Official Olympics Thread

[giffted1]

And the gymnastics judges prove their incompetence/bias once again. Had Alicia Sacramone been born in a different country, she'd probably have a medal.

[Mike Felder]

Kudos to Walter Dix picking up the bronze. Wonder if he thought he had any chance 48 hours ago. Side note: in the 2007 NCAA Indoors, Dix stumbled at the 60m start, costing FSU ten points and allowing Wisconsin to take the NCAA title.

I remember that...the same thing happened to the HS team I coach at our Indoor Conference Meet a few weeks later...except it was two of our guys that false started and cost us 18 points. We still managed to win the meet, however. Hooray, depth! Anyway, glad to see there's at least one other track junkie on here.

And the gymnastics judges prove their incompetence/bias once again. Had Alicia Sacramone been born in a different country, she'd probably have a medal.

 

That's the biggest thing I hate about the Olympics...so many "sports" where judges determine who wins. There's so much room for subjectivity and corruption, and it seems like the judges are rarely, if ever, called on it by someone who matters. I just ignore stuff like gymnastics, figure skating, etc. now because it all seems so bogus to me. I know there can be bad/corrupt officials in other sports that can impact the outcome, but they can't determine the outcome by themselves (insert Donaghy joke here). A ref or umpire might make a bad call, but they can't say, "Oh, I didn't think that home run was majestic enough, you only get half a run for that."

[mothershipconnection]

I've been stuck watching more of the olympics than I had planned because the girlfriend loves it. I've actually found myself enjoying some of it. Watching Phelps of Bolt just smoke the field and think "that guy's #2 in the world and got dominated" is pretty crazy. It's like Tyson in his prime - an individual competitor who makes the rest of the world's best look like hacks.

[SeriesFinale]

I finally cheered against an American: the female diver whose Dad owns the Cubby Bear, center and fomenter of all that I despise about Cubs-dom.

 

Petty, I know.

[craigharmann]

Wow, so you can do your vault, basically fall on your face, and get a medal, or be Alicia Sacramone, do really well, and get 4th. That sucks.

[WV Brew]

Laporta was beaned by the Chinese pitcher after two Chinese catchers were run over on plays at the plate. Chinese team is managed by Jim Lefevbre. Sounds like he was taken to the hospital and has a concussion. Great sportsmanship there.

[pitchleague]

boy, that trade keeps getting better and better!!!!

 

seriously, I hope he's okay for the Tribe. Sounds like an interesting game.

[Jimbo]

I finally cheered against an American: the female diver whose Dad owns the Cubby Bear, center and fomenter of all that I despise about Cubs-dom.

Yeah, I know she's a Cub fan, but right now Christina Loukas is in the Top3 of Jimbo's Hot List.

 

Who can root against her?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/25/loukas.jpghttp://farm3.static.flickr.com/2336/1982914125_ed02ccf0fd.jpg?v=0

 

[bigredrobbo]

Personally, I believe any sport where there is an element of subjectivity (gymnastics, boxing, diving, skating, etc.) should not be in the olympics. The olympic motto translates as "Faster, Higher, Stronger", not "Prettier, Less Splashier, More Graceful-ier".

 

Some may moan about home bias, but it happens all the time. If memory serves, there was an outcry about an Italian boxer, in LA in 84, who "lost" his final to a US boxer (might have been Biggs), despite having dominated the entire fight. And was Mary Lou Retton absolutely the best gymnast in 1984?

[SeriesFinale]

The way boxing matches are scored have changed since the '84 and '88 debacles...there's not nearly as much subjectivity

[endaround]

Laporta was beaned by the Chinese pitcher after two Chinese catchers were run over on plays at the plate. Chinese team is managed by Jim Lefevbre. Sounds like he was taken to the hospital and has a concussion. Great sportsmanship there.

Yep Team USA was acting like thugs, Schierholz went out his way to wipe out the catcher up 4-0 despite having an easy slide to score. He launched himself at the catcher.

