I don't know what you guys want in sports. Man! the badminton match between Singapore and Albania was awe-inspiring! Had me on the edge of my seat. Down to the final point with a long rally, one incredible save after another.
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I don't know what you guys want in sports. Man! the badminton match between Singapore and Albania was awe-inspiring! Had me on the edge of my seat. Down to the final point with a long rally, one incredible save after another.
What's a Pokemon?Originally Posted by Cool Hand Clyde
I have enjoyed the games, but have purposely avoided soccer, basketball, and golf.
We have watched every event possible and are totally enjoying it. I like that it is on several channels though, so when the NBC yahoos are talking I can change to something else.
Have enjoyed watching swimming, track and volleyball
Good old Memorial Gym
Women's beach volleyball....ya gotta luv it! BTW US's Kerri Walsh is now 26-0 all time in Olympic matches! That's amazing.
The Olympics are....a funny collection of sports. On the one hand, you have sports no one has heard of (or very few of us) and whose only stage is the Olympics every 4 years. Then there are more popular sports: soccer, basketball, golf, etc.. who already have a MUCH BIGGER stage to compete on. Soccer, for instance, has the World Cup, the most watched sporting event on the planet. And do NBA stars really need the Olympics? Come on, man.
Track & Field, gymnastics, and swimming lend themselves nicely for the stage the Olympics provide.
I've enjoyed swimming, beach volleyball, track, kayaking and canoeing, rowing, badminton singles, bicycling time trials. Swimming is number 1!! Beach volleyball (even besides the scenery) and singles badminton demonstrate such agility and gymnastic movement, athleticism, quick action. Bicycling time trials are awesome because it's just one rider vs the clock, no teamwork or drafting, fastest wins, period. Interesting that olympic kayaking (double blade) and canoeing (single blade) are totally different than our American definition. Both plus rowing feature precise technique, total focus, and the maximum balance of aerobic endurance to max out just at the finish. Whitewater and flatwater alike.
Never have enjoyed--and watched--this much action.
A guy who went to my high school won the long jump!
You jinxed her! ... Naw, it had to happen sometime. The Brazilians were good and they were pumped up, being at home.
I know...It's all my fault. I knew just as soon as I looked past the unis (ahem) and starting caring about it as a sport, I'd end up disappointed. Just glad Walsh was able to bounce back and win the bronze.
First American (men's) gold medal in the 1500 since 1908. As Bob Costas said, Cubs' fans take note.
Our men's 4 X 100 relay team continued its bumbling & stumbling. Another DQ.
Overall, a record setting Olympics for the USA. Most T&F golds and overall medals since the 1912 games. Lots of "firsts" too. Also glad to see us do well in the middle distances, the 800 thru the 5K. Got medals across the board, men's and women's.
Oh, another point. In a way, it's funny to watch people take some of these "goofy" sports so seriously. For instance, the one-man, stand-up canoe racing. R U kidding me? The ridiculous lengths they go to just invent an excuse of a sport, with variations. I am glad they are including the "two-man shopping cart push and obstacle course" for the 2020 games. Long overdue!
But, seriously, back to the canoe race. There were actually fans in the stands for this event. And even funnier, is the "so serious" color commentator, the expert on the sport, providing analysis of how the contestants were paddling their little canoes. The crowd went nuts! Really? How did these people even know the event existed? But afterwards.....fans (they have fans?) swarmed the dock seeking autographs of the paddlers. Ovet Kernershen of Croatia had a nice following...
Okay...truthfully, these athletes work hard to perfect their craft. Most of us couldn't paddle a canoe 200 meters in a minute+, or whatever the times were. I'm not knocking the participants, who we know, put in long hours, day after day, make sacrifices just to get good, and then compete in the Olympics. Actually, I have more respect for these athletes than the spoiled, pampered "players" in the major sports.
Heck, one of the female swimmers, from Nepal, was from a village that had been completely wiped out by an earthquake. That included the ONE pool the town had. So, her uncle, after working all day in construction, would drive her 150 miles roundtrip to a neighboring town, then sit there and wait 3-4 hours as she got in her workouts. Then do that again the next day. That young lady from Nepal didn't win a medal. She didn't have to. She had already achieved the highest standard of pure athletic pursuit and competitive spirit. Her uncle deserves kudos too.
The real "hosses" among paddlers are found in slalom canoe. Kneeling in basically a kayak, paddling with a single bladed paddle. HALF THE PADDLE, TWICE THE PADDLER. Or when the women begin competing in 2020, HALF THE STICK, TWICE THE CHICK. The Rio course was 242 yards, 24 gates: some run downstream, some upstream, some backwards, some forward. Awesome combination of skill, endurance, guts when linking moves. So much tougher and skillful than the two blades kayakers use. Kayak playboating (not in Olympics) is more showy though.
I really hate to see the games end.
OK, so soccer question. I watched most of the extended time in the gold medal match. The Brazilian team was pressing hard and trying to score to win. The Germans didn't act like they could be bothered. They played keep away when they had it and pressed virtually nothing. It looked like they just wanted to go to penalty kicks. If that's the case, they kind of guessed wrong. Would the Germans have had some reason to believe they'd be more likely to win in penalty kicks? Not sure I see why -- Brazil's goalie really should have stopped two of their shots.
Thought it was kind of absurd watching a team not bother even trying to win.
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