OLYMPICS OPEN THREAD

Anyone as interested in the Olympics as I am?

I love bobsled, luge, CURLING, skeleton, downhills, biathalon, XXskiing, speed skating.....

I guess you get my gist.

If you don't care that's cool but please don't bomb this thread with negs.

Freestyle skiing, moguls specifically. YEARS AGO when I did that (I was good back in the day) it was so much fun. I look at the top guys now and am just in awe. I thought that I skied fast back then! And to top it off they do inverts in the bumps now (they actually have been for 15 years now)!

Hockey would be great to watch except the NHL didn't take an Olympic break this time. I'll still watch and be fully entertained but...

Figure skating is difficult and I respect the H3ll out of it but I just can't get into it?

Figure skating lost me with inconsistent and dirty judging. Don't see how a favorite and a newbie do the same routine but the favorite gets a better score. Always been that way. They make you work your way up the ranks regardless of talent.

I like the X-Games sports, and hockey, but that's about it.  USA Hockey team isn't going to be to good, so it will lose my interest early.

Interesting fish. I like all the stuff except the X-Games stuff. lol. Guess I always wondered why they didn't just stay in the X-Games??

They were added to jack up Winter Olympic TV ratings with the gen-Xers, such as our dear admin.

dwoody wrote:

They were added to jack up Winter Olympic TV ratings with the gen-Xers, such as our dear admin.

Nah, not Gen-xers. More Millenials.

Bo 2.0 wrote:

dwoody wrote:

They were added to jack up Winter Olympic TV ratings with the gen-Xers, such as our dear admin.

Nah, not Gen-xers. More Millenials.

I would say both.

I can watch anything but curling. Is that still an Olympic sport?

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I like curling! It's like bar shuffleboard, but bigger.

Wolverdog wrote:

Bo 2.0 wrote:

dwoody wrote:

They were added to jack up Winter Olympic TV ratings with the gen-Xers, such as our dear admin.

Nah,  not Gen-xers.  More Millenials.

I would say both.

I can watch anything but curling. Is that still an Olympic sport?

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I agree with 'dog. Well figure skating gets old after a while but curling is a janitor party. My old man used to love to watch curling and not jut in the Olympics. I used to joke that one of these days they'd throw down some saw-dust. I'm a Gen-Xer and I love the actual sports. I look at the new freeskiing as a waste and I HATE Boner-boarding.

I have a favorite rant that works best over beers and pizza at a loud bar. IMO in order for an activity to qualify as a "sport," it must

First: require cardio fitness for one to be good at it. Thus bowling, golf, pool, arguably baseball (this is where it gets interesting in the bar) and similar games of skill aren't "sports"

Second: any activity involving machines or animals is not a "sport." Human performance alone must determine the outcome of the event. Thus car and horse racing are not sports. I love sailing but it isn't a "sport"

Third: (and this is where the Olympics always come into play) any activity where a "judge" determines the winner is not a "sport." So diving figure skating most of the skiing events except for the slalom and downhill and jumping, where the winner is determined by a "score" awarded by a group of "judges" are NOT sports.

I often say that Bob Hayes had the ugliest stride ever for a sprinter. The "judges" would have never awarded him anything even though all he did was beat everyone down the track in the 100 meters by a yard and a half.

That's always good for at least an hour of heavy debate and several beers at the bar.

Bob Hayes' anchor leg in the 4x100 meters relay at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 is still one of the more impressive things I have ever seen.

flabluefan1 wrote:

I have a favorite rant that works best over beers and pizza at a loud bar.  IMO in order for an activity to qualify as a "sport,"  it must

First: require cardio fitness for one to be good at it.   Thus bowling, golf, pool, arguably baseball (this is where it gets interesting in the bar) and similar games of skill aren't "sports"  

Second: any activity involving machines or animals is not a "sport."  Human performance alone must determine the outcome of the event.  Thus car and horse racing are not sports.  I love sailing but it isn't a "sport"  

Third: (and this is where the Olympics always come into play) any activity where a "judge" determines the winner is not a "sport."    So diving figure skating most of the skiing events except for the slalom and downhill and jumping,  where the winner is determined by a "score" awarded by a group of "judges"  are NOT sports.  

I often say that Bob Hayes had the ugliest stride ever for a sprinter.  The "judges" would have never awarded him anything even though all he did was beat everyone down the track in the 100 meters by a yard and a half.  

