London Olympics 2012

DSGamer wrote:

#1 - Can we stop calling Michael Phelps the "greatest Olympian ever"?

What. People are doing this?

Why would you... I can't... how...

Excuse me while I aneurysm.

Well he has more medals than anyone ever. So by one measure, he is.

Yeah I think it's a little ridiculous to say, since he can compete in so many events. Other considerations might be world record holders, or pioneers like "first under X time race" and so on.

Also hard to compare teams. The 1992 Dream Team is probably the best "team" ever, winning every game by an average of 43 points. Not sure if another team has ever dominated the field by so much? Have any other teams (soccer, polo, hockey in winter, etc) ever had such a dominating margin of victory by the measures of the scoring of their sport?

Stele wrote:

Also hard to compare teams. The 1992 Dream Team is probably the best "team" ever, winning every game by an average of 43 points. Not sure if another team has ever dominated the field by so much? Have any other teams (soccer, polo, hockey in winter, etc) ever had such a dominating margin of victory by the measures of the scoring of their sport?

The '04 US Softball team was pretty ridiculous. They outscored their opponents 51-1 with the one run against only coming in the gold medal game. The '08 team was similarly dominant but they sh*t the bed in the final and lost.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

OMG BADMINTON IN CRISIS WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

You read Rosenberg's opinion piece in Sports Illustrated, didn't you?

Stele wrote:

For tonight's listings, they are showing lots of swimming in primetime again, and those events start in about an hour. So I'll look again in about 3 hours maybe and see if there is any video posted with results. I doubt it though.

So yeah... there are full replays up for lots of afternoon events, including the soccer matches that just ended within the last half hour.

But for Swimming... results, results, results... no video. So, surprise tonight, when Adrian wins the 100m freestyle for the US, and when the women's relay team wins gold, and sets an Olympic Record.

Stupid NBC

The Onion weighs in on NBC.

And a great article about the BBC's awesome coverage.

The sheer amount of Olympic airtime aside, what’s more impressive to this American viewer is what BBC does with it – namely, so very little. There are no interstitial background videos introducing the athletes. No clever editing tricks. No pre-recorded interviews with family members or lingering shots of nervous parents. (Is Michael Phelps’ mom even at the Olympics this year? How is it possible that I don’t know that?) Save for the occasional glimpses of Princes William and Harry, the camera rarely pans to the audience. The athletes are the stars of this show, and if this fails to capture your interest then perhaps you should not be watching live handball.

And an actual response from NBC Sports Chairman

“As programmers, we are charged to manage the business. And this is a business,” he said. “It’s not everyone’s inalienable right to get whatever they want. We are charged with making smart decisions for our company, for our shareholders and to present the product the way we believe is best.”

They do claim to be streaming every event except opening/closing ceremonies online. So maybe they are showing the live feeds, but just not doing the replays with their primetime events?

They're streaming it for people who pony up money to their cable company, I guess. When I tried to access the NBC live stream it was blocked by Comcast on the grounds that my cable package doesn't cover it.

Demyx wrote:

They're streaming it for people who pony up money to their cable company, I guess. When I tried to access the NBC live stream it was blocked by Comcast on the grounds that my cable package doesn't cover it.

I got an error message once, something like "you must subscribe to a package that has MSNBC" but then clicked again and it worked because obviously that's a basic cable package channel.

Demyx wrote:

My major beef with the women's team gymnastics coverage was that it was hyper-focused on Jordyn Wieber's "redemption story" at the expense of the other girls. Gabby Douglas turned in four performances to Wieber's three and probably got less screen time..

+1

A BBC commentator at one of the events (swimming?) suggested that the British crowd might be being too patriotic and enthusiastic, worried that it wasn't sportsmanlike behaviour. Good old Auntie.

Stele wrote:

Also hard to compare teams. The 1992 Dream Team is probably the best "team" ever, winning every game by an average of 43 points. Not sure if another team has ever dominated the field by so much? Have any other teams (soccer, polo, hockey in winter, etc) ever had such a dominating margin of victory by the measures of the scoring of their sport?

You also have to factor in the their opposition. The Dream Team were playing a sport which is only really played at such a high level in one country, the US, filled with players from that league. Where as in other team sports, there is more even competition, making it very hard to dominate in the way that the Dream Team did.

Also the sitting down sports have started to hand out medals, so I expect us Brits to start clawing our way back up the medal table.

onewild wrote:
Stele wrote:

Also hard to compare teams. The 1992 Dream Team is probably the best "team" ever, winning every game by an average of 43 points. Not sure if another team has ever dominated the field by so much? Have any other teams (soccer, polo, hockey in winter, etc) ever had such a dominating margin of victory by the measures of the scoring of their sport?

You also have to factor in the their opposition. The Dream Team were playing a sport which is only really played at such a high level in one country, the US, filled with players from that league. Where as in other team sports, there is more even competition, making it very hard to dominate in the way that the Dream Team did.

Also the sitting down sports have started to hand out medals, so I expect us Brits to start clawing our way back up the medal table.

Yikes, the European basketball league will definitely want a word with you...

