Unfortunately, we can’t watch curling. Mrs. L.A. liked it at first, but the yelling sounds like they’re having sex. ‘HARD! OH, YES! OH, YES! HARD!’
Yes, the yelling is unnecessary, but I like the game.
I have not yet expressed my biennial displeasure at athletes draping themselves in their national flags, or with the chant of “U-S-A”.
In my opinion, the Olympics coverage in the U.S. has sucked ever since NBC started broadcasting them. ABC’s coverage was much better. (Or maybe it just seems that way because I was young then.)
That, or he has been full of himself for some time. I never heard of him before these games, so I don’t know. I suspect it’s both. But, no matter how long he’s been an egocentric, vain, attention-hog, he sure is one now. He’s insufferable.
As for why they are showing downhill skiing practice runs, it surely comes down to one thing: Lindsay Vonn. They want to show here on TV, even if she isn’t competing.
Is it a recent phenomena that cross country events do multiple laps on the same course?
I seem to remember cross country events were on a Marathon type course, going through a long trek through region.
She just died last year.
I preferred Torvill and Dean.
It is a change brought about by two considerations:
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It’s more watchable this way, which means you can sell tickets for the stands.
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It’s more compact, thus easier to have an appropriate venue.
Notice that the cross-country races are held at the same venue as the ski-jumping and big-air snowboard events, as well as some other events.
I will point out that the tiebreaker situation this Olympics is different than in the past. Because of the fact that the schedule is more compressed at the end (thanks to mixed-doubles running prior to the main event start), there is only one tie-breaker session allowed. If more rinks tie than can be broken with one session, the remaining ties are handled by a set of tie-breaking rules. So it’s possible for three teams to finish in 4th to 6th, but only two of them get into a playoff.
The Canadian women MUST win out. And as you point out, even that won’t guarantee them a place; if the Americans and the Chinese also finish 5-4, along with Canada and Great Britain (GB must end up 5-4 if the Canadians win out), those teams both have advantage over Canada from having beaten the Homan rink.
I would think the women crashing out would be pretty comparable to Italy going home from England 1966 in soccer after losing to the DPRK. :eek:
Watched South Korea v the US women last night; OMG, the Koreans are definitely for real!
I won’t presume the answer to this question, but in light of this opinion, I feel it’s not worth continuing a discussion without an answer:
Do you figure skate?
I am, of course, confusing the men’s win over the Candians with the women’s loss. Homan has the advantage over Roth.
Why do you say it’s unnecessary? The sweepers are in the right position to judge the speed of the stone (curlers call that the “weight”) but not the line. The skip can judge the line but not the speed. They yell back and forth to share information about how the stone is travelling and how much sweeping is needed to make the shot perfect.
And there’s an emotional component to it. The skip is trying to exhort his teammates to put the maximum effort into their sweeping.
Do you? The comparable sport in the Summers is gymnastics. Do gymnasts get only a minor penalty for trying a double flip and ALMOST making it, but actually falling flat on their ass? If not, why not or alternatively, why do skaters get the ‘tried hard, but didn’t make it’ bonus?
I can not figure out the short-track speedskating. I just saw a rerun of the women’s 3000m relay final. A South Korean skater pushed her teammate on an exchange, then fell. Her teammate skated on, but the falling skater took out Canadian and Italian skaters behind her. The judges reviewed the race and disqualified Canada and China. I saw a couple earlier races with similar, incomprehensible calls.
Maybe there were better replays when the event was first shown, but I have no idea why those two teams were DQed, and South Korea wasn’t.
Pretty much any time the whole “We should only have events that are timed, not judged” argument comes up, Short Track Speed Skating is a good rebuttal.
That speed skating is like roller derby. Those women are brutal.
I do understand why it’s not as satisfying to watch timed races compared to ones where everyone competes at the same time. But didn’t they use to use a digital image of the “ghost” of the skiier/sledder currently in first place to compare? I could swear I remember that, and it made it so much better.
That was before my time, but I did quite like it.
To get a little more recent, though, and also move back to men’s individual skating, which is what we had been talking about, this from 1998 looks pretty good to me:
I don’t agree that it does. I think Bolt looks blazing fast in a way no one before ever has, regardless of competition. BTW, I was curious and looked it up: surprisingly to me, Bolt’s top speed running is about 85% as fast as the top speed in speedskating. That’s crazy!
