Off Topic Thread 3.0

swiwi_

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I get what you're saying. It's like race walking. What's the point? You can say the same about other sports. Fencing - sabre, epee and foil I think they are. Why? Wrestling - why Greeco-Roman and freestyle?

I actually bothered to look up the difference. Apparently the athletes do tend to sub-specialise. From what I read, and also the tiny bit I've watched, the foil seems the most exciting.

I do think the olympics could be streamlined, and I have yet to read a good argument why soccer/tennis/golf should be there, although I see the golf is matchplay, rather than totting up the scores over 72 holes/4 rounds.

For 2020

On September 28 2015, the shortlist was reduced to five sports - baseball and softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing and surfing (leaving out bowling, squash and wushu)

Does anyone have any idea what wushu is?

Doubt I'd watch rollerblading, skateboarding etc, climbing can be OKish, I would have liked squash to get in.

Edit: so wushu looks like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" basically.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

swiwi_ wrote: »

Yes of course, we'll take any medal. It's just been a bit overshadowed by how crap/almost disinterested the men were.

In fairness, silver for the women was the predicted result, the Australian women have been completely dominating the 7s events this year, so results went to form.

Yeah, I was just wondering what the reaction was to it. My rugby feed on twitter, sorry Swiwi, has been full of comments about how bad the men were and what the fallout will be etc. etc. but there was very little chatter about the women winning silver.

pickarooney

Clubs tend to specialise in one fencing discipline, at least in France. The style and hit ranges are very different, but in a real life scenario a sword fight where you can't attack the legs would be silly.

swiwi_

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Yeah, I was just wondering what the reaction was to it. My rugby feed on twitter, sorry Swiwi, has been full of comments about how bad the men were and what the fallout will be etc. etc. but there was very little chatter about the women winning silver.

Ah twitter.

I rest my case.

TBH, I do not miss one single incy wincy bit the rugby negativity in NZ when a team loses.

On the other hand, the Swiss are almost apathetic about the Olympics. Just too "nice" a race of people to ever strive for Olympic greatness.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

swiwi_ wrote: »

Ah twitter.

I rest my case.

TBH, I do not miss one single incy wincy bit the rugby negativity in NZ when a team loses.

On the other hand, the Swiss are almost apathetic about the Olympics. Just too "nice" a race of people to ever strive for Olympic greatness.

To be fair it's my rugby feed on twitter, filled with journalists, rugby sites, players etc. etc. not just a load of randoms sitting at home shouting at their TV, like me.

Yeah_Right

swiwi_ wrote: »

I actually bothered to look up the difference. Apparently the athletes do tend to sub-specialise. From what I read, and also the tiny bit I've watched, the foil seems the most exciting.

I do think the olympics could be streamlined, and I have yet to read a good argument why soccer/tennis/golf should be there, although I see the golf is matchplay, rather than totting up the scores over 72 holes/4 rounds.

For 2020

On September 28 2015, the shortlist was reduced to five sports - baseball and softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing and surfing (leaving out bowling, squash and wushu)

Does anyone have any idea what wushu is?

Doubt I'd watch rollerblading, skateboarding etc, climbing can be OKish, I would have liked squash to get in.

Edit: so wushu looks like "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" basically.

I have no idea about the differences in fencing and I did no research but the point that there's a few differences and it's not realistic to not attack the legs in a sword fight makes it valid to compare to "pointless" events in swimming. I should point out that I was a swimmer so I have to defend it.

Have to say I'm not a fan of golf, tennis or soccer being in the Olympics. The Olympics should be the pinnacle of a sport and it's not for those sports.

Interesting some of those new sports you mention. It's like the Olympics are trying to become the XGames.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Have to say I'm not a fan of golf, tennis or soccer being in the Olympics. The Olympics should be the pinnacle of a sport and it's not for those sports.

Interesting some of those new sports you mention. It's like the Olympics are trying to become the XGames.

It's interesting, I basically agree with you about how the Olympics should be the pinnacle but if anyone has been watching the tennis this week it's clear to see that these games mean an awful lot to some of them. I saw someone covering the games say on twitter that they were walking through one of the corridors at the tennis venue the other evening and Djokovic, Delpo and Murray were all in there crying. Djokovic couldn't hold it together when he lost to Delpo and poor Delpo was so delighted to win he was crying too. Murray and his brother had just lost in the doubles and were both in bits too.

The Zika excuse has been an interesting one. A fair few top players pulled out of the Olympics citing it but it seems like a lot of them just couldn't be bothered going. I guess they see the chance at scooping a few of the bigger tournaments leading up to the US Open as more important.

Same with the golf.

The guys that did go are really enthusiastic about it and are loving the experience. Maybe there's an argument to be made for limiting it to amateur players.

Yeah_Right

I have absolutely no doubt that the players that went to the Olympics for tennis and golf are passionate about it and desperately want to win it. It's probably growing in prestige for tennis due to the quality of players who have entered and the fact it's been there for while now. 1988 was the first one I think.

