OLYMPICS OPEN THREAD

flabluefan1 wrote:

...I was a ski patrol.

Oh so you were a "snow-pig"? Where at?

watching Men figure skating the USA guy does a complete program nearly perfect, yet the Canadian does quads and falls and he leads talkin to Others they said its because of the Quad, so if you doi Quads and fall once you win WTF ???

Bo I got my ski patrol badge at the tiny Grand Haven ski area. I'd patrol there during the week after school. On weekends we'd usually go up to Caberfae or the now defunct Manistee areas since they were fairly close. Went to Boyne a couple times too. If you had your patrol badge and agreed to be a patrol while you skied you skied for free. Good deal for this poor high school kid!

Later when I was at the Coast Guard Academy the Navy Sub Base across the Thames river had a ski lodge up in the middle of the Vermont ski area that for some reason the Navy people never used. We snatched it up pretty much every weekend we could! We'd invite as many young ladies as we could get to come with us scrounge as much beer as we could afford and ski all day and have fun all night!

Vermont and New Hampshire skiing is a LOT tougher than Michigan skiing . Colorado skiing is the apex.

flabluefan1 wrote:

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.  

I'm definitely going with you on this one, FBF.  I've long played tennis, AMATEURISHLY.  And little respect as I've long had for Johnny Mac (until he traded his racquet for a mic: he IS an excellent commentator, even if he talks TOO often), I have to wholeheartedly defend his statement about golf (vs. tennis): "Hey, to qualify as a 'sport', shouldn't you have to RUN once in a while?"

Of course, at the higher levels of tennis, you have to run MOST of the time...versus in golf, NONE.

Hell, you see bulging waistlines in the final rounds of every major golf tournament (on the course, as well as behind the ropes). How many ATP or WTA players are fat????

As for baseball, I'll reserve judgment, as I pitched for U-M briefly. However, it's interesting that the greatest (arguably) baseball player of all time, Babe Ruth, was a ravenous, imbibing BLOB.  But the greatest (in terms of every statistic measurable, as well as longevity) PITCHER of all time, Nolan Ryan, was among the FITTEST athletes in any sport of all time.  One end of the spectrum to the other.

Speaking of skiing, I was not aware that Army vets of the 10th Mountain Division were responsible for setting up 62 US ski resorts including in Vale and in Aspen.  According to this link, they essentially created the entire US ski industry.

Interesting to me because my great uncle was in the 10th mountain division and served in the Korean Conflict.  I also love to ski...been to Keystone in Colorado, upstate NY, NH, and Crystal Mountain in the WA Cascades.

https://snowbrains.com/10th-mountain-division-history-fire-mountain/

Not to get too far off the subject, but I wonder if my all-time favorite dead song, "Fire on the Mountain" has something to do with this:

mgoblue93 wrote:

Not to get too far off the subject, but I wonder if my all-time favorite dead song, "Fire on the Mountain" has something to do with this:

lol, did you know that my name on other websites is DEDHED?

I have a hard time picking a favorite song.

There's a great book about the 10th division training for WWII out in Colorado. Can't recall the name of it of curse. Stein Ericson was one of the instructors and of course founded Aspen or Vail again can't recall which.

joe wrote:

mgoblue93 wrote:

Not to get too far off the subject, but I wonder if my all-time favorite dead song, "Fire on the Mountain" has something to do with this:

lol, did you know that my name on other websites is DEDHED?

I have a hard time picking a favorite song.

I did not know that lol...mgoblog?

I don't know if I have a favorite either, but I guess that would be it...so many great songs though. Another favorite:

flabluefan1 wrote:

There's a great book about the 10th division training for WWII out in Colorado.  Can't recall the name of it of curse.  Stein Ericson was one of the instructors and of course founded Aspen or Vail again can't recall which.  

After researching this i feel stupid not knowing it. I have a lot of family and friends who live on the slopes in CO, and several have worked ski patrol; so if they knew this, theyve never mentioned it to me.

The book sounds interesting though.

The book I read is called The Last Ridge. It tracks the 10th Mountain Div from its beginnings on a totally uncivilized mountain in Colorado to the mountains of Northern Italy where they successfully attacked and defeated the Germans who were entrenched on top of one of the mountains up there.

In looking up the title of the book I read I came across Climb To Conquor whhich is another book about the same subject. I haven't read that one but its now on my list.

