Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games

[Soul]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

 

I just wonder if there is any pattern of depression with people in his position. We know what happened with Nadia Comenici. I mean, how many times is he going to hear "hey, weren't you that guy who..."

 

There could be, but let's take Eric Heiden as an example. 1980 Olympics, sets a ton of world records, I think 5 Gold.

 

Then he comes back home, finishes his medical degree, and becomes a doctor. My understanding is he's still a doctor now. Doing fine.

 

There's a part of this equation that says, if you have the skills, desire, and work ethic to accomplish something like this, then you likely can transfer that to other areas of your life.

[stuy119]

Yes, it's sour grapes, but I wanted to get another opinion on this:

 

Is it just me, or did it seem that the minor mistakes made during the Women's Gymnastics competition by the U.S. team were penalized more harshly by the judges than those of the Chinese team?

 

Just checking on this, but it could just be point-of-view.

[bukie]

Yes, it's sour grapes, but I wanted to get another opinion on this:

 

Is it just me, or did it seem that the minor mistakes made during the Women's Gymnastics competition by the U.S. team were penalized more harshly by the judges than those of the Chinese team?

 

Just checking on this, but it could just be point-of-view.

 

It's hard to determine, since the commentators only ever pointed out obvious problems, like dismount steps, going out of bounds, and falling (the kind of thing anyone can see). I imagine there are more subtle things that go wrong, especially artistically, that never got touched on by the commentators.

[Soul]

Yes, it's sour grapes, but I wanted to get another opinion on this:

 

Is it just me, or did it seem that the minor mistakes made during the Women's Gymnastics competition by the U.S. team were penalized more harshly by the judges than those of the Chinese team?

 

Just checking on this, but it could just be point-of-view.

 

It's hard to determine, since the commentators only ever pointed out obvious problems, like dismount steps, going out of bounds, and falling (the kind of thing anyone can see). I imagine there are more subtle things that go wrong, especially artistically, that never got touched on by the commentators.

 

...goes back to the reason why judged competitions are inherently inferior.

[bukie]

...goes back to the reason why judged competitions are inherently inferior.

 

True, but if there are going to be judged competitions, have an analyst in there that understands the nuances of the sport and can explain the judging results better than "X had a fall and a step on the dismount, but Y had just the step on the dismount, but somehow X's score was higher and I don't like it."

[Derwood]

this Japan vs. Netherlands soccer game is being played pretty open and loose.

 

also, Olympic Soccer Channel FTW

[Magnetic Curses]

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though.

I know NBC hasn't been talking about it much, but this Michael Phelps dude is doing okay.

Yeah but the commies aren't really trying so it doesn't count.

 

trying? you can't try if you aren't even in the races, can you?

[Soul]

...goes back to the reason why judged competitions are inherently inferior.

 

True, but if there are going to be judged competitions, have an analyst in there that understands the nuances of the sport and can explain the judging results better than "X had a fall and a step on the dismount, but Y had just the step on the dismount, but somehow X's score was higher and I don't like it."

 

Maybe the problem is nobody really knows all the things that judges can and will deduct for. Which of course means nobody knows who really won. Which of course means judged competitions are inherently inferior :)

 

 

I see your point though about the analysts. It's probably pretty difficult to find someone who is both able to pick out all those nuances, and also able to sound good on TV. And do it just for one big bash every 4 years, then that's it.

[Magnetic Curses]

Well, if the Chinese girls win, I won't feel so bad because I imagine if they had lost they probably would have been executed or something for failing the Empire....well not really....maybe.

 

not really, that only happens in capitalist countries dominated by crime syndicates.

[Magnetic Curses]

...goes back to the reason why judged competitions are inherently inferior.

 

True, but if there are going to be judged competitions, have an analyst in there that understands the nuances of the sport and can explain the judging results better than "X had a fall and a step on the dismount, but Y had just the step on the dismount, but somehow X's score was higher and I don't like it."

 

i think they explained it very well. the chinese had insanely high degrees of difficulty.

[Magnetic Curses]

the dynamite kid just got destroyed by some nobody from nowhere in greco-roman.

[Wilson A2000]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

 

Someone is paying him one million dollars if he breaks Spitz's record. In addition to the endorsements, he will train people at some swimming facility in Maryland I heard. He's gotta make good money there too.

 

Athletes in the Olympics are allowed to get paid by advertisers before the Olympics correct?

 

Phelps is unbelievable, but the new Speedo suits result in 2% quicker times. The pool in the water cube is deeper than ever which means that waves are swallowed up more. Those barriers in between the lanes are designed to soak up the waves better than anything before. Phelps is great because he is whipping everyone else, but I wonder how legit his WR times are.

[Magnetic Curses]

i think greco-roman wrestling has, by far, the most idiotic and confusing scoring system. how can you lose if you're winning at the end of a period? i've seen this twice.

[Magnetic Curses]

have we beaten china in anything that they're actually good at?

 

Who cares really, all their medals are in crappy judged "events", or weightlifting.

 

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though. it would make me feel so much better about my own mode of production.

 

what's their incentive, anyway?

 

Survival

 

and what's the incentive of those threatening their lives? those folks are doing all the work anyways.

Public humiliation if they fail. Loss of standing in the elite class (which is supposed to be an oxymoron for communism but somehow it never works out that way).

 

why would it be humiliating to fail when there is no real incentive to succeed anyway? the loss of standing in the elite class bs isn't really worth responding to, try again.

[Soul]

have we beaten china in anything that they're actually good at?

 

Who cares really, all their medals are in crappy judged "events", or weightlifting.

 

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though. it would make me feel so much better about my own mode of production.

 

what's their incentive, anyway?