That's always good for at least an hour of heavy debate and several beers at the  bar.  

blue I kinda disagree with you. I think sports that require good hand eye coordination and have pressure to succeed are sports, most athletics are the ability to come through under pressure such as Golf , Bowling and baseball. you seem to only like the sports where God given talent is the key and not the one where you work at getting better. I tend to like sports that if your athletic and use your brain you can excel at. and before you get rude and say that I like these because I wasn't any good at the others. I played 3 sports in High school played college baseball and I played softball, fast pitch at the class "A" level.

flabluefan1 wrote:

I have a favorite rant that works best over beers and pizza at a loud bar.  IMO in order for an activity to qualify as a "sport,"  it must

First: require cardio fitness for one to be good at it.   Thus bowling, golf, pool, arguably baseball (this is where it gets interesting in the bar) and similar games of skill aren't "sports"  

Second: any activity involving machines or animals is not a "sport."  Human performance alone must determine the outcome of the event.  Thus car and horse racing are not sports.  I love sailing but it isn't a "sport"  

Third: (and this is where the Olympics always come into play) any activity where a "judge" determines the winner is not a "sport."    So diving figure skating most of the skiing events except for the slalom and downhill and jumping,  where the winner is determined by a "score" awarded by a group of "judges"  are NOT sports.  

I often say that Bob Hayes had the ugliest stride ever for a sprinter.  The "judges" would have never awarded him anything even though all he did was beat everyone down the track in the 100 meters by a yard and a half.  

That's always good for at least an hour of heavy debate and several beers at the  bar.  

Are you saying that this isn't a sport?

No it isn't. Not saying it doesn't require great physical ability, but if some judge decides who wins, it isn't a sport. The Downhill is a sport. Whoever gets down the hill the fastest wins. Speed skating is a sport whoever goes around the track the fastest wins. Figure skating is not a sport.

Hail not saying that golf or bowling don't require great hand eye coordination and skill. So does pool. All require the ability to remain cool under pressure. So does poker.

All the above are games of skill, not sports. Just my opinion of course but as I say it makes for some great debates over pizza and beer.

Well, one thing Flablue, there is absolutely going to be some discussion on this.

That's what this forum is for isn't it?

Baseball is the interesting one for your criteria. Out of shape guys have excelled but on the whole I would say it's still a big advantage to be very fit.

wshoes wrote:

Baseball is the interesting one for your criteria. Out of shape guys have excelled but on the whole I would say it's still a big advantage to be very fit.

You'll always have a CC Sabathia and a Bartolo Colon. But they are the exceptions. These guys work out and hit all year long.

I agree. As an old retired trial lawyer who loves to argue anything, I'll argue either side in the bar depending on whether the others think baseball is a sport or not. Usually they say it is and I argue it isn't, but if I'm honest I agree that fitness certainly is a benefit for any baseball player, as it is for any golfer these days. Woods in his day was very fit. So was Nicklaus. Before then though you had Julie Boros and others chuffing cigarettes while lining up their putts. Get me in the bar though and I'll deny what I just said for the sake of argument!

flablue, I have nothing but mad respect for you but you need to look deeper at your stance. Judging is nowhere near as arbitrary as you think, at least at higher levels. Judging is so technical at the higher levels it's just not like scores are given out willy-nilly. And yes there is a speed component involved in moguls. That is a substantial portion of your score. Seriously, look at the terrain that they are skiing. Look at the speed in which they are traveling. Look at the gymnastic ability required to do those aerial maneuvers. You need extreme agility to turn that fast, to absorb those bumps.

They're not running back and forth on a dry court bouncing a ball and throwing the ball through a hole. It's a Hell of a lot more athletic than that.

flabluefan1 wrote:

I agree.  As an old retired trial lawyer who loves to argue anything, I'll argue either side in the bar depending on whether the others think baseball is a sport or not.  Usually they say it is and I argue it isn't, but if I'm honest I agree that fitness certainly is a benefit for any baseball player, as it is for any golfer these days.  Woods in his day was very fit.  So was Nicklaus.  Before then though you had Julie Boros and others chuffing cigarettes while lining up their putts.  Get me in the bar though and I'll deny what I just said for the sake of argument!    

There's a classic photo of Arnie and Hogan at a golf tournament where they are both smoking while they watch a third golfer putt. There is also one where guys are smoking DURING the Tour de France.

I LOVE IT! A real discussion without idiot trolls! Bo, back before my back and both knees gave out I was a ski patrol. I know very well what it takes to do those moguls. I have nothing but the greatest respect for those kids and their skills. They are fun to watch. At my very best I couldn't touch them. IMO and with the greatest respect you're confusing athletic skills with sports competition. The slam dunk contest at the NBA all star game isn't a sport. It's highly entertaining and requires the greatest athletic skills but its not sport again IMO which is totally my self created criteria for use at bars over pizza and beer. To me a sport has to have a non qualitative basis to determine who wins or loses. How many football or basketball games have we seen where the "better team" lost because the other team had more points?

