Hrm, heck if CURLING of all things is an event in the Winter Olympics, then why not. But I can see folks making a good case for events only being for athletics, which would leave even BBQing out.
-PCM
Oh, hey, waitaminute, now, The Man certainly sweats :sweat: when he barbeques (no worry, though; I make it a point not to sweat INTO the food being BBQ'd). 'A's ha'hd work, you know?! :mrgreen:
I even got a "kiss the cook" apron. No takers, though :grumble: .
They have syncro swimming, ballroom dancing, curling, and baseball.
Why not Casino gaming and competetive beer drinking?
Actually, I'm waiting to see competetive home redecorating become an event. The early favorites being England's Changing Rooms vs. the USA's Trading Spaces
Whoa. Quickly becoming the international baseball powerhouse of this millenium (arguably; but, let's say it anyway), Cuba [image] wins gold . . . in yet another judges-apparently-need-attention (in the form of umpires, this time) Olympic event, I hear.
Where are our board's Australians [image] . . . surely ya'll's must have an opinion.
Hilarious commentary on the "Gymnastics Gala" :shakehead:
--------------------------------------------------------------------- From sublime to ridiculous by Ken Murrah, Yahoo! Sports
August 25, 2004
A week of drama and controversy in men's and women's gymnastics ended Tuesday night with the gymnastics gala, perhaps the most ridiculous televised event in Olympic history.
The gala, an "encore presentation" of exercises performed by Olympic medalists from these Games, serves absolutely no purpose except to move real Olympic competition later in the night into television's vast wasteland.
Until Tuesday night and the gala, the gymnastics competition had been everything NBC could have hoped for in Athens. We had American glory, great drama, scoring controversies and unruly crowds.
Sounds a bit like the World Wrestling Federation but it's been great to watch and produced monstrous ratings for NBC.
NBC showed four segments of the gala Tuesday night totaling approximately 20 minutes of television time.
I'd like that time back.
Even NBC announcers Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett and Elfi Schlegel seemed bored with the gala after a week of wild performances at their venue.
Where is the swimming gala?
Why not get Michael Phelps to swim the 200-meter butterfly to his favorite Eminem tunes with the lights in the pool dimmed to show his shimmering figure in the water?
When will 100-meter sprint champion Justin Gatlin give us an encore 100 meters to the dulcet sounds of LL Cool J blaring in the Olympic stadium speakers?
Can't we get the triumphant U.S. women's softball team to play the Australians again in the dark with no lights? It would be tough calling balls and strikes but that may be the only way the Americans could be beaten.
Did I mention that I want my time back?
NBC spent weeks telling me how great the men's decathlon was going to be in Athens with American Tom Pappas leading the way as his Greek ancestors watched over his performance.
Instead, Pappas dropped out of the competition, but American Bryan Clay stepped up with a remarkable performance to win the silver medal.
Clay's performance could even be characterized as heroic.
Unfortunately, we didn't see the conclusion of the decathlon until 11:30 p.m.
Even later, Moroccan distance-running legend Hicham El Guerrouj won one of the most dramatic men's 1500-meter races you will ever see – as long as you weren't sound asleep.
The race started at 11:36 p.m. on NBC and finished at 11:40 p.m.
If you missed it, I'm sorry because it was the kind of race and finish that gets the hair on your arms standing straight up with NBC's Tom Hammond's call blaring through the night.
By nearly any measure, the Olympic television presentation has gone very well for NBC, but let's hope we don't have to suffer through another competition that is not a competition at all.
Save it for the post-Olympic gymnastics tour coming to a town near you as soon as these Games are over, but please don't make me watch it again.
The Olympics are about competition at its purest, and there is nothing pure about the gymnastics gala.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
bmwracer wrote:Hilarious commentary on the "Gymnastics Gala" :shakehead:
--------------------------------------------------------------------- From sublime to ridiculous
[i]by Ken Murrah, Yahoo! Sports
NBC spent weeks telling me how great the men's decathlon was going to be in Athens with American Tom Pappas leading the way as his Greek ancestors watched over his performance.
Instead, Pappas dropped out of the competition, but American Bryan Clay stepped up with a remarkable performance to win the silver medal.
Tom Pappas, the World Champion in the decathlon coming into the Summer Olympics, withdrew due to an injured foot. I'm sure it's not something that Tom wished for, cut the dude some slack; according to Bruce Jenner, Tom's no wimp and certainly no prima donna (ahem, like certain NBA players that declined to represent their country).
One of the gutsiest performances I've ever seen was Dave Johnson at Barcelona in 1992. He broke his foot near the end of the decathlon. Despite the injury, he completed the final event, the mile, on a broken foot in good enough time to win the bronze medal.
There's been a lot of good Olympics coverage this year on the various television stations, but some sports writers always look for something to ridicule.
-PCM
pcmodem wrote:Tom Pappas, the World Champion in the decathlon coming into the Summer Olympics, withdrew due to an injured foot. I'm sure it's not something that Tom wished for, cut the dude some slack; according to Bruce Jenner, Tom's no wimp and certainly no prima donna (ahem, like certain NBA players that declined to represent their country).
