Are you watching the Olympics?
February 13th, 2006I love the Olympics. I was hoping I’d actually be in Turin right now covering the Olympics for Baptist Press, but unfortunately the USOC didn’t come through with credentials for me. So now I’ll set my sights on the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
But I’m still enjoying the Winter Games nonetheless. I just wish NBC could air more than five consecutive minutes of competition before breaking for commercials.
Yes, I am watching the Olympics. I love the grace, the pageantry, and the excitement that is the Winter Olympics. Like I said last night, the Flying Tomato has the def touch and took the gold nugget from the halfpipe. GO USA!!!
I love the Olympics too! Especially the nationalistic element that remains a part of the competition. Can’t help but tear up when the “Anthem” is played.
Jeremy,
I had never heard of the “Tomato” till yesterday, but he certainly has added a new snowboarding fan to the crowd. He stands out in a sport that already blows my mind.
Flying Tomato!!!
Men’s downhill last night was great. Winter olympics beats the summer to pieces. I don’t know of anything in the summer olympics that compares to watching people put on skis and fly down a mountain at about 75 mph. I’m not going to complain about the commercials. What I hate is when they start doing feature segments on athletes and tell us all abou their lives. So far so good though. I saw about two hours of competition last night without any such features.
The competition/athletes are great, but I have been absolutely blown away by the beautiful scenery. Of all the Olympic venues I have seen in my lifetime this one rates the best. I have added Turin to my must-see-before-I-die list.
I even enjoy the women’s curling, even though it is not-a-sport.
I like the Olympics (and agree Winter is better than Summer - probably the risk factor in these competitions) because of the opportunity to see sports you rarely get to watch. I hate the fact that NBC will show so so so so so so so so much figure skating though. I much prefer sports that are settled “on the field” than in the judging booth. I also think a lot of the IOC stuff is political (like disqualifying the guy who was using a hair replacement product).
Of course, with all that said, I’ve hardly watched any of it because there’s too much else to do…
Figure skating, halfpipe snowboarding, and anything else where the outcome is determined by a group of judges rather than a scoreboard or a finish line, is not a sport. Period. Sorry. Not a sport.
Personally, I don’t mind the switching back and forth between events since nothing is live anyway. The constant commercials are pretty annoying though. The best moment last night had to be Bob Costas trying to maintain his composure while the flying tomato was explaining how winning a gold medal would aid his quest to pick up chicks.
Good call, Peter. That was a classic moment last night.
And I agree about the judging. Too subjective for me.
WHAT??? the olympics aren’t live AND they aren’t sports???
…and if I may use a term from a famous Southern Illinois politician, the winter olympics are at least ‘competible’.
Anyway, I think you are right, most events aren’t sports, but it is still fun to watch. I especially loved it when nbc cut away from that stupid nascar qualification to go to the olympics. I could just hear thousands of redne…err people screaming at their televisions.
By the way, I saw this on a tshirt: “Some people are like a Slinky. Not really good for anything, But you still can’t help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.”
GO USA!!!
It’s awesome that ten skiers can careen down a mountain, finish within a second of each other and the announcers are talking about how seven of them screwed up.
Yeah, go figure!
How would you rate the Free Style Skiing event?? (for those not familiar with this event, it is a combination of points) Partial points are given for time (crossing the finish line) and partial points are given by judges for technique on the jumps…. Is this considered a sport since there is a finish line?? (smile)
At least it’s more of a sport than NASCAR!
The real fun happens this summer: World Cup 06!
Tim - see if BP will punch your ticket to Germany this summer, man.
Not a bad idea. Do you know the dates right off hand?
No way is downhill skiing more of a sport than NASCAR! Which would you rather see, one idiot going downhill at 50 miles per hour or 43 going in circles at 200?
I’m interested in how they judge the ski jumping. Did you jump the farthest? Did you crash? No? Then you win. Congrats.
I’ve been interested to hear what Scott Hamilton has to say. His wife is from Jackson and he can often be seen hanging out around town during the holidays. I posted an item on my blog about his commentary compared to that of Dick Button.
Of course, the best event of the Olympics has been the snowboarding.