Let The Games Begin

[darth_mcbain]

Its that time again - the Olympics are here. I for one am really glad - I think it will be a nice symbol that the world is a better place than the events of Sept. 11 would lead us to believe. Usually, I go more for the summer games, but I'm really looking forward to some good sporting in these games.

So, let the best competitors win and lets all enjoy the games!!!

[Marcus Telcontar]

Sydney has a distinct case of whocaresitis about the Olymics now, we sort of had out fill for a while.

[Figrin D'an]

Listening to the NBC commentary during the opening ceremonies once again makes me realize how much I'd like to beat down Bob Costas with a baseball bat. My favorite part thus far has been his apparent need to explain the "Child of Light" allegory to the television audience. He's so ridiculously self-absorbed, and it shows through badly...

The only event I might actually consider watching is hockey.

[CMJ]

I love the Olympic Games...always have always will. It's the best sporting "event"(in the trueset sense of the the word) out there. For the next 16 days I will do little else but watch them....

Granted..I prefer the summer games as well..but still..it's the OLYMPICS.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I perfer summer as well, I don't like too many Winter sports, except maybe Hockey, just wondering anybody have any idea who will win the most medals? I would be suprised if it was the US we really don't do that well usually, I think we rarely finish in the top 5 (we don't live in the cold 2/3 here in the US like some countries Russia and Norway come to mind also I think Europeans are more into sports like Skiing, Ice-Scateing than we are), hopefully we will finish in the top three that would be a huge accomplishment IMO. I'm guessing Germany, they are pretty well rounded when it comes to the winter sports, Norway or Russia could do it to both countries have almost always finished in the top 3, here is my guess of the top 5
1 Germany
2 U.S
3 Russia
4 Norway
5 Austria

[JMK]

The opening ceremonies were beginning to make me nautious. That being said however, I am glad to see another winter olympics. I'll watch the hockey tournament extremely closely and probably some speed skating as well. I hope the North Americans have a good showing. There's nothing like a hometown crowd cheering on local athletes at the Olympics.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I just realized I forgot Canada how could I do that, I am going to revise it
1 Germany
2 US
3 Russia
4 Canada
5 Norway

[CMJ]

I actually thought the opening Ceremony was one of the better ones I'd seen. Very moving at times...and a spectacle...

[darth_mcbain]

I agree, I really enjoyed the opening ceremonies. I thought it was very well done, with good artistic numbers, good tributes to last year's events, good parade of nations, good torch lighting... The one thing I really did NOT like was Bob Costas and the other newscasters. He is just such an idiot and can't shut his mouth - he feels the need to explain everything, but in the process just sounds stupid and interrupts our enjoyment of the spectacle for ourselves. Boo Bob Costas!!!

[Jinn Fizz]

While I enjoy the summer Olympics, the winter ones are always my faves, because I like just about every event. From figure skating to skiing to bobsledding and luging to speed skating, I find it all lots of fun to watch.

I saw part of the opening ceremonies, loved the NYPD cop singing God Bless America and the national anthem being sung while the athletes held the WTC flag, but overall it was just too long a ceremony for me. I was glad that I was able to find out about an hour before the show was over who had lit the flame in the stadium (being in California, we were on tape delay), so then I was able to turn it off early. I'd heard lots of people speculating that Rudy Giuliani would light the torch, which would have been neat, but I think the selection of the 1980 miracle hockey team was great. :)

[ReaperFett]

I dont overly care about the Winter Olympics. I'll watch it if on, but would hardly pick things out to watch like the Summer Olympics or the World Cup.
I predict two bronze for GB, maybe a silver. If we're lucky :)

[JonathanLB]

*yawn* The Olympics bore me badly. I don't have any reason to waste a minute of my time watching the idiotic events that take place. It's nice for these people to compete, yadda yadda, blah blah, etc, but the Olympics are just boring to me.

I prefer professional team sports in an organized league, or college sports such as basketball and football, but no Olympics for me.

Anyway, even when it's our U.S. basketball team playing the world, we own every other country by such a wide margin it's almost embarrassing. It is embarrassing most of the time. Whenever the U.S. wins by like only 10, it's considered a close game, which means basically our players gave a half-assed effort yet still won against a foreign team playing at like 150% of their ability. It's pitiful, really. Just aren't enough talented players in other countries to compete with us in that sport.

