2008 Summer Olympics (may contain spoilers)

alafairnadia

figured I'd start a thread so we can just talk about whatever games, matches, races, etc.

I'm watching women's soccer right now - canada v. china. pretty tight match. earlier saw women's indoor volleyball, US v. japan, and the US won. pretty cool. also tough matches. and the US women swept the medals on the saber fencing whatsit.

I kinda love the olympics because it's like watching eurosport or something - a bunch of sports I never, ever see on TV. I need to clear my DVR because I want to tape all of the boxing - I love amateur boxing.

sweet tea

i love love love te olympics -- probably won't check this thread much, as i hate knowing results before watching.

i also saw the saber this morning -- women fencers are hawt.

now watching the fakest sport ever: beach volleyball. did you catch the line of (non-player) women in bikinis on the sidelines before the game? not that i have anything againt women in bikinis per se, but, um, i can haz dignity pls?

sweet tea

oh GROSS! now george w has his arms around their waists!

neartoms

watching olympics tonight ... the ads make it almost unbearable.

slimgoods

i think the oly's rule just for having SOOOOOOO many hot men (athletes) in one area. i vote nyc needs to host the games !!

*ok back to the scores*

alafairnadia

I DVR'd 1.5 hours of the prime time bit before I started watching so I could ffwd through the commercials. no chicks in bikinis, other than the players, in the women's beach vollyball right now.

the USA mens gymnastics looks like crud.

stacey

Subject: Re: 2008 Summer Olympics (may contain spoilers)

alafairnadia wrote: and the US women swept the medals on the saber fencing whatsit

I never watched this before and it was pretty cool but was it just me or did that gold medalists' screams startle you each time she did it?

alafairnadia

Subject: Re: 2008 Summer Olympics (may contain spoilers)

stacey wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]and the US women swept the medals on the saber fencing whatsit

I never watched this before and it was pretty cool but was it just me or did that gold medalists' screams startle you each time she did it?

it was pretty freakin' annoying, really. but maybe that's normal? fencing is just bizarre to me.

man, I'm glad I dvr'd a lot of this first. I hate those stupid competitor profiles. "wah wah, I'm a chinese gymnast. I'm so tired of pressure. but it's good. it keeps me motivated."

jeffrey

alaf, I vote they put you on camera there for running commentary.

Far more entertaining.

=D>

alafairnadia

I think they'd be angry with having to bleep me every 3rd word. "haha, fuckin' japanese gymnast screwed up! oh, hard-d-har, chinese guy with pressure issues just sat on the parallel bars. dumbass!"

slimgoods

ahahahah the ad's upon review of dvr i did notice a lack of a few things. what ever i guess im just that bored. go USA aahaha

sweet tea

i love the little bio-pics -- do they still call them "olympic moments"? such great melodrama. this year's have super cheesy graphics, though. did you catch the mats that said "PRESSURE" and "RIVALRY" during the gymnast one?

the american team is pretty bad, but i love raj bhavsar, with his yoga and his earnestness and his reading under trees.

related: why does india suck at the olympics? this makes no sense to me.

also love michael phelps looking for his mom.

did i mention that i love the olympics?

apollonia666

LURVE the Olympics, always have. Which is a little odd, given that I have no interest at all in sports otherwise. I think it's because there are all these wonderful human interest stories.

The opening ceremonies were *unreal* -- watched them live at home Friday night, and then last night watched them again on dvr at a friend's place on his high-def gigundous t.v., which really showed off how gorgeous all the costumes and lighting and everything were. I have such mixed emotions about the Olympics being in Beijing because of China's human rights and environmental abuses (has anyone else noticed how filthy the air looks out the window every time they show Bob Costas sitting at that anchor desk with that window behind it?), but I gotta hand it to them -- that was one hell of a show.

MOD

I'm watching the basketball game now. Freakin awesome.
Did you see who's in the stands?! The bush family and Kissinger!
Burney Mac dies and Kissinger is still alive!? Wtf??

slimgoods

yeah it makes no damn since. kissinger & bush alive and well and bernie a person who has givin me numerous laughs and joy is gone

alafairnadia

good god this argentina/australia match is paining my soul. especially after teh awesome US/netherlands match.

sweet tea

my favorite announcer comment this afternoon:

"beach volleyball in the rain is like football in the snow."

then someone made a point, and the poncho-ed spectators bopped damply to a few bars of "who let the dogs out".

prodigalson

slimgoods wrote: yeah it makes no damn since. kissinger & bush alive and well and bernie a person who has givin me numerous laughs and joy is gone

The good die young.

