Olympics Opening Ceremonies
Did anyone watch the opening ceremonies this afternoon. I caught the first hour and it looked amazing. I hope to catch the replay tonight while online. I hope Canada brings in a 30 medals. Higher then the 19-25 they are predicting. Hope we can post all olympic converstaion here.
GO CANADA GO
GO CANADA GO
Comments
It was right around that time I got into cards.
Didn't have a clue what you were talking about until I realized your location is in Vancouver. I moved from there almost one year prior to the games. Had no interest in being there. Wasn't sure what was going to happen as Vancouver has a habit of blowing up large events.
I hate the olympics, and didn't watch the ceremonies. I'm assuming that there were no attacks / invasions (alien or otherwise) / illuminati reveals that some of the more "Alcan headwear" crowd were expecting?
Mark
So just out of curiousity Mark, why would you hate the Olympics? Maybe just a hastily made choice of words. While I'm not a huge fan, I don't mind watching some of the events. At least the ones that don't bore the shit out of me.
Didn't watch the opening ceremonies. Did dl them for the wife so she can watch without commercials in HD.
"Alcan headware" Very nice! No, didn't hear of any surprises but I'm sure there are about 3X10^6 undercover cops everywhere.
i personally don't like the olympics simply because of the amount of money used for them. perhaps if all these countries could get together and instead of spending millions (probably billions) on athlete training and stadiums and whatnot, they could use all that money to, oh i don't know, feed the poor or relieve third world debt or provide clean drinking water for those who need it etc.
just imagine if every four years every country involved in the olympics donated or spent a shit ton of money on helping the less fortunate instead of competing against each other for meaningless medals? now that would be something.
that being said, i do enjoy country vs. country in athletic competitions at what is probably the highest level. i'm a very competitive person and i can't help but respect that.
To address trigs first: I'm not sure how the economics quite work out, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's actually some way that more money generated by investing in the athletes and the games. I'm sure darb will tell us that's because of Hitler, Einstein, Bruce Lee, and "the jews" keeping us down.
As for the Olympics, I have two main gripes. First, is actually related to Trigs's complaint about money. The Olympics are not a celebration of athletic accomplishment and national pride for the medal winners. Individually, sure, they can say they're best in the world, but nations can't. The richer nations will always do well. USA, Russia, etc. will always have an inflated medal count, not because they have the best athletes, but they have the best incentives. Why would someone born in some minor, poor country represent that nation, when if they represent 'merica, they get the Oscar Meyer endorsement deal when they win? Canadians were all "Woohoo Canada" when Donovan Bailey won, but the dude's Jamaican. I'd be better at ease if the rules said you had to represent the country of your birth.
Second, and I don't know the breakdown of numbers here, a large percentage of the events are not what I consider sports. Athletic, for sure, but a sport is one in which there is a clear winner IMO. No arbitrary panel of judges (figure skating, diving, syncro swimming, etc.). If I put the ball in the net more than you? I win. If I get from A->B in less time? I win. An argument I personally enjoy is the fact that if we consider any "panel judge" competition a sport, then pro wrestling should be in the Olympics.
From Wikipedia: A sport or discipline is included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries that compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport's prevalence. The IOC's requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well — more stringent toward men (as they are represented in higher numbers) and Summer sports (as more nations compete in the Summer Olympics).
It also states that it requires an international governing body. If WWE/TNA/ROH (which all use fairly standardized "rules"), were to form such a body with the AJPW/ New Japan, as well as some of the Mexican federations, that would IMO constitute an international body.
