Anyone else think these Olympics are going to suck?

A girl from my high school is swimming the 100-free in the Games. Her name is Kara Joyce, and she set a world record earlier this year.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: jurzdevil
so it may suck for the viewers and whatnot. but a rip from fark says the athletes will have a damn good time

At the Albertville winter Olympics, condom machines in the athletes? village had to be refilled every two hours. And in Sydney the organisers? original order of 70,000 condoms went so fast that they had to order 20,000 more. Even with the replenishment, the supply was exhausted three days before the end of the competition schedule. (For the record, athletes who were in Sydney report that the Cuban delegation was the first to use up its allocation.) Salt Lake City in 2002 went even bigger: 250,000 condoms were handed out, despite the objections of the city?s Mormon leadership.

Holey moley!

Edith Thys, an American skier at Calgary and Albertville, agrees that the partying gold should probably go to the Canadians, but she awards the licentiousness medal to the French. "They are by far the most promiscuous," says Thys, "but only with each other. I?m not sure if that?s because they wouldn?t sleep with anybody else, or because nobody else would sleep with them."

One other group that deserves some mention in a discussion of Olympic Village mischief is "the locals" who live just outside, says Godina. The shot-putter, who laughingly describes himself as "six-foot-four and 290 pounds", says local women can be especially impressed by large men in tracksuits. Two of his teammates at the Sydney Games used a tried-and-true method on them: "Start in a bar and impress them by getting them into a party thrown by one of the sponsors," says Godina, referring to the many lavish celebrations paid for by advertisers. Apparently it worked. "They woke up across the harbour, 12 miles away from the village, next to these ladies," he says.

The arrival of money and athletes, and the sponsors and businessmen who swarm around them, also supports a very old industry - which is why a union called the Movement of Greek Prostitutes is protesting against Athens? new "unrealistic" zoning laws restricting legal brothels from operating within 200m of various public buildings.

Somehow olympians don't seem so 'pure' anymore

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
The Olympics sucks - but not for the reasons you listed.

Because they keep adding lame "sports" like equestrian, synchronized swimming, and dance. What?s next finger painting, cooking, and setting the time on a VCR?

It is also much commercialized and has all pro athletes.

If they kept real sports with definitive standards of measure like, fastest, furthest, longest, highest, goals, ect... and eliminate any even that uses style, costume , and musical score as measures.

I was about to say the same thing. There are too many subjective sports that aren't sports that have been added to the olympics.

The other thing I hate about the Olympics now is the coverage. The networks do too many 'human interest' stories about the athletes and not enough actual coverage of the events.

I used to be an avid watch of the Olympics but I don't know about this year....

 

[Goosemaster]

Kent remembers sitting in the village, watching athletes walk through the door and playing a game of Guess What They Do. "The bikers have skinny little upper bodies, farmer tans and massive, clean-shaven thighs. Invert them and you get the kayakers, who have skinny little legs and massive backs and shoulders. The seven-foot-tall giant who ducks under the doorway entering the cafeteria is probably from basketball. The seven-foot giant who smacks his head on the door frame is definitely a rower; they don?t have that hand-eye co-ordination thing. The kids running at the rowers? ankles with the high-pitched voices are gymnasts. It just goes on and on. Being at the village is like taking your place in a wild anatomical parade seen nowhere else on the planet."

Dick Roth remembers Tokyo in the 1960s, a time before sex studies and internet hook-ups - and yet still very much alive. "It was a lot more innocent back then," he says, "but not only did I see it, I participated in it. You?ve been working so hard, and everybody is so in the absolute prime of life, and everyone looks so good. This was before the sexual revolution, and it was discreet. But it was happening."

Then he pauses for a moment. "I know I have to be careful when I talk to a journalist, but I can say this: It wasn?t the f**k-fest it is now."

:Q

 

[Banana]

Yeah, TV coverage sucks. Too much emphasis on American events. Will there be a cable channel showing hard core Olympic action? And no, I'm not referring to the condoms.

 

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril
Yeah, TV coverage sucks. Too much emphasis on American events. Will there be a cable channel showing hard core Olympic action? And no, I'm not referring to the condoms.

Try CBC - they're a little more balanced, and they focus less on Canadian events than NBC does on American events.

