Heard a factoid on CNN just in the last hour. The powers behind international competitive chess are pushing for their sport(?) to be included in the Olympic Games. They even offered their members for competitive drug testing like other Olympic participants.
WTF?? What’re we looking for in the chemically-enhanced Olympic chess player. Overdeveloped heads? Gotta watch those East German girls with the larger than normal frontal lobes. I guess we don’t really need the Swiss timing on this event either.
Yeah, gotta make sure they’re not taking Sudafed for their sniffles…:rolleyes:
Next time I play chess with Mr. Tamex and he beats me (as usual), I’ll accuse him of playing under the influence of Sudafed. Or maybe even steroids. :eek:
Olympic chess!?
Zeus wept.
Not all games are sports, fer cryinouloud. What next? Olympic Bridge? Check for what…crustless sandwiches and mixed nuts?
Not all games are sports–and most of 'em have their own tournaments anyway. Poker tournaments with killer players are ruthless as hell, but not remotely atheletic. Checking booze and nicotine levels wouldn’t be advisable either.
Veb
Who frankly sucks at chess but respects the game too much to welcome it being prostituted this way
I prefer Relay Chess. You move, then run 400 metres over hurdles carrying the board (baton attached to board via hole underneath) before handing the ensemble to your opponent’s team.
The Powers Behind International Chest are probably referring to the abuse of creatine monohydrate and ephedra by various top-ranked ChestMasters. That stuff can be dangerous.
As a former Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour player I can say that mental sports are no less tiring or worthy than physical sports. But (and here is that big ole but) the Olympics is about physical feats and not mental ones.
Getcha Chess, Bridge and Darts outa my Olymipics! I want more 13 year old girls in tights doing acrobatics dammit! Oh wait… was that my out loud voice again?
Darts and billiards are sports. I 100% support the inclusion of billiards at the Olympics; to my mind it’s a slam-dunk decision. It’s a sport played throughout the world with an international federation that determines rules and requirements for participation - the basic requirements for an Olympic event. Darts I don’t know enough about, in terms of the international scope of the sport.
ISTR reading somewhere that in many countries, chess is considered a sport, though I’m sure it was in a chess book. Then again, most countries don’t speak English as a first language, so something could be lost in the translation.
I agree that it might seem silly to mix something that’s decidedly non-athletic into a historically athletic competition. But if it’s a paradigm shift to lift academic pursuits to the same level of importance as athletics, then why not support it? It’s not like chess requires a huge investment in equipment or is going to take precious TV time away from the ever-popular pre-pubescent girls smashing up their near-anorexic bodies.