Further, how does one "win" at pro wrestling when it's all scripted? Well, let's compare to figure skating, and again from Wiki:
- Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. (that last part is basically saying "Acrobatic body movements", and a little further on they legit say "The sport is also associated with Show Business")
- In singles and pairs figure skating competition, competitors must perform two programs, the short program, in which the skater must complete a list of required elements consisting of jumps, spins and steps; and the free skate, also known as the long program, in which the skaters have slightly more choice of elements. Under both the 6.0 system and the ISU Judging System, the judges consider the "complete package" when evaluating performances, i.e. The best jumper is not always placed first if the judges consider another skater's speed, spins, etc., to outweigh the difference in jumping execution. (Okay, so they have certain "spots" they have to hit, but then also have some leeway to show off)
- Skating was formerly judged for "technical merit" (in the free skate), "required elements" (in the short program), and "presentation" (in both programs). The marks for each program ran from 0.0 to 6.0, the latter being the highest. These marks were used to determine a preference ranking, or "ordinal", separately for each judge; the judges' preferences were then combined to determine placements for each skater in each program. The placements for the two programs were then combined, with the free skate placement weighted more heavily than the short program. The highest placing individual (based on the sum of the weighted placements) was declared the winner. (This is the older scoring system apparently, but basically you get judged on "Bits you had to do", "How good you did them" and "How much flair you put in them" - any 'rasslin fan could put together a list of required components such as near falls, heel tactics, hot tag, face comeback, reversals, power demonstration, and finish).
- Under the new system, points are awarded individually for each skating element, and the sum of these points is the total element score (TES). Competitive programs are constrained to have a set number of elements. Each element is judged first by a technical specialist who identifies the specific element and determines its base value. The technical specialist uses instant replay video to verify things that distinguish different elements; e.g., the exact foot position at take-off and landing of a jump. The decision of the technical specialist determines the base value of the element. A panel of twelve judges then each award a mark for the quality and execution of the element. This mark is called the grade of execution (GOE) that is an integer from −3 to +3. The GOE mark is then translated into another value by using the table of values in ISU rule 322. The GOE value from the twelve judges is then processed with a computerized random selection of nine judges, then discarding the high and low value, and finally averaging the remaining seven. This average value is then added to (or subtracted from) the base value to get the total value for the element.[5]
The program components score (PCS) awards points to holistic aspects of a program or other nuances that are not rewarded in the total element score. The components are:
skating skills (SS),
transitions (TR),
performance/execution (PE),
choreography (CH),
interpretation (IN).
(Sounds similar, if a bit more specific, but again, a case can be made).
Well, this got longer than I thought... and I'm not actually advocating for WWE style wrestling in the olympics. I'd rather see any arbitrary sports disappear. You hear about these conflicts where a judge was bought off, and make an analogy to a blown call by a ref - instant replay video for that takes care of most. When figure skating finds that a judge clearly was cheating, their solution? Okay, TWO teams won. Huh?
Mark
EDIT: i may change my mind if we developed some sort of computer program with video capture that can actually record and gauge exactly what the athletes are doing. humans just watching on the sidelines is not adequate.
Ivet Lalova, female sprinter good start from her back - YouTube
this seriously distracted me enough to bust my last tournament.
Michelle Jenneke and her sexy pre-run routine : theCHIVE
Mark
shes underage, a "junior"
sorry, im not a sick fuck.
Ooh.. so close to getting me there!! But...
Junior world championships are for 19 years or younger (Link)
Born 23 June, 1993 and the Barcelona video was in July 2012 - makes her 19... (Link)so close to getting me that time Fed.
Keep trying though!
Mark
Google Image Result for http://megapack.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Allison-Stokke-Hot-Wallpapers-For-Mobile-1.jpg
best of all, she knows her way around a pole.
pole vault ok
archery ok
shooting ban
sailing ban
equestrian ban
and baseball should be back in.
Well yes, but they don't judge the performance of players against one another.
Remember that lots of other sports use officials to keep the game going (basketball, soccer, tennis, etc)
the only thing that makes baseball a sport is drunken fans.
Hey now! I resemble that! Actually I've been to 5 or 6 games this year and haven't bought one beer!
I think straight target shooting shouldn't be in the Olympics, but sport that incorporate shooting with other physical activities is OK. Guns would make figure skating better also, IMO
Because the human is not providing the power. Shooting may take skill but it doesn't require any athleticsm. One competitor this year was pregnant. Also the technology makes a huge difference in shooting. Now if it was dueling at 10 paces, then we would be out of competitors after one Olympics. Problem solved.
Holy fack.
Best. Idea. Ever!
I heard about this too...
And she's something like 34 weeks along, and doctors don't want her flying after 35 weeks, so she isn't staying for closing ceremonies. This is hardly what I'd call athleticism.
Mark