is anyone actually rooting for Simone Biles?
craig44
Posts: 11,201 ✭✭✭✭✭
And if so, I wonder why. She quit on her team back in the last Olympics. Now she is being lauded as a hero and the GOAT.
strange times
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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My girlfriend was telling me last night that she is the Tom Brady of Olympics Gymnastics
OK, here we go with more Olympic hating bs. We get it, you don't seem to like the Olympics, you don't seem to like gymnastics, you don't seem to like Simone Biles, heck, you have already posted as much. Why continue with another thread.
It's well known to everyone not living in a cave who pays attention to sports that Simone Biles stepped away because she had some mental difficulties to deal with, something the media has referred to as "the twisties" which I guess is unique to participants in gymnastics. She dealt with it, recovered, and now she's back. What's so hard to understand about that??
Mental Illness is a problem in America and Worldwide. For some reason it is treated and viewed differently than any physical illness or injury. If she had broken a bone and stepped away from the sport, recovered and come back to perform like she has I imagine you'd be saying what a true champion she is. Or maybe you'd just still hate her, I don't know.
@perkdog, that seems like an apt comparison. The thing that strikes me is that Simone Biles is 27 years old. Not old in relative terms but a senior citizen in the gymnastics world, just like any NFL player past the age of 35 is getting old and guys playing in their mid-40's is almost unheard of. And it isn't the fact that Biles is 27 and participating or that Brady was 45, it's the level of their athleticism that amazes me.
How does that tiny young woman get that high in the air and twist her body the way she does and always "stick" the landing?? Heck, I can't even get out of bed as smoothly as she can dismount from that 4" balance beam!!!
Completely agree with Maywood.
Mental health is a serious issue, not to be taken lightly. She did not quit on her team.
Sure. I support for the Americans. All of them.
My girlfriend was telling me this exact same stuff
I didn't realize that she is 29 I think she said, she is 4 foot 8 and a little stick of dynamite lol
I don't watch gymnastics or many of the other events hosted in the Olympics. All I see is during the Olympics, maybe the World Championship and if someone does something exceptional that the media picks up on. All the same it is amazing to me the dedication and discipline these athletes exhibit and the incredible things they can do with their bodies. As an aged athlete myself, I can say that in my lifetime I have engaged in pretty much everything that we see.
At a young age my parents enrolled me at the YMCA where I swam and did what we called "tumbling" at the time, I played organized sports in school and afterwards into my mid-30's when other things like work and family curtailed my participation. I have been an avid shooter/hunter my entire life, ridden horseback, wrestled, played tennis, run track, been a swimmer and played all the "ball sports" at some point and level. What these athletes do is not easy, the level of their skill is unprecedented. Since the thread is directed towards Simone Biles and gymnastics, I will ask if anyone else watched any of the participants besides the USA team?? Those five young woman are superb and well ahead of the rest of the World. In a sport that has margins of victory often measured in the hundredths/tenths of a point, the USA team won by almost 6 points!!
If someone switches on the Olympics I would think they'd be hard pressed to not be able to find something of interest to watch. It's like athletic cocaine!!
I plan on not watching it live, and if it pops up on my Youtube front page, I plan on not watching it there either.
But I feel real sorry for her. After the Olympics, she will struggle in life with over 100 million dollars in endorsement money. These days that hardly buys you an island mansion with bathrooms of solid gold fixtures, fleet of collectible automobiles, 200 foot yacht, Jewelry measured in triple digit carats, and a Renoir or two.
Oh the horror.
For those who always say oh I don’t watch any Olympics, I seriously don’t know how anyone could not enjoy watching the fastest men or women on the planet running the 100 meters. Serious entertainment. Or any of the running events.
St. Pierre is one of our women distance runners’, a farmer who is very good in her events, watched her in the trials so definitely be rooting for her.
@Maywood
I stand corrected, she is 27, I thought my GF said 29
She told me that Gabby Douglass is apparently training through an injury to prepare for next Olympics and she is 28
She also told me that the Woman's US team is so difficult to get on that Dual American citizens are representing their other countries because they can't make the US team, it's that hard.
