Let’s talk Olympics!
The torch will be lit tomorrow in the historic Estadio do Maracanã, if they remember the keys. NBC will show it tape-delayed, naturally, unless one takes measures.
The ceremonies are guaranteed to have better music and show more bunda than most, if nothing else. One Edson Arantes do Nascimento will light the cauldron, duh.
Even though the games haven’t officially been opened, Brazil’s athletes are already disappointing! The Men’s football (hey, that’s what they call it in the Olympics) team opened today with a 0-0 against South Africa, which is a major vergonha. Brazil is pretty much a just a volleyball country at this point.
All in all, these aren’t the best of times in Brazil, and there is more than a little discontent around these games. The Cidade Maravilhosa knows how to party, though, and I, for one, plan to thoroughly enjoy it from the comfort of my couch with connected devices in hand.
oh Brazil.
Soccer is so much better when they’re good, but Neymar is no Ronaldinho or Ronaldo.
Thanks, and go As.
Argentina not off to the best start either.
Oof…
Thanks, and go As.
glad i was doing my laps at the time. way more olympic. much less waste my god damn time hoping for good stuff to happen anymore.
that is really shitty spanish GM
Don’t blame me. Blame the Treaty of Tordesillas.
so NBC or somebody was petitioning to have the US parade at the opening ceremonies under its english name to cash in on all those viewers who might turn off the TV after estati uniti (or however you say it in rio) and not watch commercials all the way through the end of the alphabet.
Hell, they can just reorder it in editing since they aren’t showing it to us live anyway.
Is Olympic football considered a big deal? They have the World Cup with all the national pride at stake there. I’d think this would be a second-rate exhibition tournament in comparison. It’s a lot different for all the sports that get ignored except for a couple weeks every four years.
Nah. Nobody really cares about it for the most part. Brazil this year is kind of an exception because of being at home, not having that many other sports to medal in, and having so thoroughly blown their home World Cup.
huh.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-countries-medal-in-the-sports-that-people-care-about/
Trampoline!
It’s a U23 tournament, so not really.
Thanks, and go As.
T minus 24 hours until we learn what form of sartorial embarrassment will be inflicted on our athletes this year at the hands of Ralph Lauren.
I’m always jealous of Canada.
I love Bermuda, especially when they wear the Bermuda shorts at the winter games!
wait. Is this the summer or winter olympics?
This question has me all kinds of flummoxed.
I had to go to Bermuda’s 24/7 News Source for that one.
I was shocked that NBC failed to mention that in Brazilian Portuguese, the word for “shorts” is “Bermudas.”
Research fail.
This year not so much. I liked the maple leaves on the back, but the front of those jackets? Ew.
Yeah, compared to the usual frumpy mess the US has shown, this year’s Ralph Lauren ensembles were downright mediocre. A big improvement.
I’m amazed by how many countries choose to wear blazers. For an event that is so tied to youth, physicality, energy and passion, to go with one of the most staid articles of clothing is just such a lame choice. They all look like they work in the lobby of a hotel.
I actually liked our striped shirts, despite the fact that they had a gondolier vibe. I would have ditched the blazers and gone with just the striped shirts, white pants, and added some red converse sneakers.
I continue to burn with rage at those absurdly GIAGANTIC polo logos we’ve had to endure for what seems like decades. It’s so Trumpian. Oh, an event that’s all about unity and country? Let’s make it all about “MEEEEEEEEE!!!!”
hear hear
I thought they looked horrible when I first saw them on Michael Phelps but then it turned out it was just that Michael Phelps is a weird looking dude.
They looked like disheveled Mounties.
OMG I’m just getting to Russia this morning. These are the least Russian outfits I could possibly imagine. The skirts! The bowties!
I love the opening ceremonies. I’m already getting excited.
why are people so dumb.
Yes, truly. Something must be done about all the epidemic of mass-murder-by-drowning the US has endured.
And don’t get me started on pentathlicide.
it makes no sense that I have to pass a background check everytime i buy a horse.
Must be hard being her. We should probably just design the laws to cater to her specific and unusual situation rather than inconvenience her so.
what gets me is the seeming lack of planning. I like avocados, but I know I just can’t go to the store and expect to buy one and use it that day.
This is such a strange comment.
True story: in Fresno I could always find good avocados that were ready that day. Guacamole was often an impluse decision.
Down in LA-NO WAY. I better decide at least 1-2 days ahead of time that I want it. No the simple thing is just eat move avocado, so that I always keep a couple around. But damn if I cant get used to this.
Sounds like Pele might be too sick to show up tonight. That’s a bummer.
:(
The NBC Sports App has a channel up that is just a live shot of the full arc of Copacabana Beach with ambient city noise. Would be very soothing if it wasn’t occasionally punctuated with extremely loud Diet Coke ads…
what about that citi-branded shot of kerri jennings’ floating muffin right in your face for 10 seconds on every single opening of the app?