Yes every sport has some "judging element" to it. Baseball has the umps calling balls and strikes. That's one of my arguments that baseball isn't a sport, but its not a good one IMO. There's a difference between having refs and umps making calls that hopefully keep the game within the rules and "judges" who absolutely decide who wins or loses. I know that there are supposedly strict guidelines that the judges must follow but all you have to do is listen to the commentators discuss how some judges favor some things more than others etc etc.

So whether an event is a sport or not I'll still enjoy it or not depending on other factors, but if it doesn't fit my self created criteria, its not a "sport."

Hey this is almost as fun as being at a bar. The beer and pizza aren't as good though! Thanks.

I love these arguments.  

What defines a sport though?  I think racing is a sport by definition, but obviously, the drivers are not athletes.  It's a competition of engineers, mechanics, and drivers.  (One I have no interest in btw.)

I think figure skating is an event, and the skaters are definitely athletes, but is it a sport?

Gymnastics -athletes in an athletic event.  Maybe not a sport.

Ballet - It's hard to argue that these aren't elite athletes.  Is it a sport though?  

Golf - it's a sport, but not always the greatest athletes. lol

Bobsled - Sport with athletes (even though it's stupid imo, but fun to watch for five minutes.)

Baseball - sport that doesn't always require perfect athleticism.

Anyway, we could go down the list.  So what is defines a sport and what defines an athlete?  

But Flablue, there are umpires that change the course of games with calls. There are football referees that everyone knows call more penalties than others.

The officiating in those are subjective.

Maybe we should talk about the Highland Games or the World's Strongest Man competition where the only judging is how much you lift, pull, puse and throw?

To play devil's advocate, football rules are so gray and inconsistent. Holding, defensive PI, or defensive holding aren't called consistently enough. This is essentially judging and no different than figure skating judging.

Ditto goes for hoops with fouls, illegal screens, traveling in the NBA, etc.

I think the rules in football need to be updated with holding. Either don't let OL use their hands at all, or let them hold.

PI: There is no such thing as "let them play." Where did this bullshit come from -"let them play?" PI is PI, so call it like it used to be called.

Same thing in hoops. A foul is a foul, there is no "let them play."

joe wrote:

But Flablue, there are umpires that change the course of games with calls. There are football referees that everyone knows call more penalties than others.

The officiating in those are subjective.

Maybe we should talk about the Highland Games or the World's Strongest Man competition where the only judging is how much you lift, pull, puse and throw?

+999999999999999

Thank you so much.  That "game" which I do not care for is quite possibly the most subjective thing ever.  A foul is a foul against one person but not against another.  Someone mentioned it earlier but a EURO step?  I can compare people who attempt to justify traveling as a EURO step to that of Trump with his "Alternative facts".

So tell me this, if refs weren't such a large portion of that "activity" why were all of the Michigan fans complaining over that call at the end of the Michigan-Purdue game?  IT'S SUBJECTIVE!  Find a new argument flablue.

+99999999999999 to you too mgoblue93

***I'm placing myself under suspicion, I watched the Team Mens Freeskate on TV tonight.

As I said refs can often influence the outcome of the contest, rightfully or wrongfully. But there is a huge difference between making a call that influences the outcome and actually deciding the outcome.

For football or hoops to be like figure skating or freestyle skiing you would have the two football teams or hoops teams play for an hour without keeping track of how many touchdowns or buckets were made on either side. At the end of the hour the "judges" would decide who won based of course upon very stringent guidelines such as time of possession, yards gained, turnovers for and against. field position etc etc. or in hoops rebounds fouls committed etc. i.e. who played the "better" game. You could decide the game based upon the boxscore.

Bottom line is that without an objective criteria to decide who wins or loses, such as points scored, it's not a sport.

flabluefan1 wrote:

Bottom line is that without an objective criteria to decide who wins or loses, such as points scored, it's not a sport.      

Uh, there is objective criteria. Those scores are made up of points awarded. Refs have a direct impact on the game which affects the outcome. Judges who MUST follow a very strict set of rules which are DEFINED. It is quite obvious that sports such as the "activity" which I will not call by name and football are subjective as players get away with stuff all of the time either by crooked referees or refs who claim "I must have missed it."

Using your argument I could very well make the argument that football and the ADHD activity are not real sports. I like football but not that other "thing" but I still respect it enough to call it a sport.