 

[cw42]

olympics are stupid.

the only thing fun to watch is USA bball dirting on everybody, it's too bad many of our best withdrew...

 

[CraigRT]

it's all about the winter olympics.. hockey is all i will watch

and some skiing....

 

[abaez]

I'm definately thinking of taking monday and friday off and flying down there for the weekend.. I'm reading they are having alot of trouble selling trip packages and are slashing prices like mad.. I'd go for the weekend if it was reasonable and cost under 2k tickerts and hotel included

 

[poopaskoopa]

The Games rule! I love it. I wish it came on every year, but if it did, I probably wouldn't care as much. So I don't know! But I love the Olympics! :heart:

 

[digitalsm]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Sounds more like the US olympic team sucks than anything else I will say that I've not heard of any "hopefuls". A good olympics needs some americans to root for or, if you're in Canada, some canadians to root for, etc. I don't see the yanks pulling for anybody, so the networks here aren't covering it much because they have nobody interesting to talk about.

Thats because theres not much care in the US. Or the world for that matter. The bar for Athens has been set extremely low, and most expect it to even fall short of that. Athens was a mistake. The IOC better hope China isnt a mistake, or the Olympics will be in a rough spot.

The US Swimming team is expected to bring home a record number of medals this year. Both gymnast teams are expexted to medal, as are their individual members. Theres talk of a american sweep in female beach volleyball.

Outside of those events, the US probably wont do to well.

 

[StageLeft]

Man, it sounds like a big orgy there!

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Man, it sounds like a big orgy there!

"sounds like?"

It is a "f**k-fest " to quote the honorable Dick Roth

 

[LeadMagnet]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
The Olympics sucks - but not for the reasons you listed.

Because they keep adding lame "sports" like equestrian, synchronized swimming, and dance. What?s next finger painting, cooking, and setting the time on a VCR?

It is also much commercialized and has all pro athletes.

If they kept real sports with definitive standards of measure like, fastest, furthest, longest, highest, goals, ect... and eliminate any even that uses style, costume , and musical score as measures.

I was about to say the same thing. There are too many subjective sports that aren't sports that have been added to the olympics.

The other thing I hate about the Olympics now is the coverage. The networks do too many 'human interest' stories about the athletes and not enough actual coverage of the events.

I used to be an avid watch of the Olympics but I don't know about this year....

Don't even get me started on the aweful coverage, and those little bio-segments. Absolutely aweful.

 

[Red Dawn]

The way the American Athletes acted during the Sydney Olympic was pretty bad for the most part and I'm expecting more of the same disgusting self centered behavior during these Olympics.

 

[silverpig]

Go Go Canadian men's rowing team!

<-- rowed with 2 of the members at university

I hope I'll get in on some of this "fun" when the games come here in 2010

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Jigga
Seriously though, like so many US athletes are suspended for doping up etc., and others don't even want to go (US basketball team.) The construction work is still going on, at an accelerated frantic pace now (safety concerns anyone?) The city infrastructure is poor, with transportation being the worst (did they even finish the new mass transit system?) Random blackouts because of heat are increasingly common, but the Greeks say backup generators will work fine for the Olympics. I don't think any records will be broken, because of the horrible heat and pollution.

Worst of all, I don't think anybody seems to care about these Olympics. Even when they were farther away in Sydney and coverage began at all these crazy times, more people were interested back then.

Oh, and I didn't even mention the possibility of a terrorist threat. I don't know about you, but the Greek police and anti-terror units don't instill much confidence in me...nevermind the problems they have with the Turks and that botched referendum vote in Cyprus.

If only Toronto had won...

Hold the olympics in Greece? Makes no sense.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
The Olympics sucks - but not for the reasons you listed.

Because they keep adding lame "sports" like equestrian, synchronized swimming, and dance. What?s next finger painting, cooking, and setting the time on a VCR?

It is also much commercialized and has all pro athletes.

If they kept real sports with definitive standards of measure like, fastest, furthest, longest, highest, goals, ect... and eliminate any even that uses style, costume , and musical score as measures.

I was about to say the same thing. There are too many subjective sports that aren't sports that have been added to the olympics.

The other thing I hate about the Olympics now is the coverage. The networks do too many 'human interest' stories about the athletes and not enough actual coverage of the events.

I used to be an avid watch of the Olympics but I don't know about this year....

