Olympics

[Guest]

[grecopa]

Ok, I have to confess.....I'm a curling FREAK!  I don't know why I find that game so appealing, but I just love it.  Yes, I live in Florida.  No, I have no idea how it's scored.  No, I've never played a winter sport in my life, but still, I'm glued to the TV when it's on.  What's wrong with me?    Actually, I think it's more of a skill game than a sport, but I love it just the same.

[beckham1]

Curling can be kind of like a car accident, you don't know why you keep looking you just do.

I love to watch speed and short track ice skating.  For some reason I also have found myself watching a lot of the cross country skiing, my favorite being the biatholon?  Just find it interesting though it shouldn't be.

And yes I think calling it a skill rather than a sport is a good definition Kelly.  I think we call way to many professionals with skills athletes.  Like are Nascar drivers athletes? No Horse Jockeys athletes? No  Golfers athletes? No

The only thing IMO that classifies an athlete is a sport that requires multiple skills like basketball running, jumping, strength etc.  If you can smoke (golf) or drink a beer while doing it (curling) you are not an athlete.   Now on the other hand if you are a good golfer, and can pick up a basketball and show some skills, then throw a nice spiral football pass I will take that into consideration.  I think I should get into curling.

[grecopa]

Now on the other hand if you are a good golfer, and can pick up a basketball and show some skills, then throw a nice spiral football pass I will take that into consideration.  I think I should get into curling.

I'm an ok golfer, and I can play basketball and throw a football too without looking like a girl, so maybe I should try curling!  If only we had some ice down here.   
Hey, how about that kid Shawn White, the snowboarder?  I love watching his interviews because he has such a great personality.  I hope he gets some good commercial deals.

[savage727]

I am addicted to watching as many of the different events as I can!     I too have been taken in by Curling - I have watched all of the U.S. Men's games and the U.S. Women until they were ousted.  I too love Biathalon as I Cross Country Ski and Target Shoot as well.  It is extremely difficult to hit such a small target when your heart rate is going through the ceiling due to the exertion of the cross county ski portion of the event.  The standing position is the most difficult of the positions to shoot from and I have been so impressed with all of the Olympic Athletes involved in not only that event but them all.

I also love the Alpine Events, Snowboarding, Ski Jumping, Skating - heck I like them all.  Bode Miller is a neighbor of mine and he is on the U.S. Olympic Ski Team.  He was to ski in 5 Alpine events and had a chance to earn gold in each of them.  He is 0 for 4 with just one event left on Saturday.  He should have won Gold in the Combined as he was first in the downhill and first in the first of two slalom runs when someone reviewing the video of his run saw that he straddled one of the gates near the end of his run thus disqualifying him!  That was heartbreaking as he had the Gold just about in his hand.  Bode is always exciting to watch as he goes all out every time he is on the slopes and he is either going to win or crash.  He won 2 Silver Medals in the 2002 Winter Olympics and was last years World Cup Ski Champion making him the best skier in the world.  There is a lot of pressure on him by the media and sponsors to win Gold in these Olympics.  I just hope he comes home safe and he does not try to overdo in his last event on Saturday. 

Have any of you reading this ever been to any Olympics either Summer or Winter?

[beckham1]

Ed do you actually know Bode?  I have been a little thrown off by his erratic interviews lately.  I always have believed anyone who makes a point to state they don't care what people think over and over again, happen to care the most what people think.  That is just my opinion.  He seems to be a little off focus from all the attention and controversy some of his interviews have caused lately.

[grecopa]

I saw the US women beat Sweden in a soccer game when the summer Olympics were in Atlanta.  The soccer events were in Orlando. 

