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Author Topic: Winter Olympics  (Read 7881 times)
Phishfan
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« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2018, 11:12:17 pm »

I want to go outside the competition itself and ask about the coverage. This is the first time in quite a while where Bob Costas was not heading up the team. I know a number of you don't care for the commentary outside of the lines but I find that a compelling part of sports. This is especially true with something like the Olympics where I am just hearing of many of the athletes. To me, there are two men that I feel excel at painting the picture. They are, in no order, Bob Costas and Bryant Gumbel. I don't feel like I have been getting the quality of commentary that I really expect at this point.
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BuccaneerBrad
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« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2018, 08:05:28 am »

It could also be that other countries emphasize quality of life and have a much stronger social support system so that their college kids don't have to work crap jobs just to feed themselves while their universities are profiting off of them. Places like germany and finland actually pay their students to go to school, have universal health care and strong worker protections.  No wonder they're doing better.

Those countries also have a 65% federal income tax rate.   Bottom line is, that stuff you mentioned ain't free.  Somebody's gotta pay for it.  If you have a job, that somebody is you
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CF DolFan
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« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2018, 08:50:53 am »

Coud also be those really arent our sports.  My high school had a swim team and basket ball team but no curling or speed skating team.  I bet that was true at your school too. 
We were tops in the last Winter Olympics and currently have less than half the medals of the leader. 29 -12 actually.  We didn't succeed in previous Olympics because we play the sports in school. Oddly ... several of our speed skaters are from Ocala, Fl. That's just south of Gainesville for those of you out of state and is more widely know for training race horses.

One thing I found interesting is the guided tracks they use on the ski jumps. Apparently they have a refrigerated system with ice in the tracks so you can still train in the summer months. Snow is not required.
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CF DolFan
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« Reply #18 on: February 20, 2018, 08:52:19 am »

I want to go outside the competition itself and ask about the coverage. This is the first time in quite a while where Bob Costas was not heading up the team. I know a number of you don't care for the commentary outside of the lines but I find that a compelling part of sports. This is especially true with something like the Olympics where I am just hearing of many of the athletes. To me, there are two men that I feel excel at painting the picture. They are, in no order, Bob Costas and Bryant Gumbel. I don't feel like I have been getting the quality of commentary that I really expect at this point.
I always like the stories as well. This Olympics has a different feel but part of that is not having the USA in many of the event finals.

Seems like you aren't the only one to miss Bob.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/opinion-why-we-miss-bob-costas-at-the-winter-olympics/ar-BBJlVCR?li=BBxU6kX
« Last Edit: February 20, 2018, 09:01:39 am by CF DolFan » Logged

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Fau Teixeira
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« Reply #19 on: February 20, 2018, 01:02:50 pm »

Those countries also have a 65% federal income tax rate.   Bottom line is, that stuff you mentioned ain't free.  Somebody's gotta pay for it.  If you have a job, that somebody is you

65% tax rate, universal health care, not having to pay for college or student loans, subsidized public transport, subsidized day care and employment assistance, a decent living wage guarantee, a heck of alot more time off during the year, way less violence in general, not having a gigantic moron asshole as president and a good pension .. that's a fairly decent tradeoff
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CF DolFan
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cf_dolfan
« Reply #20 on: February 20, 2018, 04:23:29 pm »

65% tax rate, universal health care, not having to pay for college or student loans, subsidized public transport, subsidized day care and employment assistance, a decent living wage guarantee, a heck of alot more time off during the year, way less violence in general, not having a gigantic moron asshole as president and a good pension .. that's a fairly decent tradeoff
When are you moving there?
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Fau Teixeira
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« Reply #21 on: February 20, 2018, 08:58:14 pm »

When are you moving there?
I'd rather bring it here. Just cause you see a hot chick in a ferrari doesn't mean you leave your wife for it .. get your wife a ferrari instead ! .. Shesh.. love the one you're with.
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Cathal
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« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2018, 09:38:42 am »

When are you moving there?

Why are those items such a bad thing?
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CF DolFan
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cf_dolfan
« Reply #23 on: February 21, 2018, 04:52:18 pm »

Why are those items such a bad thing?
They aren't but it isn't as rosy as people like to paint it. If it were people would flock there and leave the USA.

