germany as Deutschland or Poland as Polska. Besides, it makes it sound like an old Ford car is involved somehow.

well it is obvious since the original name was choosen for the logo of the games etc. i don't see that as an issue (after all the skiing wc was held in St. Anton and not in Stanton as it got called in other countries )

The other thing was a report ABC did the other night about women not being allowed in the Olympic ski jump competition because...well, because they're women. That's right, they even slowed a clip of one of the IOC guys saying that women weren't allowed in because the stresses involved on the muscles are just too much for the poor dear things.

Then ABC showed a few shots of some of the top US women skiers doing some jumps from incredible heights. They even strapped one of those mini-cams onto one a skier's leg so you could see what it looked like from their point of view, and let me tell you: it scared the hell out of me. I deeply respect any woman who can do that!

i guess it's more because of popularity reasons, just like softball and baseball had to go as well (or "shooting on running deer" ... yes that's no joke)
look at germany alone where skijumping pc games hit the charts in top10 in the past ... yet no interest in female ski jumping

that aside i'm pretty sure that female ice hockey will disappear sooner or later as well

 

[EricNau]

One was the funny tirade that Keith Olbermann did on Countdown about how NBC keeps calling it the Torino Olympics, even though it's held in Turin. Torino, he said, is their pronunciation, not ours, and calling it that makes about as much sense as our referring to Germany as Deutschland or Poland as Polska. Besides, it makes it sound like an old Ford car is involved somehow.

It doesn't bother me that they are calling it "Torino" (actually, I feel that's how it should be), but what bothers me is the fact that they are calling it "Torino, Italy" - they are saying it half in Italian and half in English! It should be "Torino, Italia."

 

[Applespider]

I quite fancy giving it a try for real sometime (although me and my brother had a session in our parents kitchen with a broom and a piece of ice. That went down well).

Gosh... announcing hidden talents here perhaps but I can actually curl. I curled for 10 years before I left the frozen wastes of Scotland for London where the concept of curling is relegated to hair salons.

In fact, I used to curl with one of the women who won the gold medal for the UK last time since she captained our school curling team when I used to play. And, in club competition, I actually beat her a time or too

Having said that, it's a great sport to play but watching is less fun. There is something very exhilarating though about sliding down the ice after a large chunk of granite knowing that there's very little to stop you.

 

[Counterfit]

that aside i'm pretty sure that female ice hockey will disappear sooner or later as well

I doubt it. The U.S., Canada, and, er, someone else (Finland?) have perpetually strong teams, and it usually ends up with those three on the podium. Much like the current state of men's hockey.

 

[Lau]

Gosh... announcing hidden talents here perhaps but I can actually curl. I curled for 10 years before I left the frozen wastes of Scotland for London where the concept of curling is relegated to hair salons.

In fact, I used to curl with one of the women who won the gold medal for the UK last time since she captained our school curling team when I used to play. And, in club competition, I actually beat her a time or too

Having said that, it's a great sport to play but watching is less fun. There is something very exhilarating though about sliding down the ice after a large chunk of granite knowing that there's very little to stop you.

Oh my god - I'm so impressed! My mum's scottish, and I think she may have tried it a few times too. It looks so much fun. Like bowling, but, er, cooler.

 

[Abstract]

Once you can sing better than him, I give you permission to criticize.

I thought he was great.

If he can't say Peter Gabriel sucks without singing better than him, then can you say he was great without singing better or worse than him as well?

 

[EricNau]

If he can't say Peter Gabriel sucks without singing better than him, then can you say he was great without singing better or worse than him as well?

Following that logic, I can say he is great, as long as I am worse than him, so...

Yes.

 

[Abstract]

So someone can't call someone else a great athlete/player if he happens to be as good or better?

None of this makes sense. We're all allowed to criticize Peter Gabriel, regardless of our own singing ability, just like I can say Windows XP is crap despite not being an awesome computer programmer or engineer.

So following that logic, I can say agree with some others and say Peter Gabriel is crap.

 

[mad jew]

Chuck Norris sings better than Peter Gabriel and if you disagree, Chuck Norris will round-house kick you in the head and then the guts.

 

[kretzy]

Chuck Norris sings better than Peter Gabriel and if you disagree, Chuck Norris will round-house kick you in the head and then the guts.

I never heard Chuck sing in Walker, Texas Ranger. I feel like I've missed out.

 

[2nyRiggz]

The dude that sing....i don't even know the fella....was nice and he held his own.


Bless

 

[EricNau]

So someone can't call someone else a great athlete/player if he happens to be as good or better?

None of this makes sense. We're all allowed to criticize Peter Gabriel, regardless of our own singing ability, just like I can say Windows XP is crap despite not being an awesome computer programmer or engineer.

So following that logic, I can say agree with some others and say Peter Gabriel is crap.

Look. All I was trying to say, don't criticize people that really CAN sing VERY well.

If some guy like Josh Groban wanted to criticize him saying "I can do better," that would be just fine, but for someone to just say "he sucked" and not give any reasons why, it's just not right.

BTW: Don't try and tell me "that's just your opinion." - He IS a GOOD singer, that's how he got to the Olympics.

 

[Cooknn]

Did anybody catch the close up of Saturn during the Womens Mogul on NBC? It was incredibly clear! You could see the rings

 

[Jon'sLightBulbs]

Did anybody catch the close up of Saturn during the Womens Mogul on NBC? It was incredibly clear! You could see the rings

Sorry, I was too busy watching womens mogul skiing.

 

[clayj]

Did anybody catch the close up of Saturn during the Womens Mogul on NBC? It was incredibly clear! You could see the rings

Yeah, I gotta wonder if they didn't fake that. I've never seen a TV camera capable of that level of zoom.

It was pretty cool either way.

 

[Counterfit]

BTW: Don't try and tell me "that's just your opinion." - He IS a GOOD singer, that's how he got to the Olympics.

That's also how he got a show in Germany the day before the World Cup opens.