I know. I would appreciate them at least mixing in some Allyson Felix occasionally.
Oh hey, baseball will be back in the Olympics starting in Tokyo 2020. As will karate, “sport climbing,” skateboarding, and surfing.
As much as I love to complain, NBC’s coverage is actually great now that we have so many channels and the ability to watch every event live online.
HOWEVER, their delaying of the Opening Ceremonies while loading them up with ads that stretches the whole thing three hours past bedtime really pisses me off. I gave up on it halfway through the procession of delegations. Also, what is the purpose of Hoda Kotb?
Oh completely. The number of commercials was a disgrace. I couldn’t make it past the 2nd country in the march of delegations. I watched more of it this morning and I’m still not finished.
Hoda’s job was announcing the Egyptian delegation it seems.
OMG I finally *tried* to finish watching and the MF’ing recording ran out of time at midnight BEFORE the stupid torch was lit. What the Fuck? Now I have to go find it online.
I liked that the ceremony had a part on the slave trade. I don’t recall that being a feature of the Atlanta opening ceremony.
That was great as was the focus on global warming and the environment.
what is the relevance of the slave trade to atlanta?
are you referring to the Caribbean migrant workers of the 17th century?
Let’s consult Fox News…
…yeah, nothing to see here.
The US men’s table tennis coach is Woody Allen, who knew?
That Hungarian swimmer with the aggro husband/coach who broke the world record by two seconds was definitely not doping. Definitely not.
why don’t we have the same suspicions about ladecky?
Tangentially, it all gets a bit skewed when one competitor is so far ahead of the field that they can do a Bubka and decide when to break their world record for maximum impact.
Man, I miss watching Bubka.
Thanks, and go As.
shirley’s girlfriend from happy days?
Duh, she’s American.
Thanks, and go As.
Consistent dominance plus getting better as she reaches physical maturity, I guess.
see, i’m more about appearances? so i woulda gone with, isn’t trying to peddle a brand of catch-phrasey clique-bait, but i’ll buy your logical rationale too.
I’m too Internet-restricted to link, but there was an article on Deadspin yesterday citing rumors about an unhealthy, abusive dynamic between the swimmer and her husband/coach.
They were saying on the broadcast that the other swimmers have said they are uncomfortable with the way he is always screaming at her.
CARDINAL!!!!!1!!!!
so, if any of the other hungarian swimmers in the second semifinal of the 200m IM tonight are looking a husband/coach who’s into swimming and dope, i can certainly make myself available…
This American fencer Massialas is psyched! Also, Cardinal alert.
The scenery on the road cycling is the best.
Field hockey rules are absurd. Shots from outside the arc don’t count as goals unless someone inside deflects it?
I don’t know why I bristle at the idea of a lot of sports in the olympics, this, baseball, basketball, volleyball, especially beach volleyball, soccer, things like that I really really dislike as olympic sports
hockey curling, polo (is that an olympic sport?) I am ok with
Soccer should not be in the olympics. No one cares and most of the games aren’t even played in the host city.
Basketball is a good Olympic sport but both American teams are too dominant for it to be very compelling.
Indoor volleyball is a great Olympic sport. Beach volleyball is a watered down, less athletic version of volleyball that should not be in the olympics.
It certainly does not need a pro golf tournament, and I’m glad a number of the top players told them to stuff it.
If they are going to have it, it should at least be match play or something. Spice it up a little.
The obvious thing would be national team competition, like Ryder Cup. This is the State Farm Open with a weak field.
Ryder Cup-style but with only two or four players per country would be reasonably compelling.
Speaking of soccer, the Brazil dudes still haven’t scored.
Not only that, but soccer is a U23 tournament for the men, with 3 overage players allowed.
Thanks, and go As.
There is no horsey polo. Just water polo.
really? that’s dumb.
they have horse dancing and no horsey polo?
I don’t think anyone actually plays horsey polo. I’m a horsey polo truther.
there is a giant picture of it covering 2/3 of the USA’s outfit!
swiggity swooty
Thanks, and go As.
penalty corners are genius. and fun. kinda wish someone had paid attention to this hockey feature when inventing the soccer penalty kick way back when.
This is the one where the defenders all cram into their own goal like they are taking a wacky team picture?
yep.
and the injector injects. true nomenclature!
I think the color commentator on this morning’s USA-Australia women’s match called it the “inserter.”
A Brazilian and an Argentine throwing hands at the tennis match.
NBC Sports has a “Gold Zone” channel on its app that is hosted by the NFL Red Zone guy. Pretty awesome.
Brazilians currently weeping over a women’s judo gold.
Also nice that when they cut away to the obscure sports at crucial moments, we get international feed announcers instead of NBC announcers.
i’m getting a little tired of the kiwi (?) accent on swimming. if you say six like seeks, there’s not a lot of room to grow into once you do hit a double-e syllable.
testament to how much swimming i’m watching i guess. boomerang complement in 3… 2… 1…
swimmers are HAWT!
