Walker's Olympic Rants

It's fine if you don't care about the 4x100 relay. To each his own. It doesn't make you un-American, it just means you don't find swimming as exciting as football or rugby.

That being said, you must have been in a flippin' coma. Because that race was unreal.

The Olympics is so much more than a sporting event. Everyone who watches isn't necessarily a sports fan, but they want to see people from their country do well.

Who's going to overtake the Sox or Yanks for the Wildcard? Minnesota? Sorry, not happening...

Paddy Harrington certainly appears to be the most unheralded athlete of 2008 right now

I rather enjoy the Olympics but am not afraid to admit that I have no clue on many of the events. NBC's coverage does grate on me. I kept yelling at the TV commentators while watching the 100m relay "Shut the feck up!" And that green line has to go, blech.

Luckily Mrs Gunny and the Gunnette were all fast asleep and my rantings did not awaken them.

The only player with a career winning record head to head vs. Tiger, minimum five pairings?

Padraig Harrington.

The fact he's from Ireland and talks like he just inhaled a pound of helium is why no one knows him. Golfers and golf fans know who he is, and he's got game.

Your rants today reflect your bad mood, P.

Want a mulligan?

Sergio Garcia = Paddy's bitch.

Let me start out by saying, I like the Olympics (DON'T HURT ME!). It's always fun to see countries go at each other in physical competitions. Sometimes, you have to overlook all the hoopla in order to enjoy these games. Granted, commercialism has put a HUGE dent in these games, but it's the same way in other aspects of our life. It sucks balls, but we have to overlook the bullshit sometimes.

this is fine to see the comments on this site but i am not fully satisfied because the soccer is not there in the events i hope if they add them in for next time it will be more good.

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Kingslay

<a href=http://www.t...rg/wisconsin>Wisconsin Treatment Centers</a>

BigPPup, sadly Rugby 7s can't be in the Olympics. You'd need 4 continents, and 75 countries in order to "qualify" for the Games, and while it has the continents (Europe, Oceania, Africa, South America, North America), I think they don't have enough countries. Rugby Union would struggle to get to 75, let alone the Sevens. That said, I think there is a campaign to get it into London 2012, even if it's an unofficial demonstration event. Twickenham won't be being used for the Games, so it would be an ideal destination.

I think cuesports should be in the Olympics, personally. 9-ball Pool is hugely popular globally, and snooker could sneak in through the back door! You can have individual and team events - I think it would work quite well (the individual snooker event could perhaps be a ranking event). This probably won't happen, since cuesport does not have a governing body which covers all of the variations.

I know there are also constant negotiations from other sports to make the Olympics, squash (racketball as you call it) is the highest profile sport trying. It's in the Commonwealth Games, and many people around the world feel the IOC should let them in.

Original DDub, I kinda agree with you on your take about the Olympics. It's a mass marketing machine banking on the illusion of "patriotic pride". They try to make these games seem more important than they are because of the smack-us-in-the-face political slant. These games were invented/rehashed specifically to BYPASS the political slant and to JUST PLAY GAMES.

No one - and I mean 'NO ONE except the participants and their families' - cares about these sports in this form at all until the theme music gets cued. And like you, I find it INCREDIBLY annoying overhearing conversations on the streets from people who know it all now and will forget EVERYTHING they saw in a matter of weeks or months.

In fact, sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving you should hold an Olympics Trivia Test and I bet 98% of all the people yapping about it now will fail the test then... PROVING how pointless and unimportant the hype really is.

But do I enjoy watching them? Sure. It has nothing to do with being American - because whether a fellow American wins or loses impacts my life exactly this amount - None. I love watching sporting events. I love to observe things - especially COMPETITION. I don't care who wins as long as someone does (and it's not the Red Sox or Patriots). I watch fishing shows, drag racing and skeet shooting on TV. I watch poker tourneys, game shows and even America's Next Top Model just to see who wins. I watch the Scrabble Tournament too, so it's not saying much. I'd watch a two people have a race to fall asleep if you let me bet on it...

Anyway, there's lots of sports that SHOULD be Olympic sports that aren't, rugby included. Meanwhile, I'll go back to watching ribbon twirlers, heptatheletes and synchronized swimmers...

U.S. Softball with another shutout last night!!

Chess should be in the Olympics! Whether you think it a sport or not, the IOC recognises it as such. It has over 100 countries, on about 6 continents. It could have individual and team events too... Okay Russia would probably win both events, but you would get a lot of countries taking part. It probably wouldn't be the most spectator-friendly event, as each round would last all day, but from a competition perspective it would work. At least Manny would watch!

Alex, if I was an admin, I'd ban you for a week because of that statement.

I FUCKED YOUR MOTHER!

Haha, good one, FP! Well done...