2008 Summer Olympics

[Poacher]

Phelps gets five days worth of attention and apparently there is aleady a backlash. Still waiting for that Tiger Woods backlash.

As far as the records are concerned...the pool in Beijing is deeper than usual to reduce waves and it also outfitted with "wave-eating" buoys between the lanes to reduce chop and of course there is the much talked about suit. All of these things are combining to make this the fastest swimming meet in history.

But are these the only factors? I let out a heavy sigh and admit that the possibility of these guys and gals being on some new drug is very real. As far is Phelps is concerned I've never considered him to be dirty. He's been lapping the field since he was 10.

 

[GiovaniMarcon]

The current Yahoo sports page bemoans the fact that Reese Hoffa (and the other Americans) failed to medal in the shot put. The writer goes on to wail about how Hoffa is responsible for making a "boring sport" exciting.

What a disgusting thing to say. The author also goes out of his way to make patronizing, racist statements (though like all patronizing, a$$-kissing, self-loathing white shemales, he doesn't know he's racist) about how Reese (who is black) is funny and exciting. He describes Reese like he's some kind of court jester.

Why not just call him a clown already? Total disrespect.

The implication, of course, is that since whites usually win shot put, it must be boring.

 

[C Darwin]

Have we seen this article?

 

[GiovaniMarcon]

Have we seen this article?

My experience with Jewish people where I live has been for the most part negative. I'm a very quiet, unassuming, laid back and forgiving individual in person, but Jewish people (I live among a lot of Orthadox Jewish people) around me seem very clannish at the least, outright racist even.

My wife and I went to the Museum of Tolerance and came away with the feeling that Jewish people (again, I'm only speaking of my own experience) are big on tolerance and respect -- provided you are Jewish.

 

[Deadlift]

The current Yahoo sports page bemoans the fact that Reese Hoffa (and the other Americans) failed to medal in the shot put. The writer goes on to wail about how Hoffa is responsible for making a "boring sport" exciting.

What a disgusting thing to say. The author also goes out of his way to make patronizing, racist statements (though like all patronizing, a$$-kissing, self-loathing white shemales, he doesn't know he's racist) about how Reese (who is black) is funny and exciting. He describes Reese like he's some kind of court jester.

Why not just call him a clown already? Total disrespect.

The implication, of course, is that since whites usually win shot put, it must be boring.

Good post!


Do you mean that an American failed to get the GOLD medal in the shot put?

Because the ESPN Olympic medal scroller said that (White) American, Christian Cantwell, got the Silver medal. It says that a Polish man got the Gold and a Belarussian got the Bronze.

Eastern European dominance of strength athletics should no longer be a secret. These Yahoo idiots need to GET WITH THE PROGRAM!! The Nordic sporting drive has significantly diminished. That is sad, but the struggle must go on. The Eastern Euro man has taken the torch and won't be giving it up anytime soon.

If these Olympics are any indication (and they are), Nordics aren't even trying to compete in events that they could place strong at..

 

[Guest]

PHELPS!

A classic moment in Olympic sports!

 

[Poacher]

PHELPS!

A classic moment in Olympic sports!

Man that guy knows how to win. .01 of a second!

 

[SteveB]

Why is it that world records in swimming of all distances are being destroyed right and left, but not in track?  Theories?

I heard something about this.  Apparently changes have been made to the configuration of the pool.   For example, in years past the water was shallower, now it is deepr causing less splash, and turbulence.

I think PEDs may be involved, but a lot of things have changed in swimming in the last ten years. The new suits are one thing, but probably the biggest is the use of the dolphin kick on starts and turns. This technique was used by a few swimmers ten years ago and now everyone does it. They actually put a limit on how far a swimmer can dolphin kick underwater because some were using it for half of the length of the pool or more to get way ahead of the competition.

There has also been some scientific break throughs regarding stroke techniques. I remember reading about how they discovered that a swimmer can go faster by having their hands more open to increase the surface area of their hands. Up until then, the common technique was to "cup" the hands like a shovel.