 

[BrewCrewForever]

USA now 3-2 in baseball. A win over Chinese Taipei tomorrow assures them of being in the final 4. Hope they can do it, wouldn't it be something if it came down to the USA and Cuba again for the Gold just like in 2000.

[bjkrautk]

...and now...

Girls jumping on Trampolines!

http://assets.espn.go.com/i/magazine/new/man_show.jpg

 

(I guess they just really liked the Olympics. I didn't even know it was a competition!)

[Blancofan1]

Has anyone found a easy to read in depth stat page for the Olympic baseball teams? curious to stats for the US and maybe for that one guy from Canada, eh

[fondybrewfan]

Tiebreakers in gymnastics is just stupid. Many people already think ths scoring has been poor at best and then to take away a gold medal based on a tiebreaker is just stupid. I like the picture of Nastia next to the Chinese girl who won. If that isn't proof that the chinese girl still drinks formula I don't what it would take.

[jason21nl]

I don't see how the US baseball team was being thugs. They were hit like 4 or 5 times in the game. The one dude got hit twice and instead of using the pitcher as a punching bag he took it out on the catcher, who just might be calling for those beanballs.

[endaround]

Because the US team also hit two Chinese batters? They already took out one catcher before this. And if Schierholz did what he did in MLB he would be looking at at least a 5 game suspension. He basically lowered his shoulder and speared the catcher (yes he jumped into him) when the catcher wasn't really close to the plate. If the basketball team did somethggn similar the cants of thuggish NBA players would never die down.

[Gobias Industries]

Schierholz should be kicked off the team, as an idiot like that doesn't belong in the Olympics. Ridiculous. He's very lucky he didn't seriously injure the catcher, who wasn't even blocking the plate.

[lcbj68c]

Has anyone found a easy to read in depth stat page for the Olympic baseball teams? curious to stats for the US and maybe for that one guy from Canada, eh

http://www.nbcolympics.com/baseball/resultsandschedules/index.html

 

That is the best I can find. You have to look for the individual Canada games and then click "official" for the box scores.

[lcbj68c]

From what I've put together, Lawire is 0 for 9 with two RBI. A sac fly and an RBI groundout.

[homer]

This guys should have medaled:

 

GYMNASTIQUE PEKIN 2008 (REMI GAILLARD)

Uploaded by nqtv

[Jimbo]

Some random thoughts:

 

Matt Wise self-mutilation award to Magda Lewy, who had to drop out of the marathon mid-race due to her knee stiffening after bumping it during her plane flight over.

 

Ned Yost clueless award to Catherine Nderbea, despite in the lead pack, unaware that Tomescu had surged to a 45-second lead enroute to the gold medal.

 

Bershawn Jackson medaling in the 400H. Never before seen a hurdler freelance during a race. "Take 13 steps this hurdle, ah maybe 17 or so the next one."

 

Anyone catch Spanaird Marta Dominguez wiping out in the steeplechase? Trail leg clipped a steeple and her head bounces off the track like a basketball. Next seen staggering around the infield like she had ten beers in her. Fun event to watch, just never ask me to run it!

 

Glad NBC gave ample time to the women's PV it deserved. Yelena is the queen of the world TnF scene.

 

C'mon Bela, tell us how you *truely* feel!

[hawing]

C'mon Bela, tell us how you *truely* feel!

 

I can't ever again think of Bela Karolyi without picturing Lugash from The Simpsons:

 

http://images.wikia.com/simpsons/images/c/cf/Lugash.jpg

 

Lugash: You girls were great! Cats back for everyone!
Tina: I had a dog.
Lugash: Is cat now!

[tigerbrew]

Watched the US vs Italy women's volleyball Q-finals, it was an exciting game. The Americans were down 2 sets to 1, and came out blazing the next 2 sets to an impressive come-from-behind victory. The Italian coach had to burn his timeouts in quick succession trying to halt the US momentum, but the Americans were unstoppable aided by their great serving and blocking. US will play Cuba in the semis, should be an exciting game too.

[fondybrewfan]

Australia played the US pretty tough in teh 1/2 half although Bogut pretty much sucked