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...the olympic games...

I don't really think we should be hammering on Olympians for a "disappointing" performance when we sit here in front of a keyboard talking like a bunch of know-it-all retards. It's not like any of us have gone out there and done it better.. but if you think you can do it better and not "disappoint" the fans, then feel free.

But I see where you're coming from.
 
MrTitleist said:
I don't really think we should be hammering on Olympians for a "disappointing" performance when we sit here in front of a keyboard talking like a bunch of know-it-all retards. It's not like any of us have gone out there and done it better.. but if you think you can do it better and not "disappoint" the fans, then feel free.

But I see where you're coming from.
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i agree with your point up until the discussion turns to well-paid professionals, some of whom i don't think even belong in the olympics. these would include professional basketball players, professional tennis players, and even many professional track stars. the folks who choose staying in five-star hotels over the olympic village, and who invite themselves to the best seats in the house for olympic events that involve sports other than their own. really, should kobe bryant get a front row seat at the olympic swimming venue over the mother of some swimmer from china who has no chance at a medal?
 
Speaking of tennis: Serena Williams is now gone, and I for one am glad. Thanks to Elena Dementieva for taking out one more over-privileged diva.
 
argh! said:
these would include professional basketball players, professional tennis players, and even many professional track stars. the folks who choose staying in five-star hotels over the olympic village, and who invite themselves to the best seats in the house for olympic events that involve sports other than their own. really, should kobe bryant get a front row seat at the olympic swimming venue over the mother of some swimmer from china who has no chance at a medal?
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You might be reading more into it than is there:

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/olympics/articles/2008/08/09/before_play_stars_fill_social_calendar/

Guard Dwyane Wade said the 2004 Olympic team didn't spend time at the Village in Athens because the players were staying on a luxury cruise ship. This year's team is staying in a luxury hotel in Beijing, but the NBA's finest were compelled to make sure they visited the Village this time.

"I thought it was great for the guys to go," said Kidd, who helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. "Go hang out with some of the other athletes, have a bite to eat. It got kind of crowded in a hurry, but the guys handled it well, posing for pictures and signing autographs. As much as we wanted to see the other athletes, I think they wanted to see us, too."

The two players who got the least breathing room were Bryant and James.

"[We wanted] to meet other athletes and show our respect that we're not bigger than a lot of people think we are because we don't stay in the Village," James said. "People always say it's a money thing. We have more money than them. It's not about that.

"It's more of a security reason, more of popularity reasons why we can't stay in the Village. But it's great to be over there to show our respects to some of the athletes. It was an unbelievable experience for me."

Said forward Chris Bosh, who visited Spanish players Jorge Garbajosa and Jose Calderon, his Toronto Raptors teammates last season, "LeBron and Kobe and guys like that, especially Kobe, he had trouble walking around out there, but I kind of separated myself and went out and did my own thing, because it got a little too crazy with everyone crowding around."
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I was watching the news where Kobe and LeBron could hardly even walk through a stadium to their seats because they were mobbed by hundreds of Chinese fans. The reporter mentioned that they are running into the same problem when they go to the Olympic Village.

They have a job to do in Beijing and that is to win the gold. The throngs of people that flock to them is a distraction to that goal. After they win the gold, they should be much more available in the Village. If they are not, then I will agree completely with you.
 
SuperHornet said:
Speaking of tennis: Serena Williams is now gone, and I for one am glad. Thanks to Elena Dementieva for taking out one more over-privileged diva.
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BOTH Williams Sisters are gone, as Venus got beat by some Chinese no-name. YES!!!
 
SuperHornet said:
SuperHornet said:
Speaking of tennis: Serena Williams is now gone, and I for one am glad. Thanks to Elena Dementieva for taking out one more over-privileged diva.
Click to expand...

BOTH Williams Sisters are gone, as Venus got beat by some Chinese no-name. YES!!!
Click to expand...

Holy crap, SuperHornet. Root for the Americans, man!
 
SuperHornet said:
SuperHornet said:
Speaking of tennis: Serena Williams is now gone, and I for one am glad. Thanks to Elena Dementieva for taking out one more over-privileged diva.
Click to expand...

BOTH Williams Sisters are gone, as Venus got beat by some Chinese no-name. YES!!!
Click to expand...

and you are excited about this...but of course, you like Wrastling if not mistaken.

:laugh:
 
TheBud said:
SuperHornet said:
SuperHornet said:
Speaking of tennis: Serena Williams is now gone, and I for one am glad. Thanks to Elena Dementieva for taking out one more over-privileged diva.
Click to expand...

BOTH Williams Sisters are gone, as Venus got beat by some Chinese no-name. YES!!!
Click to expand...

Holy crap, SuperHornet. Root for the Americans, man!
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Give me the immortal Jennifer Capriati and not a privileged brat with interfering parents, and I'll root for the Americans.

