# Everything Beijing '08 Olympics Games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 5, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960 "2008-08-05T20:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/101 "2008-08-10T22:14:32Z")
[QUOTE=Švejk] I can imagine. Now Holland gets to play Japan, which is already defeated, while the US needs to play Nigeria, which is a tough opponent. To make matters worse, one or two of your better players are suspended because they got yellow cards when they thought the next game didn’t matter. I think the US is a good candidate for not making it to the quarter finals. [/QUOTE] How so? Netherlands sit on two points, needing a win, and favorable results on goal differential. The US has the same GD as Nigeria, so all it needs is a draw. Only a loss can cause it to go out, and then even a loss is fine if the Oranje draw or worse. The real candidate for failure are the Nigerians. THEY cannot sit on a draw and be happy about it, because we assume that the Netherlands will win, and even a 1 - 0 win puts them level with the Eagles on GD AND Goals scored. Which then should bring in something like goals allowed, though I’ve not seen the tie-breakers for this tournament. But the Oranje have a good chance of winning 2 - 0 or even 2 - 1, in both cases putting them ahead of Nigeria. This means the Nigerians have to win to advance, most likely. That won’t be easy against the Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/102 "2008-08-10T22:20:28Z")
[QUOTE=Švejk] … One thing about the swimming, though: what’s with the free style discipline. Doesn’t this just end up being a replication of the front crawl or whatever it’s called? [/QUOTE] In freestyle events you are allowed to do any stroke that you want to.\* However, the front crawl strokes are so much more efficient that nobody in their right minds swims anything else in competition. Even someone like Michael Phelps – an astonishing aberration in swimming – swims front crawl in freestyle events. Even though he can kick bubbles in the face of others using butterfly, say, he kicks _more_ bubbles using the front crawl. (\* as long as it is not a medley event; in those, you are allowed to do any stroke that is not already part of the medley) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/103 "2008-08-10T22:20:50Z")
Oy, you morons. Aside from Soccer, name a sport that is appreciated by a significant portion of the world population (baseball, basketball, yeah, but try beyond that). Meanwhile, American football is watched rabidly in a country of 300 million people, and is followed by people around the globe. The Super Bowl has a worldwide audience of over 100 million, and while that pales in comparison to the finals of the World Cup, I doubt there are many other sports that have a worldwide audience that big (again, discounting baseball and basketball). Ok, so it’s behind baseball and basketball. So sue me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/104 "2008-08-10T22:34:11Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Meanwhile, American football is watched rabidly in a country of 300 million people, and is followed by people around the globe. [/QUOTE] No it’s not. That is a huge myth. Peyton Manning, LaDamian Tomlinson, and John Elway could walk down the street of most major World Capitols and never be recognized. American Football is practically invisible outside of North America. Don’t believe those TV numbers either. That’s NFL propoganda. Table Tennis is more popular world wide than NFL football. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/105 "2008-08-10T22:41:41Z")
Anyone else catch the coach of the German men’s handball team. [Now that’s a professional quality mustache.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Heiner_Brand_03a.jpg/518px-Heiner_Brand_03a.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/106 "2008-08-10T22:44:50Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] American football has never really taken off outside the USA. I doubt it’s even in the top 50 popular sports [/QUOTE] They’re pretty good at rounders…I mean, baseball, though. It’s a shame that isn’t an Olympic event. Still, that guy Flipper Phelps will probably get more Gold medals than the entire UK entrants! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/107 "2008-08-10T23:00:26Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Meanwhile, American football is watched rabidly in a country of 300 million people, and is followed by people around the globe. Sports that are bigger world-wide than American Football: 1. Tennis 2. Golf\* 3. Hi Opal\*\* At least when it comes to public recognition of the stars. Everybody knows who Tiger is and the same can be said of both Federer and Nadal. As for stars from the past, AF can’t even begin to compete with Borg and McEnroe. And those are my two crowns. - Not an olympic event, but should be further in front than AF. \*\*Yes! I finally got to say it ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/108 "2008-08-11T03:27:42Z")
This is everything Olympics, right? I gotta say that the Nigerian woman playing badminton now has the biggest chest I have seen of any of the female athletes. Just thought you might like to know. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/109 "2008-08-11T03:51:10Z")
How about that Mens 4x100 free relay? Several teams well under WR time from the first leg; the back and forth first place; Jason Lezak’s amazing anchor leg to just out touch the French swimmer. This is the stuff of gold medals. Forget Phelps, Lezak is the _man_! ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/110 "2008-08-11T04:09:37Z")
[QUOTE=Southpaw] Forget Phelps, Lezak is the _man_! [/QUOTE] Lezak IS the man for the 100m Free… except Phelps set the American Record in the first leg. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/111 "2008-08-11T04:21:47Z")
Ugh, the US-Holland soccer game had me trying to keep my swearing quiet so I didn’t wake anybody up. With both Adu and Bradley out, the Nigeria game will be interesting. I imagine Adu being out will mean Altidore will start, which is good. I don’t know about who will replace Bradley. Maybe Szetela, maybe Feilhaber. ---