The rest of the world can have fun with their idiotic soccer, but that's the most boring, inane, stupid sport I have ever watched so as others here have said, you can keep that sport. I played soccer for five years, it was a lot of fun and I was a good defender, but it's not fun at all to watch. Great playing sport, awful spectator sport. Allison, this super hot girl from my high school class, played soccer on our girls team and she said the same thing. She loved to play, hated to watch. Our girls soccer team was one of the best at that level of play that the United States has ever seen. 110 consecutive wins in league play, something like 127 consecutive overall. They finally lost a game 1-0, which was pretty much a bummer because they had won state five straight years. For soccer, our girls team was very exciting, although the games themselves probably were not much fun for fans of "the game," just of the school. I believe the last year my high school won state (2000), they outscored the opposition something like 75-4. Only 4 teams managed to score a single goal during the entire season, LOL. Of course, the other teams got in such a defensive mode, knowing they would lose, that they didn't get that many shots on the goal either really, and when they did, our goalie was the best in the league...

Back to the Olympics, it is wonderful what these people do to train themselves to compete at the highest level and they should be highly respected for that level of devotion to anything, let alone something on a world stage like that. So I am impressed with all of their achievements, but I watch very little television generally and I don't have the time or the desire to spend it watching these types of events. They don't really interest me. I hate figure skating pretty much, unless the song is really good and a hot girl is skating, then it can be enjoyable, but I don't like watching those guys at all. I have to wonder about their sexual orientation. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, but I have no doubt most of them are... lol.

[ReaperFett]

Anyway, even when it's our U.S. basketball team playing the world, we own every other country by such a wide margin it's almost embarrassing
Because the games aren't meant to be for professionals. They changed the rule, they gave the US some medals

Remember, the majority of the world doesn't hold Basketball in as high reguard. Most that do are quite small countries

[JMK]

I thought NBC's coverage was abyssmal. Couric was constantly talking over Costas and it sounded like they were calling the play-by-play of Macy's Christmas parade!

"Bob did you know that Venezuela has produced more Miss Universe contestants than any other country?"

WHO CARES!! This is the Olympics, Kate, not a beauty pageant! :mad

[JonathanLB]

Katie Couric is hella hot for her age. Man she's awesome. Very cute. :)

[BUFFJEDI]

I really dislike the olympics alot! Of course I think they are so not what they should be..If anyone thinks the atheletes are amatuars in the purest sense, than you a fooling yourself.These people (for the most part)(always exceptin to the rule) are paid to train for years in there sport ie. they get there rent paid food bill paid transportation paid etc..amd a living expense while they train.PLUS some good ole steriods and other perfoming drugs.That my friends is a paid athlete.

plus I'm bitter that at one time I tried to get RJR to sponsor me:(

I told them I'd light one up,after I atleast placed in the bronze in the mile.They didn't go for it :(. Of course there is more to the story but it is a long one.

[Champion of the Force]

I also liked the Opening Ceremony, and I'm one who usually prefers the Summer Games (mainly because I'm unfamiliar or don't follow most winter sports). After the 'epic' nature of such cermonies seen in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney the one at Salt Lake City seemed to aim for a notch lower, which was nice. :)


"Bob did you know that Venezuela has produced more Miss Universe contestants than any other country?"
:lol

I was happy with Channel 7's coverage down here. They talked about how many medals each country had won, what 'big chances' each country had at winning which events as well as how long they've been coming to the Winter Games. Quite interesting. :)

[ReaperFett]

I cant be bothered with opening ceromonies. Some dumb dance by a series of giant ants or something. No ta :)

[JonathanLB]

Amen.

I can't be bothered with that much TV really. Most of what's on is just not worth my time now. I go into modes where I like to watch like a ton of TV a day for about a week or two because it's really relaxing, can feel like a nice vacation, but I get mad at myself for not working harder when I know darn good and well I have better things to do.

[Master Yoghurt]

I love watching the Games. Would not want to miss out the fun and drama. The opening ceremony was very good, although there was potential for better choreography at parts. The facilities seem impressive. Overall, the Games appears to be well organised so far.

