Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Moderators: Shirley, Sabo, brian, rass, DaveInSeattle
Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Well we’re less than 12 hours away from curling, and hence, the start of the games.
I feel like the Sochi-Pyeongchang-Beijing trilogy has done irreparable damage to the Winter Games.
Does anyone have a more optimistic take?
I feel like the Sochi-Pyeongchang-Beijing trilogy has done irreparable damage to the Winter Games.
Does anyone have a more optimistic take?
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Sorry, I did that. Figured a new thread would be cool.
I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
- degenerasian
- The Dude
- Posts: 12394
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:22 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I feel Pyeongchang doesn't belong in this group? They ran a great games.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I don’t have anything against the Korean organizers. It’s just that Pyeongchang in the middle made it three Games in a row in an odd time zone for the main TV benefactor (and an odd location for European fans, who let’s face it bring a lot of the atmosphere that niche sports need).
So it’s not so much that 2018 was bad, it’s more like how Attack of the Clones was a fine but forgettable movie in between two stinkers. Am I right?
So it’s not so much that 2018 was bad, it’s more like how Attack of the Clones was a fine but forgettable movie in between two stinkers. Am I right?
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Nope.
Never seen a winter olympics with less hype in Canada.
Partially - I think - because there was a summer olympics just 6 months ago. Also no NHLers.
From the north coast of Lake Ontario
- degenerasian
- The Dude
- Posts: 12394
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:22 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
26 is on Milan so not much better. Should have been here in Calgary but our Mayor chickened out.
Vancouver or Denver might be putting something together for 30.
Vancouver or Denver might be putting something together for 30.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
- The Sybian
- The Dude
- Posts: 19108
- Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:36 am
- Location: Working in the Crap Part of Jersey
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I had no idea they were starting! I used to live Winter Olympics, but I can’t imagine I’ll watch much. I’d rather catch up on all the streaming shows in my queue.
An honest to God cult of personality - formed around a failed steak salesman.
-Pruitt
-Pruitt
- DaveInSeattle
- The Dude
- Posts: 8580
- Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Yeah...no hype at all for these Olympics. I don't know...maybe I'm a cranky old guy, but to me the Winter Olympics should be somewhere known for being...winter? Like you hear winter sports, places like Innsbruck or Grenoble or even Salt Lake and Vancouver seem right. Beijing? Does it even snow there? Where are the skiing events happening?
And then add in Covid...and the fact that there were Summer Olympics just 6 months ago....just doesn't seem like the normal thing.
And then add in Covid...and the fact that there were Summer Olympics just 6 months ago....just doesn't seem like the normal thing.
- degenerasian
- The Dude
- Posts: 12394
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:22 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
It snows more in Beijing than probably Vancouver and Sochi combined. Sochi is a beach resort. Beijing has mountains to the north past the Great Wall.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
- DaveInSeattle
- The Dude
- Posts: 8580
- Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Yeah, Sochi was a bad choice. The mountains were far away, and even then the conditions were terrible.degenerasian wrote: ↑Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:59 pm It snows more in Beijing than probably Vancouver and Sochi combined. Sochi is a beach resort. Beijing has mountains to the north past the Great Wall.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
For those of you who have Peacock or Xfinity customers, the competition has started. Mixed Curling with the US vs. the Aussies is on. Curling, gents.
My avatar corresponds on my place in the Swamp posting list with the all-time Home Run list. Number 45 is Paul Konerko with 439.
- MaxWebster
- The Big Lebowski
- Posts: 1550
- Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:07 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
truth
thanks this is a great watch while i'm working :)
had no idea Australia had a curling program/team
thanks this is a great watch while i'm working :)
had no idea Australia had a curling program/team
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
It looks like her ink on her left arm is relatively new, while his looks at least a few years old.
My avatar corresponds on my place in the Swamp posting list with the all-time Home Run list. Number 45 is Paul Konerko with 439.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
From ESPN - Olympics 2022 -- How we ended up with a Winter Games amid China's human rights crisis
RE: the lack of "hype" for these games:
RE: the lack of "hype" for these games:
And this guy being a little too real:Already, we have seen Olympic sponsors playing down their connection to this Games, with The Wall Street Journal noting that several big brands -- including Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble -- did not launch their typical pre-Olympics advertising blitz ahead of Beijing, seemingly in an attempt to lessen their association with China.
Also, I forgot/never knew that Oslo, Norway dropped out of the bidding for the 2022 games not long before the deciding vote:Shortly after Beijing won the 2022 bid, Gian Franco Kasper, then the head of the International Skiing Federation and an honorary IOC member, told a Swiss newspaper that the choice of Beijing made perfect sense. "Dictators can organize events such as this without asking the people's permission," Kasper said. "For us, everything is easier in dictatorships."
