Beijing 2008 Olympics

yeah but um that cute girl sang that song...

Heads up warning! If you don't want to know who won the 100m avoid sports related websites as it already happened. I was the victim of going to espn.com and finding out who won when I didn't even know it had happened already (didn't even know the final was today). Pretty sure it wasn't on T.V anywhere even on CBC live up here as they are holding it back on CBC and NBC for prime time.

We're beating the Chinese in total medals; but do you guys think we'll be able to catch up to them in the gold category?

Yeah, so now Michael Phelps is the best Olympic athlete of all time. I bet the Chinese are hoping like hell Beijing gets mentioned in the same sentence as him for all time.

I really wish someone could explain to me why NBC stamps that "Live" logo in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Who exactly is it live for? I was in Philadelphia Monday and Tuesday, and happened to see on the internet that Phelps had won some race. Then later that night I saw him win it "Live" on NBC. East Coast? Not live. Here in the mountain time zone, I'm able to get the results for all of Phelps' races 30 minutes to an hour before they show up on TV. Mountain Time Zone? Not live.

Is NBC playing it live for some island in the Atlantic, and everyone else gets tape delayed? What poor saps are being fooled by thinking they're watching anything live on NBC? Why is NBC not being lambasted for doing such a poor job with this? I had to watch the Phelps race on Sunday at 11:40 PM. They could have played it much earlier and had it available to young kids (or more of them). Same here in the Mountain time zone. Play it actually live, and more young kids could see the stupid event.

Bunch of idiots in charge of scheduling at NBC.

I've seen the "LIVE" logo disappear for certain events and I assumed those specific events already happened.

I just saw a time appear under the LIVE logo: 9:40pm CT, 10:25am Beijing. It's freakin 10:40pm PT right now. WTF? If it's not live, get rid of the word LIVE. Stupid jerks.

CannibalCrowley wrote:

We're beating the Chinese in total medals; but do you guys think we'll be able to catch up to them in the gold category?

We will when they tear all the medals off those horrible 13-year-old girls on the Chinese gymnastics team and find it necessary to throw them in a lake to save face not to mention the population.

Ya know we all make dead baby jokes but I hear that in China all those jokes are real. Oh damn I just poked a bear.

Rat Boy wrote:

Yeah, so now Michael Phelps is the best Olympic athlete of all time. I bet the Chinese are hoping like hell Beijing gets mentioned in the same sentence as him for all time.

I wonder if it gets boring standing on that stage 8 times. If perhaps on the 6th or the 7th time your up there you feel the need to cry like you mean it. I think Rabbit needs to hunt down Phelps and ask him.

I'm honestly more impressed with Bolts 100m run then all this Phelps stuff. Sure the guy won 8 medals but at the same time its kinda ridiculous how many swimming events there are. If there was enough running events for Bolt to run in he would probably be equally as dominant. Can't wait for the 200m race and Donavan Bailey on CBC was loving the idea of Bolt crushing Johnsons record considering the history Bailey and Johnson have.

We need a drinking game for whenever Michael Phelps gets mentioned in another sport's broadcast.

Rat Boy wrote:

We need a drinking game for whenever Michael Phelps gets mentioned in another sport's broadcast.

We would all die of Alcohol poisoning.

A new king was coronated in a pool in Beijing. He saved the Games in barely more than a half-hour, too. Fast, huh?
Well, that's how long it took Michael Phelps to win eight gold medals and become the ultimate Olympian

from over on the front page of ESPN, I like the assumption he 'saved' the games from what I'm not sure. The gymnastics was great, Soccer has semis Argentina vs Brazil (never won gold Soccer) Tues morning and what Bolt did in the 100m (and can still do in 200m) and the Jamaican women going 1,2,3.

NBC running a commercial for the Phelps 8 medal DVD right after he got the 8th was funny also.

jowner wrote:

I'm honestly more impressed with Bolts 100m run then all this Phelps stuff. Sure the guy won 8 medals but at the same time its kinda ridiculous how many swimming events there are. If there was enough running events for Bolt to run in he would probably be equally as dominant.

Aren't there though? There are a ton of running events, Bolt only runs in two of them, by choice. Phelps is a big deal exactly because he is so versatile. If Bolt was capable of competing in eight of the running events, that would be a huge deal too.

From this page:

- 10000m Men
- 100m Men
- 110m hurdles Men
- 1500m Men
- 200m Men
- 20km walk Men
- 3000m steeplechase Men
- 400m Men
- 400m hurdles Men
- 4x100m relay Men
- 4x400m relay Men
- 5000m Men
- 50km walk Men
- 800m Men
20km walk Men
50km walk Men

What? Why is this not on NBC!

LeapingGnome wrote:
jowner wrote:

I'm honestly more impressed with Bolts 100m run then all this Phelps stuff. Sure the guy won 8 medals but at the same time its kinda ridiculous how many swimming events there are. If there was enough running events for Bolt to run in he would probably be equally as dominant.

Aren't there though? There are a ton of running events, Bolt only runs in two of them, by choice. Phelps is a big deal exactly because he is so versatile. If Bolt was capable of competing in eight of the running events, that would be a huge deal too.

From this page:

- 10000m Men
- 100m Men
- 110m hurdles Men
- 1500m Men
- 200m Men
- 20km walk Men
- 3000m steeplechase Men
- 400m Men
- 400m hurdles Men
- 4x100m relay Men
- 4x400m relay Men
- 5000m Men
- 50km walk Men
- 800m Men

Your post has some credibility and some great humor. 50km walk men? 20km walk? I could then ask where Phelps was in the 1500m swim, the 50m and the backstroke?