Um, some of the chicks playing ruby… wow…
Thanks, and go As.
She says the word “stroke” so much. Its a constant TWSS with her.
well, it’s a constant worry. lengthening your stroke, slowing down your stroke, counting your strokes per length. especially the breaststroke. you want to get a lot of glide on the breaststroke.
The PBP guy just said that a swimmer had “beaten off” many of the swimmers who qualified ahead of him.
Sounds like a kiwi accent — I’m pretty sure that ‘ee’ is the only vowel sound used in New Zealand.
What if there were Sikhs in lane six???
Unofficial ranking of gymnastics apparatus in order of coolness:
1. Rings
2. Beam
3. High Bar
4. Vault
5. Parallel Bars
6. Floor (except for the stupid dancing bits)
7. Uneven Bars
8. Horse
(Floor probably too low but I really hate the dancing bits.)
Insufficient love for the uneven bars, which rock.
I don’t love them. There’s something disjointed about the routines you can do on them.
which, also, are totally fucking parallel!
Truth.
The vault makes me unbelievably nervous. I hate the horse–that event is dumb.
Beam is the one that makes me nervous. Every successful landing seems like a miracle.
this
I can’t believe the 41 year old woman who is competing for Uzbekistan. Some days I don’t feel I have the flexibility to tie my own shoes.
Horse makes me sweat simply because I’d swear every time the guys are millimeters away from getting nailed in the jimmy.
Parallel bars and rings make my shoulder hurt just from watching (my right shoulder is an annual cortisone shot away from perpetual agony).
That dude breaking his leg was gut wrenching. Don’t look it up if you haven’t yet.
Thanks, and go As.
The thing about fencing is that even if you get the point for touching first you’re still getting stabbed too, so I’m not that impressed.
Huh, the boxers aren’t using headgear any more. And there are no longer white spots on their gloves where they have to make contact.
Women’s rugby gold medal match right now. Australia currently giving New Zealand the business.
Oh wait, it’s all over! Thought there were four periods…
Rugby sevens is FKing insane.
Thanks, and go As.
It’s pretty crazy. Basically you get 75% of the contact without the slow/fat people like me on the pitch.
does rugby have the same concussion problems?
No. No one wears helmets, so you don’t have the same earth shattering hits, plus there isn’t the same “fight for every inch” incentive. It’s more like soccer where going backwards-and-around may often serve better than just trying to fight forward. Also, controlling the ball when you’re tackled is critical, as otherwise you’re likely to lose possession.
It’s a sport where every player will always have impressive bruises, and you’ll see broken noses/collarbones/etc, but you see far fewer of the catastrophic NFL-style injuries.
and, somehow, it’s WAY more exciting than NFL…
Thanks, and go As.
I think that’s right, in that the scoring is similar (a try is a big deal, but much less significant than a goal in soccer) but the action doesn’t stop. That said, I think it would take Americans some time to buy into the more frustrating rules (accidental knock-ons being the one I got most complaints about)
my friemds’ 10 year olds play on treasure island
Cool! If it’s going to take off as a sport here, I think it will need a big assist from a societal shift away from footbal due to head trauma concerns, and that sure hasn’t happened yet.
Probably need to import a bunch of coaches from the British Isles and down under or else the kids won’t have a clue what to do.
I’m not sure that’s right. There are enough people here, but it’s like soccer in that you need to grow up in it to have a feel for what to do WHEN.
You just can’t train a bunch of college kids to have a sixth sense for offloads into the tackle if we all grew up playing football.
If I’m not mistaken, UC Berkeley used to have a REALLY good rugby team.
Thanks, and go As.
They were perennial champs for a long time (both because they had the national team’s coaches and because they recruited internationally as though it were a varsity sport (rugby is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport)).
They liked to point out to Stanford rugby that the first Big Game was rugby not football. Stanford rugby didn’t take the bait because they would have gotten killed (not literally… but almost literally).
When I was in college Stanford actually scheduled and then cancelled a game vs. Cal, and my recollection was that “risk of injury” was a reason given.
Yes, in 2001.
One of my freshman roommates was on the rugby team, and would have been a junior in 2001. So that’s where I heard the description that sounds more or less exactly like what is quoted here.
Nat Ebner (Patriots safety) is on the US Olympic 7s team.
The Chinese government is not thrilled with an Australian swimmer’s accusation of cheating by a Chinese swimmer:
LOLz:
The weightlifting venue is pretty lit right now.
Definitely pulling for the guy from Papua New Guinea.
These British announcers are openly rooting for everyone and it is great. “Come on…get it up there! Awwwwww.”
Colombia gold!
no wonder the whole venue is lit.
Table tennis is a very underrated Olympic sport. The action is fierce, there are simmering political rivalries at every table, and you can picture yourself doing it.
Are you saying chess would be a sensible addition?
no one can make me hold the paddle upside down like a commie
It’s so weird.