 

[Bart]

Did you guys watch any of the gymnastic competitions? There is not a swimmer or runner who can compare with their incredible athleticism. The skill, strength, co-ordination, muscle control, fluidity, explosiveness, and timing demonstrated by the run of the mill gymnast far exceeds that of all other athletes. Imagine how difficult it would be to master the pommel horse, let alone the high bar, parallels, rings, floor ecercises, and vault? The men performing in the all around are beyond belief.

 

[Guest]

Gymnasts have to be so small to get the right power-to-weight ratio for gymnastics, that they are absolutely terrible all-around athletes. Diving is probably the only other sport that world class gymnasts can handle.

Decathletes easily blow gymnasts away as all-around athletes. They would clobber the gymnasts in pretty much every other sport.

Gymnasts are actually slow runners because they are so short. They benefit from the same visual illusion that small boxers get. They appear to be awesome when competing against each other, but compared to the field, they are pretty bad.

 

[Bart]

Gymnasts have to be so small to get the right power-to-weight ratio for gymnastics, that they are absolutely terrible all-around athletes.

Only large people can be great athletes by your reasoning. Sure, it helps to be small when attempting the incredible things they do, especially at world class levels. I'm sure they would not have a problem shooting a basketball, running a hundred meters, or swimming a few laps. Anyone who is not an invalid can do that.


Hell, just about everybody can shoot free throw better than many basketball stars. An old man with a little practice could hit 3's and make free throws better than Shaquille O.Neal.


As for running? Unless one is crippled, grossly overweight or in the intensive care unit, it isn't that tough to master.Most olympic sprinters could run like the wind since their childhood.Big deal. It'salmost like walking, but at a quicker pace. Either your fast or your not. Better technique and training helps to a degree, butit is not that difficult to master.Nobody could do what gymnasts do without extraordinary physical ability and years of intense training. So many more factors involved, not just putting one foot in front of the other. Yes, I'm simplifying the process, but damn, who the hell can't run. You may not be able to crack 10 -11- 12 seconds, butmost athletes can get close. Let's see the same people try to do ANYTHING on the rings, or pommel horse, or any other apparatus with any degree of proficiency.Now that would be interesting to see.


Decathletes are vry good athletes too, of course.

 

[Don Wassall]

Nevada derides the elite of just about every sport as non-athletes. I think in his unreadable book only basketball players, wrestlers and decathletes are athletes.

 

[Guest]

Nevada has a shortness phobia. He is always trashing short athletes, be it boxers and now gymnastist. I just don't just understand his reasoning. I suspect he got a beat down by a short man say around 505 150 lbs back in the day. He is probably 602 and 270 lbs. ????????

 

[GWTJ]

Nevada really doesn't know what he is talking about. My daughter was a gymnast for years and a State champ at age 9. She often was the only gymnast competing in her age group and class level, which was "A". She has more blue ribbons than most. She got burnt out by age 13 and now plays H.S. soccer.

When she quit she tried other sports. She was terrible at basketball and mediocre at softball. The one part of her gymnastics training that crossed over to softball was her strength. She signed up late and was put on a team after the draft. The coach saw how small she was and was probably ticked off the the league dumped a scrub player on him.

Her first game she batted last. When she got to the plate she crushed a pitch into the outfield for a hit. The next game she was batting leadoff. The coach soon realized he had a player with tremendous hop in her step and more strength in her upper body than any player in the league.

But despite my hard work with her to make her a better player, she was unable to catch flyballs or pop ups and struggled defensively. She too often didn't know where she was supposed to be or where to throw the ball.

Soccer has been a good sport for her to transition to because it doesn't require a high level of hand eye coordination. She practices her skills and does ok.

One of my friends used to be a gymnast and now runs his own gymnastics studio in NY. I can tell everyone here just how athletic gymnasts are/aren't.

First, they grow up dedicating their lives to gymnastics so they never learn other sports. They also are unable to play any sports that use a ball. Sports should be divided between ball sports and non-ball sports.

A gymnast can excel at rock climbing, skiing, surfing and many other sports that require balance and strength but not hand eye coordination. Gymnasts struggle at baseball, basketball, golf or a skill position in football and many other sports that require catching and throwing an object.

As for speed, gymnasts are, to a man, fast. Not as fast as a centerfielder but fast. Their sport demands it and all the stretching and sprinting they do allows them to reach their potential speed wise.