Maybe over the years the Olympics will grow in stature amongst golfers and it will be viewed as important as the Majors.

errlloyd

I dunno why the hate for fencing here. Sure there are three swords, but there are no weight divisions or anything. So I think it is fairly streamlined. I think the camera work could be better, but the lighting and stuff is really dramatic and it is meant to be an amazing one to see in person.

bilston

I sat glued to the Diving last night. It happens every 4 years that I end up wathching some random sport that I would never watch any other time.

Football definitely shouldn't be at the Olympics. Why does it even need the exposure? You could argue the Road racing in Cycling shouldn't be there either as I suspect the Tour and Giro are bigger events in that sport than the Olympics.

They need to bring Chariot Racing back after a 2000 year absence in time for Tokyo! That and Gladiators.

FACECUTTR

bilston wrote: »

I sat glued to the Diving last night. It happens every 4 years that I end up wathching some random sport that I would never watch any other time.

Football definitely shouldn't be at the Olympics. Why does it even need the exposure? You could argue the Road racing in Cycling shouldn't be there either as I suspect the Tour and Giro are bigger events in that sport than the Olympics.


They need to bring Chariot Racing back after a 2000 year absence in time for Tokyo! That and Gladiators.

Chariot racing and shin kicking.

sydthebeat

Watching horse dancing now...wtf...

If this is a sport they should allow a twerking competition.

Felix Jones is God

sydthebeat wrote: »

Watching horse dancing now...wtf...

If this is a sport they should allow a twerking competition.

You've obviously never seen some of the pre routine moves from the female weightlifters

wp_rathead

Biles is different level at the auld gymnastics- her floor routine is jaw dropping

sydthebeat

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

You've obviously never seen some of the pre routine moves from the female weightlifters

"female" is a very subjective description

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

Felix Jones is God wrote: »

You've obviously never seen some of the pre routine moves from the female weightlifters

"female" is a very subjective description

I dare you to say that to her face!

mfceiling

Flicking the channels there and on rte one+ they are showing "Mrs Brown's boys Christmas special"....In august.

Does anyone else think the licence fee is good value for money?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

mfceiling wrote: »

Flicking the channels there and on rte one+ they are showing "Mrs Brown's boys Christmas special"....In august.

Does anyone else think the licence fee is good value for money?

I was wondering what the counter programing during the Olympics would be. They're obviously targeting people who hate themselves.

b.gud

mfceiling wrote: »

Flicking the channels there and on rte one+ they are showing "Mrs Brown's boys Christmas special"....In august.

Does anyone else think the licence fee is good value for money?

I'd I paid it I'd be pissed off

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I put a little bet on Ryan Murphy for the 200 back in Rio back in April. He won it there tonight. I went to check my account and it turns out I somehow forgot I had put the bet on and did it again in May. €60 better off. Not too shabby.

wp_rathead

Will we see Phelps beat Leonidas 2,000 year old record of 12 individual gold medals tonight- currently level with it...

bilston

wp_rathead wrote: »

Will we see Phelps beat Leonidas 2,000 year old record of 12 individual gold medals tonight- currently level with it...

I assumed this was some kind of piss take but no it's not!

That's pretty incredible when you think of it!

swiwi_

And in other news, FINA have announced that the following distances will be added to swimming at the 2020 Olympics

150m, 250m, 300m, 350m

These new distances will apply to the disciplines of freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, individual and team medleys, and relay.

FINA President Dr. Julio Maglione had this to say "FINA is delighted to increase the palette of swimming events for Tokyo."

Michael Phelps is expected to reach 2000 Gold Medals.

molloyjh

New trailer for Rogue One looks alright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frdj1zb9sMY

TeoReid

the force awakens wasn't great but that trailer does look good.

Bazzo

bilston wrote: »

I sat glued to the Diving last night. It happens every 4 years that I end up wathching some random sport that I would never watch any other time.

Football definitely shouldn't be at the Olympics. Why does it even need the exposure? You could argue the Road racing in Cycling shouldn't be there either as I suspect the Tour and Giro are bigger events in that sport than the Olympics.

They need to bring Chariot Racing back after a 2000 year absence in time for Tokyo! That and Gladiators.

You didn't catch the Filipino lads did you? Quality watching :pac:

mfceiling

Bazzo wrote: »

You didn't catch the Filipino lads did you? Quality watching :pac:

Cheers baz....haven't laughed as much in ages.

Synode

TeoReid wrote: »

the force awakens wasn't great

I didn't care for it either. They copied too much from the earlier films

molloyjh

Synode wrote: »

I didn't care for it either. They copied too much from the earlier films

That was my feeling coming out of it when I went to see it originally. But having read a few things about it I went back and watched it a second time and it actually stands up better the second time out. Apparently the similarities are deliberate so as to divorce themselves from the prequels and bring it back in line with the originals. If you watch the film as a set-up for the next 2 it's actually not bad at all, albeit that super weapon is completely and utterly stupid. It's still not great, but with less expectation and a better understanding of why some things were done as they were its def more enjoyable.

I also thought Daisy Ridley and Harrison Ford were excellent.

errlloyd

I liked the force awakens a lot. JJ is good at rebooting stories, but he's not very good at ending them. So I'm glad he was in charge of the first one.