The Winter Olympics

[FUDU]

Short track speed skating is awesome, any other fans out there?

So many different angles to strategy and so many different ways to approach the physical aspect of the sport.

Yeah, I freakin' love short track. It was great watching Ohno last night.

There's never a dull moment as the skaters can go from last to first in 1 lap. The relays especially are insane. I don't know how they can ever get through a race without half of the teams crashing.

And why the hell is Korea so good?

I truly think size can play a significant role for a short track skater. Being so tiny can lead to some key advantages since the track is short (the short track almost voids the power and speed a bigger skater could generate).

I'm no Nascar fan but I imagine short track skating is akin to Nascar racing at a short track.

[FUDU]

Question, why are we historically so bleh at the sledding sports?

[leadpipe]

Question, why are we historically so bleh at the sledding sports?

Combination of climate, and to what effort we they put into engineering the sleds than certain parts of the world. The Germans, for instance produce the finest sleds, thus the finest sledders. Supposedly, some big hitters where getting on board with USA Bobsledding, but who knows, and for 3 years and about 340 days, nobody really cares.

[FUDU]

Question, why are we historically so bleh at the sledding sports?

Combination of climate, and to what effort we they put into engineering the sleds than certain parts of the world. The Germans, for instance produce the finest sleds, thus the finest sledders. Supposedly, some big hitters where getting on board with USA Bobsledding, but who knows, and for 3 years and about 340 days, nobody really cares.

I would think after all these years we would have "caught up" in the engineering of the sleds, if not sole/purchased their technology/techniques (no different than how any other industry often does it, get your hands on the competitors product and reverse engineer it).

[peeker643]

Question, why are we historically so bleh at the sledding sports?

Combination of climate, and to what effort we they put into engineering the sleds than certain parts of the world. The Germans, for instance produce the finest sleds, thus the finest sledders. Supposedly, some big hitters where getting on board with USA Bobsledding, but who knows, and for 3 years and about 340 days, nobody really cares.

I would think after all these years we would have "caught up" in the engineering of the sleds, if not sole/purchased their technology/techniques (no different than how any other industry often does it, get your hands on the competitors product and reverse engineer it).

They have grass and dirt and sand in Germany. Why aren't they as accomplished in baseball, frisbee golf and beach volleyball?

It's all about resources and what you choose to use them on.

[motherscratcher]

Men's moguls coming tonight.

Trivia question: What signature move won Johnny Moseley the Gold?

Look it up if you want, just understand that it's cheating and makes you the lowlife scum of the earth, not fit to be the batting coach of the St Louis Cardinals.

(BTW - knowing this won me a bet against my friends wife. She has yet to pay up.)

[Cerebral_DownTime]

They have grass and dirt and sand in Germany. Why aren't they as accomplished in baseball, frisbee golf and beach volleyball?

It's all about resources and what you choose to use them on.

Germans can do anything if the put their minds to it.

Trivia question: What signature move won Johnny Moseley the Gold?

Was it the ham dance?

[motherscratcher]

[

Trivia question: What signature move won Johnny Moseley the Gold?

Was it the ham dance?

No, you're thinking of that Peter North movie.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

[

Trivia question: What signature move won Johnny Moseley the Gold?

Was it the ham dance?

No, you're thinking of that Peter North movie.

Who the hell is Peter North?

Was he a Ski guy?

[Ziner]

less masculine sport: Figure Skating or Gymnastics?

Discuss.

My vote is figure skating, you wear sequins (I hope I mispelled that) for one and two gymnastic events require more athletic skill.

[motherscratcher]

Just do a yahoo image search for peter north and you'll see a lot of pictures of him performing the ham dance.

[motherscratcher]

less masculine sport: Figure Skating or Gymnastics?

Figure skating by a mile. I don't find men's gymnastics very feminine at all. In fact, men's figure skating is less masculine than women's gymnastics.

I'm not saying that being a men's figure skater automatically makes you gay. But it sure as hell puts you on the waiting list.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Just do a yahoo image search for peter north and you'll see a lot of pictures of him performing the ham dance.

Ummmm no. That scares me and makes me think it's something I don't want to see.

[jack_tors]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

[motherscratcher]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

[Cerebral_DownTime]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

Well said.

The ASG is overpaid assholes playing for nothing. The Olympics is people playing for pride and for their country.

[Ziner]

Is anyone here any good at skiing moguls? What these guys do is amazing.