How can you say that people saying “I don’t enjoy X” is not sticking to the topic of X? Do you also say that in a movie thread, it’s off topic to say you don’t like the movie? (I have seen people say things pretty close to this, and I always found it utterly baffling.)
Never have (I did speedskating as a teen), but my sister was a competitive figure skater when she was young, and she and I have as adults gone to figure skating competitions in non-Olympic years (not the Ice Capades, although we’ve gone to that as well). But even if I had no personal ties to the sport at all, I don’t think that’s a disqualification. I never played football, nor did anyone in my family or friend group, but I certainly spout off about it. You know who also never played football? Bill Belicheck, arguably the greatest football coach of all time.
The main point here: for any sport that is watched by far more people than just the friends and family of the participants, the sport is more for the spectators than the athletes and other insiders.
And I just observed while typing that a RL example of why that matters (that the sport is ultimately for the spectators).
When I said in an earlier post that I thought it was beyond absurd to deduct only one point for a fall, someone came back with a complicated explanation of how it was really much more than one point when you account for this, that, and the other thing. I am not qualified to evaluate those technical arguments, but just now while watching the women’s figure skating, a skater fell completely on her ass while attempting a triple axel. The commentator, who presumably knows of what she speaks, said she would still get more points for the failed triple axel than she would have gotten for a perfectly executed double axel in place of it. And that is, again, insane.
That’s not just my opinion: I would bet the house that the vast majority of people watching would prefer to see the perfect double axel than a tumble to the ice while attempting a triple. (And of course a successful triple would be best of all.)
The reason, btw, is not just because the jump failed, not because we insist on perfection. It’s because we are taken in an instant from a spellbound state of watching a beautifully flowing routine to watching a jarring, ugly, flailing crash to the ice. We go from feeling elevated thoughts to cringing and wincing. Not enjoyable. Not something that should be rewarded.
Great question!
P.S. This men’s “big air” snowboarding is amazing.
Finally found some other analysis of that short track final–China was penalized for some shoving at the end. Canada was penalized for interfering and not getting out of the way of the finish even though they were essentially being lapped. Korea was not penalized because the fall was judged to be purely accidental. I think had it been a qualification round that’s the type of thing that would have gotten Canada advanced (had they not later been DQed), but in a final it’s just bad luck.
So you get the odd result that not only does the bronze go to a team that wasn’t even in the final, the bronze medal team is the one holding the Olympic Record for time, not the team that one the gold.
I believe it was 1984…a guy named Thomas Fahnder, I think, who swam for either Germany or France, set a new Olympic record in one of the longer swimming events—and didn’t win a medal at all.
Fahnder tried to pace himself in the semifinal and miscalculated, finishing ninth overall and missing out on the final. He wound up in the “consolation final “ ( numbers 9-16 in the semis) and swam all out, setting a record in the process. No one beat it in the actual final. Technically, he finished ninth. But he did continue to hold the Olympic record for the next four years…
After watching numerous short track races, I can only assume one thing…this is the tiny bone thrown to the Olympic traditionalists who have to have dicey rules, horrible calls, and burning outrage. Things had gotten so nice and honest since the USSR went from a world-threatening empire to a trivia question, and as time passed even the biggest diehards had to accept the fact that the good times were over. The only option now was to introduce a sport that’s inherently messed up beyond belief, that would screw over good athletes and produce jaw-dropping results without any corrupting influence whatsoever. Short track speed skating fit the bill.
Me? It’s fast and furious and I never know what to expect. Beats the heck out of curling any day. 
Re. figure skating, I’m very pleasantly surprised by how all the insufferable drama seems to have completely vanished. The only thing I’ve seen was that silly ego trip from Adam Rippon. I’m pretty sure much of it is burnout (that Michelle Kwan will-she won’t-she was probably the last straw), but whatever the reason, this has been the most I’ve enjoyed this sport…well, probably ever. I just saw Evgenia Medvedeva, and damn, she can bring it.
Dinsdale - Yeah. Never fond of yoo-ess-ay chants, even less fond after the collapse of the USSR made them largely pointless, and with the state the nation is in now it’s just downright sickening. (On a related note, do not expect extensive coverage of the next American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. The World on March 11.)
Quartz - What was wrong with the Belgian’ women’s bobsled costume choice?