Will you watch the 2010 Olympics?

[Keroin]

Oh, and they’ve been playing these commercials lately where one of the Canadian Olympic snowboarding team talks at kids about how the “partying and drugs and snowboarding” thing is all just a myth.

Yeeeeaaaaah, sure it is.

 

[Keroin]

Don't talk about the poor people who got displaced to build that stadium, don't discuss their hardships and sacrifices, don't even wonder about where they had to go.

Like this or this?

 

[JMohegan]

I think you can support the athletes AND sue the assholes for fraud.

This isn't me saying "You must watch the Olympics or Jesus will kill all the kittens! ALL THE KITTENS!"

I don't disagree with anyone whose reasons are to boycott. I can respect that too.

But I support troops in war even if I despise the war. To me, the athletes are the troops.

I support our troops by directly funding organizations such as Fisher House, AND by actively opposing wars I consider to be unwarranted. The analogy would be fighting to end the Olympics.

 

[JMohegan]

Like this or this?

I told you not to talk about that.

Wouldn't it be more fun to speculate on who'll grace the next Wheaties box?

 

[Keroin]

I told you not to talk about that.

Wouldn't it be more fun to speculate on who'll grace the next Wheaties box?

My bad.

I hope it's one of the female curlers on the next box!

 

[Recidiva]

I support our troops by directly funding organizations such as Fisher House, AND by actively opposing wars I consider to be unwarranted. The analogy would be fighting to end the Olympics.

I wouldn't support disbanding standing armies any more than I support disbanding the Olympics.

Less fraud and less waste and less lying, I support.

 

[Recidiva]

My bad.

I hope it's one of the female curlers on the next box!

Alas, I cannot watch curling. *sad face*

Causes sleep disorders.

 

[Keroin]

Alas, I cannot watch curling. *sad face*

Causes sleep disorders.

Yesterday, Lance said to me, "I didn't think there was a sport that was slower and more boring to watch than baseball until I watched curling."

It's basically "ice chess".

Snore.

 

[uptownjoe]

I will give it my best to try to watch, but there is only so much you can listen to the talking heads about the nonsense they find important. if they just show the game and keep quiet it wouldn't be that bad

 

[Recidiva]

Yesterday, Lance said to me, "I didn't think there was a sport that was slower and more boring to watch than baseball until I watched curling."

It's basically "ice chess".

Snore.

Oh yeah, I'm not anti-Canadian. I'm an equal-opportunity...boreder? I hate baseball too. And golf.

 

[Etoile]

And then to watch her get carried around after this...by either her coach...or one of the Soviet male athletes to other events...I'm sorry, that's pretty amazing.

There were no Soviet athletes in the 1996 Olympics.

Yeah, I'll watch 'em. I like the summer olympics much better than winter though. Die-hard gymnastics fan here.

 

[Recidiva]

There were no Soviet athletes in the 1996 Olympics.

Yeah, I'll watch 'em. I like the summer olympics much better than winter though. Die-hard gymnastics fan here.

You're so not poetical-like.

 

[Etoile]

You're so not poetical-like.

Too much florid writing for school results in HULK SMASH type writing for other things!

 

[Recidiva]

Too much florid writing for school results in HULK SMASH type writing for other things!

Okay, to restate then. A former "Soviet Legacy" athlete.

Whose name I don't remember and country I can't recall. Vaguely recall he was of Russian descent and even possibly the son of a former Soviet gymnastics winner...

But I liked it anyway.

Can't find his name to save my life. Bela Karolyi is all that comes up with Googling "Kerri Strug" "carried" "Olympics"

I can't even find a picture. Sad.

This is why I gotta watch and stuff. Yup. So I can have vague memories of things I shall be corrected on later.

 

[JMohegan]

I wouldn't support disbanding standing armies any more than I support disbanding the Olympics.

Less fraud and less waste and less lying, I support.

That's an interesting analogy.

Let's say the opposition had prevailed, and we had never invaded Iraq. We would still have a standing army.

Let's the say the Olympics, as we know them today, ended. We would still have athletes.

Of course, we probably wouldn't have gymnasts and swimmers and skaters, whose families were willing to abandon all other goals in the hope of their kid one day winning gold and landing a Coke contract. But I don't think that would be a bad thing.

I'm not convinced that the Olympics, as we know them today, are a plus for athletes in general. Too much money corrupts the whole process. So you've got track athletes doping up like pro baseball players, kids who can afford the fastest suits winning swim contests, etc.

 

[Recidiva]

That's an interesting analogy.