[Ziner]

That blue lycra skating outfit looks like something Will Ferrell would wear in a movie. WTF is wrong with these people.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is anyone here any good at skiing moguls? What these guys do is amazing.

Im excellent at it.

[Ziner]

Is anyone here any good at skiing moguls? What these guys do is amazing.

Im excellent at it.

Arent you like 7 foot tall? I was shocked when the one dude was 6'6" seems quite tall for mogul skiing.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is anyone here any good at skiing moguls? What these guys do is amazing.

Im excellent at it.

Arent you like 7 foot tall? I was shocked when the one dude was 6'6" seems quite tall for mogul skiing.

not quite 7 foot. My ass on skis would be a sight to make people bust a gut laughing. Sasquatch does not ski. So neither shall I.

[municipalmutt]

less masculine sport: Figure Skating or Gymnastics?

Discuss.

My vote is figure skating, you wear sequins (I hope I mispelled that) for one and two gymnastic events require more athletic skill.

Johnny Weir. Enough said.

[danwismar]

you wear sequins (I hope I mispelled that)

no, you didn't. But you misspelled "mispelled"

sorry...you set me up for that one.

[jb]

Question, why are we historically so bleh at the sledding sports?

Americans grow up?

Dunno bout you, but the 2 man luge is disturbing to me.

[jb]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

Well said.

The ASG is overpaid assholes playing for nothing. The Olympics is people playing for pride and for their country.

LOL.

Or a free trip to mack and get hammered with no shot at winning.

Have you seen how many are competing based on ancestry? For most of the 1 or 2 athlete countries inside the tropics almost no one lives there actually. Country? meh. Chortle.

This post is so racist to reference the all star game vs a group that woulod have made 1970's Parme look integrated. And the biathlon is the stupidest sport inveted besides curling. They should have to stop and do shots and eat, then ski. Shooting? Really> How about flip cup and bat races as olympic sports?

[jb]

less masculine sport: Figure Skating or Gymnastics?

Discuss.

My vote is figure skating, you wear sequins (I hope I mispelled that) for one and two gymnastic events require more athletic skill.

Johnny Weir. Enough said.

I wish he'd do a routine to "That's what Brian Boitano'd do".

[motherscratcher]

less masculine sport: Figure Skating or Gymnastics?

Discuss.

My vote is figure skating, you wear sequins (I hope I mispelled that) for one and two gymnastic events require more athletic skill.

Johnny Weir. Enough said.

I wish he'd do a routine to "That's what Brian Boitano'd do".

If there is any chance of this happening I might have to watch.

BTW - I read the Johnny Weir article from a few weeks ago in ESPN Mag. The powers that be in skating are less than thrilled with Johnny's flamboyant persona. Their point is that they are never going to get a wider audience for the men with dudes like Weir prancing around.

Basically they want to butch it up a bit to get our demographic interested.

I think that plan is flawless. In fact, if it wasn't for Johnny Weir's panzy ass, I'd already be in a Mens Figure Skating fantasy keeper league.

[motherscratcher]

not quite 7 foot. My ass on skis would be a sight to make people bust a gut laughing. Sasquatch does not ski. So neither shall I.

How the hell do you know?

[Cerebral_DownTime]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

Well said.

The ASG is overpaid assholes playing for nothing. The Olympics is people playing for pride and for their country.

LOL.

Or a free trip to mack and get hammered with no shot at winning.

Have you seen how many are competing based on ancestry? For most of the 1 or 2 athlete countries inside the tropics almost no one lives there actually. Country? meh. Chortle.

This post is so racist to reference the all star game vs a group that woulod have made 1970's Parme look integrated. And the biathlon is the stupidest sport inveted besides curling. They should have to stop and do shots and eat, then ski. Shooting? Really> How about flip cup and bat races as olympic sports?

lol. "Racist".

The ASG is garbage and you know it.

And what does 1970's Parme Italy have to do with it?

Christ, I need e0y to translate.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

not quite 7 foot. My ass on skis would be a sight to make people bust a gut laughing. Sasquatch does not ski. So neither shall I.

How the hell do you know?

INCONCEIVABLE!

Kompressor does not dance, do you have issue with that?

The Sasquatch and I are old friends, he does not ski, snowboard, or curl.

[jack_tors]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

Well said.

The ASG is overpaid assholes playing for nothing. The Olympics is people playing for pride and for their country.

LOL.

Or a free trip to mack and get hammered with no shot at winning.

Have you seen how many are competing based on ancestry? For most of the 1 or 2 athlete countries inside the tropics almost no one lives there actually. Country? meh. Chortle.

