Off Topic, Random Olympic thoughts.

1) That was the first thought that occurred to me, too.

6) What do you expect? Prima Donnas like Katie Couric know that boobs like us out in the heartland are so ignorant that we don't know what a centaur is. They have to explain everything to us. That's why they get paid so much.

~SDC~

My random thoughts Day 2.

Jenny Jenny!!! How in the world do you lose a body length lead??? You aren't getting gold in your individual events. Should have retired.

CROCKER YOU DUMB*****. LAST AFTER THE FIRST LEG!!!! HOW THE HECK DO YOU DO THAT!!!!!???ARRRRRGGGGGGGH
Nice. Try swimming next time instead of crying. At least the rest of the relay came back for a bronze.

DREAM TEAM!!!!???? SHOOT GO BACK TO COLLEGE PLAYERS. AT LEAST THEY WANT TO BE THERE. The NBA premadonnas didn't cancel till the last minute. You can't throw a team together in a week and expect it to win any more.

What's Brazil crying about!!!? Waaaaaaaah those American Women Soccer players are just soooooo rough!!!!! Geez it's not like they didn't draw a two yellow ejection. Get over it. If only our mens team could be so rough....

Apparantly, it's only an illegal dolphin kick if you get caught.

Kaitlin Sandeno another surprise medal.

Is it me or do the chinese women have far squarer chins than the average Chinese woman.... HMMMMMMMM How would you like to go out with that female weightlifter they had? I didn't know General Nutrition Center was in China!!!

Is it me or are the stands half empty in most of the venues? Nice idiocy not to put a roof on the pool. I bet those fans are loving that lobster look they have as they realize their clothes and the first 6 layers of their skin with em melted to the seat!!!!

The roof got cancelled so they could "complete" the building on time!

I think they scrapped it just a day or two before the start of festivities.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Great topic Capt. Jack! A few random thoughts:

1. Not sure what a Giant Doobie is, but it looks more like one of those 'dunking birds' where you fill the belly up with liquid and watch it bend and tip over repeatedly....

2. Why do Americans get stuck into their own!? I think Phelps is terrific, although some argue that he isn't the fastest freestyler and hence is not getting in to the relays on merit - only to fulfill his personal dream of 7 gold. It seems most US male swim phenoms cant outrun the Spitz shadow...although with the number of events nowadays, I doubt ANYONE will ever do seven gold in one meet again.

3. Dream Team...sigh...I was amazed at the 1992 team - Bird, Jordan, etc. etc. In Olympic basketball, the US has an all time win-loss record of 109-2 (er...make that 109-3 now). No wonder the rest of the world gets fed up: either you get your millionaires to take it seriously, or not at all. World b'ball has definatly moved on and Puerto Rico sent the message. Puerto Rico actually has Arroyo (plays for the Utah Jazz, I think) so NBA talent can make a fantastic contribution to the Olympics. I dont think, in 1992, anyone really minded getting whipped by the original Dream Team - they knew they were against the best the planet had to offer, and seemed mostly happy just to get some court time with their heroes. Now, the rest of the world feels the US are being a bit distainful, just expecting to toss a third-or-fourth-best team together like this. I know it's not the fans (or probably the US Olympic selection committee) fault - it just looks bad.

4. Thompson - has been a good soldier for the US. Cheers though to Petria Thomas for FINALLY breaking through for gold, after coming back from three shoulder operations - she deserves every bit of it! The Aussie girls have made a really strong showing in the pool so far, although on balance the US will probably win the meet - but the Thorpedo and Hackett will make sure they dont have it all their own way!

5. I heard some Aussies comment on the fact that the US networks seem to have a real aversion to live television! In Australia, we have two of the five free-to-air networks transmitting LIVE sport, which is trickly given the time zone as usual puts all the key events early hours of the morning our time. In contrast, I understand that the US hardly see ANYTHING live - weird given the magnitude of the event. Be good consumers and complain loudly!!

Tough for the Greeks to watch two of their track and field heroes on drug suspicions - interestingly, no one seems to want to defend them, just hunt them down and shoot them! I'm sure fans are sick of the drugs. The Aussie cycling team is probably - no make that definatly - filthy, and you'd have your suspicions about some of the US track team, too. I just hope they CATCH them with decent proof.

Go Aussies!

Hi ya wombie. Regarding #3. We have 2 legit losses. 72 was a total hose job. We won the game against the ruskies 3 or 4 times. They then put 4 seconds back on the clock till the Russians won. We never picked up those farce silver medals. The two legit losses were both for the same reason. Stupidity. One because John Thompson was too stupid to put a shooter on the team, and this one because someone else was too stupid to put a shooter on this team.

