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Posted: Feb 18 2010 02:49 pm

So I love the Olympics. Been watching them since they started. Anyone else enjoying them? My favorite events to watch are hockey (duh), speed skating and snowboarding.

I hesitate to discuss last night's results on the off chance someone has 'em recorded and is waiting to see them, but suffice to say it was a great night of competition.

What are your thoughts on the Games so far?

Joined: Apr 05 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 26

So... I've been away from the forum for a long time, but last time I was on I started a thread dedicated to the one sport I love watching during the winter games. While Shaun White shredding the competition in halfpipe is great, I get to see that in the XGames. The winter olympics are all about curling. It the most non-athletic sport ever, but I can sit and watch it for hours and be entertained. The best part is I don't know why. Its like watching a good fountain in Vegas, I know whats gonna happen but I just can't look away.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Honestly...it's too much. I mean I liked them as a kid, but now? I get bored after the opening ceremonies.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 05:02 pm

eh, never cared for winter olympics. i was always more partial towards the summer olympics

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Only sport I care about is hockey.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 07:43 pm

Yeah I'm not into winter sports at all, so have no interest in the Winter Olympics. Even the summer Olympics are a bit of a drag as most of the events I'm interested in get almost no coverage, like Gymnastics. It's all swimming and running, the two most boring events in the entire games. Why are those the most popular ones?

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Pandajuice wrote:

Why are those the most popular ones?

Michael Phelps & Usain Bolt.

2011 SNES Champ Joined: Dec 04 2006 Posts: 1929

Fuck, if Team Canada continues to play like the Montreal Canadiens, they'll repeat the fiasco of Torino 2006. They barely defeated Switzerland.
Full of individual plays, and some of the players didn't seem to even give a shit about being in the Olympics.

What I'm the most interested in is Women's Hockey. The US-Canada rivalry is fucking huge, mostly because they completely dominate everything else.
Sweden beat the US somehow in 2006, but this year they lost 13-1 to Canada.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 11:18 pm

I am loving the Curling and obviously the Hockey.

Here's to hoping that Team USA can surprise the 99 rated Team Canada.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

I haven't watched too much Curling before. Who's the predominate country in that sport?

Posted: Feb 18 2010 11:33 pm

I assume it's Canada. Team USA sucks.

Basically, Curling is like Ice Shuffleboard with a hell of a lot more strategy.

They play "ends" which are essentially innings like in baseball, and the goal is to get your stone (either red or yellow) as close as you can to the center of the target circle.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

I know what Curling is but I never knew they played "ends". Too bad the time difference here is huge.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 11:38 pm

And they play 10 of them, which drags on a bit.

The TV commentators on NBC make it interesting. The women's hockey commentators are kind of boring, and they can't even hit!

But, the US team is rocking our world right now.

2011 SNES Champ Joined: Dec 04 2006 Posts: 1929

What's nice about Curling is that I don't have to watch the TV constantly to follow the game.
I can do my homeworks at the same time without really missing anything, as I can listen to the commentators discuss about strategies for different plays.

Joined: Apr 05 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 26

pineapple wrote:

I haven't watched too much Curling before. Who's the predominate country in that sport?

Actually America is ranked number 4 or 5 in the world I think. Canada is pretty high up to. If I'm not mistaken Germany is number one

Posted: Feb 19 2010 02:49 pm

I find the Winter Olympics boring.

The problem in my eyes is that it consists mostly of sports to which normal people can't relate. We've all run, gone swimming, played volleyball, done gymnastics as kids, played baseball, basketball etc. All sports played in the Summer Olympics. Aside from skiing, how many average people have ever set foot in a bobsled before? Or really tried to race around a track on ice skates? Not many, I'd wager.

Another issue I have with the Winter Olympics.....and I may get flamed for saying this.....but I don't get the impression that we're truly seeing the best athletes in the world at the Winter Olympics. Sure, they're the best at what they do. But for the reasons mentioned above, they're doing sports that virtually no one does. The talent pool isn't as deep as it is for track, swimming, wrestling, etc. Are you really going to tell me that Brian Boitano or Scott Hamilton is as athletic as Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt? Is your average bobsledder as athletic as an Olympic gymnast? Please.....

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

I strongly feel the same way with the biathlon.

2011 SNES Champ Joined: Dec 04 2006 Posts: 1929

I don't care if they're the best or not. I'll always watch the Olympics to cheer for the Canadian athletes, who made a lot of sacrifices to get there.

Do you have any idea how incredibly fucking shitty Canada is at supporting their athletes? Most of them have to get part-time jobs, because the government won't give shit.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

Olympics? what the hell is that?

Posted: Feb 20 2010 12:41 am

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

I find the Winter Olympics boring.

The problem in my eyes is that it consists mostly of sports to which normal people can't relate. We've all run, gone swimming, played volleyball, done gymnastics as kids, played baseball, basketball etc. All sports played in the Summer Olympics. Aside from skiing, how many average people have ever set foot in a bobsled before? Or really tried to race around a track on ice skates? Not many, I'd wager.

Another issue I have with the Winter Olympics.....and I may get flamed for saying this.....but I don't get the impression that we're truly seeing the best athletes in the world at the Winter Olympics. Sure, they're the best at what they do. But for the reasons mentioned above, they're doing sports that virtually no one does. The talent pool isn't as deep as it is for track, swimming, wrestling, etc. Are you really going to tell me that Brian Boitano or Scott Hamilton is as athletic as Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt? Is your average bobsledder as athletic as an Olympic gymnast? Please.....

well said

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Feb 20 2010 11:08 am

Okay, maybe I missed something, but when the hell did curling become such a big deal? Not knocking the game/sport/whatever it is, but it seems to be all the rage now.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

Yeah I know man. I never heard of curling in the mainstream until like 5 years ago or so.

Posted: Feb 20 2010 11:46 am

I don't care for curling even though some people in my family are huge on it(my aunts brother was part of Team Canada in 2002 or 2006). I only really care about the sports that Canada has a chance to do well in so I might watch curling if we get far(I think we're undeafeated, last time I checked). The only stuff I won't miss is the hockey. I still like the Winter Olympics a lot better than the summer Olympics. I find the summer olympics to be boring as hell, I'll watch if they add hockey but that would be silly.

Posted: Feb 21 2010 06:46 pm

So I'm gonna go ahead and guess that I'm the only one that's actually been to Vancouver during the games. I went yesterday and it's just one huge, city-wide party. It's fucking INSANE.

In terms of the actual games, I'm stoked for the Canada-USA game tonight! To quote some drunks on the skytrain last night: 'U-S-A! You are gay!' Razz

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Are you going to the game?