Are you watching the Olympics?

[CheezeFlixz]

I'm not a big sports fan, but I do love the Olympics. I boarder on being a junky. I ;like to see people do a sport for the love of it and not the payday.
Phelps winning 8 Gold Medals, awesome. (Sure he'll make a ton of cash, but he's coming back in 2012)
1-2-3 in the hurdles ... absolutely great.
The pixie Shaun Johnson in gymnastic, what a sweety.

But alas the IOC is cutting Baseball and Softball from the Olympics in 2012, why? Because the USA always WINS and that's not fair to other countries. The women softball is undefeated, not just this year but every year and only have allowed one run in this Olympics. (Congrads Canada and AndyC)
So if always winning is a reason to cut a sport then cut freakin' Badminton too! When was the last time a none Asian country won Badminton? More importantly why is Badminton a Olympic sport?

Come on Badminton (aka Shuttlecock)? Ranks right up there with the Winter Olympics sport of Curling (sorry Canada) Jeez, if there going to have Badminton and Curling then way not Bacchic Ball or Lawn Bowls. Maybe Olympic Scrabble or a rousing round of horseshoes. To cut Baseball and Softball just because the USA always wins is just childish, but over the years I've seen a lot of childish acts by the IOC, generally directed at the western countries. So much for being a good sport.

So anyway ... I enjoy the Olympics. But if the Chinese Gymnastic team are of legal age I'll eat my hat, nuff said on that.

EDIT: For some strange reason though, I've taken a real interest in Beach Vollyball.

[Jack]

I've been watching quite a bit of it.  Nothing else on, at least the Olympics are something different.  If they're cutting softball because the US always wins, that's ridiculous.  They should have gotten rid of gymnastics back when the Russians always had strong teams. 

The TV coverage is as lousy as possible.  Even with it in Beijing, meaning everything on during the day is pre-recorded, there's no chance to find out when your favorite sports are on, just "sometime in the next 8 hours".  Hell, you can't even tell that much.  You'll want to see something, but it's not listed.  Later you're channel surfing and it's on.  You're just in time to catch the last two minutes.  Better yet, I set my DVD recorder to record something today, but sometime after 10:00 last night they must have changed the schedule, so I ended up recording three hours of the local news and some other damned crap.

[lester1/2jr]

beach volleyball is great when they are not on an actual beach and can't possibly go swimming.


you'd think we were in brazil not the US with all the coverage brazillian womens teams are getting.  america is ass obsessed.  to such an extent that we watch keeping up with the kardashians,  one of them most pointless shows ever, in great numbers.

[CheezeFlixz]

I've been watching quite a bit of it.  Nothing else on, at least the Olympics are something different.  If they're cutting softball because the US always wins, that's ridiculous.  They should have gotten rid of gymnastics back when the Russians always had strong teams. 

The TV coverage is as lousy as possible.  Even with it in Beijing, meaning everything on during the day is pre-recorded, there's no chance to find out when your favorite sports are on, just "sometime in the next 8 hours".  Hell, you can't even tell that much.  You'll want to see something, but it's not listed.  Later you're channel surfing and it's on.  You're just in time to catch the last two minutes.  Better yet, I set my DVD recorder to record something today, but sometime after 10:00 last night they must have changed the schedule, so I ended up recording three hours of the local news and some other damned crap.

The coverage has been crap, I've been getting the schedule of the net and still it's wrong half the time, They're showing way to much Chinese quals, like 4 hours of the Chinese gymnast qualifications ... meanwhile Americans are winning Medals in other sports and you only know about it after you read the medal count. I could see showing Chinese gymnast qualifications if I was in China, which I'm not. Must be something NBC agreed to with the ChiComs in order to get coverage. They wasted a hour on some Chinese guy that drop out of the hurdles ... like this means anything to Joe American. Meanwhile American discus thrower was get the 1st American Gold in Women's discus in 90 years.

By far the biggest problem with coverage is it being spread out over about 10 channels, and you never know what on when.

[ulthar]

meanwhile Americans are winning Medals in other sports

Speaking of other sports, and here I mean just about anything other than beach volleyball, gymnastics and swimming, have you guys heard what happened in sailing - specifically, the 49er gold medal race?

Not heard much about this on the 'big press' either.

The Danish team was way ahead in the points going into the Final, but due to rough conditions on that day, they broke their mast on the way to the starting line.