Don't even get me started on the aweful coverage, and those little bio-segments. Absolutely aweful.

The sexist thinking behind all the stupid bio segments is that it draws female viewers as if women couldn't be interested in the actual athletic competitions. I hate those almost as much as the extended Bob Costas pontification segments.

 

[Turkish]

No, Olympics in 2008 will suck. Wrong city choice by IOC.
By the way, you gotta be kidding me about Turks. If you are thinking Turks pose a threat to Greeks &amp; Olympics, you are out of your mind.

 

[JackBurton]

You know why it's going to suck? Because just like every other Olympics they televise, all they show are the sh!tty events! All I see is swimming, diving, gymnastics, track, more track, and some more track, and then they'll switch it up by showing swimming and diving again. WTF? I NEVER get to see Judo, boxing, Tae Kwon Do, wrestling or other cool events like that. :|

 

[memo]

it's not going to be that bad, I know someone running in it

 

[Thump553]

I don't think its apathy causing the low ticket sales and athelete turnout. I think most people are greatly concerned about the terrorist threat there, and all the stories about how far behind they are in building the infrastructure does not inspire much confidence in what attention will be paid to security.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Thump553
I don't think its apathy causing the low ticket sales and athelete turnout. I think most people are greatly concerned about the terrorist threat there, and all the stories about how far behind they are in building the infrastructure does not inspire much confidence in what attention will be paid to security.

That is the main concern. The security is likely to be a joke according to everything I have read. They are so far behind in getting everything set up.

 

[LeadMagnet]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
The Olympics sucks - but not for the reasons you listed.

Because they keep adding lame "sports" like equestrian, synchronized swimming, and dance. What?s next finger painting, cooking, and setting the time on a VCR?

It is also much commercialized and has all pro athletes.

If they kept real sports with definitive standards of measure like, fastest, furthest, longest, highest, goals, ect... and eliminate any even that uses style, costume , and musical score as measures.

I was about to say the same thing. There are too many subjective sports that aren't sports that have been added to the olympics.

The other thing I hate about the Olympics now is the coverage. The networks do too many 'human interest' stories about the athletes and not enough actual coverage of the events.

I used to be an avid watch of the Olympics but I don't know about this year....

Don't even get me started on the aweful coverage, and those little bio-segments. Absolutely aweful.

The sexist thinking behind all the stupid bio segments is that it draws female viewers as if women couldn't be interested in the actual athletic competitions. I hate those almost as much as the extended Bob Costas pontification segments.

The other thing I hate is they spend 90% of the time covering the same 5 sports, and building up some athlete you know is gonna get a medal. I would also like to see them cover all gold medal rounds regadless if there is an American in it. (I do realize each counrty has it's own coverage -taylored to it)


Also llok at some of the sports that used to be in the Olympics.

underwater swimming race
swimming obstacle race
plunge for distance swimming race
tug of war
live pigeon shooting
Crocket
Roque
Jeu de Paume
Cricket
Motorboating

 

[LeadMagnet]

Some sports that they tried but didn't make it.

American Football: 1932, Los Angeles

Australian Rules Football: 1956, Melbourne

Badminton: 1972. Official Medal sport in Barcelona, 1992

Basque pelota: 1924,1968 &amp; 1992

Bandy: (Soccer on ice) 1952 Winter Games in Oslo, Norway

Budo: (Japanese archery/wrestling/fencing) 1964, Tokyo

Curling: 1924, 1932, 1936, 1964 &amp; 1988 Winter Games.

Dog Sled Racing: 1932, Lake Placid, U.S.A.

Field Handball: 1952, Helsinki, Finland

Gliding: 1936, Berlin

Korfball: 1928, Amsterdam

Kayaking and Canadian Canoeing: 1924, Paris

Lacrosse: 1928, Amsterdam, 1932, Los Angeles, 1948, London

Military Patrol: (Led to Biathlon in 1960) 1924,1928,1936,1948 Winter Games

Roller Hockey: 1992, Barcelona

Taekwando: 1992, Barcelona

Water Skiing: 1972, Munich, Germany.

Winter Pentathlon (X-country &amp; downhill skiing/pistol/fencing/horse riding) 1948

Women's Judo: 1988. Official Medal sport in Barcelona, 1992