 

Survival

 

and what's the incentive of those threatening their lives? those folks are doing all the work anyways.

Public humiliation if they fail. Loss of standing in the elite class (which is supposed to be an oxymoron for communism but somehow it never works out that way).

 

why would it be humiliating to fail when there is no real incentive to succeed anyway? the loss of standing in the elite class bs isn't really worth responding to, try again.

Don't need to try again. I'm not the one turning an olympic athletic competition into a referendum on the glories of communism, you are. You're holding the chalice of ridiculousness in this thread, by far.

[Magnetic Curses]

have we beaten china in anything that they're actually good at?

 

Who cares really, all their medals are in crappy judged "events", or weightlifting.

 

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though. it would make me feel so much better about my own mode of production.

 

what's their incentive, anyway?

 

Survival

 

and what's the incentive of those threatening their lives? those folks are doing all the work anyways.

Public humiliation if they fail. Loss of standing in the elite class (which is supposed to be an oxymoron for communism but somehow it never works out that way).

 

why would it be humiliating to fail when there is no real incentive to succeed anyway? the loss of standing in the elite class bs isn't really worth responding to, try again.

Don't need to try again. I'm not the one turning an olympic athletic competition into a referendum on the glories of communism, you are. You're holding the chalice of ridiculousness in this thread, by far.

 

what are you talking about, psycho?

[Soul]

have we beaten china in anything that they're actually good at?

 

Who cares really, all their medals are in crappy judged "events", or weightlifting.

 

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though. it would make me feel so much better about my own mode of production.

 

what's their incentive, anyway?

 

Survival

 

and what's the incentive of those threatening their lives? those folks are doing all the work anyways.

Public humiliation if they fail. Loss of standing in the elite class (which is supposed to be an oxymoron for communism but somehow it never works out that way).

 

why would it be humiliating to fail when there is no real incentive to succeed anyway? the loss of standing in the elite class bs isn't really worth responding to, try again.

Don't need to try again. I'm not the one turning an olympic athletic competition into a referendum on the glories of communism, you are. You're holding the chalice of ridiculousness in this thread, by far.

 

what are you talking about, psycho?

 

Ooooh, personal insult from the resident commie. Classy.

[Magnetic Curses]

for the record, i was being facetious when i asked why we couldn't beat the communists.

 

then, i wondered how communists succeed in any event because they obviously have no incentive to do anything but get fat and live off the government.

[Soul]

Oh please. No you weren't.

[Magnetic Curses]

have we beaten china in anything that they're actually good at?

 

Who cares really, all their medals are in crappy judged "events", or weightlifting.

 

i wish we could beat communists at anything, though. it would make me feel so much better about my own mode of production.

 

what's their incentive, anyway?

 

Survival

 

and what's the incentive of those threatening their lives? those folks are doing all the work anyways.

Public humiliation if they fail. Loss of standing in the elite class (which is supposed to be an oxymoron for communism but somehow it never works out that way).

 

why would it be humiliating to fail when there is no real incentive to succeed anyway? the loss of standing in the elite class bs isn't really worth responding to, try again.

Don't need to try again. I'm not the one turning an olympic athletic competition into a referendum on the glories of communism, you are. You're holding the chalice of ridiculousness in this thread, by far.

 

what are you talking about, psycho?

 

Ooooh, personal insult from the resident commie. Classy.

 

forgive me if you took that personally, i call everyone psycho when their imaginations run away with them.

 

i honestly don't know what you're talking about. you're getting a little defensive about this capitalism vs. communism thing, but that's fairly typical, don't feel bad.

[Magnetic Curses]

Oh please. No you weren't.

 

yeah, because we never beat the communists at anything.

 

do you want me to put that in green, or can you detect the sarcasm all by yourself?

[BigbadB]

My problem with the judging of gymnastics is that all things are apparently not equal. The highest score we saw on the uneven bars was 16.90 by Liuken. I don't recall the exact score that Shawn Johnson got on the balance beam, but I think it was something like 15.90. Her performance on the balance beam was, to me, far and away the best performance by ANYONE in any of the events. It had the most difficulty, and she executed her routine perfectly. And so her score is not even in the same ballpark with the uneven bars. In fact, Johnson got a better score herself on the uneven bars.

 

The judges screwed the USA for both Luiken and Johnson on the beam, and if you fix those scores, Sacramone's two biffs meant the difference between a gold and a silver.

[abuck1220]

But the U.S. might not have had to settle for team silver for the second consecutive Olympics if not for generous scoring for the Chinese on the uneven bars and balance beam, and for an unusual situation that may have led to two major mistakes by Alicia Sacramone.

 

The U.S. trailed China, but was still in contention for gold, when Sacramone, 20, the inspirational team leader, got ready to go as the first American on balance beam. She waited for event officials to let her begin.

 

And waited.

 

And waited.

 

She was given the go-ahead, then was stopped again. She stepped away and chalked up again.

 

And waited some more.

 

When she finally was allowed to begin her routine, her concentration appeared to be broken and she fell on her mount. She fell again on the floor exercise.

 

Martha Karolyi, the U.S. team coordinator, claimed the stalling tactics by officials were deliberate, to break Sacramone’s focus.

 

Officials said the delay was related to the needs of Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, which is showing the Games in much of the world.

[Soul]

The Olympic equivalent of "icing the kicker."

[Ding Dong Johnson]

so when Phelps is all done with competitive swimming, be it this year or after one or two more Olympics, then what? It's gotta be tough to have your life defined by one thing (very early) and then switch gears into "normal" life. I guess he could coach swimming or something.

Kick back and live the life off the millions you make in endorsements.

well, there's that, but he's obviously going pro after this showing, right?