If we want to use previous Olympics as a measure for Bolt to be really considered one of the greatest he would have to match Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis in Athletics by doing the long jump also. (oh yea and actually win the 200 on wed, vegas has him at 1.02 down from about a 1.5 after his 100m run)

I don't know enough about what it takes to do what event but I guess one could argue where Bolt is in the 400m? and 110 hurdles? Is there really that much difference in 100m and 110m hurdles I have no idea.

As for Phelps he won 3 medals in relays and 3 in events of the exact same distance that were only different in 'style'? I'm by no means a swimming expert but is there really that much difference between Butterfly, Medley and Freestyle 200m events? To put this in perspective Thorpes 6 golds were 3 relays and 3 Freestyles at the 200, 400, 800 distances. Spitz 7 were in the 100m Free, 200m Free, 100m Butterfly, 200m Butterfly, and 3 relays. It just seems to me in no other field then Swimming if you are dominant you can really run up the medal total. No fault to the athletes involved they didn't make the rules and Phelps obviously the best and arguably ever (I think its kinda silly to just say 7<8 = BEST!) swimmer.

Come Monday we already know the first topic on PTI will be Phelps 8 medals but at the same time I think atleast 1 of them is sensible enough to make the point that this does not mean we get to start comparing him to everyone outside his sport and label him the greatest Olympian ever.

edit: The only Olympic event I can think of that could run a medal total like this is maybe Mens Gymnastics where a guy wins the Team, Individual all around and all the singles (6 events?) events for the title of Spiderman!

Screw Phelps.. more women's volleyball!

jowner wrote:

As for Phelps he won 3 medals in relays and 3 in events of the exact same distance that were only different in 'style'? I'm by no means a swimming expert but is there really that much difference between Butterfly, Medley and Freestyle 200m events?

Is there really that much difference between running 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m and doing relays for 100m and 400m? I am not a swimming expert either but there must be differences in the events or someone would have done it before, and the typical Olympic result would be the same person winning medals in all of them.

I agree the swimming is a bit unique with high medal counts, I think history proves this with the people with really high medal counts, especially in the same games, are usually swimmers. Other sports have a lot of events too, so maybe just someone really really dominant hasn't come along yet (running, diving, gymnastics).

Remember Bolt just started training for the 100m a year ago. Maybe in four years at his next Olympics he'll expand his events and do a bunch of the running ones and then he'll be the major story. The way he ran the 100m he could have blown them away even more. I believe he could take the gold in the 200m and 400m and if he has a decent team also the golds in the relays. I don't know if he does any hurdling.

I'm not sure but I don't think there has ever been a 100m and 400m winner (will check later). There have been 100m and 200m doubles but I think the body type needed to win 400m compared to 100m is much different. Would be interesting to see at what distance endurance starts taking over physical power. Allot of the older style 100m winners were just pure muscle power type runners. 6'5 Bolt is really unique to the sport I'm pretty sure and the silver medal winner from Athens who was also 6'5 as historically guys that big were so poor at getting out of the blocks they couldn't make up their poor starts once their superior stride length kicked in. Seems technique/training is improving in the sport that your starting to see more slim tall runners.

Mayfield wrote:

Screw Phelps.. more women's volleyball!

Great point! Your prize is http://lessclothes.com/client/posts/p-159-the-germans-win WHICH IS NSFW OR IF YOUR WIFE/GF IS NEAR. Playboy shots of Germanys finest Olympians, the pictures are censored unless you click on them so please have mercy on me if this is offside :X

I am personally up for Women's Naked Diving

Via Reddit:
IMAGE(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l245/theredviola/goldfarming.jpg)

jowner wrote:
Mayfield wrote:

Screw Phelps.. more women's volleyball!

Great point! Your prize is http://lessclothes.com/client/posts/p-159-the-germans-win WHICH IS NSFW OR IF YOUR WIFE/GF IS NEAR. Playboy shots of Germanys finest Olympians, the pictures are censored unless you click on them so please have mercy on me if this is offside :X

Heck, you should see all the sites devoted to the behinds and signals.. definitely NSFW. But a good reason to watch the sport.

What's with all the Michael Phelps haterade lately? First J-Lo and now Amanda Beard? Success does breed contempt, apparently.

Too much Phelps too quickly. My wife and I were watching the 900th Phelps ad we've seen on NBC so far, and I turned to her and said sadly that I was already sick of him. He seems like a nice guy, but madison avenue is going to beat that horse to death in a month.

Come to think of it, Beard sounds kind of testy there. You can't take anything she says as a guide.

Wow. I just looked at the medal counts and it looks like a unified Korea would be kicking the snail snot out of the Germans.

Rat Boy wrote:

What's with all the Michael Phelps haterade lately? First J-Lo and now Amanda Beard? Success does breed contempt, apparently.

Its the ears. Those damn dumbo ears!

jowner wrote:

Its the ears. Those damn dumbo ears!

Hey, we call those "speed fins"

Funkenpants wrote:
jowner wrote:

Its the ears. Those damn dumbo ears!

Hey, we call those "speed fins"

Bowplanes.

Has anyone else noted that Usain Bolt is incomprehensibly fast?

Prederick wrote:

Has anyone else noted that Usain Bolt is incomprehensibly fast?

Yea watched the race live today, wasn't going to post anything till it aired in prime time for everyone else. Honestly cant describe how happy I was too see him do that. Its what the Olympics is about for a guy from 3m population Jamaica to show up and do something no one has ever done before winning both events while setting the WR's.

The Jamaican women are almost as strong in their races. For a people who are known for being laid back and on island time, they sure do pick up the energy level when the starter's gun goes off.

The most amazing thing about the 100M was how Usain Bolt pretty much just stood up out of his gait and started patting his chest with 10M left to go AND STILL SET A WORLD RECORD. When he decides to get serious, he's really going to crush the world.