Beijing Summer Olympics 2008

[Jack Flak]

Catching the end of the road race right now on NBC, good riding going on.

 

[ceecee]

The opening ceremonies were absolutely breathtaking, innovative and frankly..jaw dropping. It is always heartwarming to see the athletes and the happiness of just being there on their faces. I am more of a Winter Olympics person but I love the gymnastic, diving, and track events.

 

[Jack Flak]

The world should just die. I could understand it if the world media politely ignored how fucked up China is for the sake of covering the Olympic Games, but as I type NBC's running a fluff piece on a Chinese-American who decided to move to China because of how great it is. I hope she doesn't plan on being a migrant worker or rice farmer.

Add: Is there a good internet feed of actual GAMES at the Olympics? I've had enough of this shit. Now Lester Holt is exercising with King Dipshit as if anyone's going to tape this routine and use it tri-weekly.

 

[Angry Ayrab]

I hate watching sports with a passion, but how the fuck are we (usa) losing in the shooting competitions. Shit, just pick up a couple of guys from texas and maybe north dakota, and you should bring back 10 gold medals. WTF.

 

[Samuel De Mazarin]

I hate watching sports with a passion, but how the fuck are we (usa) losing in the shooting competitions. Shit, just pick up a couple of guys from texas and maybe north dakota, and you should bring back 10 gold medals. WTF.

Shooting tin cans and minorities with sawed-off shotguns isn't equivalent to Olympic-level precision shooting.


[sorry, I had to go there!]

 

[WobblyStilettos]

Go team GB!

 

[Giggly]

Watching basketball right now.

<3 Yao Ming

YouTube - Yao Ming LeBron James Coke Commercial

 

[Magic Poriferan]

As is usual, I will be happy every time Russia, China, or the USA loses. However, since it's in Beijing, China has bumped up from it's usual #3 on my list to #1. What I especially want to see(though I don't expect it) is for the Japanese to beat the Chinese at gymnastics. That would be perfect! Throw in Taiwan beating them at table tennis for good measure.

 

[JAVO]

The frustrating thing is that most of what I really would like to see is the sports that never get any coverage elsewhere - things like archery, rowing, canoeing...

Exactly! The only way for me to watch these sports and judo is online, and even then I have to lie about who my cable provider is to do that! :steam:

 

[Colors]

I saw plenty of rowing this morning...?

I loved the opening ceremonies. And the cutest couple on the planet. Yao Ming and the little earthquake survivor.

Just saw Jason Leezak's amazing catch-up to Bernard (France) in the final leg of the 4x100m relay. Amazing. 0.08sec ahead!

 

[Jack Flak]

I saw plenty of rowing this morning...?

It was twice as good when NBC's commentary track went dead for five minutes. I could actually focus on the race.

 

[Schizm]

Take that Frenchies

That's what you get when you talk smack to the USA men's swimming team.

 

[Magic Poriferan]

Japanese only got silver for the Men's gymnastic team. Foo!
Well, we'll see how they do for the individual competition.

 

[Jack Flak]

Jonathan Horton was perfect on every apparatus I saw. If he has another day like that he'll win some Golds.

 

[Samuel De Mazarin]

Even though I'm American, my Indian heritage compels me to give Abhinav Bindra props for winning India its first-ever individual Olympic gold medal... he won gold in the 10-meter air rifle event... pretty cool...

 

[Magic Poriferan]

But Raj and Tan really took a chunk out of the team's over-all score on the pommel horse. Even if they didn't mess up, they had some uninspired routines. They better be buying Artemev a lot of stuff on the house. He was the only good dude with the pommel horse.

And what was the deal with Hagerty? Totally messed up on the mat.

Horton had better do good, because I'm starting to think he's the only one that's gold material. That is, he'd better do good for the USA. I'd love to see them lose, of course.

 

[Colors]

But Raj and Tan really took a chunk out of the team's over-all score on the pommel horse. Even if they didn't mess up, they had some uninspired routines. They better be buying Artemev a lot of stuff on the house. He was the only good dude with the pommel horse.

And what was the deal with Hagerty? Totally messed up on the mat.

Horton had better do good, because I'm starting to think he's the only one that's gold material. That is, he'd better do good for the USA. I'd love to see them lose, of course.

Kinda glad the Hamms bowed out and was really impressed by the men's gymnastic team. I'd forgotten that men's gymnastics doesn't have the bizarre and awkward "dancing" action on the floor exercises (like the poor female gymnastics does). China looked really good on the parallel bars... Japan looked really good on the high bar.

Horton was awesome. (Is the team captain always the shortest person?)

 

[Falcarius]

Even though I'm American, my Indian heritage compels me to give Abhinav Bindra props for winning India its first-ever individual Olympic gold medal... he won gold in the 10-meter air rifle event... pretty cool...

It is about time they did, a country of their size and population should really win more.

 

[Samuel De Mazarin]

It is about time they did, a country of their size and population should really win more.

You forget that since the departure of the blood-sucking British Empire, and due to internal squabbles and corrupt politics, plus the overwhelming conservatism of families all around India, and the lack of a proper infrastructure for the propagation of world-class athletics, India has been much more focused on economics and class struggles than on sports. In other words, India doesn't have a sports culture and, needless to say, the concomitant sports infrastructure.

A common problem in India with a great athlete is that he's totally beaten down by parents who say, "What? Running? I'll have none of this sprinting-frinting nonsense... you finish your school and get high marks, study, and get a good proper job..."

Even those parents who are supportive rarely have enough money to send their kids abroad for training, because the government doesn't put much money into proper sports training within the country.

___________________________________________________

I don't know... you're not really wrong, Falcarius, in calling attention to their size and population, but there's a lot more going on, including the fact that 70% of that massive population is rural and 95% of the population is ultra-conservative and considers sports a waste of time when it comes to their own children. India's only recently beginning to buck up and put more emphasis on sports outside of cricket (they've gone downhill in field hockey, which was their sole source of Olympic golds, since the 70's)...

 

[Jae Rae]

That's what you get when you talk smack to the USA men's swimming team.

Yes, it was magnificent. I've been really loving the swimming, men's and women's.