Be senisble now, the relationship of the NBA to the European Basketball League is hardly the same as relationship between The Premier League, Serie A, La Liga ect. Spain's recent achivement in football (stepping outside of the Olympics for a moment) is far greater than the Dream Team just because of the level of competiton is higher.

I have a crush on the entire US Women's Volleyball team.

I like how last night they aired a lengthy human-interest segment about gymnast Danell Leyva, but negleted to air one of his actual gymnastic performances. Thanks, NBC!

The Canadian channel doing coverage just played a dramatic commercial about how the Canadian womens double badminton have a chance to advance today..... you know in the event they were already eliminated from but reinstated after the scandal if your paying any attention to the actual details.

Looks like were also getting NBCesque coverage.

jowner wrote:

The Canadian channel doing coverage just played a dramatic commercial about how the Canadian womens double badminton have a chance to advance today..... you know in the event they were already eliminated from but reinstated after the scandal if your paying any attention to the actual details.

Looks like were also getting NBCesque coverage.

Well, you know, badminton is such a traditional Canadian sport that you can't help but understand their enthusiasm.

Good day for GB! Silver in men's rowing, gold in shooting (given the difference in gun laws, the US really should do better at that!), at least silver in judo, gold and silver in slalom canoeing. All sports that I have participated in, amazingly enough. Before every joint in my body started to crumble, that is.

Saw the celebration after that canoeing gold. They had to ask the winners to get out of the water finally, so they could run some more races on the course.

spider_j wrote:

gold in shooting (given the difference in gun laws, the US really should do better at that!),

Stele wrote:
Demyx wrote:

They're streaming it for people who pony up money to their cable company, I guess. When I tried to access the NBC live stream it was blocked by Comcast on the grounds that my cable package doesn't cover it.

I got an error message once, something like "you must subscribe to a package that has MSNBC" but then clicked again and it worked because obviously that's a basic cable package channel. :?

Well, I am a subscriber. Doesn't matter.. All you get for being a subscriber is a page with a black box. Can't stream anything, at least during the work day.

Demyx wrote:

I like how last night they aired a lengthy human-interest segment about gymnast Danell Leyva, but negleted to air one of his actual gymnastic performances. Thanks, NBC!

But, he has a special towel. That's so interesting!

WOW! Back to back 3s by Russia in the last 30 seconds to defeat Brazil by 1 in Men's basketball. Huge clutch shots.

Stele wrote:

WOW! Back to back 3s by Russia in the last 30 seconds to defeat Brazil by 1 in Men's basketball. Huge clutch shots.

Wish I'd seen that!

Another GB gold, team sprint cycling this time, and a new world record. What a day!

Great couple of days for Britain. Watching the action back after I got home from work on the BBC website (can't believe what rubbish the US is having to put up with coverage wise), great performance from the cycling lads, gutted for Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish as they misjudged their take over by a tiny amount, same for the Chinese in the final.
And then the canoeing was unbelieveable, what imagines. But my highlight of the day isn't for the golds but for Gemma Gibbons, even though she lost out in the final of the Judo, what an amazing series of fights and the pure emotional release when she got to the final was a joy to behold.
The British basketball team even had the cheek to almost beat the Spainish, just one point in it.
Turned over now, not really interested in the training sessions the US basketball team is having against Nigeria to be honest.

onewild wrote:

Turned over now, not really interested in the training sessions the US basketball team is having against Nigeria to be honest.

No doubt. They are on autopilot until they meet Spain or Argentina in elimination play.

Stele wrote:
onewild wrote:

Turned over now, not really interested in the training sessions the US basketball team is having against Nigeria to be honest.

No doubt. They are on autopilot until they meet Spain or Argentina in elimination play.

Just quickly flicked it on, current score is 133 - 66 at the moment, the Americans are just taking the mick and enjoying themselves, on the verge of disrespectful levels.

Well there are records to be set. Highest score by US team. Highest score by US player. Highest score for any team. 3 pointers made records. Assist records. And so on...

It's not like clearing the bench really takes the talent level down that much.

You don't want them disqualified like the badminton girls for not playing hard right?

onewild wrote:

Just quickly flicked it on, current score is 133 - 66 at the moment, the Americans are just taking the mick and enjoying themselves, on the verge of disrespectful levels.

What exactly would you expect them to do? They have backups in and they're taking jump shots. Outside of sitting on the floor, you can't really sandbag more than that.

http://swimswam.com/2012/08/phelps-begins-last-run-at-olympic-three-peat-live/ Takeshi Matsuda... no you take that last spot...

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/World/31538.asp?q=2012-London-Olympics:-Chad-le-Clos-Blazes-to-Top-Seed-in-100-Fly;-Michael-Phelps-Qualifies-Second-in-Threepeat-Bid;-Milorad-Cavic,-Tyler-McGill-Also-Advance

Germany's Ben Starke and Japan's Takeshi Matsuda set up a swimoff with 16th-place tying 52.36s. Starke moved on to the semis after Matsuda elected not to do the swimoff.

I understand the idea behind resting up, but to give up a semi-final race spot seems weird.