Winter Olympics...your thoughts

So I am laid off from construction at the moment and watched probably more of the olympics than I ever have. I know there was a lot of corruption involved but I bet that happens everywhere. Only Its more open in the US. But thats another story.

The mens hockey team beat the Russians but not the same as the miracle on ice. Now its mostly NHL guys. I was glad to see Pavel Datsuyk score...he is a Detroit Redwing.

But I feel bad the Russian hockey team has been eliminated. And then their cute little 15 year old Tulia fell down in skating.

I like competition and that must be the ultimate for athletes.

I don't remember Mark spitz or Olga Korbut but remember Eric Heiden winning every speed skating event years ago.

I feel bad for Russia losing out in hockey, but it isnt the Big Red Machine like it used to be.

Watched a girl skier come from behind and win some relay race on skis... We will not remember her but that day will be her glory for the rest of her life.



So have you watched any of the games?

Throughout my life I made it a point to make time to watch the Olympics as I was once enjoyed competing athletically both in individual sport and with a team, so I enjoy watching team dynamics and use of strategy. I am now waiting for CAN vs USA women's hockey to start, and it should prove to be an intense match.

The Olympics has turned in to a worldwide display of spoiled athletes to me. Which sucks because I always love watching. Unpaid athletes are a joke to, they are on every other commercial. I guess I'm just bitter.

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71


I don't know about spoiled but it certainly takes money once you make it to that level.

I thought that Russia provided a really good Olympics. So they had a few problems at first, but who cares. The US is doing really good, and was leading the medal count. I really enjoy watching the SpeedSkating, because I used to do that sport, and know many of the athlete that competed. I actually used to race some of them, and to see them out there, brings a rush of memories.

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71


I guess you are...bitter that is. These kids have given all they have, have given up more that we could ever understand in their pursuit of the gold.
Practice in the middle of the night (that's what I call it at 4am) missing out on a childhood for perfection. They deserve more of your respect.

reply to post by tinner07


I won't watch. The political context is too overwhelming for me. Russia is a Fascist State and so is the US to a lesser extent.

Some might recall the West boycotted the 1980 Olympics over Russia's occupation of Afghanistan. The irony is too much.

It violates the ideal of the Olympics and it violates my personal values. Just a choice I've made. Props to the youth pursuing excellence in this giant charade. Better to choose friendly games than a profession as a paid mercenary.

It honestly feels dreadful like WW3 is right around the corner.

AutumnWitch657
reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71

 

I guess you are...bitter that is. These kids have given all they have, have given up more that we could ever understand in their pursuit of the gold.
Practice in the middle of the night (that's what I call it at 4am) missing out on a childhood for perfection. They deserve more of your respect.

Don't misunderstand me, I believe they work very hard to hone their skills. And yes they do sacrifice a lot. For that they do deserve my respect and they have it.
When I say spoiled I'm talking about the way most of them started in the sport they came to master. How many inner city kids from Detroit have spent much time on a ski slope, or have ever seen a bobsled? The kids of wealthy people get to do these sports. That's why I say spoiled.

Every host goes into major debt. The people of the host nation/state see a short-term economic boost that is inevitably followed by decades of neglect. There is no benefit or reward for winning other than a piece of metal the IRS taxes $15,000 on.

The way I see the Olympics is they are a cancer on the host and a temporary respite for the poor soul who slaved 18 hours a day to get really good at performing a specific function at the age of twenty-something and then what?

I don't get it. Then I don't have some jingoistic sense of empty patriotism that urges me to grunt USA, USA, USA every time some kid who happens to live in this country slides down a hill faster than some other guy living in another country.

I suppose it's entertaining to some but to pretend it's anything more than any other inherently pointless sporting endeavor is silly.

I'm speaking as a person who does enjoy sport by the way. I enjoy playing, competing and at one time years ago I was pretty good. So I'm not some "sports suck!" cretin. I get why folks like to participate and watch. The notion of a global stage and all this "meaning" projected onto the games is just silly.

It's still all essentially entertainment. Entertainment for the viewers and the competitors.

Big winners are the tax collectors and McDonalds for plastering their logo everywhere.

Maybe if there was actually something to win or lose I could care but doing a little dance and getting a medal or not isn't really important to anyone.

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71


Probably not many kids from Detroit spend time on ski slopes, but they are there, open to the public. They find time to learn gang signs, they find money for drugs and guns, perhaps they could sell their gold chains, forego the gold grill and iphone and do something productive?

Just a thought.

I had planned to watch but I haven't gotten around to it. Not even the hockey.
I watched about 10 minutes of speed skating. that's it.
I"m finding that I"m just not into it this time around. I don't know why ....

A shoddy, rutted, out-of-spec Russian half-pipe jeopardized the radical high-performance riders, and rewarded the conservative low-performance riders.

tinner07
But I feel bad the Russian hockey team has been eliminated. And then their cute little 15 year old Tulia fell down in skating.

I didn't catch the hockey match, but I did catch Yulia's performance, and winced when she fell. The poor kid was trying desperately to not burst into tears afterward, I felt so bad for her. I've noticed that a lot of the figure skaters seem to be having a tough time landing after those spins/jumps. I makes me wonder if there's something wrong with the cooling system under the ice, because it seems to be in a particular area they have the trouble in. It's a little peculiar to me.

My 4 year old discovered curling, and is very interested in it. I can't really figure it out, the best I can figure is like putting pool or billiards on a dartboard/bullseye on ice, lol. She will sit there and watch a whole match, soaking up the strategies and has sort of hammered out some of the aspects of the game even. She was the one who clued me in that the point is to gain points while preventing or reducing the opposing team's point by knocking their stones out (in a nutshell, anyway)

To be honest, I don't usually stop & watch anything on either the summer or winter Olympics. I stop on the ice skating a lot because of Johnny Weir & Tara Lipinski's commentating. They're a funny pair, they're a good chemistry match to put on the tube.

it's gonna be a magic hockey final with Finland/Sweden vs Canada/USA.

As a Swede myself i hope for a classic Sweden vs Canada game.
But both the Fins and the USA could go all the way.

reply to post by tinner07


AWESOME THREAD!

Yes it was heart breaking watching that figure skater fall, thats alot of dissapointment for a 15 year old to go through.

I have enjoyed everything sofar, especially the Jamaican bobsled team. They were not the best by far, but the have a firery passion and a great love for bobsled.

The absolute only thing that bugged me about the olympics (aside from the protestors getting beat) was the reffing in the hockey. As a Canadian and a huge fan of Hockey I was really let down by the lack of penaltie calls against any team, The fact that the reffs have know idea where and what players are doing as they are seen skating backwords into players causing pain to injured players and *spoiller alert* all most costing the canadians a gold metal for womens hockey.

I saw way to many hand passes not being called, offsides ect

And what was with that triping penalty while canada was on a breakaway.... That should have been a penalty shot. I also forgot to mention that Martin St.louis has been a total let down... My buddies and I were so stoked when he made it on the roster, but now.... I dont know, he better step up his game and get back to being that crazy little frenchman that we all know and love.

But like I say that is my only beef about the athletic part of the olympics.

Tomorrow we do it all over again, GO CANADA GO!!!!!! It is safe to say that who ever wins tomorrows game between Canada and the States will go on to be the gold metalist, I dont see finland or sweden having a chance at gold against either Canada or USA

My only thoughts are: are they over yet?

reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71

Yes your just bitter. Those athletes are on commercials because most of them dont have jobs... Why? because they are athletes they have to fundraise in order to pay for their training and the use of facilities. Here in Canada we would not have as many athletes in the olympics as we do now if companies like the Royal bank of canada, donating funds to athletes so that they can focus on training. That is how they pay for everything, Sports aint cheap buddy, especially any winter sport.

reply to post by Nyiah


Curling is an awesome sport for kids to play, It is super cheap and EVERY rink has a kids program. It will help your child with team work, communication, balance, corodenation and most importantly help out with math, as it is a Very mathmatical sport. I enjoyed playing it growing up, and playing for school teams and going all they way to provincials.
Curling is the football/soccer of winter sports, because when your a kid its so cheap to play and most rinks supply all the equipment for the kids aswell.

snypwsd
reply to post by Hoosierdaddy71

 

Yes your just bitter. Those athletes are on commercials because most of them dont have jobs... Why? because they are athletes they have to fundraise in order to pay for their training and the use of facilities. Here in Canada we would not have as many athletes in the olympics as we do now if companies like the Royal bank of canada, donating funds to athletes so that they can focus on training. That is how they pay for everything, Sports aint cheap buddy, especially any winter sport.

You completely missed the point. I've had a daughter in gymnastics, so I know that its pricy. I'm not saying that they don't work hard, or don't deserve recognition or commercial funding. I just don't believe they are the best athletes in the world. They are the best athletes from affluent childhoods. The nba has the best basketball players in the world, the nfl has the best football players in the country and mlb has the best baseball players in the world. The reason is that most athletes as children had these sports available to play in school. You can't say that about most of these winter sports. Rich parents send their kids to ski resorts and ice rinks, poor parents can't. The best available at an early age get all the funding. Of course thats not true in all countries. Check out how the Chinese find and train their gymnasts.

snypwsd
reply to post by tinner07

 

It is safe to say that who ever wins tomorrows game between Canada and the States will go on to be the gold metalist, I dont see finland or sweden having a chance at gold against either Canada or USA

Hey look. Canada pulled a joke!

Sweden will take you down once again. There is nothing better than beating Canada in "their own game".