4. She Sure has. I just wanted to remember her as the one that chased everyone down.

Re #2. Most of the whining and complaining against phelps came from none other than Mr. Choke job Garry "We're gonna smash the Aussies like Guitars."
Hall Junior. Someone should tell Little Mr. Motor mouth Phelps is on the relay because he's swam a 49.05 to Hall's 49.16. He's mad because Phelps didn't opt to swim the 100 in the trials. Phelps went sub 49 in the relay yesterday something Hall didn't do.
The media hyped up that 7 thing. Phelp's said it's no big deal. Heck, if that's what he was about, he'd have never done the 200 free. He just wants to go against Thorpe. Trouble is, Ian Crocker, also a sub 49 swimmer, went over 50 seconds. I'm told he was sick. But why he didn't opt out or the coach tell him to get out, I don't know.
It will be tough to match Spitz simply because this is an era of specialization. Also it's an era of far superior competition both here and abroad. The U.S. was nearly guaranteed 3 relay wins back then. Then win the 100 and 200 frees and flys and there you have it And the pool was very fast. Every single mens event set a new olympic record, all but 3 set new world records at the time. On the women's side all but 4 set new world records and those 4 set new olympic records.


Bottom line. Phelps is better than Hall at one of Hall's events. And Mr. Motor mouth has NEVER been a team player. It's all about moter mouth. He didn't even bother to show up to root the team on yesterday.

As for the drugs, many of the American Track stars were caught before they went. And others not caught but put under so much scrutiny they couldn't possibly get away with doing em, pretty much didn't qualify. So hopefully we've caught em all and we won't lose medals for it.

The U.S. network won't show it live because they want to put the exciting stuff in prime time for ratings. But how exciting is it going to be when I can get it streamed over the net from some of my euro friends and see it right off. How exciting is it going to be when everyone hears... Oh we got 3rd 10 hours before it airs?

Hey,
How about that US Basketball Team!
They absolutely represent the USA! If you've already got yours, why try?
They're a perfect argument for NOT allowing Pros to represent us! No hunger there; every one of them will go back to Multi-Million dollar jobs so why try.
BTW: Larry Brown FINALLY gets Iverson out of his life, and then...

I think it's a tough one to decide, too. I'm also not sure, for example, whether we should have tennis in the Olympics either. Tennis pros already have a very lucrative and well defined championship system to decide the No. 1 - why bring it into the Olympics? With some of these sports (and DONT get me started on syncronised swimming) it is all political: if you get your sport to be declared an 'Olympic' sport, in this country you then qualify for federal funding....

OK - I've started myself off now - a list of 'sports' that should never have made it:

Synchronised swimming - 'nuff said
Synchronised diving - I mean, come on....
Rhythmic gymnastics - I like the gym stuff, but this is just modern dance with props....
20 and 40km walk - is it just me, or is this the STUPIDEST track event ever?
Beach volleyball - hmm...chicks in bikinis...nice, but go play real volleyball instead...

Any more?!

I'd add Table Tennis, otherwise known as Ping-Pong by the rest of the world.

beware VoT, Ping-Pong is not Tabletennis, at least here in germany

Forgive me. But when I think Table Tennis, I think of playing Ping-Pong when I was 10 years old.

LOL Me too!

Instead of sending a bunch of spoiled multi-millionaires to the games, I think we should ask the NCAA champions to represent us. At least they play as a team. And know how to play against a zone defense.

~SDC~

As far as I can tell, ping-pong as I (and probably you) played it in my basement so many years ago is to Olympic table tennis as go-cart racing is to Formula 1. I've seen a couple of those games and I'm impressed.

~SDC~

Some random day 3 thoughts.

Those skimpy beach volleyball uni's would be tons better if the competitors actually had a chest to fill them out. Oh sigh.

Americans dominate the sprint Back events. The Medley Relays might just be ours.

Walking is the dumbest event. Remember when we were kids and had walking races. It always ended with us all running and accusing each other of cheating first. Actually that's exactly like the Olympics...

The real Gymnastics was a blast. The first time I saw Rythmic Gynastics and heard they had 4 different events, I'm thinking yeah this should be cool. Then I find out it's Ball, hoops, clubs, and ribbon.....LMAO I hit the floor I laughed so hard.

Speaking of Synchronized Diving, and swimming, the next event will be synchronized rhythmic gymnastics. OMFG noooooo. By the way. They do indeed have synchronized trampoline. No joke. LMAO!!!!

wot, and spoil the 'builder's crack' competition!!!!!

NO WAY!

MWHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you look at some pictures of the players in other outfits you can see how restrictive those Sports-Bras can be!


Wait till they make "Throwing a Rock at the Ground" an Olympic event.

Be careful ... talk like this may give them an idea that we actually want to see it.