Currently watching the #1 in the world from China just wreck some poor sap from Nigeria. I’m ready to admit that I couldn’t hang with this guy.
Wake me when beer pong is introduced.
Did Cal ruin Missy Franklin?
Brazil just smoked your volleyball women, AV.
oh no!
wait. are we supposed to be any good at this?
I feel like if you gave our basketball teams a week to learn the rules, they’d both win gold in team handball.
This may be down thread, but I saw an article with this very premise somewhere. The Handball people said “uh…nope” and it was compared to the Tebow baseball discussion.
That was a pretty Bill Simmons take from me.
Only if you added in an anecdote about how you, J-Bug and Ass-eyes were in Vegas talking about Olympic Handball at the Black Jack table.
What would be Teen Wolf’s best Olympic Sport?
Is the Olympic Village more like 90210 or Melrose Place?
Why the USA Women’s Gymnastics team still isn’t as good as the 1986 Celtics.
I like to get cupped while wearing a phiten necklace.
That one photo is horrifying!
Indeed.
i’d rather see diva cupping pictures
Ex Mrs Aces is a huge fan of aromatherapy, Reiki, burning candles, etc and even she says cupping is “out there”.
Don’t think I can root against Fiji in rugby. Sorry AV.
#8 is not easy to bring down.
These halves seem way too short.
Not if you’re playing. I could never survive a full game of 7s (even when I was in rugby shape).
Dramatic finish! That was a great match that I wish had been twice as long.
fiji seems to be kicking major butt.
japan beat NZ??
brazil got shut out? by the US???
I don’t think Brazil rugbys very much. That Japan thing seems crazy though.
Yes. Huge upset on the NZ result, though I would expect them to beat England and advance anyway.
Less so in the football.
is that the name of a sport? because i don’t seem to remember there ever being a sport called that. or translated from that. or even said that way as best you can with a non-english accent.
what are you guys talking about?
Shopping?
shopping is a noun. it means mall. true nomenclature!
In Argenitina too? That always cracks me up in Brazil. “Vamos para o shopping, ne?”
yep.
Fiji is smacking Japan in the semis. They’re getting a medal.
LOL they’re making the USA Women play soccer in the Amazon. Gotta use that stadium for something, I suppose.
The men played in Manaus during the WC in 14 too, didn’t they?
Thanks, and go As.
Yep. Against Portugal.
The British field hockeymen look like they have been playing this sport since they first pulled on their public school uniforms. The Brazilians look like they became aware of the sport a couple of weeks ago.
it was british railway workers who took rugby, field hockey and soccer to argentina. apparently that’s how soccer showed up in brazil too. so, thinking about the vagaries of culture, how come hockey and rugby didn’t stick in brazil?
wtf
Highly localized late St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
Phelps is pretty good at swimming.
I hate the NBC gymnastics announcers so much.
The whole coverage sucks donkey balls … I just want to see these amazing athletes perform, not be subjected to incessant vacuous puff pieces and shoe-horned faux narratives.
We’ve been complaining about all of that for decades. NBC makes piles of money doing it the way they do it, so it ain’t gonna change.
But that’s what I don’t get – it must cost them more to do it that way than just show the sports they’ve already paid for.
Boxing has to be the most boring Olympic sport. They just dance around missing each other.
USA Men’s Basketball in a fourth quarter dogfight with Australia, and Coach K looks like he wants to stab someone.
Some typical plays from Dellavascrappydoo.
The question we were all asking.
I look forward to NBC devoting a 12-minute segment to it in prime time.
Better than broadcasting any … I dunno, sports.
Why god invented DVRs
dear god, please also invent a skip-forward-through-medal-ceremonies button on the NBC app. thank you. amen.
I don’t understand why the ceremonies have to take so long.
The rugby ceremony was pretty cool. The woman handing out the medals was very small, so the Fiji players each dropped to their knees one by one so she could get the medal over their heads.
because anthems. each and every time. can we just let each country have theirs the first time and then sorta footnote a reference to it during subsequent occurrences? some kind of anthemic ibid?
I generally enjoy the anthems, especially when an unusual country wins. The SSB is getting a little old, I will agree.
But I feel like the delay is between when the athletes march out and they finally start the music. It should not take that long to get them on the podium and enmedal them.
Agreed here. I like SSB but Ive heard it enough for now.
Now if Canada, France, or Russia win and you try and take away my anthem time I will cut you.
Japan’s anthem is also quite beautiful.
also, i might have to go watch the replay of that game and ceremony. sounds adorable.
I figured out why the medal ceremonies are so annoying. It’s that music they play over and over again during the lead up to the national anthem. It is AWFUL.
I’m still coming to grips with Lochte’s new do, and the fact that they apparently have scuba divers on site to retrieve missing pearl earrings.
Lochte seems much more subdued, doesn’t he? Maybe he’s still bro-ing it up in a more low key way.