I swear we just had someone from Canada complain that their gall bladder surgery is scheduled in 10 months. 10 freaking months! My wife had hers removed a couple of years ago and it only took a week or so to get it scheduled. I can't imagine her going through that pain for 10 weeks let alone 10 months.
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Spider-Dan
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« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2018, 01:18:02 am »

Americans' idea of a health care horror story is when someone in another country had to wait several months to get elective surgery.
Everyone else's idea of a health care horror story is when some American has choose between keeping their house or paying for their cancer treatment.

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I don't know that I buy the whole lazy Americans of today explanation for the poor performance at this year's Olympics.  Michael Phelps isn't part of the Greatest Generation, and he rewrote the record books.  Gabby Douglas and Simone Biles aren't part of the Greatest Generation.  Neither are Misty May-Treanor or Kerri Walsh Jennings.

If you look at the records, it's pretty clear that the Americans of today would absolutely smash the Americans of 70 years ago.  They would make them look like bums off the street.  So I hesitate to dismiss all the incredible hard work today's athletes put in.

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fyo
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« Reply #25 on: February 22, 2018, 04:33:31 am »

Coud also be those really arent our sports.  My high school had a swim team and basket ball team but no curling or speed skating team.  I bet that was true at your school too. 

I bet that's pretty much true for every school in the world. And I wouldn't be surprised if the "pretty much" can be strikken from the previous sentence.

The mix of sports of schools is, although not uniquely American, close to it. To the best of my knowledge there are a few countries that have some tie-in, but very limited compared to the US.

The closest you can get is probably the "Sports Schools" that exist in many other countries that focus on sports. These aren't ordinary schools and "normal" kids don't go there. And the teams still aren't tied to the schools.
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Fau Teixeira
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« Reply #26 on: February 22, 2018, 08:40:40 am »

Other countries also have sports academies generally structured around the local soccer club.
I know the soccer club i grew up around (FC Porto) not only had youth soccer academies but also basketball, swimming, roller hockey, track and field, billiards, team handball, volleyball, boxing and a bunch of others for both boys and girls. I was on the team handball team as a kid. The main sports complex had much more than just a soccer stadium.

It's just structured differently. The closest american comparison would be the publicly owned green bay packers .. if they had and supported a bunch of other teams like basketball or the packers hockey team.
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CF DolFan
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cf_dolfan
« Reply #27 on: February 22, 2018, 12:17:41 pm »

Other countries also have sports academies generally structured around the local soccer club.
I know the soccer club i grew up around (FC Porto) not only had youth soccer academies but also basketball, swimming, roller hockey, track and field, billiards, team handball, volleyball, boxing and a bunch of others for both boys and girls. I was on the team handball team as a kid. The main sports complex had much more than just a soccer stadium.

It's just structured differently. The closest american comparison would be the publicly owned green bay packers .. if they had and supported a bunch of other teams like basketball or the packers hockey team.
No doubt the rest of the world is heads and shoulders above us in soccer. Unless we can make our professional teams support and train our youth we will never equal them as our system favors people with money which then allows the parents to hinder any real dynamic growth. We sacrifice development over winning at young ages.
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Pappy13
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« Reply #28 on: February 22, 2018, 05:08:34 pm »

We sent the most athletes ever to these Winter Olympics and are posting the worst results in over 20 years. Our best event is the snowboard and we are losing ground there as well. I saw one of the skaters who was expected to do very well say he fell to the pressure. Technologically speaking we are far advanced but I can't help but believe we are getting softer as a nation the farther we get away from the greatest generation. If all things were equal .... our grandparents would kick our grandkids' butts.
Sounds an awful lot like a rationalization rather than a look at any real empirical data here. The US started off rather slow in the medal counts, but they've picked it up lately. I haven't really looked at the numbers compared to other Winter Olympics, but I'd say now we are pretty much right where we always are. The US has NEVER dominated the Winter Olympics at least not the way they have the Summer Olympics.
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Spider-Dan
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« Reply #29 on: February 22, 2018, 08:42:14 pm »

We just had our best showing ever in cross-country skiing and men's curling.
The Kids Are All Right.
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