The Norwegians should do strong in the medal race. Here follows my brief analysis of some of the more promising favorites and best chances for medals:

Freestyle Skiing: Women’s moguls:
Kari Traa was the huge favorite yesterday. Everyone demanded a goldmedal. Of course, she did not disappoint. :)

Alpine Skiing:
Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Lasse Kjus are veterans and legends at this sport. One of them will surely win the Gold medal in the combination. My bets are on Kjetil though. In the Men’s Downhill, Stephan Eberharter from Austria is the most likely winner, but Kjetil and Lasse are outsiders and strong contenders for bronze and silver. We also have some good chances on the female side.


Cross-Country Skiing

Men’s 4x10km relay:
Norway is the clear favorite here.

Men’s 15 kilometers:
Anders Aukland is the most likely winner.

Women's 4x5km:
Russia looks invincible. Norway should fight for the second or third.

Men’s sprint:
Tor Arne Hetland is expected to be in the top 3. My feeling is he should win.

Women’s 10 kilometers:
Three-time defending World Cup champion Bente Skari is the big favorite.

Other distances:
Plenty of opportunities.. I wont overanalyse, just say we are traditionally strong in these diciplines.


Speed Skating
Men's 1500 meters
Ådne Søndrål has for years been the best. Defending olympic champion and world record holder. Last but not least, he was my neighbour once. :D

Other distances: Holland looks supreme, but who knows..

Snowboard
Halfpipe
Medals are to be expected here

Biathlon

LIV GRETE SKJELBREID POIRÉE
She will no doubt take medal(s), the question is how many and what color. She is one of the favorites in 7.5 km sprint, 15 km, 10 km pursuit and the relay.

OLE EINAR BJØRNDALEN
Again, the question is how many medals and what kind. He is so fast, there is consideration to include him the cross-country relay team (!). He got winning chances in 20 km, 10 km sprint, 12.5 km pursuit and the 4x7.5 km relay.

+ several other candidates

[Mu Satach]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
I cant be bothered with opening ceromonies. Some dumb dance by a series of giant ants or something. No ta :)


THERE WERE ANTS!!!

WHY WASN'T I TOLD ABOUT THIS?!?!?!?!

I thought I saw it all... damn... and I missed the ants... ;)

[ReaperFett]

well, they're very small :)

[Mu Satach]

man... pretty sturdy ants... it's damn cold here... I'll have to try and sneak over to the stadium and get some to study...

on second thought... nahhh... don't want to tick off the securty people again... I can't afford to be thrown in jail for 5 years.

[darth_mcbain]

For those of you watching the games, I was just wondering what your thoughts were on the whole Canadian-Russian skating fiasco. Last I heard, the IOC agreed to award the Canadians a gold medal and allowing the Russians to keep theirs.

Personally, I'm glad. I think that was probably the best solution. They couldn't have taken the Russian's medal away, as it wasn't their fault and you don't want to penalize them. And from what I understand, the judge that was pressured to vote for the Russians was suspended with a reprimand. I was glad to see that the Canadians received a gold - they really deserved it.

I understand that with figure skating, there is probably a lot of subjectivity in the voting, and probably always will be. But when there are quantifiable differences in how two groups skate (one of the Russian skaters almost fell - while the Canadians were nearly flawless), and the one that made more mistakes wins, it raises eyebrows.

The only thing I was disappointed with is that I think there should be a harsher penalty on the judge and/or country involved. There may be, though - after the games are finished there will probably be a bigger investigation and reform. The whole point of the Olympics is to put aside the petty cr@p we're all fighting over and come together in the spirit of clean, friendly, sportsmanlike competition, and when the judges are not fair and impartial, it is a disrespect to what the games are all about.

Anyway, I was just wondering what y'all thought on this one.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I agree about the decision it was the whole thing they could do really. As far as pentalize the judge I agree I have no idea how much France was involved in this it could have just been the judge and the French Olympic team may have had nothing to do with. I guess there will have to be an invistigation to find out.

[CMJ]

Unfortunately that story was so big it cast a shadow on many other interesting events. As always skiing, speed skating, and hockey have provided me countless hours of viewing pleasure. Not to metion ski jumping and some of the others. It's nice when sports don't rely to heavily on subjectivity. ;)

[JonathanLB]

Was that US Hockey game on? I wanted to watch but I guess I wasn't watching at the time it was on.