That’s what I thought. I didn’t know he was even in this Olympics until he showed up in that relay.
This story is scary and sad, but Lochte’s reaction to having a gun pointed at his head is very Lochte:
Typically, the IOC tries to whitewash the incident.
“guns don’t have points. Gun games are not judged at all.”
Maybe he made it up?
Holy crap
Lochte appears to be bag-o-hammers dumb, so maybe, but this story strikes me more as Brazil cops/judges covering their asses. Could also be they got robbed while doing something less savory than simple Olympian partying.
here’s how dumb. if you’re gonna steal something, there’s like a dozen other things better to steal than glenn howerton’s face.
It sounds like he may have accidentally created an international incident by lying to his mom about his partying.
And he left the country just before the ruling to hold his passport.
Daily Mail so grain of salt and whatnot, but yikes.
Uh oh.
Looks like he dyed his hair again. It’s a bluish-green now.
duh, it’s silver.
Thanks, and go As.
He went in the diving pool.
Wait, this sailing going on is actually windsurfing. They should call it windsurfing.
These ads for a third (?) Bridget Jones’s movie are making me sad.
I’m still coming to grips with Nine Lives.
Dear god.
idea for a drinking game. take a shot every time you think “meets” as you’re doing the live-commentary elevator pitch: curly sue meets annie meets wall street meets gremlins meets misery meets big meets babe…
Speaking of which, is anyone else watching Stranger Things? It’s like X-files meets ET. I’m really enjoying it. I love anything 80’s, and that group you young friends is so cute.
I’ve had several people tell me it’s good, and listened to the PCHH show about it that sounds good. Both homage to and companion of King, Spielberg, and Carpenter.
yes. “homage.” most closely though to spadla z oblakov.
which i discovered obliquely while in the rabbit hole to a debunking of the flying russian girl viral vid from a couple years ago, and which only stuck in my memory because of the absolutely beautiful lettering on the titles.
My wife and I both really liked it.
I read a good description somewhere pointing out that the show is three separate homages mashed together. The kids plotline is E.T. or Goonies, with bullies, a magical friend, and sneaking around their parents. The teenager plotline is more like a slasher flick, with illicit hookups and a showdown where they take on the monster using baseball bats and gasoline. The adult plotline has the X-Files vibe, with a government conspiracy and weird messages from another world (in the description that I’m cribbing, they described the adult plotline as Lynch-ian, but it’s not nearly that weird)
I don’t know how they did it, but that cast of kids is ridiculously amazing. They really sell the show.
Aren’t they? I’m on episode 5. I love their teacher as well.
Semi-spoilers below:
The coolest part of the show is how much they turn around cliches. The teacher is not evil nor incompetent. The boyfriend is not just a one-dimensional douche jock.
Watching the gymnastics live on the world feed is just a completely different experience. I will say that the NBC production turns it into a better TV show, but it’s so much less creepy and judgmental and jingoistic this way.
I think the worst thing about women’s gymnastics may be the music they play during the floor exercises while other people are competing on another apparatus. It’s hard enough to not fall off the balance beam without Andrea Bocelli shouting the end of “Nessun Dorma” in your ears.
I thought they only had one person performing at a time during the all around?
Thanks, and go As.
Doesn’t seem that way.
well that’s dumb
Thanks, and go As.
Fiji is blowing the doors off of Great Britain in the rugby final. I think this will be their first medal ever in anything, and it’s gold.
The players are circled up after the game and singing some kind of hymn in perfect two part harmony. It is really beautiful.
That was a FKing whoopin
Thanks, and go As.
Outing gay athletes – especially from dangerously homophobic nations – seems like an especially sleazy way to get an Olympic “story”.
I missed this before they pulled it. They actually identified particular athletes who were on grindr?
Not by name, but with enough detail to make people identifiable.
That’s disgusting.
Yeah, they deleted this one.
Alex Morgan and friends are in trouble.
I’m taking credit for her goal.
Sweden appeared to just get severely hosed by a phantom offside call on what would have been the winner.
But they win the penalties. Fair enough.
didn’t the US get hosed on the same thing a minute before that? i was watching out the corner of my eye and wasn’t sure…
Never change, Hope.
I love to make fun of “race walking,” but it is any more ridiculous than the breast stroke or back stroke?
Yes. Yes it is. It looks like someone’s mom at the mall on Wednesdays before it opens. And tell those people to stop it! I am counting drawers here and trying to open Prints Plus for a day of quality framing while you wait…
wait. faulty assumptions! what exactly is ridiculous about breast or back stroke (when olympians do it)?
That it’s not the fastest way to get to the other side of the pool.
oh, but sports aren’t about the part that makes it easy, they’re about the defining restriction.
no handling the ball in soccer. or, if handling is allowed, no carrying, like in basketball. or, if carrying is allowed, no running again if you’re knocked down while carrying, like in US football. even in the straight-up 100m dash… you gotta admit doping is the faster way to crossing that 100th meter, and that’s not allowed.
i suppose there are purer expressions of certain things, like the front crawl or the dash, and then the restriction-laden ones. i wonder what the purest expression of get the ball past your opponents and into a specified area is. maybe handball? (are there offsides in handball?)
