Rio Olympics

[biggentleben]

In all seriousness, I think a lot of the world is beginning to have eyes opened to the terrible-ness that is the Olympic Games. I did not watch anything live intentionally just because I did not want to support what the Olympics have become. The Real Sports special on Rio was incredible. There have been exposes on more mainstream shows like 60 minutes as well that have exposed much of America to the hypocrisy of the IOC and the destruction to local economies and such that the games have produced in their most recent locations.

 

Oddly enough, those silly Canadians were about the most successful in actually making real use of their Olympic space post-Olympics after the Vancouver games.

[Mike Sixel]

Well, there was a streaming app.....so maybe you could stream it here.

 

Just shows how interested I was.

 

Oh, left off another reason or two:

 

The overt nationalism, I hate nationalism.

The IOC is an evil, corrupt, organization.

Some of the events, I just can't watch athletic competition that is judged. Seems fixed a lot.

[twinsnorth49]

Bragger.

Just answering the man's question my friend. .

[jimmer]

I loved this

 

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/us-pole-vaulter-stops-mid-stride-to-stand-at-attention-for-national-anthem/ar-BBvUksi

[Mike Sixel]

 

I loved this

 

 

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/us-pole-vaulter-stops-mid-stride-to-stand-at-attention-for-national-anthem/ar-BBvUksi

 

Very cool. I've actually wondered about that occurring, or not.

[TheLeviathan]

I'm happy to say I saw less than 5 minutes of anything these Olympics had to offer.  Other than Table Tennis, I don't feel like I missed a thing.

 

Time to scrap this mess or radically rethink it.

[jimmer]

Plenty of people in the World love the Olympics just the way it is.  This is an event for the World.

[TheLeviathan]

 

Plenty of people in the World love the Olympics just the way it is.  This is an event for the World.

 

6th graders might really love getting owned by the dream team in a game too.  Doesn't make it a compelling athletic competition. 

 

This is a whole lot of macho nationalism in which wealth generally decides outcomes but for exceptions to the rule.

[jimmer]

Just because it's uncool now for American's to have National Pride doesn't mean it should be that way or that people/athletes from other nations need to follow suit.  Plenty of people from other countries are very proud of their country, want to represent their country well, and want to show their country is good in things as well. And there's nothing wrong with people/athletes thinking/feeling that way. Not everyone has to have the same opinion on that subject.  The Olympics is supposed to appeal to the masses around the world.  It does that.  Maybe our country has gotten away from it, but that doesn't mean the Olympics needs to adjust to appeal to Americans. 

[TheLeviathan]

I'm not saying they need to adjust to appeal to Americans, but maybe adjust so that it isn't basically us steam rolling everyone because of our advantage in money and numbers.

 

Hell, I'd argue much of the framework of the Olympics, as designed by the Olympics, is done to appease America.  That's part of the problem.

[Squirrel]

I don't think it's uncool to have national pride. But I do think it's uncool to overdo it; and for me, the way the Olympics are presented here in the States, it pushes that envelope way too far. As I said, when I lived in Canada, I saw a much different presentation and it was much better and made me want to watch and not only cheer on my 'own,' but to just cheer on the best of all athletes no matter what country. It just seems that the Olympics have became first and foremost about national pride, and the athletes and competition seem secondary.

[biggentleben]

 

Just because it's uncool now for American's to have National Pride doesn't mean it should be that way or that people/athletes from other nations need to follow suit.  Plenty of people from other countries are very proud of their country, want to represent their country well, and want to show their country is good in things as well. And there's nothing wrong with people/athletes thinking/feeling that way. Not everyone has to have the same opinion on that subject.  The Olympics is supposed to appeal to the masses around the world.  It does that.  Maybe our country has gotten away from it, but that doesn't mean the Olympics needs to adjust to appeal to Americans. 

 

I think you'd be surprised how many people worldwide are disgusted by the way the Olympics are run now. The economic destruction felt once an Olympics leaves is known world-wide.

[twinsnorth49]

 

I think you'd be surprised how many people worldwide are disgusted by the way the Olympics are run now. The economic destruction felt once an Olympics leaves is known world-wide.

I agree, but I don't think that transfers over to how a lot of people feel about their athletes competing. I don't particularly care for how the Olympics are run but I'm proud of the athletes who go there to represent themselves and their countries.

[twinsnorth49]

 

I'm not saying they need to adjust to appeal to Americans, but maybe adjust so that it isn't basically us steam rolling everyone because of our advantage in money and numbers.

 

Hell, I'd argue much of the framework of the Olympics, as designed by the Olympics, is done to appease America.  That's part of the problem.

Funny, I never look at it as the USA steamrolling us, I just accept the fact you have over 300,000,000 people and that's just the way it is. There are lots of things to support besides winning medals, as Pierre de Coubertin once said "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle".

 

Besides, I think we won more medals per capita than you anyway   

[TheLeviathan]

 

Funny, I never look at it as the USA steamrolling us, I just accept the fact you have over 300,000,000 people and that's just the way it is. There are lots of things to support besides winning medals, as Pierre de Coubertin once said "The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle".

