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dbyte
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Feb 7, 2006, 5:45 PM
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dingus
Feb 7, 2006, 5:49 PM
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In reply to: Are the Olympics irrelevant? Personally I'm no longer interested. Corruption @ the highests levels, pro athletes participating, drug scandals, & the increasing overproduction of the events by the media. The substance seems to have disappeared in all the flash.
I stopped watching when they let cry baby millionaire American basketball players in. I haven't returned to the fold. Though I'm not sure that capitalism is inferior to the old nationalism model.
That said I have always liked watching the Downhill.
DMT
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dookie
Feb 7, 2006, 5:50 PM
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I've noticed that too - didn't even know they started this week until I saw an ad yesterday!
I'll watch some of the events because it's the winter olympics - I love bobsledding/skeleton/luge/downhill skiing and some of the other sports.
Summer olympics I don't bother to watch.
I think it used to be a much more anticipated event when they were actually all 4 years apart... now they're two years apart so you get done with a summer olympics and it's almost time for a winter one.
And let's face it, there will never be another 'miracle' team or anything remotely that exciting in another olympics, so we've really had the best that we're gonna get ;)
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thorne
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Feb 7, 2006, 6:05 PM
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Last night on Jeopardy, in the US Winter Olympics medalists category, there was a question "Travis Mayer won the silver in 2002 for the skiing competition named for these "little hills".
A contestant said "What are bunny hills"? :lol: :lol: :lol:
Possibly the dumbest response in the history of the show.
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shakylegs
Feb 7, 2006, 6:08 PM
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Now now, thorne, you're making a mountain out of a mogul.
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caughtinside
Feb 7, 2006, 6:17 PM
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I like watching the olympics. ONly the individual events though, not a fan of the pros in there.
It's a chance to see sports that are never on TV in america.
I like most of the skiing events, I like to watch the cross country guys talk smack before they sprint, I enjoy the ski jump and the biathalon, the LOOOOOOOGE, and maybe a little curling.
I find the speed skating a little hypnotic.
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traddad
Feb 7, 2006, 6:24 PM
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OK, I'm an Olympics Geek. I ran Track and Field in high school(almost everything except the weight events...and I did those at two State decathlon championships), raced bikes from college to my 40s, dabbled in kayak slolom,....you know the type. Probably the reason I love the Olympics is that I absolutely HATE football, basketball, NASCAR and all of the other whiney assed luxury sports with their prima donna billionaire playboys and all the dumfuk beer swilling good ol' boy fans sitting in their Lay-Z-boy loungers and masterbating on sundays. (pfew....that felt good) I also HATE the way those sports dominate the sports pages. Give me a good 10,000m run, skeleton race, Biathlon, 3000m steeplechase, bike race (track and road), C1 slolom.....I'll even watch team handball (try it!).
Did I say I hated football and NASCAR?
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wideguy
Feb 7, 2006, 6:28 PM
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I still watch. I can't really explain why. I like Olympic hockey, but hardly ever watch the pros, I like speed skating, all the skiing events,
I agree that they have lost something in recent years but I still find them appealing.
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snoangel
Feb 7, 2006, 6:59 PM
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I LOVE watching the Olympics! I also prefer the individual events over the team events. Give me all the skiing events, speed & figure skating, bobsled, luge, skeleton. There's always the excitement that someone's going to wipe out or beat someone by a millisecond. Next to the NCAA basketball tourney, it's really the only time I watch sports on TV. So bring it on Torino...I am psyched!! :D
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neuroshock
Feb 7, 2006, 7:49 PM
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i watch the Olympics, but mostly individual events. i think the Games need to be pruned a bit.
first off, no athletes who've gone pro.
second, trim some of those sports out. namely baseball and basketball. why? i acknowledge that those that participate in those sports are athletes, but the activites in themselves aren't base enough for my tastes.
for example, take track and field (when did they rename that "Athletics?"), fencing, boxing, taekwondo, swimming, and wrestling. the rules are relatively simple. the results are fairly obvious. most of the events' origins were martial arts.
then take basketball. fouls? charging? goaltending? free throws? travelling? whatever :roll: at the very least, go back to pre-1992 rules when professional athletes weren't allowed.
then again, i'm not a fan of baseball or basketball to begin with. pretty much for the same reasons as traddad.
i hope climbing never becomes a medal-sport. speed? c'mon, we know we'd make fun of it. difficulty? maybe. Yuji Hirayama's onsight of Mortal Kombat took 45 minutes...as much as i love to watch climbing, that's like watching paint dry.
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remi
Feb 7, 2006, 8:39 PM
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Apparently Vancouver is holding the next winter Olympics, lots of people care about that; property developers, the people who run Whistler, various political types...it's already going over budget :roll:
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wideguy
Feb 7, 2006, 8:48 PM
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In reply to: first off, no athletes who've gone pro.
Nice theory but too simplistic. One of the main reasons that the pros were finally allowed was to balance the field. Think "Miracle on Ice," ... while most countries were sending college kids and true amatuers the Soviets were sending "State Sponsored" players. These guys didn't draw a paycheck, per se, but they lived free, ate free, trained free, and had their families mysteriously supported. They were, by any objective assessment, highly professional players. That's what made it so remarkable. Allowing pro players was intended to be an equalizier (and admittedly a ratings boost)
And lest we forget, the "Dream Team VI" didn't do so hot last time. "Professional doesn't necessarily mean quality.
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kachoong
Feb 7, 2006, 9:18 PM
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In reply to: The skeleton...not only is it 80mph face down, head first....their athletes all look like this:
Funny, I had something else in mind, thinking of Skeleton racing.... Shows what I know about the Olympics....
http://uk.games-workshop.com/...ages/chariot-art.jpg
Whatever happened to Jousting?
Mountaineering should be included in the Winter Olympics.... all sorts of events.... last to throw up from lack of oxygen and a seven day diet of chicken noodle soup and tea.... who can boil water the quickest at 7000m.... who can get the most wipes from three squares of TP.... oooo, and one from the movies: who can run a 100m across a snow slope with a pack of nitro-glycerine on their backs! :wink:
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slablizard
Feb 8, 2006, 12:45 AM
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Love the Olympics! Plus this time they're in Italy. Can't wait to see them. Too bad Alberto Tomba is not racing anymore 8^) Abbagnale Brothers, Yuri Chechi....downhill, slalom, jump, snowboard...so much better than the "games" you can see on TV usually.
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macherry
Feb 8, 2006, 1:10 AM
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curling.........seriously!!!
i also love hockey and skiing.
what i can't stand is figure skating..........it's not a fucking sport.
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kachoong
Feb 8, 2006, 1:15 AM
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Anything that involves judging is so contrived.... what you need is FACT! Time, distance, height, targets, speeeeeed etc.
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jakedatc
Feb 8, 2006, 1:21 AM
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ya.. i watch them still. curling wohoo.. way better than basketball and baseball IMO Mogul skiing these days is a sick combo of bumps and aerials. if you're not upside down at least once you arent even a blip on the judges radar.. sweet. the bobsled,luge etc stuff is pretty fun. Biathalon is interesting.. yet there's no way i'm gunna watch a whole race haha
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