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The Olympics!
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ShortcutToMoncton
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Feb 25, 2010, 10:46 PM
 
Do we not have an Olympics thread? You people are all disgraceful.

Anyways, Canada just took gold in women's hockey. Pretty pumped over here. So far Canada hasn't performed as our officials had predicted - the US is killing it this year! - but we're coming on strong in the last week. Our ladies in general have been incredibly tough and getting us medals.

Best story so far? Alex Bilodeau. Worst? The official Canadian song, titled "I Believe" and as saccharine as you'd imagine....

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Feb 25, 2010, 10:50 PM
 
     
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Feb 25, 2010, 10:51 PM
 
Congrats to the Canadian women's ice hockey team. They out-performed us throughout the entire game.
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besson3c
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Feb 25, 2010, 10:52 PM
 
I was just thinking the other day, wasn't there some point where gold medals counted for 5 points, silver medals 3, and bronze 1? Canada's tied for the most gold medals right now, but the USA has a shitload of bronze medals. Shouldn't gold medals be weighed higher?
     
SpaceMonkey
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Feb 25, 2010, 11:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
Best story so far? Alex Bilodeau. Worst? The official Canadian song, titled "I Believe" and as saccharine as you'd imagine....
Worse is whatever the hell Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado were singing during the opening ceremonies.

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SpaceMonkey
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Feb 25, 2010, 11:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
I was just thinking the other day, wasn't there some point where gold medals counted for 5 points, silver medals 3, and bronze 1? Canada's tied for the most gold medals right now, but the USA has a shitload of bronze medals. Shouldn't gold medals be weighed higher?
No!

Look, all Canada needs to do to stay competitive is invent some new events that no one else will bother mastering. That should guarantee Canadian dominance in those events for at least 3-4 Olympics until the first generation of Chinese athletes who have been trained from birth to compete in those activities reaches maturity. It's worked for us.

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besson3c
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Feb 26, 2010, 12:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey View Post
No!

Look, all Canada needs to do to stay competitive is invent some new events that no one else will bother mastering. That should guarantee Canadian dominance in those events for at least 3-4 Olympics until the first generation of Chinese athletes who have been trained from birth to compete in those activities reaches maturity. It's worked for us.

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SpaceMonkey
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Feb 26, 2010, 12:14 AM
 
Short track curling. Oh, the carnage.

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besson3c
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Feb 26, 2010, 12:19 AM
 
Yeah, put the curling guys and the speed skaters on the same ice, that would kick ass!
     
ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 26, 2010, 12:42 AM
 
Can you imagine speed skaters having to deal with curlers trying to pick them off? Greatest sport evar?

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Wiskedjak
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Feb 26, 2010, 12:56 AM
 
Originally Posted by besson3c View Post
I was just thinking the other day, wasn't there some point where gold medals counted for 5 points, silver medals 3, and bronze 1? Canada's tied for the most gold medals right now, but the USA has a shitload of bronze medals. Shouldn't gold medals be weighed higher?
I don't get how each medal can count for 1. It's sad to think that a country with 10 bronze medals would win over a country with 9 gold medals.
     
SpaceMonkey
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Feb 26, 2010, 09:46 AM
 
Well, it's not like the medal count has some kind of official prize attached to it or anything. You are free to weigh them however you wish. We in the United States, however, will continue to weigh them in the correct way, that is, the way which most benefits the U.S.

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osiris
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Feb 26, 2010, 10:21 AM
 
I got as far as the bobsled, ski jump, and women's figure skating competition.
Not a sports fans at all, but appreciate the hard work these people put in.

I would actually prefer it if the athletes were allowed hard drugs - like cocaine, Angel Dust or Crystal Meth to really see what humans are capable of.
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Feb 26, 2010, 10:28 AM
 
Originally Posted by Wiskedjak View Post
I don't get how each medal can count for 1. It's sad to think that a country with 10 bronze medals would win over a country with 9 gold medals.
It's sad to think that a country would win over another country at all, and that people would tie a couple of chunks of metal to some sort of innate national superiority.

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The Final Dakar
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Feb 26, 2010, 10:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
Do we not have an Olympics thread? You people are all disgraceful.
You didn't notice for a long time, either, buddy.

I like the WInter Olympics, but between them airing half the shit when I'm at work, or tape-delaying it, or just the fact that I never watch Network TV, it's been a disappointing experience.

Also or women's curling team wasn't nearly as good or hot as 2006.
     
MacinTommy
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Feb 26, 2010, 11:09 AM
 
Hope the U.S. men's hockey beats Finland today!
     