This post is so racist to reference the all star game vs a group that woulod have made 1970's Parme look integrated. And the biathlon is the stupidest sport inveted besides curling. They should have to stop and do shots and eat, then ski. Shooting? Really> How about flip cup and bat races as olympic sports?

Racist? Please, I would think by now you would realize I am not rat tail and drop white is right references all the time. So please, dont offend me like that.

My point was that some how the best of the best playing a sport that I typically find entertaining was boring and instead I was amused by goofy Europeans wearing outfits like these:

[jb]

The men's moguls are insane tonight. Back to back runs not scored by the American participants. Sad to see that..

Is it wrong that I am finding the Olympic coverage, including figure skating, more entertaining than the NBA All Star game?

No, not wrong. It's a basketball game that means nothing played by players who could care less vs. a sporting competition that comes around every four years with athletes who have dedicated their entire lives to the pursuit of excellence for little more than the thrill of just competing.

(Although I care little about the figure skating.)

Well said.

The ASG is overpaid assholes playing for nothing. The Olympics is people playing for pride and for their country.

LOL.

Or a free trip to mack and get hammered with no shot at winning.

Have you seen how many are competing based on ancestry? For most of the 1 or 2 athlete countries inside the tropics almost no one lives there actually. Country? meh. Chortle.

This post is so racist to reference the all star game vs a group that woulod have made 1970's Parme look integrated. And the biathlon is the stupidest sport inveted besides curling. They should have to stop and do shots and eat, then ski. Shooting? Really> How about flip cup and bat races as olympic sports?

lol. "Racist".

The ASG is garbage and you know it.

And what does 1970's Parme Italy have to do with it?

Christ, I need e0y to translate.

I love the ASG becasue it is the ultimate pick-up game. In fact, they ought to play it "And 1" style.

The snowboarding was awesome lst night. One of my fav olympic sorts. Anything objective, I love. Anything with those stupid judges, is crap.

[peeker643]

The snowboarding was awesome lst night. One of my fav olympic sorts. Anything objective, I love. Anything with those stupid judges, is crap.

Agree. Love the snowboard-cross, downhill, etc. Love the moguls but wish they'd get rid of the subjective jumps or make a certain jump required and have results based entirely on time.

Trying to figure out how the Canucks can't smooth ice in the speed skating arena. Seems they would have a bit of experience.

[Jumbo]

The Olympics have been better so far than I remember. The moguls and short-track speed skating were excellent. Being on this continent (and on a West Coast time zone) helps - so, even though the events are taped, it doesn't require a major effort to avoid spoilers during the course of the day. You still need to avoid ESPN and its scoreboard ticker, but only for a few hours.

I also think that NBC has responded well to some of the criticism of its coverage. They've done a nice job rotating between events and showing the entirety of the longer events. One bit of cynicism: NBC had a story on Saturday in the context of the luger who died discussing the overall danger of the winter events, filled with numerous replays of both the luge crash and spectacular wipeouts in other sports. At several (I think at least three) points during the story, there was a comment that the danger of crashing was "just like NASCAR!" Message: Knuckle-dragging Americans! Watch the Olympics, for injuries may happen! (But I admit that the chance of spectacular failure makes the events more interesting...like in moguls and short-track.)

[jack_tors]

Team USA has looked pretty good today, up 3-0 after 2-0 periods. Miller has had some nice saves and Backus had a pretty coast to coast goal. There is a lot of young talent on this team. Maybe not enough to challenge for a medal yet but a lot to be optimistic about.

[skatingtripods]

Team USA has looked pretty good today, up 3-0 after 2-0 periods. Miller has had some nice saves and Backus had a pretty coast to coast goal. There is a lot of young talent on this team. Maybe not enough to challenge for a medal yet but a lot to be optimistic about.

I wasn't sure how much to comment cause I assume a lot of DVRs are rolling this game.

Anyway, my thoughts, Team USA will not generate much transition offense. Many of their chances are resulting from the forwards cycling down low. The defense is not making a good first pass to get up ice.

The US has to focus on shooting the puck. Their top line is far too cute with the puck right now and that's why they don't have any of the goals. The forwards lack of backchecking is also causing too may odd man rushes against. They need to play in all three zones to have a chance to medal.

They've played good. Not great.

[Erie Warrior]

WTF is curling? Really. Can someone explain why this is an olympic event? Or start with how you decide one person is better curler than another, why it requires a coach and why there is not a beer in any of their hands?