The evil live on.

Sad world, ain't it?


As for the Olympics, I watched some of the rowing, men's basketball, and just a little of the beach volleyball. I won't watch the men's diving as their outfits are even skimpier than the women's volleyball. {Puke!}

Girls gymnastics is on tonight and that, to me, is the best event in the games.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/gymnastics/

carnivore

I heard that the U.S. men's Marco Polo team is a lock.

alafairnadia

Carnivore wrote: I heard that the U.S. men's Marco Polo team is a lock.

they're hot, too. well. maybe. can't see their hair. is their womens water polo?

shishkab

hold on a sec... just how old are some of these Chinese "women" gymnasts supposed to be?!?!?

yang yinlin looks like she's 13 years old. i am soooo skeptical about their "verified" ages!

livetotravel

they look like they are 10 - not to mention stunted - as Buzz Bissinger wrote yesterday - Creep Show!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/opinion/09bissinger.html?ref=opinion

sweet tea

i'm sure that guy has even more of a problem with the sport that causes the most injuries to children (last time i checked): football.

oh, that's right, boys play sports because they love it and it builds character, so hyper-protection isn't necessary.

granted, gymnastics has had (and no doubt still has) problems, but i don't think the answer is to keep girls from doing things that many so obviously love.

khuntiennang

did you catch the part where the national anthem was cut short at the swimming event?

khuntiennang

OMG! anyone watching the man swimming relay? i almost had a heart attack!

sweet tea

i KNOW!

so AWESOME!

also, i'm a little in love with oksana chusovitina. hers was my favorite story today. plus, she totally looks like jo from facts of life.

khuntiennang

omg omg. their reaction was priceless.

i felt like the medal was stolen from hoff by great britain on woman's earlier. but looks like team usa stole another one back. lol.

apollonia666

So is anyone else who has Cablevision unable to watch video on NBCOlympics.com because of this bullshit?

We're sorry, you will not have access to live Olympic video or long-form replays online because the TV service provider you selected is not a partner of NBCOlympics.com.

Please contact your local cable, satellite or telecommunications operator for more details.

whyfi

^^^ yeah, I just selected DirecTV.

carnivore

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=Carnivore]I heard that the U.S. men's Marco Polo team is a lock.

they're hot, too. well. maybe. can't see their hair. is their womens water polo?
I think you're thinking of the water polo team. I'm pretty sure there isn't actually a Marco Polo team, although that's still the most fun water game.

"Marco."


"Polo."

jeffrey

apollonia666 wrote: So is anyone else who has Cablevision unable to watch video on NBCOlympics.com because of this bullshit?

We're sorry, you will not have access to live Olympic video or long-form replays online because the TV service provider you selected is not a partner of NBCOlympics.com.

Please contact your local cable, satellite or telecommunications operator for more details.

What's more, NBC's web team at MSNBC opted for MS' Silverlight 2.0 BETA technology(not Flash, like most other major video providers use) to be the platform for their exclusive lock on online Olympics video offerings.

Silverlight 2.0 Beta is hugely buggy on my PCs to the point of being horrifically jittery and unwatchable (via my 30Mbs/5Mbps connection, no less..), and guess what?

Supports NO Macs that aren't Intels. Yep, that's right. The excluded the huge majority of Mac users that don't have the latest ~2 years of brand new Intel macs.

NBC web team, this should have been a slam dunk, awesome prime-time online viewing experience.

But for stoooopid MS-partner business reasons, it sucks on a PC, and it's not even available on most Macs.

And because of exclusivity rights agreements, you are not allowed to watch it anywhere else, and all Olympics coverage videos posted to YouTube etc. are being pulled as soon as they are posted.

Add that to what apollonia mentioned, and it all just really stinks.

See how it works out for you here:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/player.html?assetid=0811_hd_swb_hl_l0194&channelcode=sportsw

Major thumbs down from my direction.

:evil: :thumbdown: :lame: