Olympics watched so far
 

4-man coxless: I'm always up for the easy dick joke. This is actually rowing with nobody calling when to stroke. Interest: mild

Some long cycle race through the country: People crashed. I didn't know anyone in the race. I didn't think I would watch the whole thing under any circumstance. Jacquelita noticed the awesome landscapes in the background and that became the thing to look at. It became annoying that there was a race going on. Interest: moderate

Beach volleyball: I thought this sport was only invented to have hot lean bodies in tiny swimsuits. They should have judges for that. The Aussie men beat the US men because one of our guys couldn't block. You would think they could find someone who could block. So I'm calling shenanigans on this "sport". Even with the hot bodies I can't remember anyone paying any amount to watch this "sport" in person, unless they were teenage lads playing it on a video game. I can't remember it ever being televised on any network except for ESPN2, and even then it was on at 1:30 am and I don't think they bothered to identify which team was which. Interest: tad

Swimming: is better since they have the new cameras to watch better underwater. Some people seem to do it a tiny bit faster than the others. Some times the races are close and sometimes they are not. Interest: little

Synchronized diving: another bogus "sport". This one involved two guys diving at the same time to see if they could, you know, dive at the same time. Some of em could do it real good, others couldn't. An announcer was too excited that the Brits had taken silver, the first medal in any diving event for them since 1960. The announcer was helpful in determing for us which of the divers had entered the water before the other, thus messing up the whole synchronization of the dive. Interest: none

8-man, uh, with cox: somehow more interesting than the coxless. Now they described the race with the added technical detail of number of sculls per minute. Interest: some

I actually sat through the silly dives program to watch the cycling. interest high.

Turns out NBA players can't play fundamental basketball. interest none.

Swimming bah. interest scant.

I'll prolly watch some track and field, hurdles and sprints are cool, like the Bruce Jenner event. interest a bit

gymnastics = child abuse. interest nada.

Costas and Ms. Perky awful, just show the games, no yammering. There really is no way to do the Olympics right but NBC isn't even trying.

Rho and I watched soccer on Telemundo last night...heard Andres Cantor lose his mind...beautiful.

So far, the games have been good. The coverage has been average...too many commercials, and not as good as Salt Lake. I can't believe all the empty seats...that's ridiculous.

oooo... interest keen.

The empty seats are pretty lame. Somebody likes these games...

gymnastics = child abuse. interest nada.

Men's gymnastics isn't as bad, since you have to be much older (relatively) before the muscle mass really can develop. It's still an intense amount of training as a youngster, but at least for the guys it's usually more their decision than the parents'.

You're probably right about the mens gym. Didn't they talk about putting an age limit on the "womens"?

All I know about what's going on at the Olympics is that Puerto Rico left USA in the dust in the opening game for basketball. Walked ALL OVER them.
Interest: fleeting

One of the saddest things I've ever seen, in a way, was when I went to see a college women's gymnastic meet back when I was in school. Sure, it was an auditorium full of people doing something that they presumably enjoyed doing, so it wasn't exactly torture, but every performer in the room knew that she was five to ten years too old, an arbitrary number of pounds too heavy, and in most cases breast reduction surgery away from even _dreaming_ about high-end competition.

(Of course, I went because I was a horndog who got to watch attractive girls in skimpy leotards bouncing around for my enjoyment.)

It's a sport where you're essentially retired once you reach your upper teens. What's up with that? At least figure skating has a bunch of ice shows as a Senior Tour of sorts for the A- and B-listers.

As for basketball, I dislike the sport as a general rule, and have a permanent black mark on Olympic basketball as being the Trojan Horse that erased the notion of Olympian == amateur, so I draw a tiny bit of pleasure from the ass-stomping Puerto Rico delivered. Since the Dream Team came about because American's collegians had the audacity to actually lose a game, now who will we send in? The Globetrotters?

I'd like to see the NCAA champs go, maybe taking a few other talented kids chosen by the coach.

Show me 30-35 year old, 140 lb women consistently doing gymnastics on par with or much better than 15-20 year old, 110 pound girls/women and I'll show you some paradigms being shifted.

Is the inherent flaw with the older/heavier women, or with the judging requirements that essentially require gymnasts to be prepubescent pixies, more so with every passing year? I mean, Mary Lou Retton wasn't exactly a big girl, but she could eat most recent Olympic-caliber gymnasts as an appetizer.

About the only other sporting profession I can think of where growth spurt == retirement is being a horse-racing jockey.

Don't ask me, I'm no gymnast. I don't know how their politics work. I just know that the 'best' ones are very young, meaning they're going to be easier to be very nubile and are more likely to weigh less and the less weight you have on your body, the easier it is to hold it up on one arm or one hand while balancing. Of course there's the side note that young skinny females in leotards are societally more attractive than older heavier females.

Also, if you'd call professional dancing a sport, professional ballet has fairly strict height and weight restrictions too. I guess it could fall under a similar 'sport factor' that ice ballet has.

Show me 30-35 year old, 140 lb women consistently doing gymnastics on par with or much better than 15-20 year old, 110 pound girls/women and I'll show you some paradigms being shifted.

Try 12-14 year old. Even being 17 is pushing it. Obviously the younger girls do it better, but the point is why spend so much time and energy learning a skill that you are destined to lose before you're even done being a teenager? Meanwhile you're at risk for stunted growth, a fallen uterus, and horrific arthritis, to name a few.

This year they seem to be allowed makeup, and the uniforms with their shiny breastal areas point out any top these chicks may have. And still there was this skeleton of a lass yesterday who looked around 11. :eek: What kind of circus act is this anyway? If it's all about endorsements now, when do the child labor laws kick in?

You could say the same of any of the Olympic sports. They all risk their bodies to be able to say they are the best at what they do.

Personally, I enjoy watching both the men's and women's gymnastics. There seems to be some presumption in this thread the the (mostly) teens in the women's gymnastics are not there from their own desire to compete. That may be true in a few cases, but they seem pretty competitive to me.

My girls have been in gymnastics since they were little. They do it because they enjoy it.