That was bizarre. Trying to understand the point of that post.
You’re jealous of her?
Like Craig, you’re blissfully unaware how serious mental issues can be?
You’re simply Un- American and don’t want our olympians to have any success?
Aaaaaaand here we go again lol
Many assumptions. These are all professional athletes, and not being a fan of the Olympic team is no different than not being a fan of the Mets.
So what was his point in making fun of her?
Same people always rooting for her. Sheesh. It's just another World Class level competition. Why are critics only taking jabs when the Olympics come around every 4 years? In a few weeks from now there will be a completely different topic to shred.
Gobble.
In sports, the negative passion far exceeds the positive. For 20 years. I only watched golf to see Eldrick get beat. As he is a non contender now, my interest in the game has waned.
I watched Simone Biles perform on the floor exercise mat.
It is truly remarkable how great her performance was. The best I can do in coming up with one word to describe her performance is:
Powerful.
She is fast, quick, explosive, fearless and possessed of body awareness/spatial awareness that is off the charts. Put all of those traits together in a person who is 4'8" tall (maybe being that short provides her an advantage over other gymnasts who are much taller than Ms. Biles) and you have the performance I watched.
If she had mental health issues in 2021 that caused her to withdraw from competing at the previous Olympics, good for her that she sought help and overcame same to compete in 2024. I can only imagine what stresses and pressures are placed upon young gymnasts (from age 5 or so) to train, workout, compete and become world class.
"stepped away" is one way to put it. She quit on her team. I have zero respect for that. Players play through pain, injury and extreme stress all the time. for some reason, Simone gets a pass.
I find it funny that people are fawning all over Ms. Biles, but when Antonio Brown quit on his team, it was a whole different story...
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Did Antonio Brown quit on the Bucs when he took off the jersey and ran off the field?
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The money that Simone will soon have, she will be able to hire the finest psychiatrists on the planet to help her out. On top of easily affording their exorbitant fees, give them a nice tip as well.
😉
no, not un American at all. I consider myself quite patriotic as a matter of fact. What really grinds my gears is the adulation this quitter is getting throughout the media. Part of what makes athletes legendary is the drive, determination and grit it takes to fight through serious pain and injury during the most stressful of events. Yes, I think you could consider mental health an "injury" of sorts. there are examples of great athletes who were able to fight through such issues: Terry Bradshaw and Michael Phelps are two examples. Simone, however, did not. she quit on her team and country when the stakes were highest.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
You have zero respect for that? Good for you. Does that make you feel better about achieving less in your entire life than she will do in these two weeks?
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
Oh geez, I almost forgot. Simone will make perhaps another 100 million off her book which is sure to eventually be published.
Oh geez again, I just Googled it, this mini-tycoon already has two or three books out. I plan on not buying any of them, including not buying the new one that's sure to come.
Maybe Topps can do a card series on her, with some 1 of 1 autograph cards? Although she will get richer off that, I don't see that one as a 100 million dollar venture. But every little bit helps, right? 😆
It is amazing to believe that it's 2024 and people still refuse to acknowledge mental health issues as a real injury.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
BTW - I would buy her cards, but only if I thought I could flip them for a profit. 😁
.
Things are so bizarre around here that I had to like one of mistlins posts.🤔
I would have thought after the golfer about two months ago played a round and then killed himself that you guys would take mental health more seriously.
How did playing through it work out for him Craig?
If Simone isn’t concentrating 100% on her event she could actually physically injure herself out there.
Why don’t you and Steve grow up and realize mental problems aren’t something you just ‘toughen up’ and get through.
That golfer should have told family and friends that he was having a really bad day and needed help. He might still be here. I’m glad Simone let people around her know she needed help.
do you have great respect for quitters?
I dont.
will I achieve less in my life than Ms. Biles? most likely. Have I quit on a team, in the midst of competition, either in sports or professionally in my life? No sir. I have not. and with that I can quite comfortably look myself in the mirror before i go to sleep.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
did I refuse to acknowledge mental health as a "real injury?"