Besides, I'm rooting USA in just about everything else, even when we have idiot coaches like Jenny Lang Ping and the entire boxing staff.
 
For a VERY short period, Jenny did have a drug phase. Not sure if it was coke, though. The mug shot is forever blasted on my retina. But everyone gets a second chance, and she made the most of hers by winning a French Open and a couple of Aussie Opens while making #1 in the world. She NEVER was a diva as the Williams Sisters are, though, and her parents were NEVER a blight on the game as Richard Williams is, either.
 
SuperHornet said:
For a VERY short period, Jenny did have a drug phase. Not sure if it was coke, though. The mug shot is forever blasted on my retina. But everyone gets a second chance, and she made the most of hers by winning a French Open and a couple of Aussie Opens while making #1 in the world. She NEVER was a diva as the Williams Sisters are, though, and her parents were NEVER a blight on the game as Richard Williams is, either.
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I think the reason she was a coke head was because she was spoiled with money from her winnings + parents. She's no different than the Williams sister, minus them having a drug habit.
 
Here is a note from my Aussie customer on the Olympics:

Our girls are doing OK- the boys are at a disadvantage as there is no beer drinking event. It was always going to be hard to beat last Olympic tally where we won so many unexpected in the cycling.( lucky you guys don’t ride bikes?)

Our TV stations are pushing the “per capita" medal tally where the number of medals are related to the population and guess what- we are coming first.
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That is an iteresting way to look at it...

Overall Medal Tally, Olympic Medals per Capita, Olympic Medals ranked by GDP LINK

I don't see anything on beer drinking though.

:drinking:
 
We'd probably have to send TNA's Beer Money, Inc. ("Cowboy" James Storm and Robert Roode) and WWE's APA (John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Ron "Faarooq"Simmons). Perhaps you could throw in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. But even as much as they've been known to drink, I'd have to put my money on IRL. I'm not sure even AUS or GBR could take down IRL. Those Irish are the heaviest drinkers I've ever heard of.

:laugh:
 
SuperHornet said:
We'd probably have to send TNA's Beer Money, Inc. ("Cowboy" James Storm and Robert Roode) and WWE's APA (John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Ron "Faarooq"Simmons). Perhaps you could throw in "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. But even as much as they've been known to drink, I'd have to put my money on IRL. I'm not sure even AUS or GBR could take down IRL. Those Irish are the heaviest drinkers I've ever heard of.

:laugh:
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Ever been to Butte, MT?

(It's about 1/2 Irish.)
 
One to go... the Redeem Team cleared one of two huge hurdles (imo) in these games... beating Argentina... next up is the gold medal game!
 
argh! said:
and if the "worst" was true, and those chinese girls were really 15 and not 16... so what? the u.s. doesn't have any gymnasts better than the chinese who competed, regardless of age.
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I had thought so too myself. What does it matter what age they are? Maybe they are afraid that they will violate child labor laws or something.

However, the interviews that I was watching this morning with some gymnastics experts, which I am not, spelled out how it is an advatage. Apparently, the younger girls are much more flexible, and obviously lighter, so they are able to do things in gymnastics that those same girls will not be able to do in a few years.

The evidence is mounting, so the IOC has begun an investigation into possible cheating by the Chinese. They have asked the Chinese for further proof of their ages.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/200...lympicsgymnastics?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

The International Olympic Committee has launched a probe into whether Chinese gold medallist gymnasts are underage, after further documents raising questions about their eligibility emerged.

He Kexin has been feted across the Chinese media after winning both individual and team golds. But others believe that she is really 14 - two years below the minimum age bar. The ages of her team-mates Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin have also been questioned.

Suspicions were first raised by their youthful looks, but gained ground after people spotted several official documents and reports in the Chinese state media suggesting He was 13 or 14. Several appear to have been amended or removed in the wake of questions.
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Age falsification has been a recurrent problem in gymnastics. Yang Yun of China won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. But according to the New York Times, she later said in an interview on state-run television that she had been 14 at the time.

One North Korean gymnast was banned from the 1993 world championships after FIG officials discovered that she was listed as 15 for three years in a row. Romania admitted in 2002 that several gymnasts' ages had been changed.
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It has got to be fair...
 
I can understand if an individual does something like doping because they feel they can't compete otherwise. But when an entire country decides to cheat and try to get a leg up, it goes against everything that the Olympics stand for and frankly, it chaffs my hinder.

I could care less if they change the rule to no age requirement, but as long as there is a rule, it should be observed. It is my understanding they have changed the ages several times in gymnastics because they felt the sport was too punishing on young bodies. (As I recall Nadia Cominech(sp) was only 14 when she competed.) If you don't like the rule, change it, but quit the cheating.

The other issue is that it appears one of the girls is an alien which gives her an unfair advantage. But that is another issue. :lol:
 
the age limit for the olympics is not going to change the training regimens for the under-16 gymnastics participants, so why have it? regardless, here's a great article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=3548749
 
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