The IOC blamed the media for distorting the IOC's requests and disputed Norway's reasons for backing out.Only then, about six months before the final vote, Oslo backed out. In addition to financial concerns about actually staging the Games, Norwegian politicians (and their constituents) were put off by, among other things, the IOC's alleged demands for perks during the Olympics. The IOC's requirements included an audience with Norway's king and a cocktail party for IOC executives with the Norwegian royal family (paid for by the Norwegian government) as well as "seasonal fruit and cakes" in members' hotel rooms, mandatory smiles for all arriving IOC members from hotel employees, extended hours for hotel bars and service of only Coca-Cola products. The IOC also requested that local schools be canceled during the Games and residents be encouraged to go away on vacation.
I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
- The Sybian
- The Dude
- Posts: 19108
- Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:36 am
- Location: Working in the Crap Part of Jersey
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Isn't the US doing a partial boycott of these games? No government officials and there was talk of no media at one point. I forgot the reason, maybe hiding COVID info or human rights stuff?
An honest to God cult of personality - formed around a failed steak salesman.
-Pruitt
-Pruitt
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
For what it's worth, it seems like the 2022 bidding was an eye opener even for the IOC. I think even they realized that something was wrong if Beijing and Almaty are the only two candidates. Since then it's been a rout for the West: France, Italy, USA, Australia (and good odds for another USA or Canada squeezed in there).
- DaveInSeattle
- The Dude
- Posts: 8580
- Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I think that the diplomatic boycott is because of human rights stuff, but the broadcasters are doing it remotely because of Covid concerns.The Sybian wrote: ↑Wed Feb 02, 2022 10:04 am Isn't the US doing a partial boycott of these games? No government officials and there was talk of no media at one point. I forgot the reason, maybe hiding COVID info or human rights stuff?
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Australia has a curling team?
Must be expats who bartend in the Rockies.
Must be expats who bartend in the Rockies.
From the north coast of Lake Ontario
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Is curling not an indoor sport in Canada?
- degenerasian
- The Dude
- Posts: 12394
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:22 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Nope they're Australian. They train in the Rockies, sacrificed three years to get to these Olympics.
Mixed curling has opened the sport to many countries since you only need two people instead of four. Hungary also has a really good mixed doubles team that just missed out here.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
How many of you can say you’ve personally attended a curling bonspiel?
SC raises hand
Flex!
SC raises hand
Flex!
"What a bunch of pedantic pricks." - sybian
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Nascar style all at once ski racing please.
- Nonlinear FC
- The Dude
- Posts: 11075
- Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:09 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I really don't. Add in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and I'm just really not into it this cycle. And this is coming from a guy whose wife isn't a big sports person, but LOOOOVES the Olympics. Her enthusiasm is way down this year and it feels... weird.
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
skicross is an event...x-games type addition to the program. Now if they can keep pushing beyond short track speed skating to Red Bull Crashed Ice....
also been a very long time since an olympic speed skater's mom has sued a citizen of the swamp (maybe this goes into the stuff that makes me feel old).
- A_B
- The Dude
- Posts: 23591
- Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
- Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Skicross and snowcross are fun spectator events on TV.wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:22 pmskicross is an event...x-games type addition to the program. Now if they can keep pushing beyond short track speed skating to Red Bull Crashed Ice....
also been a very long time since an olympic speed skater's mom has sued a citizen of the swamp (maybe this goes into the stuff that makes me feel old).
Hold on, I'm trying to see if Jack London ever gets this fire built or not.
- Steve of phpBB
- The Dude
- Posts: 8664
- Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:44 am
- Location: Feeling gravity's pull
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I think SLC is making a bid to host with Winter Olympics in 2030.
The facilities seem to be in good shape from the last time and they've already made the crooked land deals, so I don't think it'd be too costly.
The facilities seem to be in good shape from the last time and they've already made the crooked land deals, so I don't think it'd be too costly.
Is a bonspiel mean the whole tournament or one day where a building full of matches is going on. Because we did go to one of the matches in Vancouver. It was great.
And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I’ve never sat through a whole tournament, either. I was at a small-town, regional thing in Saskatchewan, years ago, while we were visiting my grandparents. The audience was mainly old farmers trudging in wearing old caps and galoshes.
"What a bunch of pedantic pricks." - sybian
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Whoever does the PR for Curling over the last 20 or so years needs a raise. The first I heard of it was the 1998 Games, and the general consensus was "What the hell is this? You slide a rock down the ice and then you sweep?" But then gradually it seemed that the sport has developed a niche following, and as at very least considered legit. And somehow, it's become, if not a marquee event, at least one that gets a decent amount of coverage and eyeballs.
One of the things I like about the Olympics is the sports I don't necessarily follow closely getting a chance to see them. Now I'm pretty much down with any Olympic event in either season. Except for Racewalking. And Ice Dancing. Those sports are fucking dumb. But hook an IV drip of Curling for me.
One of the things I like about the Olympics is the sports I don't necessarily follow closely getting a chance to see them. Now I'm pretty much down with any Olympic event in either season. Except for Racewalking. And Ice Dancing. Those sports are fucking dumb. But hook an IV drip of Curling for me.