[savage727]

Hi Dave:

I have known Bode since moving full time to Franconia, New Hampshire in June 1998.  We play on the same soccer team in the summer when he is home from World Cup Alpine Racing and hang out together after games, work, or to go into town and grab a pizza.  He works during the summer at his Grandfather's Tennis Camp which is 2 miles down the road from my house and he trains in the barn across the street.  You see the barn he trains in during a Nike commercial on TV and on his web site.  He is an outstanding athlete not only as a skier but in soccer, tennis, and golf as well.  He teaches tennis at the camp.  He could easily turn tennis pro any time he wanted to.  Dave truthfully what you see with Bode is what you get in real life.  Go on over to Nike's web site they set up for Bode at www. joinbode.com.  As you navigate around the site you can listen to Bode talk on a whole range of subjects through video clips as he is interviewed.  He really does not care what anyone thinks about his skiing as long as he feels he gave it his all and did the best he could whether that means being first or not finishing due to a crash or missing a gate.  He is his own man and that turns many people off.  The media also manipulates his interviews and shows only the portions they want and out of context most of the time.  That being said, Bode has also made some wild statements that I am not going to try and defend.  He is what he is.  Let me know what you think after you visit his web site.

Personally I do not think he has anything to prove to anyone after winning 2 Silver Medals in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and more so since being crowned World Cup Ski Champion last year.  It does not get any better than that Dave.

[savage727]

Hi Kelly:

That must have been awsome to see the U.S. Woman's Team play - they are so good!     Was the stadium full?  Did you see more than one game?  Was it expensive to get in? 

[Morningangel-Iola]

Mums been watching the ice skating the pairs not sure if its the offical 'pairs' as such but there two of them. Did anyone see the horrible fall the Canadians had I loved the GB entry. There was one our viewing made us miss I think the girl was wearing pink and the man had black with a thin frill at his chest and black gloves. Did anyone see that? What was their music?

Ps I have been watching the curling too but hate it when our stones get pinged out again 

[grecopa]

Hi Kelly:

That must have been awsome to see the U.S. Woman's Team play - they are so good!     Was the stadium full?  Did you see more than one game?  Was it expensive to get in? 

Yep, it was really cool.  It was back when Mia Hamm and the other well known women were playing.  Of course at the moment I can't remember any of thier names!  Oh, Chastain was one!  The stadium was full, but not sold out.  There was a mens game afterward, but it wasn't USA and we needed to get back home (3 hour drive) and couldn't stay.  I have a picture somewhere and will scan it if I can find it.  I really have no idea what the tickets prices were, but if they had been outrageous I'm sure I would have remembered!    We were pretty high up though.
Here's a question maybe some of the UK people can answer:
Why isn't the UK more competitive in womens sports?  It seems like you all should be able to wipe the floor with most teams in soccer.  Do young girls not play sports there?

[Sharon]

The UK has a tragic record of supporting any of our competitors, male or female.  It has just been reported that one of our top male gymnasts that helped win the bid has had to jack it all in due to lack of funding (he is only 18 so would have been just right in 2012).

The other problem is the National Lottery.  When this was first set up the profits were to be used for things like the arts and sport so the Government reduced the funding to these drastically.  It has now emerged that the Government is using the Lottery money for anything and everything they don't want to pay for, meaning that sports etc do not get the funding they should.  Now all of this money is going to used on building the stadiums etc for the Olympics - they have completely forgotten that we will have no trained athletes to compete.

As far as school football (soccer) goes the local councils main priority is in selling off school playing fields for a profit.  The knock on effect is that boys still get supported due to the professional clubs bringing on talent but there is no money in female football.

This is the end of my political broadcast   

I am also now a huge curling fan.  One question though; why is the priority in knocking out the opponents stones (?) and not in getting your own in the centre rings?

[grecopa]

That stinks about the state of amature sports over there, Sharon.  We used to have a similar problem over here, except it was the top boys sports getting all the funding in schools and girls sports being ignored, but a law was passed and thats no longer a problem.  I remember when I was playing volleyball in jr. high, we had no money for knee pads so we had to buy our own and since the boys basketball team had full control of the gym we had to practice outside on a concrete slab (can you say OWCH!!!!). 
As far as curling, I saw some explination of the rules last night.  Points are scored for getting stones inside your opponents best mark.  So for example if at the end of the game you have a stone in the blue ring and your opponent has 3 stones closer to the red center than you do, your opponent scores 3 points.  Thats why they want to knock out stones when possible.  Only one team scores points in a game.  Sort of an all or nothing type thing.

[Sharon]

Ahhh that explains it.  We all thought it was like lawn green bowling ie the one closest to the red circle (or jack) wins.  I will enjoy it even more now, thank you 

[Morningangel-Iola]

I went to an all girls school and we never ever played 'boys' sports like Football.