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The Summer Olympics
patrickl:
--- Quote from: billf on August 14, 2008, 01:54:30 pm ---
--- Quote from: patrickl on August 14, 2008, 03:03:44 am ---I always wonder what these people will do when they are too "old" to compete when they reach their late thirties. They have no education, no job experience and no income from sports anymore. What do you do then?
--- End quote ---
Can't say for sure, but I believe that many of the athletes on the US Olympic team are currently enrolled in college or are going to be going to college. Michael Phelps went to University of Michigan and study sports marketing and management. I was just watching Women's Sabre and the three women on the team were all in college. I know they mentioned that many of the gymnast's (men and women) on the US team are in college.
--- End quote ---
American athletes perhaps. For athletes from poor countries that's not the case.
On Dutch TV they decided to show the "person behind the medal". So for instance they showed this high jumping female and her family at home. It looked like the place Borat came from.
billf:
--- Quote from: pinballjim on August 14, 2008, 09:02:00 pm ---Well, here in America, NBC shows non-stop stories about how all the athletes are heroes and have overcome tragedy and made profound sacrifices that we can never understand because their dying grandfather told them he wanted them to be the best beach volleyball player the world had ever seen the very instant before he shuffled off the mortal coil.
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Not sure what Olympic coverage you're watching, but I've seen maybe a handful of those kinds of stories. I've watched every night except the opening ceremonies (only caught a little bit of the opening). Although I do agree that the Winter Olympic coverage is notorious for these "fluff" stories - my guess is they don't have enough winter events to fill the tv air time they have available.
SavannahLion:
--- Quote from: billf on August 14, 2008, 11:12:57 pm ---Although I do agree that the Winter Olympic coverage is notorious for these "fluff" stories - my guess is they don't have enough winter events to fill the tv air time they have available.
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I always thought it was a bit like baseball. Five minutes of action stuffed into five whole hours.
Just kidding, I like the winter Olympics more than the summers. I wasn't sure of the counts and I was kind of lazy to research it so.... checking up on Wikipedia, Winter Olympics have 15 sports whereas the Summer Olympics (this year) have 28 sports. So yeah, sounds like your guess might be right.
hypernova:
Am I the only one disgusted with the way the softball was set up? Taken from the official Olympics site:
--- Quote ---Page System Playoff
The Page System shall comprise of two semi-finals, one final and one grand final.
The Page System will take place over two competition days. The two semi-finals and the final will be played on the second to the last day and the grand final will be played on the last day.
First semi-final: The teams ranked third and fourth in the round robin shall play for a place in the final; the loser is the fourth.
Second semi-final: The teams ranked first and second in the round robin will play for a place in the grand final; the loser will play in the final.
Final: The winner of the first semi-final and the loser of the second semi-final shall play for the second place in the grand final; the loser is the third.
Grand final: The winner of the second semi-final and the winner of the final will play for the first place; the loser is the second.
--- End quote ---
So two other teams play in the 1st semifinal. The 3rd seed plays the 4 seed. Australia won against Canada.
USA plays Japan in the 2nd semifinal. 1 seed versus 2 seed. We win. In the grand final.
Stupid, right? It gets even better!
Japan then plays Australia in the "Final." Japan beats the Aussies. Then Japan plays us in the "Grand Final" and wins.
We're out. Gold medal-Japan. We get silver.
I see. Ignoring the fact that we got the short end of the stick on this deal, this setup ensures that the #1 or #2 seeds get an extra shot at the title. But at the same time, when #1 beats #2 (or vice-versa,) assuming they win the next game, they get another shot to beat the team they lost to. In Japan's case...the third time's the charm. (We beat them in the round robin, too.) How does this make any sense? Now I know that if your team is the best, you should be able to win the big game...but once again, at the same time, you give a reasonably decent team enough chances against another, better team, they're going to win at some point.
What moron(s) came up with that elimination setup? No wonder it's being eliminated from the Olympics.
Stupid...Well, at least we essentially stole a gold from Brazil in soccer.
Dartful Dodger:
Did USA play two games and Japan 3?
If so the winner of the two top seeds had a better advantage than having the two top seeds play two games each.
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