2014 Olympics

[redsoxrules]

Figured I'd open a thread for this.

Anyone been following this?

[rjortiz]

Just hockey, but not anything else.

[Spudboy]

I've been watching as much as possible.

 

I even watched the Russians loose at Curling last night!!! I think curling is stupid and does not belong in the Olympics as a medal sport. But I always enjoy watching the Russians taking one up the pooper!!!

 

I love speed so watching downhill, luge, and speed skating is fun for me.

 

Last night I got to see Bob Costa drink a shot of vodka live. He and Carillo were very funny. Of course, neither of them know how to drink vodka!!!!

[redsoxrules]

I'm looking forward to the Hockey but I watch everything. I probably watch about 5-6 hours a day of coverage.

[mvp 78]

I watched the opening ceremony while at Kings on Friday, but haven't seen anything else. Aside from the hockey, I couldn't care less what happens.

[Thunder]

So NBC finally came to their senses and kicked Costas off the air because of his eye infection. Matt Lauer will take his place in the primetime slot.

[Youk Of The Nation]

My stepfather was watching last night, I happened to notice as I was cleaning and stopped to watch skiing for a minute or two. Did I see Kazakhstan in the running for skiing?

[Palodios]

My stepfather was watching last night, I happened to notice as I was cleaning and stopped to watch skiing for a minute or two. Did I see Kazakhstan in the running for skiing?

 

Kazakhstan has something crazy like 50 athletes, really unexpected.

[Palodios]

I have always been a huge Olympics fan. I watch every minute I can. We actually started a 2014 Olympics Fantasy League at work, and it has been a ton of fun.

[Thunder]

It irks me so much when people say the name of a country wrong, especially after watching the Opening Ceremony. Sometimes it's out of ignorance, and other times, it's just sheer stupidity.

[mvp 78]

I watched skeleton (sp?). It was ok. The slopestyle was interesting, but it's not something I'd watch for longer than 10 minutes.

[Navafan29]

So before today, the only possible way for the U.S. to get in the second seed was for this to happen:

 

US beats Slovenia by 4 or more goals and the Canada-Finland game to go into overtime.

 

And that's exactly what happened.

(Well okay, the US only had to win their game by 3 since Canada ended up winning, but whatever).

 

On top of that, the net-dislodging incident yesterday with Russia saved our butts. What I'm saying is that a lot of unlikely circumstances have all happened for the US to get the second seed. We're capable of beating Russia and Canada is having problems playing at their full potential. We have as good a chance as ever of winning this thing, so let's WIN the olympics.

[VA Sox Fan]

So before today, the only possible way for the U.S. to get in the second seed was for this to happen:

 

US beats Slovenia by 4 or more goals and the Canada-Finland game to go into overtime.

 

And that's exactly what happened.

(Well okay, the US only had to win their game by 3 since Canada ended up winning, but whatever).

 

On top of that, the net-dislodging incident yesterday with Russia saved our butts. What I'm saying is that a lot of unlikely circumstances have all happened for the US to get the second seed. We're capable of beating Russia and Canada is having problems playing at their full potential. We have as good a chance as ever of winning this thing, so let's WIN the olympics.

 

He's referring to men's hockey. FYI.

[Thunder]

Kind of unrelated, but today I skiied on the same slopes that were used for the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. I'm obviously in Utah, been here for a few days now. Ski slopes are part of the Park City Mountain Resort.

[Jasonbay44]

Maybe its just me, but I have never been interested in winter Olympics, I just don't find this stuff interesting. I mean I guess some of snowboarding or whatever is cool, but I don't like hockey and I don't understand how people watch curling. It was on at the bar yesterday at my work and people were getting into it, like what the f***? Its so boring.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Maybe its just me, but I have never been interested in winter Olympics, I just don't find this stuff interesting. I mean I guess some of snowboarding or whatever is cool, but I don't like hockey and I don't understand how people watch curling. It was on at the bar yesterday at my work and people were getting into it, like what the f***? Its so boring.

 

I don't really follow them either. I prefer the regular Olympics, specifically the women's fencing competitions and the Chinese and Japanese women's volleyball teams. I'm not watching these things to see women in parkas and ski suits, goddammit.

[Thunder]

I don't really follow them either. I prefer the regular Olympics, specifically the women's fencing competitions and the Chinese and Japanese women's volleyball teams. I'm not watching these things to see women in parkas and ski suits, goddammit.

 

That's why there is figure skating. That Meryl Davis looks awfully gorgeous.

[Youk Of The Nation]

That's why there is figure skating. That Meryl Davis looks awfully gorgeous.

 

There are two problems with skating. One, not nearly enough skin, and two, sometimes it's hard to tell the men from the women.

[Thunder]

There are two problems with skating. One, not nearly enough skin, and two, sometimes it's hard to tell the men from the women.

 

Well, the outfits usually give it away. A man wouldn't wear a low cut, one piece skirt.

[garurumon]

The main feeling for visitors and residents is that the spread-out nature of the arenas and stadiums, and the still-unfinished construction, gives areas of the city the feel of ghost town. With Sochi the place to find just 300,000 people, nearly all infrastructure must be constructed from scratch. Whole residential districts were constructed. Many buildings were not finished at a certain time with the games - and possibly never shall be.

