I think you’re right, sure I saw this in the snowboard trick-thing events.
Never curl against someone with his name on the back of his shirt, and never, ever curl against someone with his country on the back of his shirt.
Finished the men’s individual luge. It seems to be the most stable of the sliding sports. In skeleton there it looks like their barely in control, and bobsled often has all manner of little bumps and skids, but luge is more in control, to the point where one hard bump can doom a competitor’s chances. A good watch. USA pointed out that Germany dominates this event, and as I’ve yet to see a YouTube video explaining this, I’m always open. I know skating really fast has long been a part of Dutch culture, but I can’t see anything that would make Germany so powerful in this one specific discipline.
Also caught big air, and…yeah, just reinforced my ambivalence toward trying to do tricks on an unyielding plank that both feet are bolted to. Any sport that has to mandate spinning in both directions just doesn’t have enough options. Don’t expect halfpipe to be any better. Might get more enjoyment out of the one with all the “full”-s; they get serious altitude on that one!
Robot Arm - Look, you got any explanations, I’m all ears. Almost everything I’ve heard about hockey bemoaned how hard it is to see the puck and too many fights, and the respect curling gets in most quarters is up there with solo synchronized swimming. I’ve seen three women’s hockey games so far, and they’ve been about as competitive as a Jake Paul fight. I get that everything’s going to get some airtime, but how is an all-American network devoting so many hours to every stage of these competitions? I don’t think it’s good or bad, but it is a mystery.
They don’t explain everything, but there are two main factors for that dominance in luge and bobsled: Germany has four ice tracks, while most competing nations have only one or even none. So the training conditions and the variety of courses give the German athletes a big advantage. Secondly, good old German engineering. We just have the best sled builders and technicians in the world.
If you think German domination of bobsleigh is strange, what about GB’s excellence in skeleton?!
I think that is a matter of tradition. They invented the sport.
I didn’t know that. Usually we invent sports and then get comprehensively outclassed at them.
How unsportmanly!
I know you were joking, but by that measure also all motor sports would be unsportmanly.
Well, you’re doing fine in snooker and darts. Football, also not too bad, at least at the club leagues level. And haven’t you invented about 50% of all modern sports? You can’t succeed in everything.
When I was a kid, we used to get a Canadian TV station, and every once in a while I’d see curling. It was oddly fascinating, largely because I had no idea what the rules were. The announcers would say “and that’s two points for Martin” and I want them to back up so I could try to figure out what had happened.
About twenty years ago, I heard of a club near me that was having an open house. I went, tried it, joined the club, and I’ve been playing ever since. I have a game tonight, in fact.
It’s been interesting to see the popularity growing. My club has a waiting list to join now. The best explanation I have is from my own experience. It’s this quirky sport that people only see on rare occasions, with rules and strategies to learn. Think of all the websites and podcasts that cater to unusual interests; the world has become more accepting of esoteric things recently.
If it’s any consolation, you won’t have to hear or even think about it for the next four years.
Kinda sorta, yeah. Anyone who knows anything about motor sports knows that they are physically very hard and demand great skill, co-ordination, stamina etc., but it’s still a very different game to motor-less sports, since the best possible multi-million tech is absolutely essential to compete, and the greatest driver in the world wouldn’t have a chance without.
A sledding race where the know-how and resources of the implement building team are at least as important if not more so than the skill, strength, stamina etc. of an athlete is different as well. A lesser type of thing, in a way.
That was basically the idea behind the America’s Cup sailing race. It was a test of boat builders and tacticians, as well as sailors. Various criteria have been used during the history of the race series, and with each set of rules the designers and builders looked for advantages and loopholes (and legal challenges).
You could say the same thing about the posh horsy events at the Summer Olympics. If your horse is crap, you ain’t winning, no matter how good a rider you are.