But that’s kind of my point. A track race where you have to walk is no sillier than a swimming race where you have to swim upside down. Well, it is sillier, but maybe it shouldn’t be.
oh. you’re saying walking ins’t ridic. i thought you were saying backwards swimming is.
It’s all ridiculous if we’re being honest.
yeah.
i wonder how tradition plays into this. continuing the ridiculous version even when the faster version surpasses it.
that “pedestrian” book was all about how walking was the first US spectator sport. and the perception of ridiculous can change too i guess.
Interesting link!
I think in handball the offense can’t go inside that arc around the goal.
huh. that’s fairly pure as far as restrictions go.
Well, you also can’t go more than three steps with the ball without dribbling.
not pure!
i don’t know anything about handball.
BUT… if you then jump and bounce the ball once, you can take another three steps (also NBA stars would get their asses thoroughly kicked if they ever tried handball)
RIGHT UP LEBRON’S ALLEY AMIRITE?!
Thanks, and go As.
Why not require them to literally swim backwards (legs first!)?
:o
OH my.
Surely something in all of that should have gotten at least a partial point? 0.00 seems awfully harsh. Especially when heading into those murky waters.
Didn’t it happen to two guys in a row?
Also, why isn’t slashing a sport? Belly flops, cannon balls, galore!
Oh lord, I’d LOVE to watching these.
Dad and Soaker and Soaker’s little brother LOVED the Demolition Derby car racing on the figure-8 shaped dirt track on Wide World of Sports. After 10 or 15 minutes of that it would be “And now back to Dick Button and Peggy Fleming at the United States Figure Skating Championships” and Mom would get peace and quiet with her alone time in front of the TV.
Not the Olympics.
My God the Ledecky 800. Talk about domination.
It was unbelievable. I don’t understand how it is physically possible for one person to be that much better at swimming than everyone else.
I can’t imagine how demoralizing it would be to swim on either side of her. You still have a third of the length to go, meanwhile she’s made the turn and is plowing right past you in the opposite direction.
Greek god of enrolling in my astrophysics class?
Propose it to him! He takes most pitches you throw to him.
hey-o
The American woman who won the shot put last night is a certified makeup artist who also runs a sports confidence camp for kids called “You Throw Girl.” I love her.
She’s terrific–“The Shot Diva!”
please tell me they were standing on the platform in the second picture
My comment is being weird. I tried to link this funny video about 1950’s gymnastics vs. today.
swimming’s also come a long ways.
Really good Brazil-Argentina men’s basketball game going on right now.
yeah. so i tried taking an easy long relaxing nap with this game on in the background.
…it was long.
I was watching that and Nadal-Del Potro on split screen. My head was spinning.
Argentina’s basketball team is just wonderful.
The men’s trampoline silver medalist is named Dong Dong.
Track cycling looks so fun and scary.
Apparently in Olympic volleyball, you get three points for winning in 3 or 4 sets, but only two points for winning in 5 sets. That seems really dumb.
Argentina on the penalty stroke!
no idea what this means but i can’t help finding it true. on every level.
I’m trying to decide what sport this is referring to. Rowing? Golf? Synchro Swimming?
You two were both talking about it above. Field Hockey
Can you get a penalty stroke for premature insertion?
i’m just glad in running it’s a foot strike.
i just noticed myself, but i don’t usually pay this much attention to the olympics. how long has adidas been anglicizing the names of countries on their own team’s gear? germany and hungary, for example.
This is the first year I’ve noticed it. I don’t like it.
(Though the Hungary swimming warmups are hot.)
(Though it might just be the swimmers.)
and the A overlaps the neighboring letter on both, but badly on hungary. smells generic.
the russian warmups are my favorite this year.
i’m just sad zsuzsanna jakabos didn’t have more podium time.
Very emotional Brazil gymnastics medals.
It’s looking very much like we’re heading for a Brazil-Germany men’s soccer final, which will either be cathartic or a spectacular further embarrassment.
Could be ugly.
This Bozo from Croatia is a badass.
Bolt looks up for it tonight.
He’s unreal. Greatest athlete ever.
And he manages not to come off like a show off douche. He seem pretty likeable. Phelps is incredible, but you don’t really get a warm feeling about him.
He does it while occasionally showing off which makes it more endearing somehow.
I think it’s that he doesn’t carry his greatness as some kind of burden, or seem like has a chip on his shoulder. He seems to just enjoy being great, and he wants everyone else to enjoy it with him.
He really does let everyone else do the talking for him.
Jeez did Nike send an entire container of these neon yellow and pink sneakers down to Rio?
They are everywhere, huh. Even the shot putters were wearing them.
