<p>I will have to start watching the Olympic hockey games now that I know it is not skate, skate, fight. I can never enjoy the regular games because they look like a bunch of goons fighting over Tickle Me Elmo at Walmart. With an untrained eye, I have never been able to separate the skill from the bullying.</p>
<p>I have never curled but the rocks are 42 lbs. The men could have an advantage. My daughter is going to learn curling this Saturday, so I will let you know.
BTW - on Morning Joe the other day Willie Geist did a piece on curling. It was hilarious and proved to be not as <em>easy</em> as it looks!</p>
<p>On the downhill - men have a definite advantage - yes, gravity is <em>different</em>.</p>
<p>In the category of why or why something isn’t an Olympic sport, what about competitive water skiiing (as a summer sport, of course). Do you think it’s because it’s not competed widely enough around the world?</p>
<p>This reminds me of the arguments that I have with people who don’t think equestrian sports are sports because the horse does all the work! They really think the horses are trained like circus animals and the person is just along for the ride. Once I explain it, they get it, but the vast majority of people have no idea what is involved.</p>
<p>^It’s interesting though that the equestrian sports are the one place where men and women do compete against each other.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s because there are no men or women who can win in a battle with a horse if they rely solely on strength. It takes much more than strength to control something that size whose every instinct tells them to avoid exactly what the person is asking them to do. So much of jumping, for example, is developing the eye so you can tell the horse where to leave the ground, which leg to land on, how fast to go into the jump, where to land and the exact number of strides needed between the jumps. You do all that on the fly having never had the chance to actually ride the course before - there are no practice rounds.</p>
<p>Even and Emily are the ones I saw (went to bed early). They were sweet.</p>
<p>Cartera45, do men/women and boys/girls compete against each other at all levels? Just wondering if it starts out divided then merges, or not.</p>
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The not so skinny guy in the spandex, right? Yeah - that was not a good look in any way. The spandex was too tight in most places but not tight enough in others - some “stuff” needed to be squished away to where we couldn’t see so much detail!!</p>
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In one of the NBC videos about them they said that when the duo were first paired together as kids she was so painfully shy that the coach would put stickers on her partners forehead to give her something to look at on his face when they were skating. Also heard that they didn’t even talk to each other their first 2 years together because she is so shy. Perhaps that is what she comes across that way.</p>
<p>As for the aborigine costumes - what were they thinking? At least they got rid of the body paint.</p>
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<p>They always compete together. It takes incredible stamina to compete in cross country jumping, stadium jumping and dressage. In order to get to that level, the top competitors will ride 6 or more hours a day - using several different horses. It is also one of the most dangerous sports - I think cave diving is one of the only things more dangerous. I mentioned in an earlier post that in an 18 month period, 12 riders died in cross country competition. These were not backyard riders, but people at the top of the sport. The course designers pride themselves on designing tough courses. If you ride, you fall - no getting around it.</p>
<p>Going back to girls/guys. Our bodies are not designed the same, for certain sports.</p>
<p>Vonn has made headlines because she is skiing on skis designed for men. Men’s skis are more rigid, for a woman it means more stress on her shins. To control the skis the lower part of her legs must have incredible strength, but the way a woman’s body is designed it is not natural because of their hips.</p>
<p>We are not talking about length of a running stride, or bulking up at the gym. It is pure physical anatomy and how the bodies of each sex are designed…working at the gym won’t change it.</p>
<p>I think what the true problem with the Olympics is they lost sight of their market. Romney (not a political fan) got it and was the last one to have a profitable game. Bullet and I went to 5 events in Torino and many Americans who were there said they were shocked at the low attendance compared to Salt Lake. Salt Lake was known to have 6 people deep for bobsled on the course (cheap seats). At Torino the seats were filled for A (start and finish), but watching Vancouver they were at 50%. The standing tickets were empty. This is also true for skiing and even skating. The countries have spent so much to put on the show that the tickets are not viable for the avg citizen of the host country.</p>
<p>Here’s what we paid back in 6
Luge $125 per ticket (A seats)
Short track $125 per (A)
Bobsled 2 man $125 per (A)
Freestyle $100 per (A)
Mens Hockey USA vs Russia — qualifier $225 per (A)
Ladies Figure Short Program $250 (B) —A seats were 500 a piece. A seats for long were 1K!</p>
<p>That is a lot of money for any citizen to pay. The Olympic Committee needs to stop playing the game of let’s beat the last country.</p>
<p>Bullet was asked at work why we did not attend the opening or closing, his response: Because I wasn’t going to spend close to 2K for a Broadway show!</p>
<p>FYI, I do believe that there are women who could beat men…Vonn who skis on mens skis probably would give Bode a run for his money. However, I would highly doubt that even Tonya Harding could throw Nancy Kerrigan or vise a verse! (I’m sure people would pay 500 bucks to see the chance of it, but doubtful they could do it). Sometimes anatomy comes into play.</p>
<p>Also for those that think it is rigged, it is to an extent IMHO! Remember back in 02 for pairs and they found out that the judges played a game of I will score your country if you score mine to the extent that the Canadians got a gold because of the out cry and scandal.</p>
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total rathole comment … I am a total basketball junkie and I have to admit the absolute best in person athletic experience is college hockey … small rinks so all the seats are close … relatively cheap admission … high level of skill … and rules similar to olympic rules so there is virtually no fighting or goon behavior … it is GREAT way to spend an evening!</p>
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<p>I’ve never attended a college hockey game but I bet you’re right. I know that I enjoy college basketball WAY more than pro. And have you ever been to a college gymnastics meet? Another GREAT way to spend an evening. (They’re grown women…with curves…still doing amazing things, only a lot more powerful than the under 100 lb set that we typically see on TV.)</p>
<p>Did anyone else see GMA today when the reporter messed up.</p>
<p>He said the uniforms might seem familiar because they are replica’s of the last time the US won the Gold in Hockey back in 1960…I think he should have said it was a replica of the uniform they wore in Squaw Valley when they won the Gold for Hockey.</p>
<p>I immediately thought to myself, what about Miracle on Ice didn’t we win in 1980 at Lake Placid?</p>
<p>I think he meant the last time the US beat Canada…they didn’t play each other in 1980.</p>
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<p>Well that begs the question. Who turns them into goons when they go pro? Is it a natural progression, the coaching or just what the fans want?</p>
<p>I am not sure your networks showed it but yesterday the US and Canadian Armed Forces played their own Olympic Hocckey Game in Kandahar. They played basically street hockey but boards had been put up. I think Canada won that one 10 to 1 or something but I am think it is fantastic that even in theose stressful circumstances our 2 countries could have fun together and have an afternoon of comeraderie. Well done to both countries and God Bless all of the troops on foreign soil</p>
<p>The uniforms are Squaw Valley throwbacks. yes, we won the gold in 1980 but the gold medal game was not the “Miracle on Ice”.</p>
<p>percussiondad - thanks for that! very cool.</p>
<p>3togo - you are correct about college hockey. it is very good hockey - lots of skill, finesse and athleticism. not so much brute force.</p>
<p>For those that care about the other 1/2 of US hockey, the women are currently playing Sweden and are up 4-0 in the 2nd period.</p>
<p>Important Olympic news:</p>
<p>[Golden</a> couple: figure skater Evan Lysacek and gymnast Nastia Liukin - Fourth-Place Medal - 2010 Olympics Blog - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games - Yahoo Sports”>Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games - Yahoo Sports)</p>