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Feb 26, 2010, 11:18 AM
 
The only good thing about the Olympics is hockey, which coincidentally is the only sport I like.

Olympic hockey is always incredible. It's like watching All-Star calibre teams, playing in an string of game 7s they really really care about.

Can't beat that.

It's also fun to be able to root for the USA and also be rooting for the underdog. Go USA! Beat those big bad Canadians!

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The Final Dakar
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Feb 26, 2010, 11:21 AM
 
Originally Posted by osiris View Post
would actually prefer it if the athletes were allowed hard drugs - like cocaine, Angel Dust or Crystal Meth to really see what humans are capable of.
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osiris
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Feb 26, 2010, 11:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by The Final Dakar View Post
lol "...so far 115 world records have been shattered."
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mduell
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Feb 26, 2010, 08:11 PM
 
South Korea and Switzerland have both turned out to be gold medal heavyweights (both +3.0 over pre-games predictions), while the US has been the biggest underperformer (-2.0) followed by Poland and Italy (both -1.4). Canada is the only country with a lot of outstanding expected gold medal wins, so they may fall off pace.
     
Phileas
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Feb 26, 2010, 09:57 PM
 
Love Olympic Hockey. None of the annoying commercial interruptions, just a pure game played at the highest level.
     
Eug
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Feb 27, 2010, 02:29 AM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
South Korea and Switzerland have both turned out to be gold medal heavyweights (both +3.0 over pre-games predictions), while the US has been the biggest underperformer (-2.0) followed by Poland and Italy (both -1.4). Canada is the only country with a lot of outstanding expected gold medal wins, so they may fall off pace.
Well, Canada has the most gold medals out of any country at the moment (10).

I was expecting Canada to win gold for women's curling though, but they didn't.
     
KCrosbie
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Feb 27, 2010, 03:39 PM
 
Originally Posted by MacinTommy View Post
Hope the U.S. men's hockey beats Finland today!
Beat? More like raped them! Scored 6 goals in the first period!

Bring on Canada! The men will avenge the women's loss!
     
mduell
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Feb 27, 2010, 04:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
Well, Canada has the most gold medals out of any country at the moment (10).
Yea, the Canadian judge was doubly kind to them in that mens 500m.

When the US beats Canada in hockey again that will put them both at -1.
     
ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 27, 2010, 05:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
Yea, the Canadian judge was doubly kind to them in that mens 500m.
How so? The replay shows that Ohno clearly pushed the skater in front of him.

Even so, we still got the gold no matter what the call. It was the bronze that was in question.

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mduell
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Feb 27, 2010, 06:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
How so? The replay shows that Ohno clearly pushed the skater in front of him.

Even so, we still got the gold no matter what the call. It was the bronze that was in question.
Ohno had his hand on Tremblay when Tremblay went down and Hamelin has his hand on Lee when Lee went down.

In any consistent judging, Canada takes only one medal:
If Hamelin and Ohno are disqualified Lee takes gold and Tremblay takes silver.
If Hamelin and Ohno are not disqualified Hamelin takes gold, Ohno takes Silver, and Lee takes bronze.

With the inconsistent decisions from the Canadian ref, Canada gains a medal relative to either consistent decision.

Own the Podium indeed, one way or another.
     
ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 27, 2010, 07:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
Ohno had his hand on Tremblay when Tremblay went down and Hamelin has his hand on Lee when Lee went down.

In any consistent judging, Canada takes only one medal:
If Hamelin and Ohno are disqualified Lee takes gold and Tremblay takes silver.
If Hamelin and Ohno are not disqualified Hamelin takes gold, Ohno takes Silver, and Lee takes bronze.

With the inconsistent decisions from the Canadian ref, Canada gains a medal relative to either consistent decision.

Own the Podium indeed, one way or another.
Nonsense.

Ohno was disqualified not for the hand only, but for impeding - check out their legs. He simply made a bad pass. Hamelin didn't impede Si-Bak (Lee?!?) - the touch was incidental to him losing his edge.

Ohno's a notorious whiner. Glad to see he got some comeuppance on that one.

greg
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Feb 28, 2010, 12:34 AM
 
Originally Posted by MacinTommy View Post
Hope the U.S. men's hockey beats Finland today!
6-0 in the first, U.S. Two goalies later, Finland got their act together. Little too late. 6-1, U.S.
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ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 28, 2010, 01:01 AM
 
Three golds for Canada today! I was pretty pumped at men's alpine snowboarding, where Jasey-Jay Anderson took gold in parallel grand slalom. He's been around for many years, and has always been one of my riding heros style-wise. Anyways he's probably been the most dominant alpine snowboarder of the last 10 years but has always sort of choked at the Olympics. Great to see him go out on top; it'll be interesting to see if he sticks with his plan to retire to his blueberry farm in the Quebec countryside....

