Be Excellent To Each Other

So , any brits we should watch out for? always love the winter olympics, much more gamey than the serious summer ones... we've got speedskating, shorttrack, and maybe skeleton and snowboard...

Games
-Steep has olympic DLC
- no sonic and mario alas:(

As a british, I watch the Winter Olympics with facsination as we rarely have a snowball's chance in Hell of winning anything. Our best bet this year broke her foot in training yesterday, for fuck's sake.

This is one of the absolute highlights of TV for us. I don’t watch (anything) with any national/competitive support interest, so no Brit angle, but goodness the Ski Cross has to be one of the most amazing and crazy sports ever. I thought the Snowboard Cross was just the best thing ever, and then they introduced all of the extra limbs, and skis, and sticks. Amaze.

And of course the return of Lindsey Jacobellis who I both admire and dislike in equal measure. Always looking to see what she’ll do next!

And the pretty ice skating people.

I like the bobsleigh / skelington / luge events, not least because I can imagine myself doing it and just screaming, non-stop, the entire way down.

I remember watching loads of the last Winter Olympics when I was off work recovering from an operation and high as a kite on all the various painkillers I was on. Pretty colours, moving fast, against pretty mountains!

Will probably catch what I can, especially the ice hockey this time round.

I just don't get the winter Olympics. Most sports look way too elaborate to be called sports. Or maybe because i don't have anyone to root for. Besides, I hate cold and i'm not fond of snow.

Seriously, why make sports in snow? It's seems all so unpleasant.

When your country is under snow for half the year, you make do.

I have been down a bobsleigh run and can confirm this is the best way to do it. That or gritting your teeth and hoping it all goes away soon.

I don't understand why the Norwegians, with the massive amounts of money and energy reserves they have, don't make giant domes in every city with wave gardens and hot weather. Seems like a no brainer.

Why are bobsleigh and luge sports, and going down a slide in a water park isn't? Because the first has people with a more serious look and attire doing it?

Tradition, mostly.

I’d totally watch waterside racing in the summer Olympics!

Also, those slidey water sheet things. People sliding down that doing tricks.

And by people I mean Grim... and Craster.

I'm not sure what tricks I'd do, other than that crowd favourite "look at the fat guy trying to stand up!"

The whole thing apparently comes from pissed up British idiots. Amazing!



All sports are basically some stupid crap that people end up taking far too seriously.

In my head you’re both in swimwear but also hats and shades, like the Blues Brothers, if that helps.

There's a particular episode from the last season of "its always sunny in philadelphia" with danny devito sliding down in a water park. It's not Grim or Craster but it's an hilarious episode that i should rewatch.

If it was up to me, any sport that has a huge financial barrier to start shouldn't be considered for big serious events. I would put the arbitrary number of 500€ so that Surfing and Bodyboarding could be included.

500€ won't get you much surfing if you live in the Alps.

travelling costs shouldn't be considered.

€500 is a huge financial barrier to most people in the world, though.

It is, so you can only imagine what kind of financial barrier are sports like Sailing, Horseback riding and most winter sports.

We could lower it to 200€, but then there's no budget for wetsuits.

Goose fat and clingfilm would do until you get sponsorship.

If you live in a resort in the Alps then skiing's not that expensive.

€200, €100, €50... These are all massive financial barriers to many of the people living on our planet. It’s just whichever arbitrary limit you deem to be too high make no different. €500 might as well be €500,000 to many people. Sadly, we are never going to make all sports affordable. Formula 1, skiing, trampolining, crown green bowls... all out of reach for many people. It’s pretty impossible to say where a ‘fair’ limit would lie as wealth and access to sponsorship and facilities, or even basic food and clothing, are not fair.

Well, somewhere there's quite a big divide between sports which only demand a pair of sneakers and a ball, and others which demand more elaborate equipment. And those people for whom 500.000 isn't that much can't be too many. They're in the 1% after all.

This is something that kind of bugged me ever since i've remembered. When a sport has such a high barrier entry. Can i admire a good horseback rider the same way i can admire a good long distance runner? After all, they're not competing in a pool of even a comparable size.

End of rant.

I don’t think you’re in any way incorrect to feel the way you do, and really it’s a large part of a much wider discussion on equality, privilege and barriers to experience and opportunity. I think if that stops your enjoyment of F1, rowing, skiing, etc tgen that’s an entirely personal distinction. I’d still call them sports, though, and I can’t imaging large events like this without them.

Not chess though. That’s a game.

What about ChessBoxing?

Sport. It has a physical element.

What about a sport like that fast walking where looking like a complete fucking pillock also creates a barrier to entry, thus limiting the pool of talent. Should they be allowed?

Makes sense!

Things like snooker and darts are a bit of a grey area for me - I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be in the Olympics yet rifle shooting is.

Darts on Ice should clearly be in the Winter Olympics.

Chess is a musical.

In a fantasy setting.

Snooker and darts both akeca lot of physical skill in aiming and directing to pinpoint accuracy, so, to me, are sports. Poker and Chess I’ve heard described as sports, but there’s no physical element (the accuracy with which you centre your pieces in their squares or the ability to play annoying shuffling games with poker chips are not a physical element of play that account for your success of the game).

Dartsing on ice/Ice Darts should SO be a thing.

So, how long until video games are in the Olympics?

I had a physics teacher in college which invented all kinds of crazy sports on exams. I'm sure darts on ice was there somewhere.

At least i remember one about throwing oranges into a basket while wearing skiing paddles.

More on topic, agree that darts should be as much a sport as rifle shooting and golf. Which means none should be.

Also, why doesn't Summer Olympics doesn't include typical summer things like Surfing, Bodyboarding, Skimming, Beach Tennis and beach football? There's a very big pro-snow, anti-sand olympic bias.

You don’t walk that weird, Mark, even when you’re in a hurry, but I’m sorry you didn’t make the team.

When a pro athlete has a belly, it means whatever he's doing isn't a sport, and he shouldn't be called an athlete. This should be a standard to be adopted by the Olympic Comitee from now on.

And don't use Sumo as an excuse please

Shot put.

"Who can run the fastest" isn't a sport.

Weight lifting.

On ice.

Snooker Luge(y nuts are we).

Hop, skip, ski jump.

My views on sport:
It should have a physical element.
It should have clearly defined objective 'success' and 'failure'. For example: 'who jumps the highest wins' is fine. 'who jumps the most stylishly wins' is not.
Visual aspects such as clothing should have no effect on the outcome. If someone is dressed in non-traditional clothes that are safe to wear and decent, they should not be disqualified or be penalised.
It should not involve animals that may be distressed or injured by the sport, as they cannot consent to taking part.
The sport should have a put emphasis on human achievement.

So dressage is out on all counts.

I was in Lillehammer ('94 olympics) this summer, and went down with my daughter.. .it was amazing
Noorwegen wat was je mooi by Rick Lindeman, on Flickr


Noorwegen wat was je mooi by Rick Lindeman, on Flickr

Wait. You can go down a bobsleigh track on a thing?