I'm surprised no one has brought up IMO the most difficult "event" to catagorize: BOXING! Clearly meets my first two criteria: Human only. Requires great cardio fitness. BUT does it have an objective way to decide the winner? SOMETIMES. If the fight ends in a knockout or even a TKO, there is a clear winner. How many times though have big fights been decided by "judges" decisions? Worse how many big fights have been decided by SPLIT decisions? Three people watching the exact same fight and only two of the three can agree on who won? So using my criteria boxing is only a sport when the fight is decided by a KO or TKO and otherwise not....that's pretty bad. I haven't found a way to resolve my self created dilemma about boxing. I suspect that it will solve itself since any event in which the object is to cause potentially life threatening brain damage to one's foe is one that needs to be banned. Back in the day I loved watching ALi who was simply magnificent. But seeing him in later life old before his time and mumbling and shaking ended boxing for me. Hopefullu the "sport" will self destruct.

Hey, fbf, what about cycling (ie: bikes, non-steroid division). I ride 2-3,000 miles a year and marvel at the endurance, strength, and sheer guts of long-distance bike riders. Maybe not the best sport for spectators, and maybe the riders are using machines, but they are the only source of power for those machines. I spend my July nights watching coverage of Le Tour de France.
Also, speaking of not counting as "sport" activities that are unduly influenced by referees and officials, what do you think about a "sport" where a referee, based solely on a subjective view/interpretation of a player's conduct, has the power to force the offending player or players out of a contest for up to two, or even as long as five, minutes, causing the other team to play at a disadvantage (short-handed, as one might say). Isn't that even worse than the influence refs/officials can have on baseball, football, or BASKETball? In those sports, a player can get thrown out of a game, but the entire team isn't forced to play while outnumbered. Jus' sayin'...!

Cycling is without doubt a sport. Meets all the criteria. No question about it at all. AGain I'm not saying that the refs in many sports can't wrongly infuence the outcome of a sporting event. But even after the hockey ref puts a guy in the box the power play team still has to score to take advantage of it. In figure skating the ref would say " I award a goal to X team because of the penalty committed by the player for Y team." Even in the horrendous UM OSU game two years ago, OSU still had to score to win the game after the bad call. In figure skating the refs would have said "OSU wins" and that would have been it.

There is still a huge difference between the refs influencing the outcome and deciding the outcome.

Last week the Red Wings had a five-minute match penalty called that cost them a player not only for the quickly ensuing goal, but for the THREE (3) goals that followed, giving up a 5-2 lead and losing the game.

Wow, moguls has come a long way since I skied competitively. I didn't look that hard for the entire finals but I'm sure that it's out there. I watched it on the NBCsports app if you are interested. There were a lot of crashes this year.

I was able to find the Gold Medal run, it is amazing.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/mikael-kingsbury-isnt-second-anymore-wins-gold-moguls

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2758940-olympic-freestyle-skiing-schedule-2018-live-stream-for-mens-moguls

flabluefan1 wrote:

Cycling is without doubt a sport.  Meets all the criteria.  No question about it at all.  AGain I'm not saying that the refs in many sports can't  wrongly infuence the outcome of a sporting event.  But even after the hockey ref puts a guy in the box the power play team still has to score to take advantage of it.  In figure skating the ref would say " I award a goal to X team because of the penalty committed by the player for Y team."  Even in the horrendous UM OSU game two years ago, OSU still had to score to win the game after the bad call.  In figure skating the refs would have said "OSU wins"  and that would have been it.  

There is still a huge difference between the refs influencing the outcome and deciding the outcome.      

FBF, applying your distinction (the refs influencing vs. deciding an outcome) to the 2016 M-OSU game is a red herring.
Granted that OSU still had to score after the bad call of a first down, which points to "influencing". But had the refs
called it correctly [fourth down stop], it (correctly) DECIDES the outcome: Game over, Michigan wins, there and then.

michmike wrote:

flabluefan1 wrote:

Cycling is without doubt a sport.  Meets all the criteria.  No question about it at all.  AGain I'm not saying that the refs in many sports can't  wrongly infuence the outcome of a sporting event.  But even after the hockey ref puts a guy in the box the power play team still has to score to take advantage of it.  In figure skating the ref would say " I award a goal to X team because of the penalty committed by the player for Y team."  Even in the horrendous UM OSU game two years ago, OSU still had to score to win the game after the bad call.  In figure skating the refs would have said "OSU wins"  and that would have been it.  

There is still a huge difference between the refs influencing the outcome and deciding the outcome.      

FBF, applying your distinction (the refs influencing vs. deciding an outcome) to the 2016 M-OSU game is a red herring.
Granted that OSU still had to score after the bad call of a first down, which points to "influencing". But had the refs
called it correctly [fourth down stop], it (correctly) DECIDES the outcome: Game over, Michigan wins, there and then.