Their combination of flexibility and strength allows them to run very well. I am not comparing them to any sprinters because that would be an unfair comparison but to say they are slow is misinformed.

Edited by: GWTJ

 

[Poacher]

8!

 

[Don Wassall]

Bob Costas conducted a joint interview with Phelps and Mark Spitz late last night after Phelps got number seven. I had read in the paper the day before that Spitz felt slighted about not being invited to Beijing to be part of the celebration should Phelps equal or tie his record. Can't blame him at all for feeling that way.


Spitz was very articulate and extremely gracious and sincere in his praising of Phelps during the interview. It's amazing (but not really once one is aware of how the media enforces the Caste System) how Spitz has dropped out of sight, a forgotten one-time mega-superstar during the era when the Caste System was really starting to befastened in place. He was interviewed from Detroit; hopefully he was staying in one of the hotels in the renaissance center and not living in one ofDetroit's fine neighborhoodslol.

 

[Poacher]

Bob Costas conducted a joint interview with Phelps and Mark Spitz late last night after Phelps got number seven. I had read in the paper the day before that Spitz felt slighted about not being invited to Beijing to be part of the celebration should Phelps equal or tie his record. Can't blame him at all for feeling that way.


Spitz was very articulate and extremely gracious and sincere in his praising of Phelps during the interview. It's amazing (but not really once one is aware of how the media enforces the Caste System) how Spitz has dropped out of sight, a forgotten one-time mega-superstar during the era when the Caste System was really starting to be fastened in place. He was interviewed from Detroit; hopefully he was staying in one of the hotels in the renaissance center and not living in one of Detroit's fine neighborhoods lol.<!-- Message ''"" -->

I watched that interview and I was really impressed with Spitz.

Now that the quest is over watch NBC's ratings drop like a rock.

 

[screamingeagle]

To Steve B:
I went to the pool today. Instead of cupping my hands, as I had been taught, I swam with my hands flat> I was able to swim the 50 meters non-stop and I wasn't out of breath! I did 10 laps. (Usually I do four).
Now I need to find out what the dolphin kick is.

 

[Guest]

Hey Don does the Caste System tear down/marginalize Jewish athletes? Cause Spitz is a Jew. He along with Sandy Cofax are the greatest Jewish athletes.

Spitz has been gracious to Phelps, however a friend of mine who was a college swimmer knew Spitz and his opinion of him was that of a self serving person. Mark must have woke up one morning and had a good pastrami sandwich and decided to be nice guy.

 

[foobar75]

This was in Yahoo sports:


......


On Saturday night back in America, the Baltimore Ravens, Phelps' hometown team, showed his eighth gold medal race on the stadium Jumbotron. It wasn't simply something cool to do; it was born out of fear that fans would have left early or not shown up at all if the team didn't.
<DIV =skinny>
<DIV id=sky>


Swimming in an NFL stadium?


........


Let's face it, the face of these Olympics and the biggest sports star in America right now is Michael Phelps. Let us all enjoy this great moment. How lucky for all of us to have witnessed history like this?

 

[Don Wassall]

Hey Don does the Caste System tear down/marginalize Jewish athletes? Cause Spitz is a Jew. He along with Sandy Cofax are the greatest Jewish athletes.

Maybe Koufax and Hank Greenberg are somewhat over-sentimentalized, ala Bob Gibson, but I'd say as far as the Caste System goes, Jews are regarded as white athletes and treated appropriately, i.e., second class.

 

[Guest]

Don, ok that sounds reasonable. And sorry for the typos. Congrats for Phelps totally dominating this Olympics.

I can now look forward to Jeremy Weiner in the 400 meters and those two beach babes playing vollyball in the games.

 

[moose]

has anyone seen the weightlifting? there are 9 divisions and 5 of the first 6 divisions were won by chinese and the other by a korean. The latest one was today and was won by a lifter from kazhakastan. Does anyone know when the super heavyweight division will be televised? the iranian rozahela has quit weightlifting because of hand injuries.

 

[GWTJ]

Is anyone else impressed with the 100 meter winner(Bolt from Jamaica). I must admit, I found his performance to be amazing. It's too bad a freak like him couldn't be a white guy.

 

[Guest]

I was blown away by the weightlifting results too! The Chinese are strong? Who knew?