One thing I agree fully on is that the olympics should be a non pro competition I was suprised when I found Tim henman was in the team (GB) a pro.

as for the TV try and see stuf from the BBC we get things LIVE and if our US friends want the news as well thats www.bbc.co.uk/news and work from there.

Pity our Olympics isnt as hot as the competition Team GB has had a bad time so far

Random thoughts day four.

As a former swimmer, I guess you can tell where I was focussed tonight. The entire team was gathered at my house to watch. This was the night I didn't look at the net. I didn't want to know the results.

THIS is the one we wanted. THIS is the one we needed. We'd been smacked around for years by the fellas from down under. They took OUR race from us last time. And they demolished us in this, their race, last time. And this time, our 4 x 100 finished a very disappointing third. But this year, the Aussies, though still favored, were getable. THIS was about redemption. Motor mouth was no where to be a distraction (He doesn't swim the 200) You could see it in Phelps' eyes. You could tell it by the way he marched onto the deck with NO HEADPHONES. This night was going to be different. If we were to go down, it would be swinging. And their chins would be tested.

It came down to two swimmers, Our best (Phelps) had gone. It was the best at this distance (Thorpe) vs Kleve Keller. Thorpe ate up a second and a half within the first length of the pool. We all knew what would happen next. It was only a matter of time. Thorpe would blow by him. But this time, it didn't happen. Keller stayed with him. The two were neck a neck for the last half of their leg and Keller held him off. A Golden evening for the U.S.

First Gold in fencing in over 100 years. Hmmm. Hope it's not another 100 before we see another one.



Well that and a padded push up bra does wonders




Your flyer picked up a bronze tonight.



Or sliding one on the ground over a bunch of Ice (curling) LMAO they slide this freakin heavy thing down the ice, and someone else with a broom, sweeps out all the froth out of the way. It's friggin Hilarious to hear the commentators... Oh he's the best broomer in the business. I always knew sweeping the school halls for a living would help him... LMAO. But that's a winter thing.

We have the redneck olympics here. The Belly Flop, swamp buggy mud bog racin, hot dog eatin. the whole works. Lets hope those never make the real games either.

Agreed. Letting in the pros has made the Olympics lose alot of its luster.

As long as an event is Athletic and competitive then theres no real reason why it can't be in the Olympics. I too don't get sports like synchronized anything and all the rhythmic stuff, but they're in the winter Olympics too (ice dancing????!!! wtf?) so they're here to stay.

Table tennis is a great sport with a lot of different styles of play and techniques, it should definitely stay! I would like to see more X-Game style sports get into the Olympics.. they're already doing it to winter Olympics, why not summer?

Also I don't have any problem with pro players in the Olympics. Each nation should put the best players they have on the field, be that pro or whatever. If we're going to limit eligibility, do it by age (Under 20 BBall team, etc).

Congrats on the relays - we lacked the depth we've had at previous attempts. Thorpe did well to even give us a chance there - and he also did pretty well to take a bronze in the 100m free individual, given it's not his specialist event. His coach says he wants to concentrate more on it next time around (other competitors shudder ).

The Aussie charge is likely to fall away now, because our track and field team is really pretty woeful!

Interesting point above about age related teams: the soccer competition is restricted to under-23 BUT you get to pick three players outside that age range to add to your team.

Day 5.

Ok putting the shotput on Olympus was a great stunt. It looks like people actually came to see that. That Cuban Guy sure threw that thing a ton. What? That was a woman you say? Oh I err um On to the next subject.

The U.S. women's 4 x 200 relay featured a smashing of the oldest record on the swimming books. No one was all that close. The relay featured another heroic anchor leg by the Aussies who were as far behind as 5th, only to be barely outtouched for the Bronze.

Paul Hamm says hello up close and personal to the judges as he nearly falls on the table on his vault. That looked like it was going to be bad. Amazingly, the rest of the field above him (he was 12th after that crash) messes up in the final two events and he takes a gold medal.
I don't know if I like that new 3 and out team format. It produced much more conservative routines. They upgraded the vault. They used to go off a Pommelless horse. Now they have that delux thingamabob. I think they still call it a horse even though it looked like a diving platform, however.

Ever notice a difference in beach volleyball marketing? The guys play in t-shirts and shorts. The women get G strings. Hmmmm. I wonder who they're trying to get to watch? Could the shotputters use the same uni's next?

No to X sports in the olympics. Unless of course they want to let in Nascar, swampbuggy racin and Mud bog bellyfloppin too.



The Thorpedo has a shark on his tail in the 200. By the name of Jaws Phelps. Amazing they focussed on the 7 golds with phelps and totally missed the fact he was more likely to actually break a record with 8 total swimming medals taken in one olympiad (tying the record for any sport) Damn the Thorpedos, full speed ahead? We'll see in 4 years or so if like Admiral Farragut, he gets blown out of the water.