[CMJ]

Jon....CNBC has been showing ALL the hokcey games in their entireity. I've grown fond of some of the other countries teams...though of course I'm pulling for USA. :) We play Russia tonight, and I think it's gonna be on NBC in primetime...if not it'll be on CNBC.

[JMK]

Now the Russians are complaining that the Canadians are sore losers. Maybe they didn't hear the part where the french judge admitted to being pressured to vote a certain way. Mind boggling. Everyone got what they deserved, although with much trouble. The only thing left to do is to get rid of all the people who corrupted the judging.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Those Russians they love to complain, at least they aren't doing that well in the games they are currently fifth behind German, U.S.A, Norway, and Austria, I hope it stays that way.

[Champion of the Force]

You've got to feel a bit sorry for the Russian team though. They thought they had won, only to be told 'Sorry, one of the judges was corrupt so we have to take that medal off you'. Kind of sucks. :\

[JMK]

Oh, the Russians didn't lose their gold medal status, they awarded two more gold medals to the Canadian pair. I thought that was the only resolution to the situation...

[Champion of the Force]

I know that - I was just saying that if they did it would suck a bit.

Speaking of gold medals, Australia has just won it's very first one EVER in a Winter Games - in speed skating. The first 4 guys crashed so the Aussie in 5th place won in the end. :D

[JMK]

Wasn't it 4 guys and 3 crashed leaving the Aussie left standing. I was watching last night, but I forget his name, Stephen B ____.
They were saying it's the only time the slowest man on the ice took the gold! :lol

[Champion of the Force]

Something like that - I haven't seen the race myself, only heard about it on the radio. :)

[JMK]

It was a very tight race indeed with everyone falling on the last straightaway. The Canadian who took bronze got up, and kind of did a baseball slide in order to get his skates across the line before the last guy passed him! It was actually kind of funny.

[ReaperFett]

like a war hero saving his squad from a grenade. All that was needed was him to shout "NOOOO!!!!" :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Man, too bad I missed it, it sounds like it was a hilarious moment, I am sure they will show it again.

[CMJ]

It was a great race.... An amazing thing the Aussie won really...he only advanced to the final when a similar crash in the semi let him finish in the top 2.

[Champion of the Force]

Here's a report with 2 photos of the incident:

http://www.wintersports2002.com/oly/view/0,3949,70000939,00.html?

[Marcus Telcontar]

Gotta love a winner like him

And a country that wakes up and says...


"We have speed skaters?!?!"

[darth_mcbain]

Originally posted by JMK
They were saying it's the only time the slowest man on the ice took the gold! :lol

Wouldn't you hate to have that attached to your name - being the slowest man on the ice... :lol

Actually I missed the whole wipeout - but I heard about it, looked like it was pretty funny.

[Champion of the Force]

Well Australia has won ANOTHER gold medal - this time in skiing (I forget the name of the actual event). This time it was actually earned though. :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

The ladies Aerials.

Yes,, definatly earned. So I guess they would not have had as much problems finding the Aussie National Anthem this time :p

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by Master Yoghurt
Speed Skating
Men's 1500 meters
Ådne Søndrål has for years been the best. Defending olympic champion and world record holder. Last but not least, he was my neighbour once. :D

Søndrål is one of the most awesome speedskaters ever. His radiance is so powerful.


Other distances: Holland looks supreme, but who knows..

So far we won 2 golds and 3 silver. Especially Gerard van Velde's gold on the 1000m was fantastic, as was his phenomenal time of 1.07.18.

Today Parra did the same for the US skating an amazing 1:43.95 on the 1500m.

Holland'll most likely win gold on the 10.000m plus prolly silver or bronze. Besides that we have medal chances on both the 1500m and 5000m ladies as well.

To be short: more to come. :)

[Master Yoghurt]

Well, some time after I wrote about Søndrål, he fell in a practice run and injured his shoulder. Had to sew 20 stitches. That was in addition to the injury to his other shoulder he got two weeks ago in Calagary. And then were problems with fever, stomach problems etc. In light of all that, the bronze medal was quite an achievment, although, I did have hopes he would do a superman and go win it.

The dutch skater was absolutely supreme beating the world record, and is my favorite to win the 10,000 meter. Congratulations! :)