the olympics lost my attention a long time ago; last summer i think i only watched the women's basketball (because there's so little of it on TV outside the OG) and the finals of the big track events. whether you call them sports or events, synchronized diving, ice dancing etc. are just so much crapola to me. in my mind if you need judges to determine a winner it doesn't belong in the olympics; too much possibility for cheating/controversy, too abstruse for the general public.
I abandoned the Olympics after L.A. in the mid-80s, largely because I got sick of the TV coverage, which was more like a video version of People Magazine instead of sports coverage (I remember watching a 2o minute profile of an American hammer-thrower covering his trials and tribulations that even he's probably forgotten about by now. Then we see his throw best throw, find out he came in 11th or thereabouts, and then get a list of the three medalists). (It occurs to me that the Yank-o-centric nature of the coverage got on my nerves as well: i.e., no soccer). In any case, I actually watched quite a bit of the last Oly's last summer on the computer at work: lots of soccer, handball, and wrestling and more of the weight events in Track and Field than I've ever seen (it occurs to me: all sports I played back in the day). I was starting to have hope that I'd be able to enjoy the event again. And then the IOC (remember, you can't spell Idiotic without IOC) drops wrestling. Well played, guys.
Maybe throw a bone to the NASCAR fans, or better yet, a Demolition Derby would make for some spirited competition.
i went to a lot of dirt track racing when i was a kid and used to love the DD's and especially the figure 8 races! t-bone city arizona! but now they've weenied those down to where they're no fun at all. in the demo derbies most of the cars barely run even before the race starts, plus they run them in heats of only a few cars each so no big mashups, and by the time the heat winners get to the final... well, there is no final. and no head ons are allowed. about as balls to the walls as a junior high school checkers tournament. the F8's are worse. heats again, and besides smaller fields and fewer laps, they restart as soon as anyone spins out. so in fact there is never even a possibility of any intersecting traffic. somewhat less dangerous than campfire girls making smores. this should be an olympic sport? shirley you jest!
Why...why.. yes I am..or was...or did. (There seems to be a bunch of Shirleys in PC&E.....are we all blonde as well?)
Some of them were blowouts. US used some inexperienced new-comers in some of the weight classes. Jordan Burroughs did not compete (I guess he is wrestling against the Russian counterpart). On the other hand, his replacement was pretty damn awesome and was the one who won the point for US. Overall great atmosphere and sportsmanship.
A good article concerning the rumble on the rails http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/05/16/why-the-u-s-russia-and-iran-can-all-agree-to-wrestle/
That kid just made his international debut in that match. he won 4 NCAA titles for Cornell at 4 different weights. He will be a good one to watch. Dake is his name.
Anyone have any more info on this? http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_...team-goes-home-skips-match-against?source=rss That is very disappointing.
I agree it's very disappointing. From what I have heard (and it's not confirmed, just mere speculation) that the IRI flag could have been a problem with the expats in LA who don't consider the IRI a legitimate regime. And the US was not in a position to accept the responsibility of the Iranian team's presence in Los Angeles which has a large very anti-regime Iranian population (and hence the possibility of protest may have been beyond the control of US resources0. And for security reasons, the Iranian team preferred to go back to Tehran. It's just an extension of politics extending into sports. The US swept 5 freestyle matches against Russia right? Kyle Dake is going to be very very dominant. If wrestling is not dropped from the Olympics, he will be a force to be reckoned with in 2020.