Olympic Excitement

[katmai]

I dont think the Americans are going to make it to the Semi-Finals...  I also think the Canadian men are going to have to play above their skill level to beat the Russians.

Oh I would be shocked if they make it to bronze medal game, but still Strix is a traitor.

[Syt]

Apparently the German lugers won ahead of their competition.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Apparently the German lugers won ahead of their competition.

Yeah they won gold and silver, despite the idiot NBC announcers talking about how poorly they were doing (they also did this with the guy who got the bronze...Italian dude that won last time around, etc).

"He missed this turn here, messed up that turn there......HE'S NOT GOING TO MAKE IT HE'S NOT GOING FAST ENOUGH....oh he made it."
*takes the lead, goes on to win the bronze*

"If he fixed his posture (or something), he would be a really good slider!"
*wins gold medal*

I dunno...I thought they all looked pretty good. vOv

I think it was a Swiss guy who crashed and was off the sled and sliding on his ass down the track, but somehow managed to climb back on and finish.

[Strix]

Figure Skating looks to be a joke again this Olympics. The commentators weren't even shy about pointing out that people were falling and not doing well but still getting high marks.

The "sport" has become the WWE of the Olympics. They should save us the time, just post the results without bothering to skate, and than all the skaters can get back to Sesame Street and Disney on Ice.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Figure Skating looks to be a joke again this Olympics. The commentators weren't even shy about pointing out that people were falling and not doing well but still getting high marks.

The "sport" has become the WWE of the Olympics. They should save us the time, just post the results without bothering to skate, and than all the skaters can get back to Sesame Street and Disney on Ice.

Yeah that was awkward.  They were falling and getting stuck into the bronze medal spot over couples who didn't fall at all, and the scores weren't even all that close.  The ones I saw were Russian and Canadian, IIRC.  I think it was the Russians where they both almost fell.  The chick had to put her hand down to keep from eating ice, while the dude fell.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

So what are the handful of protestors against the Olympics actually protesting against? Commercialization of sports? The corruption in the IOC? Prevalent doping in sports?

I am not sure many of them know either.  It is really just a group of people that are anti. 

Actually the majority of them have their individual causes. Most prevalent being the billions of dollars being spent on the games, while the homeless problems continue and education gets cut again and again, why do we need teachers when we have the Olympics.

There are a few apple cart wreckers, but 99% of the protesters are doing things like sign waving and singing. A few dorks (who I assume are from the suburbs) are wearing balaclavas and breaking shit.

All the people I've talked to who actually have protested, all thought the security was well handled, and that they got to have their say. weird, eh. I hear more good things than bad.

[CountDeMoney]

Change thread title to Olympic Excrement, plz.

[Grey Fox]

Americans would probably feel better about the Olympics, if a new network would take the rights away from NBC.

[alfred russel]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2010/02/136_60814.html

Apolo Ohno, the most decorated American short-track speed skater in Winter Olympic history, may also solidify his reputation as the most "ungentlemanly sportsman" in South Korea.

While his pictures showed up on the front pages of a handful of U.S. newspapers, he may not know that his name was on the front pages of the most, if not all, South Korean newspapers on the same day.

In America, he is famous. In South Korea he is notorious.

Lee Jung-su, the South Korean gold winner at the men's 1,500-meter short-track, accused Ohno of being "unqualified" to share the same awarding podium, publicly criticizing Ohno's rough play that was reportedly often done in a subtle manner and therefore went unnoticed in the eyes of the referees.

"Ohno didn't deserve to stand on the same medal podium," Lee said, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Lee was commenting on the manner Ohno played in the same match where the latter earned the silver by windfall when two other South Korean gold favorites -- Sung Si-bak and Lee Ho-suk -- crashed into each other in their final stretch toward the finish. Ohno was trailing behind them.

"Okay, it's technically not a foul play as long as the referees didn't notice. But (Ohno) used his arms too aggressively today."

Lee fumed: "I was so enraged that it was difficult for me to contain myself even as I was doing a winner's ceremony."

Among South Koreans, Ohno's name is synonymous to an "ungentlemanly athlete" with a good reason.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, in the 1500 m race, Ohno won the gold medal, with a time of 2:18.541. During the 1500 m final race, South Korean Kim Dong-Sung was actually first across the finish line, but was disqualified for blocking Ohno, in what is called "cross tracking."

Ohno was in second place with three laps remaining, and on his third attempt to pass on the final lap, Kim drifted slightly to the inside where Ohno raised his arms and came out of his crouch to signal that he was blocked.

Fourth-place finisher of the same race, Fabio Carta of Italy, showed his disagreement with the judge's decision, saying that it was "absurd that the Korean was disqualified."

The disqualification upset South Korean supporters, many of whom directed their anger at Ohno.

The incident so enraged Koreans that some say he contributed to instigating anti-American sentiment in South Korea.

Tim, do you have any insights into whether this is real? Sports fans can be stupid, but even if Ohno was grabbing a bit, it was a Korean that went kamikaze into other skaters.

[PRC]

I dont think the Americans are going to make it to the Semi-Finals...  I also think the Canadian men are going to have to play above their skill level to beat the Russians.

I think the Americans have the hottest goalie going into this tournament and that will make a huge difference for them.  Their team is good... the problem they have is their coach, Ron Wilson gargles balls.

[Delirium]

Does he, really? I was under the impression the Leafs went out and got the best GM and the best coach for their rebuilding phase, at least according to them that is. But isn't Wilson's reputation pretty solid, despite failing with Toronto yet again?

[PRC]

Does he, really? I was under the impression the Leafs went out and got the best GM and the best coach for their rebuilding phase, at least according to them that is. But isn't Wilson's reputation pretty solid, despite failing with Toronto yet again?

He was hired by Cliff Fletcher before Burke officially had the job.  Burke and Wilson are friends outside of the business though.  I don't think he has a solid reputation... other than showing up in one Stanley Cup final (lost to the Wings) when he was coaching Washington his teams have underwhelmed compared to their expecations exemplified by his time with the Sharks.

[Drakken]

Canada is going to get at least one more gold in women's hockey.  Unless they don't dominate the shit out of that sport anymore?

They trounced Slovakia 18-0 at their first game. These women are fucking seal-clubbing Amazons.

The fact that Slovakia's goalie was even worse than Tommy Salo (losing her stick like a few times each period) didn't help either. She was hawt, though.

[Drakken]

Alex Bilodeau wins GOLD!

CANADA! CANADA!

The irony being, of course, that VANOC made everything they could to make sure neither Quebec nor French were presented to exist in modern Canada during the ceremony, not even to rape natives - which we were (and still are) very good at.

In VANOC's bizarro-world, Quebec has simply sunken deep into the Atlantic Ocean with all (French) hands on board. Even Quacker ex-federal ministers under Trudeau and Chretien (like when Ottawa was at war with Quebec) were shit pissed off about that, and the Federal Commissioner for Official Languages wasn't amused.

And Wayne Gretzky over Gaetan Boucher = How many gold medals did Wayne Gretzky win, anyway?

[Ed Anger]

Slovakia should have put Miro Satan in a dress and put him out there.