Let's say the opposition had prevailed, and we had never invaded Iraq. We would still have a standing army.

Let's the say the Olympics, as we know them today, ended. We would still have athletes.

Of course, we probably wouldn't have gymnasts and swimmers and skaters, whose families were willing to abandon all other goals in the hope of their kid one day winning gold and landing a Coke contract. But I don't think that would be a bad thing.

I'm not convinced that the Olympics, as we know them today, are a plus for athletes in general. Too much money corrupts the whole process. So you've got track athletes doping up like pro baseball players, kids who can afford the fastest suits winning swim contests, etc.

If we had no structure in place to create a standing professional army, we'd only have amateur soldiers.

The Olympics is a structure in place to support and encourage amateur sports. Otherwise we only have professional sports.

 

[JMohegan]

If we had no structure in place to create a standing professional army, we'd only have amateur soldiers.

The Olympics is a structure in place to support and encourage amateur sports. Otherwise we only have professional sports.

I don't agree that the Olympics, as we know them today, "support and encourage" amateur sports. Just the opposite, in fact. That's my point.

 

[Recidiva]

I don't agree that the Olympics, as we know them today, "support and encourage" amateur sports. Just the opposite, in fact. That's my point.

Okay, I was just going along with the clarifications of my analogy.

At least for me, I disagree because it's the only thing that makes me embrace sports at all. So I credit the Olympics for that and there's my proof that it does, for me and for all the voluntary athletes who bust their ass to participate.

 

[JMohegan]

Okay, I was just going along with the clarifications of my analogy.

At least for me, I disagree because it's the only thing that makes me embrace sports at all. So I credit the Olympics for that and there's my proof that it does, for me and for all the voluntary athletes who bust their ass to participate.

Okay, thanks for clarifying.

I've been an athlete for my entire life. So it makes sense that we've got different perspectives here.

If governments and Olympic sponsors genuinely wanted to support amateur sports, in my view the billions of dollars would be far better spent building and maintaining community courts, rinks, fields and pools (not to mention school gyms and other facilities) for the benefit of those who would otherwise be unable to afford them.

 

[Recidiva]

Okay, thanks for clarifying.

I've been an athlete for my entire life. So it makes sense that we've got different perspectives here.

If governments and Olympic sponsors genuinely wanted to support amateur sports, in my view the billions of dollars would be far better spent building and maintaining community courts, rinks, fields and pools (not to mention school gyms and other facilities) for the benefit of those who would otherwise be unable to afford them.

No argument from me, I'm purely a spectator. I'd defer to your judgment as to what would be more helpful, makes sense.

 

[YourCaptor]

Yesterday, Lance said to me, "I didn't think there was a sport that was slower and more boring to watch than baseball until I watched curling."

It's basically "ice chess".

Snore.

I love to watch curling, it's awesome. Anyone who has watched with me liked it too.

Allow me to explain the magic.

Some dude, is super intensely concentrated, like about to cut fugu for the royal crown concentration. Then slowly lunges forward and slides this stone across some ice. Then these two guys jump out like they got branding irons in their asses, and they start screaming fanatically, sweeping the ice, it's insane. Then you get a little dink, and you check whos closer to the middle. Then repeat.

And the fans are so cool.

So its not so much the sport, or competition, but how its played that's bad ass. It's like bowling with the intensity of Russian roulette. Anything with that kind of energy is cool.

check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7rVRboXaU
you have to see it with sound

I like to scream along with them, its great.

 

[JMohegan]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-co...---curling-team-tryouts---colbert-vs--shuster

 

[Keroin]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-co...---curling-team-tryouts---colbert-vs--shuster

Seriously laughed out loud!

Loved the theme song.

 

[Netzach]

I love to watch curling, it's awesome. Anyone who has watched with me liked it too.

Allow me to explain the magic.

Some dude, is super intensely concentrated, like about to cut fugu for the royal crown concentration. Then slowly lunges forward and slides this stone across some ice. Then these two guys jump out like they got branding irons in their asses, and they start screaming fanatically, sweeping the ice, it's insane. Then you get a little dink, and you check whos closer to the middle. Then repeat.

And the fans are so cool.

So its not so much the sport, or competition, but how its played that's bad ass. It's like bowling with the intensity of Russian roulette. Anything with that kind of energy is cool.

check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7rVRboXaU
you have to see it with sound

I like to scream along with them, its great.

I like the frantic swifferlike action.

 

[chelleb]

I'll watch them, although I do enjoy the Summer Games more than the Winter Games. In fact, I'm hoping to be able to go to the Summer Games in 2012.