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Are the Olympics too long?

17 days seems excessive (ah, but what would the world be like if we didn't have a badminton gold medal winner)? image

It finally ends tonight, I think it is at least 5 days too long.

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    stevekstevek Posts: 27,727 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm Olympiced out.
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    I'm not... I wish it was all year! Being able to tune in a wide mix of sports at all hours of the day is great. For the past two weeks, NBC's channels have been doling out more variety than ESPN and FOX Sports combined. I'm mainly a fan of the swimming and gymnastics events, but I was highly entertained this year by the track running, indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, and kayak events as well.
    Nolan Ryan & Edgar Martinez are my favorite players...
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    I think they should be only once a decade. Overall, its the most boring thing in sports to watch.
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    Maybe they could consolidate some of the track and field events. Do we really need 50M, 100M, 200M, 300M, 400M, 500M 600M, 800M, 1000M events?
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    MCMLVToppsMCMLVTopps Posts: 4,611 ✭✭✭✭✭
    China should never have been given the nod for the Olympics. Their treatment of the Chinese people is horrific, not to mention the Tibet issue. Anyone really think those little girl gymnasts are all 16 years old or older? NOT! The Chicoms are evil and cheaters. Gee, did I forget to mention the lip-syncing because the real singer had a few bad teeth, AND the phony fireworks. The IOC should be ashamed of themselves for not pulling the gold from the cheaters - had that been an American team, you can bet a ton that is exactly what would have happened.

    I wonder how many Chinese were displaced from their homes to create this massive dog and pony show.

    BTW, are the Americans gonna be released from jail and will the other folks get their bibles back?

    ALL BS to me, I watched nada.
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    MichiganMichigan Posts: 4,942
    I'm pretty sure the Chinese women are less than 16, they sure looked it anyway. This controversy has put the IOC in a tough position,
    basically they are passing the buck on the issue since they don't want to insult the host country for the Olympics by making a big deal
    out of it but I'm sure that privately they don't believe they are really 16.

    Staggering the winter and summer olympics every two years is not a good idea and just makes "olympics" in general too commonplace
    and takes away from it being special even if they are different sports involved. I liked it better when both winter and summer olympics
    were in the same year.
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    ctsoxfanctsoxfan Posts: 6,246 ✭✭
    The Olympics are unbelievably boring - who cares about watching swimming anyway? I had to stay up until 5am EST in order to watch one of the only real sports in the Olympics (basketball) - another problem with this year's games.

    Plus, it seemed like NBC was running a special on commercials, when they interrupted it with some Olympic coverage.
    image
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    Piman58Piman58 Posts: 814 ✭✭


    << <i>I think they should be only once a decade. Overall, its the most boring thing in sports to watch. >>



    That does give too much of a window for athletes. A 13 year old gymnast would be 23 the next time around which is typically considered old in the gymnastics world.
    The same would be true for other olympic events.
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    markj111markj111 Posts: 2,921 ✭✭✭
    I think the Olympics are 17 days too long.
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    I loved the Olympics, and it's a rare opportunity for us non-xenophobes to see what kind of sports are
    popular in the rest of the world, and it's a chance to broaden your horizons beyond the NBA and NFL.
    My beef was that the primetime coverage consisted of pretty much the same thing every night:
    Swimming, diving, gymnastics, and beach volleyball (which you would think has surpassed the NFL in
    popularity in the US judging by how much coverage NBC gave it). And I agree with Michigan. I liked the
    Olympics much more when they were every 4 years.
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    << <i>I loved the Olympics, and it's a rare opportunity for us non-xenophobes to see what kind of sports are
    popular in the rest of the world, and it's a chance to broaden your horizons beyond the NBA and NFL.
    My beef was that the primetime coverage consisted of pretty much the same thing every night:
    Swimming, diving, gymnastics, and beach volleyball (which you would think has surpassed the NFL in
    popularity in the US judging by how much coverage NBC gave it). >>




    +1


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    << <i>China should never have been given the nod for the Olympics. Their treatment of the Chinese people is horrific, not to mention the Tibet issue. Anyone really think those little girl gymnasts are all 16 years old or older? NOT! The Chicoms are evil and cheaters. Gee, did I forget to mention the lip-syncing because the real singer had a few bad teeth, AND the phony fireworks. The IOC should be ashamed of themselves for not pulling the gold from the cheaters - had that been an American team, you can bet a ton that is exactly what would have happened.

    I wonder how many Chinese were displaced from their homes to create this massive dog and pony show.

    BTW, are the Americans gonna be released from jail and will the other folks get their bibles back?

    ALL BS to me, I watched nada. >>



    I tend to agree with a lot of this. If I had to pick between cheering for China or the Yankees, I'd choose the Yankees.image
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    estangestang Posts: 1,262 ✭✭✭
    I think it is the right length & the most memorable Olympics I've ever watched.
    Enjoy your collection!
    Erik
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    ConnecticoinConnecticoin Posts: 12,538 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I think it is about right, given they only happen every 4 years.
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    I heard that after this year there will be no more men's baseball or women't softball. Anyone know why? It's fine with me since all of our best players can't do it.
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    The Olympic Games are the ultimate sporting event. They bring the entire world together. I'm really surprised that people would have anything negative to say about them. They fit so many events in such a short amount of time. When I hear someone say they are too long...........one playoff series in the NBA or MLB stretches that same amount of time.