Or try this one on for size, how the fuck do you announce it!? The stone is sliding down the ice, slowly. They are brushing the ice, quickly. The red stone hit the yellow stone and knocked it out of the bullseye, gone to souvenir city! The red stone stopped in the bullseye, you can put it on the board, yes!

JFC.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

WTF is curling? Really. Can someone explain why this is an olympic event? Or start with how you decide one person is better curler than another, why it requires a coach and why there is not a beer in any of their hands?

Or try this one on for size, how the fuck do you announce it!? The stone is sliding down the ice, slowly. They are brushing the ice, quickly. The red stone hit the yellow stone and knocked it out of the bullseye, gone to souvenir city! The red stone stopped in the bullseye, you can put it on the board, yes!

JFC.

It's just Shuffleboard on ice. I think you have to be stoned to watch it.

[Ziner]

WTF is curling? Really. Can someone explain why this is an olympic event? Or start with how you decide one person is better curler than another, why it requires a coach and why there is not a beer in any of their hands?

Or try this one on for size, how the fuck do you announce it!? The stone is sliding down the ice, slowly. They are brushing the ice, quickly. The red stone hit the yellow stone and knocked it out of the bullseye, gone to souvenir city! The red stone stopped in the bullseye, you can put it on the board, yes!

JFC.

Obviously if you really want to know about it you could wiki it, but to give you the short version, you want to have as many of your stones inside their stones. At the end of the round whoever's stone is closest to the center gets a point, if you have 2 or more closer than any of their stones you get points for them as well. That is the basic gist. Once you understand it, it is very much like chess on ice and pretty interesting IMO. We used the hot women in the sport as an excuse in college to get loaded and watch so I figured I should know what is going on.

[skatingtripods]

The US curling team didn't impress me against Germany. I have no idea how they fared against Norway. I was out putting ball joints on my truck.

[peeker643]

The US curling team didn't impress me against Germany. I have no idea how they fared against Norway. I was out putting ball joints on my truck.

Nice. Replacing Curling in 2014 is Ball Joint Replacement Relays. Gonna be tough to beat the southerners in that one but Ford Explorer owners everywhere will have a shot.

[Ziner]

Did anyone see that Shaun White has his own half pipe? That is unbelievably cool. Check out how awesome of a location this is, also why I love Colorado. How can you beat those views being an hour away?

[leadpipe]

Did anyone see that Shaun White has his own half pipe? That is unbelievably cool. Check out how awesome of a location this is, also why I love Colorado. How can you beat those views being an hour away?

All of those snowboarders have their own pipes.

Pass the Doritos.

[Ziner]

All of those snowboarders have their own pipes.

Pass the Doritos.

They do? Then they must be awful foolish to be practicing at Copper and Keystone all the time. Silly snowboarders.

Edit: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancou ... oly,215991

If you were wondering why human video game character Shaun White can perform snowboard tricks that no one else has even considered, maybe it's because he has his own one-of-a-kind private 550-foot superpipe carved into the side of a 12,000-foot high mountain in Colorado. Just a hunch.

[motherscratcher]

All of those snowboarders have their own pipes.

Pass the Doritos.

They do? Then they must be awful foolish to be practicing at Copper and Keystone all the time. Silly snowboarders.

No, dude...they all have their own Pipes.

[Ziner]

Whoops, my bad

[skatingtripods]

The US curling team didn't impress me against Germany. I have no idea how they fared against Norway. I was out putting ball joints on my truck.

Nice. Replacing Curling in 2014 is Ball Joint Replacement Relays. Gonna be tough to beat the southerners in that one but Ford Explorer owners everywhere will have a shot.

I hope not. They ought to get rid of fucking pairs figure skating instead.

[Erie Warrior]

it is very much like chess on ice and pretty interesting IMO.

Is there possibly a less entertaining spectator sport? Oh yes, curling, as many people play chess.

Curling we reintroduced in 1998 after a 70+ year hiatus. That's a shame.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancou ... oly,220049

[jb]

The US curling team didn't impress me against Germany. I have no idea how they fared against Norway. I was out putting ball joints on my truck.

Nice. Replacing Curling in 2014 is Ball Joint Replacement Relays. Gonna be tough to beat the southerners in that one but Ford Explorer owners everywhere will have a shot.

This there is such a thing as specialized curling shoes?

[Ziner]

Is there possibly a less entertaining spectator sport? Oh yes, curling, as many people play chess.

Curling has advantages in being a spectator sport over chess.

This


(there are other much better pictures I wont post, you can find them)

or this?