Whoaaaaaa that 400m!
Women’s water polo penalty shootout drama
This is even worse than soccer penalty shootouts.
No way
Not at all bias or seriously enabling bribery for entirely subjective scoring. Nope. Not at all.
Georgie Twigg is just about the best British women’s field hockey name I could imagine.
It’s pissing down rain at the Olympic stadium, and yet they are still making the women throw the discus. Three or four in a row have tossed it right into the net.
Wild finish in the women’s 400. Wow.
Diving into first seems to work better in track than in baseball.
Stadium is 2/3 empty as a Brazilian goes for pole vault gold. SMDH.
My favorite event.
Thanks, and go As.
He did it! Amazing. Calling him to carry the Brazilian flag in the closing ceremonies.
It came down to the French defending champ needing to make a final jump to overtake the Brazilian. He did not appreciate the crowd booing as he got ready to take off, and after he missed went Godwin in the press conference:
He still looks pissed during the medal ceremony.
OK, I’ve had just about enough of the Swedish women’s soccer team.
it’s like the swedes get all the unexpected good news today…
Sex pigs halt traffic after laser attack on Pokémon teens
I think I’m developing a crush on this Croatian discus thrower.
Going to need a gif of the Hatian who just ran straight into the first hurdle and then forward rolled with it like a tumbleweed.
I think this is why I enjoy the swimming more than the track. I’m constantly worried someone is going to take a spill on the track.
Oooh. Swimming hurdles!!! A bar under the water they have to get under then over then under.
Steeplechase!
Thanks, and go As.
Land steeplechase is dangerous enough.
Swimming would be awesome, they’d go under a bar, then have to hop over a platform out of the water. Get your dolphin slide on!
if swimming involved a bar, I would be ready for the olympics
my routine is 3000 meters in the lap pool, 10 minutes in the hot tub, 2 jiggers in a rusty nail.
The Brazil women’s volleyball team just fez merda na cama in a big way.
That was a spectacular game.
But it was his penis that delivered the final blow.
There are a whole lot of apparently East African long distance runners competing for Bahrain in these Olympics. Seems pretty sketchy.
Have you read anything about how Qatar is literally buying athletes?
Thanks, and go As.
No, but I’m not surprised at all.
Bahrain and Qatar
OTOH, china is getting killed on the ping pong trade.
Fascinating and really well written article about Caster Semenya:
http://deadspin.com/the-debate-about-caster-semenya-isnt-about-fairness-1785355953
That is interesting.
She is going to blow that field away based on how she was barely putting in any effort in the heats. A friend of a friend is running in the final and she certainly can’t hope for more than silver.
Also good on Semenya.
Argentina’s basketball fans are putting on an impressive show even with their team being down by 20+ in the 4th quarter.
hopelessness is always our finest hour.
Field events ranked best to worst in watchability:
1. Pole vault
2. Long jump
3. Hammer throw
4. Discus
5. Javelin
6. High jump
7. Triple jump
8. Shot put
At least with 3, 4, and 8, you can watch for some poor bastard getting clouted in the head, and with 5 there is always the chance of an impaling.
The shot put is pretty pure sport (“how far can you chuck this heavy thing”). But it has none of the twirling, running, soaring aspects that the others offer.
Bolt is hilarious.
Not Olympics, but ptbnl, there is an easier way
From comment section
Meh – award miles, not status-qualifying.
As bad as the American woman who dropped the baton must feel, it can’t be as bad as the Dominican man who false started. How does he look the other three guys in the eye?
EDIT: Apparently the American woman was interfered with by the incompetent Brazilians next to her so they get to run it against the clock in a few minutes to see if they can still qualify.
It’s bullshit that the false start is one and done.
It’s hugely punitive. But the old way wasn’t great either, when it seemed like there was almost always one tactical false start before every sprint final.
Make them start from a standing position after a false start then. Or a second delay start. Even one free false start in a full competition would work. But one and done is dumb.
The problem with one free false start is that they would all use it. If you have one in your pocket, may as well try to time the gun.
I’m okay with that if the alternative is one fuck up and you’re done.
I think the old rule that was that the whole field got one free false start. Once anyone false started, the next guy to do it was disqualified. That led to a lot more false starts, and sometimes speculation that someone false started on purpose just to get a mental edge over his competitors. In a way it added to the drama of the occasion though.
I see nothing wrong with that system. If there was exception taken to it, give that false starter a disadvantage: start a few meters back, start at a standing position, time penalty, something.
Given how small the margins are, that’s effectively the same as a dq.
Maybe. But they still have a chance.
Maybe just use NFL rules. Move your blocks back five yards.
NFL rules..go to replay, did they actually touch the ground…did they make a “track move”.
LOL. Here we go.
Welp
I thought they didn’t report a crime, except to the media.
I think Lochte/Feigen did tell the police the robbery story after it got out in the media.