**Author:** ![Saratoga\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/112 "2008-08-11T04:28:36Z")
This being the first Olympics I’ve watched in some twenty years, it was surprising to see the American women’s gymnastics team look so over-muscled. Kind of odd to see magazine cover model faces on bodies like Sherman tanks. I have to wonder if their disappointing performance tonight and their spate of injuries are due to overtraining. Of course, having twenty fat guys with portable tv cameras looking over their shoulders every minute probably doesn’t help. Neat to see British female swimmers capture gold and bronze in the same race. This must the fastest medal start for UK Olympians in many years. This won’t mean anything to anyone not watching American tv coverage, but for God’s sake, can’t someone give Bob Costas the word that its better to grow old (and gray) gracefully? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/113 "2008-08-11T04:59:05Z")
This is a good thread to show again the [political cartoons](http://2bangkok.com/stephff-tibet.shtml) by our local award-winning cartoonist, Stephff. These ones are mainly about Tibet, but many are Olympics-themed. And the _Burma Digest_ has run an interesting piece entitled [China’s Triumph of the Will](http://burmadigest.info/2008/08/02/chinas-triumph-of-the-will/), comparing the Beijing and Berlin Olympics. It seem Albert Speer Jr, son of Hitler’s favorite architect and the Nazi official who designed the 1936 Olympics, was chosen by the Chinese government to design the master plan of this year’s Games. Irony in action! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/114 "2008-08-11T06:04:00Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Oy, you morons. Aside from Soccer, name a sport that is appreciated by a significant portion of the world population (baseball, basketball, yeah, but try beyond that). Meanwhile, American football is watched rabidly in a country of 300 million people, and is followed by people around the globe. The Super Bowl has a worldwide audience of over 100 million, and while that pales in comparison to the finals of the World Cup, I doubt there are many other sports that have a worldwide audience that big (again, discounting baseball and basketball). [/QUOTE] Baseball is popular in North America, some parts of Latin America, and in Japan. That’s a reasonably broad appeal, but not even close to worldwide. Other countries have their own similar sports, which range from very popular (pesäpallo in Finland, say) to kids’ games that are rarely played, or watched, by adults. Basketball is becoming more popular - in part because the NBA has been successful at promoting it - but it’s still a newcomer sport in most of the world. The Super Bowl gets watched “around the world” mostly by mildly curious people who really have no clue what is going on; even so, the numbers of viewers are unverified NFL estimates, and they’re going to hype it for all it’s worth. The NFL has made several attempts to get overseas leagues started, and so far every one has failed; NFL Europa shut down last year after basically shrinking to NFL Germany, a country with a not-insignificant population of American expats. (One team managed to survive in the Netherlands until the bitter end.) I _love_ American football, but let’s not kid ourselves; it’s a curiosity outside North America. For sheer numbers, cricket and field hockey are enjoyed by more people, simply owing to the fact that they are so popular on the populous Indian Subcontinent. But for truly worldwide appeal, among the team sports, soccer is in a class by itself. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/115 "2008-08-11T06:43:03Z")
I’d go so far as to say that Rugby is more popular than AF ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/116 "2008-08-11T09:05:25Z")
Wow, there is no one at the tennis matches today. But, I’d guess that people don’t go to the Olympics to watch tennis. It wouldn’t be on my list of sports to watch at an Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/117 "2008-08-11T09:21:16Z")
Since this is about everything Olympic, I might as well pop in a question I’ve been thinking about. Does everyone connected to the Olympics (ie athletes, judges, officials…) get to live in the village, or is it just the athletes? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/118 "2008-08-11T12:50:42Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] In team handball, why do they even bother with a goalie? I swear 90% of shots went in. [/QUOTE] I had no idea such a sport even existed. In the time I watched it on one of the foreign language channels I couldn’t even figure out the name of the sport. I had to google various olympic sports terms to track it down on wiki. Fascinating sport. [QUOTE=jsc1953] And fencing just does not show up well on TV. A lunge, somebody screams, and lights go on. What the hell just happened? [/QUOTE] The sabre event was not what I imagined. I always thought fencing was a subtle and elegant event. What I saw was quite neaderthalish – nasty, brutal, and short. Nice american sweep though. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/119 "2008-08-11T13:01:07Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] I had no idea such a sport even existed. In the time I watched it on one of the foreign language channels I couldn’t even figure out the name of the sport. I had to google various olympic sports terms to track it down on wiki. Fascinating sport. [/quote] And really big in the Nordic countries - as well as some other European and North African nations. They are my biggest hope for a medal. _keeps fingers crossed_ GO TEAM ICELAND! ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960/120 "2008-08-11T13:12:52Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Meanwhile, American football is watched rabidly in a country of 300 million people, and is followed by people around the globe. The Super Bowl has a worldwide audience of over 100 million, and while that pales in comparison to the finals of the World Cup, I doubt there are many other sports that have a worldwide audience that big (again, discounting baseball and basketball). [/QUOTE] The Indian audience alone for cricket destroys your numbers. Then you’ve got countries like Britain, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand who all follow it quite strongly. If numbers are your measure cricket beats AF anyday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everything-beijing-08-olympics-games/458960.md?page=7)