The Croatian team, out of the race because they did not qualify for the finals, gave the Danes their boat to use.  There is a rule that you have only four minutes from the start to cross the starting line, and with the boat swap, the Danes made the start by only 3 seconds.

They then went on to place high enough to secure the Gold Medal.  Their win was contested, but the appeal failed.

Pretty big talk in sailing circles - the 'sportsmanship' of the Croatians.  Gary Jobson for one has called the Croatian 49er team a good contender for the 2008 Sportsmanship Medal.

Jobson's Article on the 490 Final

Contrast that with the pole vaulting coach that chewed out the girl for winning silver.

There's a WHOLE LOT of stuff going on with the Olympics, and we get Michael Phelps, Nastia Luiken (and her Dad) and Misty May and whats-her-name ad nauseum.

[Allhallowsday]

I've been watching, though some of the coverage is perplexing to me also. 

Also, how about the Swedish wrestler who dropped his Bronze medal and walked off during the award ceremony?   

[Mr_Vindictive]

I've been following it quite a bit this time.  I can't say I've ever really payed much attention to the Olympics, but it's quite riveting.  I try to catch them each night, and I watch them at the 911 center where I work.  We have a 50" plasma on the wall in the center and we have all been following it quite closely.

I'm not a sports fan by any means, and don't really watch much sports.  I've found the track and field, and diving to be the best of the Olympics so far.  As for just pure eye candy, I have to second Cheese's mention of beach volleyball.  That looks even better in HD.  :)

[akiratubo]

Nope.  Not in the least interested.

[dean]

I work with alot of Plasmas and LCDS around, and because we're only two hours ahead of China, everything is on during the day, which is fun fun fun.

I watch everynow and then, but don't care enough to slot some time aside to watch specific events, unless they just happen to be on.

Oh and tonight, Australia vs USA in the basketball mens!     Should we start taking bets?

[CheezeFlixz]

     Should we start taking bets?

You must like loosing money, unless you're betting on Team USA. 

Speaking of Basketball, I never liked Kobe Bryant, but the other night they interviewed him and IF he was being honest, then I'm truly impressed with his attitude.

I question some of the judging in some of the events, not just against my home country (USA) but in gymnastics I think a couple of the Romanian girls were robbed. I'm not saying the Chinese government put some pressure on some of the judges, but something is fishy with some of the scoring. Not only did the Chinese team look underage, but some of the scores they received were just flat out wrong, my sister who went to college on a gymnastic scholarship was going ballistic over some of the scoring.

But the IOC has a long history of corruption. They tend to play favorites and America (along with other western counties) are one of their least favorites, this is evident by the exclusion of Softball and Baseball in 2012, which the USA has never lost. However Ping Pong and Badminton are still there which the US has never medalled.

I watched a little sailing, had to stream it to watch it, not sure if any was on TV. I've set up 2 smaller LCD TV's to monitor other channels that are showing other events so I can quickly switch around on the big screen. The Olympics are really one of the few times you'll see me as a sports fan.

But there have been a lot of events that have been over exposed and others that you didn't even know about until someone medals in it.

Take cycling, I like that sport some of those guys can do 70+mph on a bicycle, wild to watch. The US rarely does any good but I still like it, it's dominated by the Brits pretty much. 

Overall the coverage has been fairly crappy, maybe it's the time change maybe it's some deal worked out with NBC and the ChiComs.

Edit: Remember the Olympics now have Cheerleaders .... this is a good thing.

[masterdebater]

Rule Brittania!

I'm in the U.K. and we are having the best Olympics for 100 years! Total domination in the cycling events, tons of medals in the sailing and rowing events and even a couple in the swimming and athletics competitions.
I just want everyone to cheer on Shanaze Reade in the women's BMX competition. She lives about a mile from me and is hot favourite for the gold.
I'm loving the Olympics this time and we are 3rd behind USA and China in the medal table.
Fantastic, go team GB!!!

[dean]

     Should we start taking bets?

You must like loosing money, unless you're betting on Team USA. 


But the IOC has a long history of corruption. They tend to play favorites and America (along with other western counties) are one of their least favorites, this is evident by the exclusion of Softball and Baseball in 2012, which the USA has never lost. However Ping Pong and Badminton are still there which the US has never medalled.

Well USA didn't do so well last Olympics in the basketball, so we're in with a chance [or a trouncing.]  To the winner goes the karma!   