That story has been updated, by the way, to say that the police have recommended charges but no indictment has been filed yet.
you haven’t been paying attention to the news?
if you say something on TV, no matter how conditionally, you can be held personally responsible for crimes that happen outside the country. Especially if your son is a security contractor that is killed.
Lock
HerHim Up! LockHerHim Up!Dumbasses.
Also, I guess that IOC guy was actually correct, although he probably didn’t know it at the time.
Comes home late, gets asked where he was, gets rightfully accused of cheating on gf. “Um, no. I was robbed. At gun point. It was scary.” Mom announces to the world. IOC checks in. “Oh, no, I didn’t get robbed.” IOC announces it didn’t happen. GF hears about it. Rightfully accuses him of cheating. “Um, no baby, I was robbed. Truly awful.” Calls back IOC, “Hey, remember when I said I didn’t get robbed, well, I did get robbed. My bad.” Gives interviews, makes report, leaves country.
i’ve been traveling and missed a day’s worth of twists/turns. my mom caught me up though: “esos boludos… ¡qué boludos!”
roughly agreeing with you: those dumbasses… what dumbasses!
it feels like the A’s are down 4 already
This guy Ashton Eaton should be more famous.
activation required.
fuck you NBC. you are free tv.
Thanks to the Aereo decision, you’ve got to go buy your own damn antenna.
Oh.
Do elite race walkers usually carry sponges with them for this contingency?
Huh, you know they do have wet sponges on tables next to the water cups. I never could figure out what they were for, but as my daughter pointed out when we were watching, “they squeeze the water on their butts, daddy!”
So cute.
My issue with water polo is that it’s all half court offense. No fast breaks.
Rhythmic gymnastics are neither rhythmic nor gymnastics.
Yup. More like, look at how I can run around with a ball, ribbon, or hula hoop!
Sometimes they have juggling clubs. They’re like really, really good drum majorettes.
SLF and I were having the discussion about synchronized swimming.
I mean, its neat to look at, its incredibly hard, but do i really car if one team is better than the other? by minuscule matters of opinion?
kinida the way I feel about most judged competitions.
Syncronized swimming just creeps me out.
like gymnastics, if they wore regular uniforms and no make up, it’d be way better
it’s the whole coming out of the water with your eyes ALREADY OPEN AND NEVER BLINKING.
It pretty useful during an auto de fe.
That’s pretty much where I stand. If it can’t be at least theoretically played without a judge to provide the score, then it’s not much of a competition. They’re still impressive though.
The women’s hockey final is a nailbiter.
We are headed to penalties.
This shootout format is fun. Eight seconds to score against the goalie one on one, and rebounds count.
hockey has got the special-circumstance shooting schemes down.
Huh. Matthew
EcksteinDellavadova is just as terrible in international play as he is in the NBA.8 min left in team handball semi between Denmark and Poland. Game tied, Polish goalie playing out of his mind.
Huh, I just realized that you can substitute during live play like in hockey. Cool.
Oof, rough time for a penalty.
Yeah, the hair trigger whistles detract from my enjoyment of the sport for sure.
That buzzer beater from Poland to force OT was awesome though!
Whoaaaaaaaaa!
Bolt’s last run right now in the relay final.
That was cool.
Super fail by the USA.
How is it that every indoor volleyball player doesn’t have 10 broken fingers at all times?
I was just wondering that! The slo-mo replays when their pinkies bend halfway back are crazy.
This horse is my spirit animal.
The divers who jump from the top platform must think all of the other divers are total ninnies.
Until they get too old and switch to 3M springboard.
is that a post it joke?
nah. he just spelled 3L wrong.
The Sprint ads featuring the Verizon guy are a little unsettling.
Sick Neymar FK
Brazil 1-0 Germany
is the “pitch” small?
I hope not. This is the main historic soccer stadium in Brazil, site of two world cup finals. I think it’s pretty standard.
EDIT: It’s 1m narrower than Wembley, 2m narrower than the Stade de France. Same size as the Camp Neu and Bernabeu.
not watching this one, but i thought i saw an earlier match that looked a lot smaller.
Might have been at a different stadium. Only the semis and final have been in Rio.
Empatou
Oh ver time
Penalties. FKing hell.
Eat it, Germans.
that’s about as much positivity i can put on this, too.
Mo Farah is something else.
does he have Farah hair?
shit. i think i misplaced my 70s.
can’t remember if that means feathered or cornrowed.
WHERE ARE MY 70S?? has anybody seen my 70s?
Closing Ceremonies streaming live now with out Ryan Seacrest commentary: http://stream.nbcolympics.com/closing-ceremony
Hell yeah. The Tokyo 2020 bit has a giant Super Mario pipe in the middle of everything.
BTW, thanks for this thread GM, it added a lot to my Olympic enjoyment.
Yay! I was just happy to have somewhere to blather at you all.
Me too! I actually didn’t get to watch as many events as I’d like, but I could get the scoops here.