I don't think the shot was aimed at Pappas, but NBC's overly dramatic overdone hyping of athletes... It's seems to have jinxed them: Pappas gets hurt, Stacey Dragila fails to qualify, Maurice Greene only gets bronze, Rulon Gardner gets upset, etc...
One of the gutsiest performances I've ever seen was Dave Johnson at Barcelona in 1992. He broke his foot near the end of the decathlon. Despite the injury, he completed the final event, the mile, on a broken foot in good enough time to win the bronze medal.
Yes.
Or that Japanese gynmast (Fujimoto?) in 1976 who performed (on the rings, I think) with a broken leg to help his team win the gold... That was AMAZING...
There's been a lot of good Olympics coverage this year on the various television stations, but some sports writers always look for something to ridicule.
It think the Gala was more than fair game: It's total fluff. I suppose it would be cool if all of the competition were complete, but smack in the middle? Bleah. :bleh: I had to wait until after 11PM to see Joanna Hayes' amazing win in the 100M hurdles... But it was worth it. :D :applaud:
Damn... I've done some gymnastics... I can't imagine doing anything with a sprained ankle, let alone a broken leg. :bow:
Reminds me of that lineman on the Rams... Jack Youngblood?... that played a game for the Rams on a broken leg.
From what I've read, glad I missed the Gala. Yeah, the media tries to hype athletes, turn them into heroes in order to get better Nielsen ratings.
Speaking of that bit about having Michael Phelps swim to Eminem, NBC tried to do that back in the 1992 Olympics, for that American swimmer... I forget her name... Summer Sanders?...Coca-Cola was her major sponsor... they kept showing clips of her swimming in the pool to the music of INXS' "Not Enough Time."
-PCM
bmwracer wrote:
I don't think the shot was aimed at Pappas, but NBC's overly dramatic overdone hyping of athletes... It's seems to have jinxed them: Pappas gets hurt, Stacey Dragila fails to qualify, Maurice Greene only gets bronze, Rulon Gardner gets upset, etc...
Oh, there's a TV station here in Brazil which does exactly the same ... :bleh:
Heck, I agree with any pro-"why an exhibition gymnastics competition" argument esPECially when its TV coverage runs into actual events. Ice skating, I can understand -- and even then, isn't that exhibition held on one of the last days, being ice skating being one of the last events? But, especially for this Olympics, you could tell, the few scenes I caught between Goodfellas chapters, these athletes were just tired already (a few of 'em fell down, or missed the bar, or whatever), and it probably wasn't only due to mental or physical fatigue but to "these frickin' judges" fatigue. I've heard of paying crowds to ice skating events, but . . . I could swear I've never heard the same for gymnastics' equivalent. Make no mistake, I put these gymnasts up against football players, baseball players, basketball players and many others when it comes to conditioning and great physical shape, but . . . perhaps their greatness is proved mostly in competition; just gotta get some of these friggin' judges to see that (oh, did I mention that already) as well.
Sorry to hear some of ya'll had to miss, yes, some of the better events that has happened this week (gotta' send a shot out again to Hawaii's own Brian Clay. Neat-o, man . . . more front page than Jasmine Trias in today's dailies).
And, Hallejulah . . . the USA!USA!USA! men's v-ball team has bounced back, and into medals round! Get ready . . .
The Man wrote:men's v-ball team has bounced back, and into medals round! Get ready . . .
That was a pretty amazing match: the US men were on or near the ropes in the last two games and fought back... Now they've gotta face the favorite, Brazil (you should be very happy, eh Betsy?? :D)...
bmwracer wrote:
That was a pretty amazing match: the US men were on or near the ropes in the last two games and fought back... Now they've gotta face the favorite, Brazil (you should be very happy, eh Betsy?? :D)...
Yep !!!!! :mrgreen:
Sorry The Man, bmwracer and all the americans here, but Brazil will win this game !!!!!! :woot: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe:
Betsy Hayashi wrote:Yep !!!!! :mrgreen:
Sorry The Man, bmwracer and all the americans here, but Brazil will win this game !!!!!! :woot: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe: :hehe:
Bets, I have no blind allegiance to the US: if Brazil wins, more power to 'em... :D :applaud:
What is this, hahahah, has this game been played already?
USA!USA!USA!
Congratulations to Betsy Hayashi for her 900th post.
Hold on, hold on, news flash . . . USA!USA!USA! men's basketball has just romped Spain, 102-94!
So, I justs gots one Q. for non-TeamUSA men's b-ball fans -- HOW YOU LIKES HUSTLE GAME, HAH!?! Hhahaha, nah, nah, just kidding . . . after all, it's nothin' but U.S.A. SKILLZ.
Spain men's b-ball team was previously unbeaten in this Olympics . . . and so is Lithuania (pretty soon to be stated as "so was Lithuania). And BYE-BYE upstarts Puerto Rico . . . enjoy that one win that will be known as the only win ever 'gainst the U.S.A.
C'mon, ya'll. Ain't no party like the USA! party, like the USA!USA! like the USA!USA!USA! party, like the USA!USA!USA! party.
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