I think the point is though, that certain sports are 100% dependent on judging (figure skating and boxing sans a KO/TKO,) whereas a large percentage of team sport outcomes: football/hoops/hockey/etc...rely much less on the officiating element, and more on the athletes on the field.

And to your example, we did get shafted by the refs, but we also fumbled on the goal line and shafted ourselves with other plays. To borrow, FLB's example, if it were OSU vs UM in figure skating the judges would just say, "OSU wins." lol

I've been digging half-pipe. Those kids are crazy.

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I still don't understand how you are thinking that judges are using solely subjective means to arrive at their score. No, they have a specific portion of the run which to determine the portion of the score that they judge. They have very specific criteria that they must follow.

And another argument. In football you have ten other people on the field with you to cover-up mistakes. Baseball ou have 8 other players, and so on with other sports. Mogul skiing all eyes are on you alone. You are responsible for everything. There is no hiding, there is no holding back, you can't just concentrate on one specific portion of the sport.

Wolverdog wrote:

I've been digging half-pipe.  Those kids are crazy.

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Sean White just killed it for the gold!! Amazing sport decided by judges! lol

mgoblue93 wrote:

Wolverdog wrote:

I've been digging half-pipe.  Those kids are crazy.

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Sean White just killed it for the gold!! Amazing sport decided by judges! lol

And gee wow, the judges were right. Thank God there were not any referees to call phantom penalties....

the artist formally known wrote:

Iowa could be called for a moving screen every damn time down the floor. Cook practically threw Robinson to the floor on 1 rebound . pushing in  the back , down low.

SUBJECTIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least Michigan won't be forced to play at a numerical disadvantage, subjective or not.

Technically they could be if enough players foul out....

The snow board competition where 6 people go down the hill racing each other is really cool and most definitely a sport. The bronze medalist was on her butt but got across the line microseconds ahead of the US lady. No judges needed. Gotta be devastating to go 4 Olympics without a medal even though you are one of the best in the World. Dedicate all of your youhful life and a big part of your adult life and come away empty at least as far as the Olympics are concerned. Whoever came up with "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" sure got it right.

flabluefan1 wrote:

The snow board competition where 6 people go down the hill racing each other is really cool and most definitely a sport.  The bronze medalist was on her butt but got across the line microseconds ahead of the US lady.  No judges needed.  Gotta be devastating to go 4 Olympics without a medal even though you are one of the best in the World.  Dedicate all of your youhful life and a big part of your adult life and come away empty at least as far as the Olympics are concerned.  Whoever came up with "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"  sure got it right.  

The hypocrisy of your post knows no bounds. The event which you are talking about is known as "The NASCAR of snowboarding". In your own definition you stated that NASCAR is not a sport but then you call Snowboard cross a sport. Funny, we called that a "Chinese downhill" back in the day (granted a very non-PC name).

Bo 2.0 wrote:

flabluefan1 wrote:

The snow board competition where 6 people go down the hill racing each other is really cool and most definitely a sport.  The bronze medalist was on her butt but got across the line microseconds ahead of the US lady.  No judges needed.  Gotta be devastating to go 4 Olympics without a medal even though you are one of the best in the World.  Dedicate all of your youhful life and a big part of your adult life and come away empty at least as far as the Olympics are concerned.  Whoever came up with "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"  sure got it right.  

The hypocrisy of your post knows no bounds.  The event which you are talking about is known as "The NASCAR of snowboarding".  In your own definition you stated that NASCAR is not a sport but then you call Snowboard cross a sport.  Funny, we called that a "Chinese downhill" back in the day (granted a very non-PC name).

You might be taking this thread a little too seriously.

flabluefan1 wrote:

The snow board competition where 6 people go down the hill racing each other is really cool and most definitely a sport.  The bronze medalist was on her butt but got across the line microseconds ahead of the US lady.  No judges needed.  Gotta be devastating to go 4 Olympics without a medal even though you are one of the best in the World.  Dedicate all of your youhful life and a big part of your adult life and come away empty at least as far as the Olympics are concerned.  Whoever came up with "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"  sure got it right.  

I loved that event!  My son compared it to the men's downhill, and complained that someone could crash into "you" taking you out.  So I said, "this is true, but at least we don't have to wait around and compare times,...because we know who places right away."  Not to take away from his point.  

Perfect event for the xgamers, who im sure have no problem racing together like that.  Fun to watch!