However, with the deteriorating economic situation in Russia, there could be an unexpected bonus for Sochi, with the winter ski season in the nearby slopes shaping up to be better than anyone expected. Also the event boost online sales and mascot sales. While using the rouble losing around 50% against the euro throughout the year, holidays in Europe are increasingly becoming prohibitively expensive to many Russians, and skiing breaks from the Caucasus could be thought of as an extremely affordable alternative.

[Spudboy]

Timely and topical post.

[Northern Star]

Cry harder, Hope.

[a700hitter]

Can't watch it. 20 minutes of human interest stories for every 5 minutes of competition. Enough already. Televise the events. I don't care if the athlete's father was a one-eyed -proof reader who worked 20 hour days and still found the time to drive him 100 miles each day to practice. I really don't care.

[Northern Star]

Can't watch it. 20 minutes of human interest stories for every 5 minutes of competition. Enough already. Televise the events. I don't care if the athlete's father was a one-eyed -proof reader who worked 20 hour days and still found the time to drive him 100 miles each day to practice. I really don't care.

 

"Just a Cinderella story...outta nowhere...."

[Kimmi]

Can't watch it. 20 minutes of human interest stories for every 5 minutes of competition. Enough already. Televise the events. I don't care if the athlete's father was a one-eyed -proof reader who worked 20 hour days and still found the time to drive him 100 miles each day to practice. I really don't care.

 

I love the Olympics. I enjoy the human interest stories. I can't watch them all during the summer Olympics because baseball trumps any other tv watching, but I record the Olympics every night, then I can ff through all the ads and any of the human interest stories or preliminary heats that I don't want to watch.

 

I can knock out 4 hours of telecast in about an hour and a half.

[Youk Of The Nation]

I can't watch the Olympics because I feel too bad for the losers. For things like basketball or soccer or whatever, it's different. The Olympics is just a feather in your cap, there are bigger stages on which to win (the World Cup, NBA championship, et cetera). But for things like the running or swimming events, the Olympics is the pinnacle of your sport. The big time. The absolute top competition in the world for your chosen field. These people spend most of their entire lives training and sacrificing and working their asses off to get to the day where they can compete in the games...and then they lose out on a medal by an amount of time measured in literally hundredths of seconds. In less time than it takes a human being to blink, a decade or more of pouring your heart and soul into your goal is flushed away. I'd almost rather lose by minutes than think that maybe if I'd cut my hair a little shorter or worn thinner socks, maybe it would have made the difference.

[Slasher9]

The main feeling for visitors and residents is that the spread-out nature of the arenas and stadiums, and the still-unfinished construction, gives areas of the city the feel of ghost town. With Sochi the place to find just 300,000 people, nearly all infrastructure must be constructed from scratch. Whole residential districts were constructed. Many buildings were not finished at a certain time with the games - and possibly never shall be.

However, with the deteriorating economic situation in Russia, there could be an unexpected bonus for Sochi, with the winter ski season in the nearby slopes shaping up to be better than anyone expected. Also the event boost online sales and mascot sales. While using the rouble losing around 50% against the euro throughout the year, holidays in Europe are increasingly becoming prohibitively expensive to many Russians, and skiing breaks from the Caucasus could be thought of as an extremely affordable alternative.

 

you do know that most of the infrastructure in Sochi was built with slave labor, right? many died and many, many more worked to the bone and never received pay.

2 points on Brasil:

- the empty arenas and venues is embarrassing

- the idiot swimmers for the USA that claimed they were robbed by police will be a global embarrassment for the USA.

[Slasher9]

Can't watch it. 20 minutes of human interest stories for every 5 minutes of competition. Enough already. Televise the events. I don't care if the athlete's father was a one-eyed -proof reader who worked 20 hour days and still found the time to drive him 100 miles each day to practice. I really don't care.

 

On Directv at any given time there are 8 channels with events going on. i have yet to watch a human interest story.

[Kimmi]

I can't watch the Olympics because I feel too bad for the losers. For things like basketball or soccer or whatever, it's different. The Olympics is just a feather in your cap, there are bigger stages on which to win (the World Cup, NBA championship, et cetera). But for things like the running or swimming events, the Olympics is the pinnacle of your sport. The big time. The absolute top competition in the world for your chosen field. These people spend most of their entire lives training and sacrificing and working their asses off to get to the day where they can compete in the games...and then they lose out on a medal by an amount of time measured in literally hundredths of seconds. In less time than it takes a human being to blink, a decade or more of pouring your heart and soul into your goal is flushed away. I'd almost rather lose by minutes than think that maybe if I'd cut my hair a little shorter or worn thinner socks, maybe it would have made the difference.

 

I know where you're coming from Youk. I feel so bad for the losers, mainly the ones who were expected to win or at least medal. It's crazy to think that an entire life's worth of work comes down to a performance that lasts minutes or even seconds. I still haven't gotten over Michelle Kwan being beat for the gold by fellow American Tara Lipinski.

 

That said, the joy of watching the winners, or even athletes who win a bronze and take home the first medal ever in that event for their country, makes up for it. I also take solace in knowing that many of the athletes who fall short of their goal the first time will continue to work hard and return for another Olympics. Many succeed the next time around.

 

Also, I believe all of those sports have yearly World Championships. While they are usually not played out on a big stage, the competitions are pretty big deals for the athletes.

[Northern Star]

Cry some more, Hope. Surprise! Actions have consequences.