 

Besides, I think we won more medals per capita than you anyway   

 

I kinda wish it was measured that way.  Or by percentage of athletes to win a medal or something else.  

But if it was simply based on population we wouldn't win either.  This is a money thing.

 

Which is maybe what the Olympics is most about.

[Squirrel]

 

I agree, but I don't think that transfers over to how a lot of people feel about their athletes competing. I don't particularly care for how the Olympics are run but I'm proud of the athletes who go there to represent themselves and their countries.

Yep.

 

Well, except for the ones who vandalize petrol stations and don't acknowledge their wrong doing.

[twinsnorth49]

I kinda wish it was measured that way. Or by percentage of athletes to win a medal or something else.

But if it was simply based on population we wouldn't win either. This is a money thing.

 

Which is maybe what the Olympics is most about.

When the Olympics opened its doors to pro athletes, any transparency that it was about money was gone.

 

At the end of the day the Olympics are just another pro sporting event.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I'm not convinced that the Olympics are any gawdier a show of American nationalism than a Major League Baseball game.

[Squirrel]

I'm not convinced that the Olympics are any gawdier a show of American nationalism than a Major League Baseball game.

If they stopped singing God Bless America I could convincingly disagree with you. As it stands, I can only unconvincingly disagree with you.

[Squirrel]

If they stopped singing God Bless America I could convincingly disagree with you. As it stands, I can only unconvincingly disagree with you.

And, this is really going to blow up this thread, taking it way off the rails, but the Olympics are over ... I think the singing of the National Anthem is overdone, too. Don't get me wrong, when I moved back to the States after living in Canada, the first time I had the opportunity to sing the NA at an event, I teared up, truly. Because I was home and really felt it more than ever at that moment and it held meaning. But I think a thing loses meaning when done too often. We play the NA at work at the first concert of the season and at special events. Maybe the singing of the anthem could be curtailed a bit and sung only at the 1st game of each series and on special days, i.e. Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. And I, personally, would like to see less 'concertizing' and more encouraging of the crowds to participate.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I'm not convinced that the Olympics are any gawdier a show of American nationalism than a Major League Baseball game.

 

I would offer up Gabby Douglas as basically a counter argument I can just say and drop the mike on.  I mean, we made a controversy about how she stood during our national anthem for pete's sake.

[TheLeviathan]

 

When the Olympics opened its doors to pro athletes, any transparency that it was about money was gone.

At the end of the day the Olympics are just another pro sporting event.

 

Yup.  So it's really not that dissimilar to the Minnesota Vikings lining up to play Eden Prairie tomorrow and calling it a true athletic competition.  That's what the Olympics have become in most of the prominent sports.

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

I would offer up Gabby Douglas as basically a counter argument I can just say and drop the mike on.  I mean, we made a controversy about how she stood during our national anthem for pete's sake.

Stay seated during the national anthem at a baseball game. See what happens. 

[TheLeviathan]

 

Stay seated during the national anthem at a baseball game. See what happens. 

 

I've seen people wear hats and not be criticized, much less where they put their hand.

[Squirrel]

Yup.  So it's really not that dissimilar to the Minnesota Vikings lining up to play Eden Prairie tomorrow and calling it a true athletic competition.  That's what the Olympics have become in most of the prominent sports.

I remember back in the 80s going to a U of M men's hockey team vs the US Olympic hockey team game. Only 'real' hockey game I've ever been to. That was before the pros were allowed to play and 3 or 4 players on the US team were recruited off the U of M team. Was a very fun scrimmage.

[Squirrel]

Stay seated during the national anthem at a baseball game. See what happens.

 

My dad is 90. He doesn't look it to see him sitting there. Standing is difficult for him. If anyone dared give him crap for that, they'd go home with less hide. This is part of the over nationalistic stuff that I abhor. The assumptions that you are less patriotic because of appearances. And that people think so better of themselves to judge you so without knowing a damn thing about who they are. It's become so forced ... do it exactly this way or you aren't patriotic. That is NOT national pride ... that's national embarrassment.

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

I remember back in the 80s going to a U of M men's hockey team vs the US Olympic hockey team game. Only 'real' hockey game I've ever been to. That was before the pros were allowed to play and 3 or 4 players on the US team were recruited off the U of M team. Was a very fun scrimmage.

So, it was, like, Gophers vs. Gophers or what?

[nicksaviking]

Is this extreme 'National Pride' and stigmatizing non-compliance with the National Anthem really at an all time nausea inducing high?

 

Or is it still the same minority who simply now have more avenues to publicly shame folks. Most customs and traditions fade as generations go by. I'd bet fewer six-year-olds know to put their hands over their hearts today then they did 30 years ago.

[Craig Arko]

 

Is this extreme 'National Pride' and stigmatizing non-compliance with the National Anthem really at an all time nausea inducing high?

Or is it still the same minority who simply now have more avenues to publicly shame folks. Most customs and traditions fade as generations go by. I'd bet fewer six-year-olds know to put their hands over their hearts today then they did 30 years ago.

We have other ways to check for a pulse now.