NCAAbbs

So, I'm sitting at home watching ,what else, but the Olympics last night. To my amazement, I find out that they actually have a sport called speed walking. You know what speed walking is... it's what you see done by those soccer moms/senior citizens who invade the mall at 9am! I'm thinking to myself that the U.S. should win this event every four years!!! You could pick a qualified team from any mall in the U.S.

Today, I find out that there's an event that, in more or less words, calls for individuals to jump up and down on a trampoline. Am I the only one who has a kid who can win gold in this "sport"?

Race Walking has been around since at the 1906 Olympics. It is a technique where one foot has to be on the ground at all times. The walkers essentially move at the pace of a 400 meter runner. Not so easy.

It may not be easy, but it's the gayest looking thing I've ever seen.

The Olympics have always been, and will always be, a pointless waste of government money.

People like Michael Phelps are exploiting events like this for personal gain. Most of them don't give a crap what country they represent... it is all about money.

+1

?????
Where did this come from and what is it based on?

1.) From all that I have seen Phelps is a humble guy who has worked hard to achieve what he has done. Shouldn't he be able to make some $$$ off his work?
2.) There are several swimmers on the U.S. team who could have swam for other countries, but they chose to swim for the U.S. b/c it is their home and the best team in the world. Grievers is an example. They could have qualified for more events if they would have gone to the countries with less talent, but they bypassed that to represent their country.
3.) People grow up aspiring to be in the Olympics. They don't do it solely based on $. I remember reading a story about a U.S. boxer this year who bypassee turning pro after the last Olympics so he could compete at Beijing.
4.) You are talking out of your ass.


Back to the topic. Speed walking is stupid. Hard to believe they would drop a global sport like baseball and keep speed walking, trampoline, kayak, etc.

I was under the impression that the USOC was privately funded.

So, where does the US women's rowing team cash in?

Hell yeah! Get that damned "Olympics tax" off my paystub pronto!







What a maroon.

Living so close to Canada, we get lots of CBC coverage. Saturday, I actually watched some women's wresting. Granted, they looked a lot like the women weight lifters, but I still had one question: Where's the jello?

Do you have the slightest idea how much China spent on the Opening Ceremonies? Some estimates peg it at 300 million.

Yeah, I'm a "Maroon" because I recognize the pointless waste of time the Olympics is.

It isn't like it is doing any good for anybody - it hasn't prevented wars or done anything to address global problems.

Like I said, it is a free worldwide showcase for individuals to exploit the countries they represent for money and fame. Yeah the world is such a better place because some blow-dried boob like Michael Phelps got another gold metal to hang up in his bedroom.... *rolls eyes*

How are you funding the Olympics? Try to be specific. Otherwise

How are you funding the Olympics?

Based on your criteria is UAB athletics pointless then? High school athletics are definitely a waste because they really don't do any good for anybody.

I still don't understand how Phelps is exploiting the U.S. for money and fame. That makes no sense at all.

priceless

I'm not. I'm not b*tching either. So maybe you're just a little B*TCH?

I ate lunch at McDonald's and then bought a Diet Coke.

There you go. Two Olympic sponsors, and one viewer, satisfied.

The question mark is to give you benefit of doubt. Why complain about something you're getting for free?

I think I've got you beat. I bought a Vault and filled my Chevy up at the same Exxon station late last week. Okay, the Chevy was pre-owned...but it was from a Chevy dealer, so that's still gotta count somehow.

You could apply that formula to damn near anything - NASCAR, the NFL, women's beach volleyball, Blazer Basketball, you name it. I mean, everyone knows that college football is a commercially induced surrogate interest, right?

Specious argument, Bud.

You've probably paid into the Olympic pot same as the rest of us, by purchasing products from corporations who sponsor the games. It hasn't hurt us, and it won't hurt you either.

I'm about this the way I am about that right wing group that makes 99.5% of the "Obscenity" claims to the FCC - if you don't like it, you got a channel changer and a power switch. Try using one of them. Let the rest of us watch in peace.

I'm trying to remember the movie title ("Walk,Don't Run"?), but it starred Cary Grant , Dick York and a cute actress that was set in the Olympics held in Osaka, Japan. Dick York tried to conceal his "event' which it turned out was "race walking". One scene had Cary Grant, in his "underwear", walk-racing through the city streets to catch up with York to give him a message.

I enjoyed several cultural side trips the network took showing some aspects of Chinese life-- "Scorpions or larvae on a stick" anyone?