    These athletes are in top physical condition. They train for years and years for just one moment. They don't hire an agent to get that multi-million dollar contract. They compete for the love of the sport...not the money. You don't have to be a fan of a particular sport to root for your country.

    If all you wanted to see was Kobe and Lebron play basketball, that's fine with me. Just know that you missed out on a lot of interesting competitions. Every day, all over the world, people are training in these sports. The NBA, MBL and NFL have taken over our attention in the United States. (Not sure about any other country outside the USA) They are exciting, but too much focus is placed on them.

    Just think about sports you participated in growing up. I bet everyone of us at one time in our lives has played table tennis, jumped on a trampoline, kicked a soccer ball, ran around a track, swam in a pool, dove into a pool, rode your bike through the dirt, wrestled somebody, played baseball, played basketball and lifted weights. It's too bad more people in the United States don't stay involved with these sports as they grow older.

    So those that blasted the Olympics and said how boring they are, go back and watch your same Red Sox and Yankees highlights. Just a tip, that new highlight they are going to show you after the commerical on ESPN isn't new, it's the same one they've been repeating every ten minutes for the last 16 hours!

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    PROMETHIUS88PROMETHIUS88 Posts: 2,820 ✭✭✭✭✭
    image MPeter



    +1 for some of the Cute Netherlands female field hockey players!. And you know they are partiers...cause it's Holland!
    Promethius881969@yahoo.com
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    jdip9jdip9 Posts: 1,895 ✭✭✭
    <<<I heard that after this year there will be no more men's baseball or women't softball. Anyone know why?>>>

    I think the majority of the reason is that there aren't any baseball or softball fields in London, and they don't want to build them just for a 2 week tournament.

    I think for softball, part of the reason is that there are only 3-4 countries that even field teams that are capbable of medaling, the other teams are just there for warmups.

    And BTW, I don't really understand the outcry that I've been hearing in the media about it. Aside from not seeing Jennie Finch, I (and most American males) won't miss softball, and baseball doesn't have any recognizable names, so who cares about that?
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    << <i>The Olympic Games are the ultimate sporting event. They bring the entire world together. I'm really surprised that people would have anything negative to say about them. They fit so many events in such a short amount of time. When I hear someone say they are too long...........one playoff series in the NBA or MLB stretches that same amount of time.

    These athletes are in top physical condition. They train for years and years for just one moment.

    With all due respect I don't consider alot of the events to be atletic or the people in them athletic such as:

    Achaery, badmitton, handball, ping pong, water polo and the like. These are more activities than athletic events so why not ad Monopoly or the Nathan's hot dog eatig contest to the games. Plus, its all too political now a days.
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    Mercurynut......... you don't consider Archery, Badminton, Handball, Ping Pong and Water polo athletic? Wow, you must not have watched any of those before. There is more athletic movement and action in one Water Polo match than you would see in 9 innings of a professional baseball game. Archery of course is more of a precision/concentration/aiming type of athletic event such as golf. Instead of swinging a club a hundred times a match, they use strength to pull the bow back and shoot a hundred arrows.

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    ctsoxfanctsoxfan Posts: 6,246 ✭✭
    I agree with mercurynut - it's tough to get excited about watching these pseudo-sports. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see competitive Monopoly or pick-up sticks in 2012.

    Baseball and softball too closely resemble real sporting activity, so out they go.
    image
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    MorgothMorgoth Posts: 3,950 ✭✭✭
    There are definately some events not worth watching to me, Table Tennis, Archery, Shooting= Boring. Seriously Bowling is just as much a sport as these event and alot more people bowl than Curl.

    They don't show enough of the fighting events like Wrestling, Boxing and Taekwando but with good reason. Those sports need to be fixed because their judging standards are silly.

    I wrestled in HS and the freaking referee awarded points and deducted not some judge. Also, they have made wrestling unwatchable due to the rules. Now it is just a stall fest, whomever scores first just holds on.

    I think the Olympic Committe likes events that has to have judges, they get paid more probably and can change outcomes to events.

    The big thing was China and how it thumbed it's nose at the rest of the world. It denied all 77 petitions for protests that it received after promising it would allow 3 venues to have protests. It arrested some Chinese for just filing a petition for protest. Deported anyone who took part in protests or held them for up to 14 days (which is the max for non nationals) and then sent them home.

    I work in the food industry and they have poisned their own people with green dyes that cause cancers and banned by the rest of the world, allowed mellamine into their food supply at dangerous levles and have huge levels of lead and arsenic in their food supply.

    To allow the Chinese to exult in this event was a shame as they have not become a better neighbor they just found out that with enough money they can do whatever they want on the biggest scale imaginable.
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