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
You are fortunate to have never encountered mental duress that Biles and millions of Americans face. You are lucky to have never been crushed by the overwhelming and seemingly endless pain it causes.
You, however, lack any empathy whatsoever and prefer to instead cast stones at those you deem as a 'quitter'.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
could not the same be said about Terry Bradshaw? could not a brief lapse of concentration lead to severe and lasting injury or even death with as dangerous as 1970s football was? Yet somehow he was able to focus and have a very successful career.
to add, he never quit on his team despite his mental health problems.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Funny you bring up Bradshaw.
"He revealed he's attended therapy in the past, with the process helping him to identify his "triggers".
Bradshaw said: "One of the major reasons why men do not talk about mental health with one another is because it’s seen as a sign of weakness.
"It isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of weakness if you don't do something about it."
Maybe you should take a sign from your poster boy for depression and realize it is an actual injury.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
How do you know I havent? or have folks in my friends/family circle who havent?
Is not the title "quitter" an apt description of what Ms. Biles did to her team and her country?
shall we sugar coat it so you are not offended? I prefer plain language
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Did I ever say anything about weakness? you are very good at interjecting words/terms that I never mentioned into conversation. You also are very good at pivoting and not directly answering questions. I have asked you a number of questions you have ignored.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
I know you haven't. If you had, you would be more sympathetic to Ms. Biles and you would not be this nasty, belligerent fool you are being here.
No, it's not a fitting description at all. She suffered an injury and was unable to compete. Just because YOU do not have personal experience with mental trauma, and you cannot see the physical manifestations of the injury, does not make it any less real.
Plain language? Perhaps you should aim more for accurate.
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
"quitting" implies weakness. You are the one who claims to like "plain language" and to not sugar coat anything. Don't backtrack now, just because you are being called out for your hateful and ignorant language.
She did not quit. She suffered an injury. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?
I do not have time for ignorant trolls.
ignore list: 1948_Swell_Robinson, Darin, bgr, bronco2078, dallasactuary
You must REALLY hate Randy Moss.
People are dying all the time from the mental health crisis this country is going through and Craig says well that’s better than quitting on your team.
YOU are implying weakness, not me.
Strawman
What have I said that is "hateful" or "ignorant"
I called Simone a quitter. which she was. I am sorry that you seem rather sensitive and this has hurt you for some reason.
Again, when Antonio Brown quit on the Bucs in 2022, social media was abuzz with it. comentators were abuzz with it. everyone was pretty much in agreement that he quit on his team. What is the difference between Antonio Browns Quitting and Simone Biles quitting? Keep in mind, everyone has acknowledged that Brown has mental illness.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
Again, you have zero idea of my personal or familial history. to intimate that you do is plain ignorance.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
You have certainly done your part to make us aware.
Another day. Another train wreck. Awesome!
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You call.....
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I dealt with pretty bad anxiety problems 7-8 years ago and even some depression so it just rubs me the wrong way when people say Simone should have just toughened up and played through it. It’s just not that simple.
Mistlin is correct that Craig is lucky enough to have not gone through any mental health problems of his own. If he had he would understand it a little better and had some empathy towards Simone.
from what I can ascertain, Biles diagnosis is that of ADHD. this was from a hack of her medical records.
I do not believe it was a binary choice for Simone Biles: quit on team/country or death.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
you are assuming. I have witnessed people do extraordinary things while under the throes of both extreme physical pain/injury and mental duress/injury. Things that are much more important than swinging on the uneven bars or performing a floor excercise.
somehow, those folks were able to perform and not quit on their "teams"
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
The Cleveland Clinic describes the twisties as a mental block that creates a dangerous disconnect between mind and body while gymnasts are airborne. “All of a sudden, there’s a disconnect in the feedback loop,” Matthew Sacco, a sports psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, explained. “The brain and body are no longer communicating efficiently, and that causes a gymnast to lose sense of where their body is in space while they’re in the air.”
Biles opted to step away, seek treatment and return when she was healthy.
News flash --- Simone Biles has won the Gold Medal in the Women's Gymnastics All-Around Finals!!!
Like I said, you haven’t experienced any mental problems. I am happy for you in that regard. 👍