I think any event that has to be done as a games-long tournament should be out. Most of them have their own gigantic tournaments to begin with that the fans of those sports care about and in the Olympics it’s just a watered down version of the event. That kind of defeats the purpose of the Olympics being the height of the sport.
I’m not talking about the events that have mass qualifiers and then the event, I’m talking about events where dozens of teams participate in events that take an hour or more to play between two of them.
I’m not watching any events this year. Besides the fact that the events that I’m interested in or curious about are the ones that get buried I can’t stand the thirty minutes of puff pieces about the US athlete followed by two minutes of watching them compete and then maybe some highlights of any other competitors that Olympic coverage now consists of. I’m watching for the event, show me the event.
[QUOTE=Shodan]
I would like to see the number of swimming events cut, …
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Yeah. And why are there so many running events? These should be cut down to a single … (quick google to see what Australia is best at) … 400m foot race.
[QUOTE=Darth Sensitive]
What if we actually added a bear to the contest?
A hungry one.
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In every event this could only improve the odds of me actually watching.
I agree. Swimming use to be interesting for me until they brought in those odd looking body suits that shave one one hundreth of a rats ass off the time because of aero-water time-contiuum performance ratings.
Swimmers should wear period costumes. That would be much more awesomerer.
Adding a hungry bear by the poolside would only be schweeet!
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking]
And swimming 50 metres. That should be Zinc medal.
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I’m still having trouble getting past this. How is a sprint in swimming any different from a sprint in running? The 50 meter sprint is a fantastic race, IMO.
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest]
I agree. Swimming use to be interesting for me until they brought in those odd looking body suits that shave one one hundreth of a rats ass off the time because of aero-water time-contiuum performance ratings.
Swimmers should wear period costumes. That would be much more awesomerer.
Adding a hungry bear by the poolside would only be schweeet!
[/QUOTE]
This is stupid. All female swimming events should be done shaved (to improve fluid dynamics) and naked. They should be required to have a full head of a blond hair. I’ll let them wear swimming caps, but upon ascending the podium, they have to pull their caps off and shake their golden ringlets for all the world to see. Go Amanda Beard!
How does a bear make things interesting? As stated earlier, the bear is for the race walking event. We need sharks for the swimming events. In fairness to the swimmers, the pool should be as long as the event, as it makes it a lot more dangerous when you have to make the turn and confront the shark. It really should be just a pure speed event.
I love boxing, but I wouldn’t really mind if it was gone from the olympics. The trouble is that while it is obviously possible to win a fight without involving the judges, instances of this occuring in the olympics (and boxing in general, really) are becoming more and more rare. IMO, this is one of the main problems with the whole sport right now, but it goes even more for the olympics. Olympic boxing has been plagued over the years with what could be generously called “interesting” decisions by judges.
[QUOTE=Rysto]
It really galls me to say this, but once the NHL stops sending players to the Olympics after the 2010 games, you might as well axe men’s ice hockey – the annual U20 tournament(the World Juniors) will probably feature higher-quality teams.
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Wait, the NHL is planning to implement this sort of ruling for all players? Or just for Americans?
[QUOTE=Telemark]
I’m still having trouble getting past this. How is a sprint in swimming any different from a sprint in running? The 50 meter sprint is a fantastic race, IMO.
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I consider the sprint races in running a bit of a joke too. I was just giving examples. The marathon is the only race I consider worthy.
[QUOTE=Rysto]
All indications are that following the 2010 Olympics, the NHL will no longer allow its players to go to the Olympics.
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Is this in the new NHL CBA?
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking]
I consider the sprint races in running a bit of a joke too. I was just giving examples. The marathon is the only race I consider worthy.
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You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is.
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict]
A grizzly bear can run 30mph. I don’t see how strolling away is going to help you. Especially if you are running into a cabin or something. And there is no event that I can think of where a race walker can beat a runner. Certainly no one is race walking in the Badwater Ultramarathon (Death Valley to Mt. Whitney race). They are walking at times, but that’s because it’s freakin’ 135 miles long. It has been won multiple times by a woman, however.
At least we can agree there.
However, I like synchronized gymnastics just because it has the hottest chicks. I still don’t think it’s a sport, but I find it pretty entertaining in a pervy kind of way.
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I like the idea of this as a NEW sport, “Closed Course Running Away from an Enraged Grizzly”. There’s a tree to climb at the end of the run, if you make it that far.
Why are you right? There is no coherent logic to the sports named (and unnamed) by your OP. The only logical sort of post in response would comprise the denouncement of any five or six Olympic sports chosen by a random number generator. It’s a silly OP.
[QUOTE=blinkingblinking]
Would you mind explaining why I am wrong?
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I’ll have a go at this. Sprints show who the fastest human is in terms of pure speed. That seems to be more in-line with the idea of the Olympics than almost anything else.
Didn’t the Olympics used to have a ruling where only amateur sportsmen competed (not amateur as in they have another job and train in their spare time, but amateur in that e.g. if they’re football (soccer) players, then they aren’t playing for Manchester United or Barcelona etc.)?
Why isn’t this enforced? The last few times I’ve seen any olympic football, it’s always been England’s amateur side facing some South American side filled with professionals. It’s the same with basketball and ice hockey.
How does that work? Where are you drawing your line? You can be pro, but not “too” pro? Either they are amatuers who don’t get paid and train in their spare time or they are not.