We've tied the Winter Olympics record with 13 gold. Norway did it in '02, and Russia did it back in the 70s or something. We could potentially break it with the hockey game tomorrow. It's gonna be a tough one though - the US team looks strong and the Canadian team still hasn't been terribly consistent thus far. Talent-wise we've certainly got the edge, but so far it's been hard to capitalize on that - and Miller has been scary dominant for the States!

All this means: getting to the bar by 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon will be key....

greg
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Feb 28, 2010, 07:34 AM
 
If we play the Americans like we played the Russians we've got a chance. But I do worry, the US team has been consistently good whereas we've been inconsistent in the extremel
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 12:29 PM
 
I can honestly say that I haven't ever really sat and watched the Olympics on purpose. Not sure why. Just never interested.
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ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 28, 2010, 01:13 PM
 
Haha.... I've spent the last week either snowboarding or watching the Olympics. One or the other.

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Feb 28, 2010, 03:50 PM
 
I'm currently unemployed, so I've had a lot of time at home and have been watching CNBC's curling coverage almost exclusively. I had no idea curling was that fascinating. I got hooked, both the men's and the women's competitions. Sadly, I live in the South, so I don't see there being many (if any) local chances to try it out.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 04:14 PM
 
You're in Richmond and you haven't had local chances to try it out? Have you looked out the window any time in the last couple months?
     
vcutag
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Feb 28, 2010, 04:56 PM
 
You mean the couple of days we had snow? That's that white stuff, right?
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 06:32 PM
 
The US Canada game attendees are certainly getting their money's worth.

The US tied it in the last minute to force overtime. Oh well, I guess I have another excuse not to shovel the snow on my driveway right now.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 06:45 PM
 
Oh man, OT just started. If the US pulls this out...
     
KCrosbie
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Feb 28, 2010, 06:59 PM
 
Guess not. Canada got the gold.
     
SpaceMonkey
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Feb 28, 2010, 07:27 PM
 
Bummer. Still very proud of Miller and Team USA.

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vcutag
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Feb 28, 2010, 07:45 PM
 
Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey View Post
Bummer. Still very proud of Miller and Team USA.
I think Miller's MVP for the tournament, yeah? The man was a brick wall. Mostly.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:12 PM
 
Originally Posted by imitchellg5 View Post
Not in hockey and not in number of gold metals at a winter olympics. The previous record was 13 gold but Canada got 14.
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:26 PM
 
Ironically, Zack Parise, who scored the tying goal for the US in the dying seconds of the 3rd period, is the son of another Parise who played on Team Canada in 1972.

That was the epic series which had Canada barely beating the Soviet Union.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:35 PM
 
Meh

1) Its was hockey. Snore

2) Like Olympic basketball there are way too many f'ing pros playing.
They need to institute some rules like they do in soccer to limit the number of these guys playing.

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aristotles
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by Captain Obvious View Post
Meh

1) Its was hockey. Snore

2) Like Olympic basketball there are way too many f'ing pros playing.
They need to institute some rules like they do in soccer to limit the number of these guys playing.
Dude, there is no need to be sore at losing. Me thinks that you would be excited if the US won. It was an exciting game and the US played hard.

The winning goal was by one of the youngest players.
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by aristotles View Post
Dude, there is no need to be sore at losing. Me thinks that you would be excited if the US won.
you'd be very very wrong
I am glad that Canada won so I don't have to hear about hockey any more in this city.

Thank god march is here

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Wiskedjak
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Feb 28, 2010, 08:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by Captain Obvious View Post
2) Like Olympic basketball there are way too many f'ing pros playing.
They need to institute some rules like they do in soccer to limit the number of these guys playing.
I'm with you there.
     
ShortcutToMoncton  (op)
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Feb 28, 2010, 09:40 PM
 
I think saying "half the team must be amateur" might be a good idea.

But then you run into the same problem you did with Olympic hockey before the 1990s - even though Canada undeniably had the best hockey players, they couldn't win the Olympics because all our best players are pros, whereas countries like Russia, etc. could make up a roster of semi-pro "amateur" players.

Why not just allow pros? What's the difference? Why the artificial distinction? Just say "the best team each can field."

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Feb 28, 2010, 09:50 PM
 
Ahem: Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I thank you. Good night.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 10:04 PM
 
it would be nice, though, if the pros would at least participate in the parade of athletes.
     
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Feb 28, 2010, 10:43 PM
 
They can ride the failopotamus home.
     
 
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