Athletics is not the same but its still fun to watch the sprints(even with cheating), jumping and javelin. Never heard of handball..
You should give it a try then. It's one of those sports that usually doesn't get the exposition it deserves. I thought the Ian Thorpe case was pretty clear, even though he wasn't officially proven to cheat. As for the others, I just can't believe that they break record after record without the help of their medical department. Why should it stop at swimming? If the recent Tour de France and athletics scandals proved anything, it was the fact that the WADA is always several years behind the pharmaceutical industry. Mind you, none of those cheaters were actually caught cheating. They found files that proved their involvement and bags of blood and all that. If you ask me, they're all cheating.
To be fair, if everyone is doing it is it still cheating??? How's an athlete supposed to compete clean when everyone else is juiced (and getting away with it)
Well, it puts the whole thing on another level. As I said, it turns into a matter of who's got the best juice or which body best responds to it. I don't like that. That's the problem. Of course there are clean athletes, but they're not at the Olympics. And as long as there's so much money being poured into this, it won't change. So I do what I can by not paying attention to it anymore.
Good points benztown, I been in and out of gyms all my life, I and I know that you cannot take a regular person and turn him/her into a world class athlete by taking steroids. It doesnt work that way. All an athlete does by taking it is raise their level slightly higher, but that level is still miles above an everyday person. Example: McGwire could probably hit 30 to 40 homers without juice, but on it he hits 70. Is that cheating?? Of course it is. But you cannot take any person off the street, pump him full of steroids and turn him into a pro ballplayer, it doesnt work that way. So you still have to cut the pro athlete some slack, thats all I'm saying
We do have a sport called handball, but it is not the same as that played in the rest of the world. As far as I know, that game isn't played here at all.
That's what I'm talking about: [Youtube]TSIhhJ5krNg[/youtube] I bet Americans would like this sport. High paced, high scoring, very physical.
Of course they are still the elite. But it's not the kind of competition I wanna see. For example, many experts have said that Jan Ulrich was actually the more gifted racing cyclist than Lance Armstrong but that Lance had the better drugs and/or responded better to them. Of course we'll never know. But that's exactly why I don't care for cycling or athletics anymore. We don't know who's actually the best, but who responds best to the drugs. Olympic athletes are all among the very best, but could any given Gold Medalist win without the use of steroids? We'll never know.
Re: Tommy Smythe If anyone has any doubt that Smyth is absolutely clueless, consider this:- When the referee changed his mind about the sending off in the Russia Holland game, numbskull Smyth says that the referee went over to the linesman to ask him if he saw a foul! That underlines this clown's stupidity. The referee obviously went to ask if the ball had gone out of play just before the tackle. Of course, Mr. Smyth would figure that the referee would think the linesman had a better view of the "foul" from all of seventy five yards away when the referee was about twenty yards away. Please, ESPN, get rid of this clown!!!!!! Just by the by, Russia completely dominated the game and thoroughly deserved their win.
Is there anyone in the ESPN organization who actually knows something about the game of soccer? If there is, they should get rid of Smyth right away. He really is absolutely clueless! Just the fact that he thought the referee went over to the linesman to ask if he saw anything in the "foul" underlines the fact that he has not got a clue! The Dutch defender had attempted to keep the ball from going over the end line, a decision that the linesman would have made, not the referee. However, Mr Numbskull Smyth says that he consulted the linesman about the "foul" when the linesman was seventy odd yards away and he was twenty! Once again, Mr Smyth has shown that he has so little idea about what is going on. He should be stuffed upside down in his auld onion bag and have Andy Gray shoot some balls at him!
How do you know what the ref was asking ? From what I saw he gave the second yellow, talked to the linesman, then receded the yellow card. So I'm going to conclude that he asked the linesman what he saw.
I don't mind Smyth so much, but I'd like him a lot more if he could just shut up for a little while. For some reason he feels the need to add something to Every Single Thing that Rae has to say, like Rae is really there to set him up so he can blather. Just on and on he goes sometimes. Someone needs to remind him that he's just 'the other guy' in the booth.
When the referee changed his mind about the sending off in the Russia Holland game, numbskull Smyth says that the referee went over to the linesman to ask him if he saw a foul! That underlines this clown's stupidity. The referee obviously went to ask if the ball had gone out of play just before the tackle." Thank you, BS member with ESP ability. I personally do NOT know whether the ref asked if the ball went out of play, or whether, when he realized that it was a 2nd yellow on a REALLY stupid nothing happening, perhaps he went to ask IF THERE WAS A FOUL COMMITTED WORTHY OF A 2ND YELLOW. Or perhaps the ref, realizing it was a 2nd yellow, looked for a way out, and decided that "the ball was out" was the best way out of this situation. Enough with Smyth hating. Enough with ESPN hating. They are doing a bang up, super job on this - and thank you for the national anthems slotted in. PS I like Maxie Bretos and most of the FSC crew too.
Regarding the red card: If you look at it again (for those who recorded the match), Korodin's 'foul' on Sneijder happened well outside the box, almost near the touchline. After consulting his assistant, the ref gave a goal kick. The ref was obviously was told by his assistant that the ball had gone out of play.
[ Originally Posted by johndaly Is there anyone in the ESPN organization who actually knows something about the game of soccer? If there is, they should get rid of Smyth right away. He really is absolutely clueless! Just the fact that he thought the referee went over to the linesman to ask if he saw anything in the "foul" underlines the fact that he has not got a clue! The Dutch defender had attempted to keep the ball from going over the end line, a decision that the linesman would have made, not the referee. However, Mr Numbskull Smyth says that he consulted the linesman about the "foul" when the linesman was seventy odd yards away and he was twenty! Once again, Mr Smyth has shown that he has so little idea about what is going on. He should be stuffed upside down in his auld onion bag and have Andy Gray shoot some balls at him! I have to conclude johndaly that you are an idiot. How do you know what the ref asked the AR. According to you and several other posters logic. If the ref was told the ball was out of play then there was no YC. So I must conclude that with your vast knowledge of the game. If you want to conduct a violent act wait until the ball is out of play and there will be no YC. Also your logic that the assistant ref was a good 70 yards away and the ref 20 if that be the logic why would he ever consult the AR about anything. Why did he not just make the call himself since the AR was so far away.
For the record i think ESPN's coverage has been outstanding- with the exception of Foudy and Smyth (ESPN mainstays). I've never had a problem with Smyth's post match analysis or his articles, but his game commentary is aweful. It's as if his mouth gets out in front of his brain, even after seeing a slow motion replay and he's to hard headed to correct himself on the spot. Its only after the match when he's back behind the desk and given a chance to "digest" his obvious error does he concede. This has happened over and over again throught the tournament. I'll say again- huge kudos to ESPN for Grey, O'Neal and Rae. Just my opinion.
You do know that roids are widespread in soccer also, dont you?? All those players that tested positive in Italy is just the tip of the iceberg. Problem with all this is that the genie is out of the bottle, and you cant get him back in. Athletes will always be one step ahead of the rules because there's always new designer steroids invented. Next time you see Cristiano Ronaldo compare his pic with now and 4 years ago , you'll see lots of acne and bloatedness of the face. Highly suspicious to say the least
Jan Ulrich was a more naturally gifted cyclist than Armstrong, but you want to know what his problem was? It wasn't that he didn't respond as well to EPO/steroids/etc. It was that his body didn't respond as well to training. Why? Because he didn't train as much. Which is why he showed up to nearly every tour during Amrstong's era of dominance 10-15 pounds overweight. More time on a bike. Less time getting caught with drugs on the party circuit and who knows how much he could have won.