I didn't know about the exclusion of softball and baseball, which is a shame, but sadly it's nowhere near as worldly a sport as Badminton or Table Tennis [which incidentally was the first sport to sell out at this year's Olympics.]  I bet if the US threw a bit of weight [and a bit more money] at either of those two sports, you'd do better in them. 

Australia is guaranteed a medal in the softball, so there's a possibility of another showdown with the US, but yeah your gals are short-priced favourites on that one. 

[Trevor]

I'm not a big sports fan, but I do love the Olympics. I boarder on being a junky. I ;like to see people do a sport for the love of it and not the payday.
Phelps winning 8 Gold Medals, awesome. (Sure he'll make a ton of cash, but he's coming back in 2012)
1-2-3 in the hurdles ... absolutely great.
The pixie Shaun Johnson in gymnastic, what a sweety.

But alas the IOC is cutting Baseball and Softball from the Olympics in 2012, why? Because the USA always WINS and that's not fair to other countries. The women softball is undefeated, not just this year but every year and only have allowed one run in this Olympics. (Congrads Canada and AndyC)
So if always winning is a reason to cut a sport then cut freakin' Badminton too! When was the last time a none Asian country won Badminton? More importantly why is Badminton a Olympic sport?

Come on Badminton (aka Shuttlecock)? Ranks right up there with the Winter Olympics sport of Curling (sorry Canada) Jeez, if there going to have Badminton and Curling then way not Bacchic Ball or Lawn Bowls. Maybe Olympic Scrabble or a rousing round of horseshoes. To cut Baseball and Softball just because the USA always wins is just childish, but over the years I've seen a lot of childish acts by the IOC, generally directed at the western countries. So much for being a good sport.

So anyway ... I enjoy the Olympics. But if the Chinese Gymnastic team are of legal age I'll eat my hat, nuff said on that.

EDIT: For some strange reason though, I've taken a real interest in Beach Vollyball.

No, I haven't watched any of it at all, been too busy. I have been keeping tabs on Michael Phelps' progress: with his winning a record 8 medals, he's a credit to his country. 

The South African team to date have only won one medal: proof positive that affirmative action in our sports teams does not work at all.

I would like to see a form of cricket played at the Olympics: the limited overs version was played at the Commonwealth Games and SA won a gold medal. The 20 over (120 balls) version of the game which is very fast and very exciting should also work well.

[CheezeFlixz]

Well USA didn't do so well last Olympics in the basketball, so we're in with a chance [or a trouncing.]  To the winner goes the karma!   

I didn't know about the exclusion of softball and baseball, which is a shame, but sadly it's nowhere near as worldly a sport as Badminton or Table Tennis [which incidentally was the first sport to sell out at this year's Olympics.]  I bet if the US threw a bit of weight [and a bit more money] at either of those two sports, you'd do better in them. 

Australia is guaranteed a medal in the softball, so there's a possibility of another showdown with the US, but yeah your gals are short-priced favourites on that one. 

The US and Japan had a good game yesterday, it was scoreless until to 9th inning (which is extra innings in softball) Finally in the 9th the US scored and then scored again with a 3 run homer, Japan scored in the bottom of the 9th which is the first time the US was scored on in this Olympics.
If the Olympics  are in Tokyo or Chicago in 2016, they say they'll bring softball back as the sport is fairly huge in both countries. I know Japan has one of the best womens league in the world. So do the Aussies and the Canadians. It's catching on in Europe as more and more countries are picking it up. It's really a slap to womens athletics to cut it.

The South African team to date have only won one medal: proof positive that affirmative action in our sports teams does not work at all.

I would like to see a form of cricket played at the Olympics: the limited overs version was played at the Commonwealth Games and SA won a gold medal. The 20 over (120 balls) version of the game which is very fast and very exciting should also work well.

Trevor ... 1 name, Natalie du Toit she didn't medal but she did make it to the Olympics as a swimmer, with one leg. Getting to the Olympics is a amazing feat, doing it on one leg is even more so.


Long ago Cricket was played in the Olympics I think one year, I say play it too. Hell, in 1900 they played Croquet. I doubt the USA would do any good I don't know of one single Cricket field in the US, or team, or player for that matter. I do know we have lawn bowls and I play Bacchi on occasion, now that would be a good Olympic sport as most of the people that I know that play are over 80 years old.

But having 1 Silver in Long jump is better than Gold in Badminton ...

edit: typo