My avatar corresponds on my place in the Swamp posting list with the all-time Home Run list. Number 45 is Paul Konerko with 439.
- degenerasian
- The Dude
- Posts: 12394
- Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 12:22 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
The best thing about curling are the mics. You can hear everything. Teams openly talk strategy in front of each other, they don't care. So you're right in the middle of the action.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
- Nonlinear FC
- The Dude
- Posts: 11075
- Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:09 pm
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Growing up in MI, curling was fairly ubiquitous because we only had a few channels and one of them was Canadian. I think it was the CBC?
I hated curling, mainly because I didn't really understand it, and it would be on ALL FUCKING DAY. With limited channel choices, having one essentially blacked out for ice shuffleboard felt like a personal affront.
Nowadays, I can enjoy a nice highlight package, but I'm still not sitting around watching that sport for more than 20-30 minutes. I'm sure the novelty makes it interesting for folks, but it's the rough equivalent of watching pool, bowling or darts to me. I understand it's very skillful... I also just don't give a fuck.
But, absolutely agree that a lot of the sports are cool as fuck, but I only really watch an event in the Olympics. All the stuff on bobsled hills fascinate me. Ski jumping is cool.
Oh, another sport that takes up a bunch of airtime that I can only watch the last 15 minutes of is anything XCountry. I don't mind the Biathalon, because I love the penalty for missing shots. But, still, that shit just takes too long.
I hated curling, mainly because I didn't really understand it, and it would be on ALL FUCKING DAY. With limited channel choices, having one essentially blacked out for ice shuffleboard felt like a personal affront.
Nowadays, I can enjoy a nice highlight package, but I'm still not sitting around watching that sport for more than 20-30 minutes. I'm sure the novelty makes it interesting for folks, but it's the rough equivalent of watching pool, bowling or darts to me. I understand it's very skillful... I also just don't give a fuck.
But, absolutely agree that a lot of the sports are cool as fuck, but I only really watch an event in the Olympics. All the stuff on bobsled hills fascinate me. Ski jumping is cool.
Oh, another sport that takes up a bunch of airtime that I can only watch the last 15 minutes of is anything XCountry. I don't mind the Biathalon, because I love the penalty for missing shots. But, still, that shit just takes too long.
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
- The Sybian
- The Dude
- Posts: 19108
- Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:36 am
- Location: Working in the Crap Part of Jersey
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
It was definitely on CBC Saturday afternoons in the mid 90's. We ended up watching a full match one particularly hungover Saturday. We were hurting too bad to get up and there was nothing else on. It started as a joke, but we got into the strategy of it. By the end, we were calling out shots and debating what the players should do. We watched the Brier Cup (Canadian Championship) and the World Championship that year was in Hamilton Ontario, just 90 minutes away from campus, so we decided we were going to attend, but it was the same week as Spring Break, so that ended the dream.Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Wed Feb 02, 2022 3:40 pm Growing up in MI, curling was fairly ubiquitous because we only had a few channels and one of them was Canadian. I think it was the CBC?
An honest to God cult of personality - formed around a failed steak salesman.
-Pruitt
-Pruitt
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
and that's what I likes about yous SC
- A_B
- The Dude
- Posts: 23591
- Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
- Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Do they curl in Vermont? Looking for a second scene.
Hold on, I'm trying to see if Jack London ever gets this fire built or not.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Our Ice Warrior Queens are on right now against Finland.
My avatar corresponds on my place in the Swamp posting list with the all-time Home Run list. Number 45 is Paul Konerko with 439.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Curling is a staple of winter sports coverage here and has been since I was a kid.
I've curled a few times and it is a lot of fun. And the best tradition is that the winning team buys the losing team the first round after the match.
I've curled a few times and it is a lot of fun. And the best tradition is that the winning team buys the losing team the first round after the match.
From the north coast of Lake Ontario
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
The good thing about the lack of buzz is that I can watch tape delayed coverage without fear of spoilers
- A_B
- The Dude
- Posts: 23591
- Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
- Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I don't get worried about spoilers for the Winter olympics because I probably won't remember most of the names of the winners anyway by the time I get to coverage. Wait, was it Sigur Sigursson or Sonson Alfredsson that won Nordic combined?
Hold on, I'm trying to see if Jack London ever gets this fire built or not.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
You call yourself a sports fan. Everyone knows that Sigur Sigursson only focuses on the Super G.
My avatar corresponds on my place in the Swamp posting list with the all-time Home Run list. Number 45 is Paul Konerko with 439.
- A_B
- The Dude
- Posts: 23591
- Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
- Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.
Re: Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
I should keep my winter sports takes Yandle-focused, obviously.L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 03, 2022 10:09 amYou call yourself a sports fan. Everyone knows that Sigur Sigursson only focuses on the Super G.
Hold on, I'm trying to see if Jack London ever gets this fire built or not.