The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Olympic edition

[germdoc]

These are picks so far. Could change if new contenders outdo them.

Best sport award: this is a tie. 2nd place finisher Eamon Sullivan said of gold medal winner Alain Bernard: ''To bounce back from that relay takes a lot of guts and he showed that today. Full credit to him. He swam a better race and the better man won on the day.''

Also, Park Tae Hwan said of Michael Phelps, who bested him in the 200 free, "I can copy him, but I don't think I could be as good as Phelps," said Park, a gold medalist himself in the 400 free. "It is my honor to compete with him."

Worst sport: Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian who threw down bronze medal in disgust (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...hissy-fit.html)

Also might consider Chinese OC, which apparently has been passing 13-y.o. girls as 16 in gymnastics.

Ugliest? No dispute here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bow-front.html. That had to hurt...

[footprintsinconc]

too bad for the bad sports!

the 2nd link doesnt work anymore ... wonder if it made it to some other site..

[germdoc]

the 2nd link doesnt work anymore ... wonder if it made it to some other site..

Yeah, it was removed b/o copyright violation. I changed to a link with pictures. Just as well--the raw video was a little nauseating...

[Rand]

The picture is nauseating. OUCH!!!!

[JR]

No, I am the worst sport...

...and it's because of men's synchronized diving.

I try to be tolerant. I'm okay with Will and Grace, and the brother on Six Feet Under lends a touch of realism to the show. Statistically, it can be expected that 10% of the people on this forum are gay. I'm okay with that. Really. Woodworking brings us together, and I'm comfortable with whatever sexuality I have left.

But we already have Project Runway. Do we really need men's synchronized diving, too? Do we need to show it instead of men's swimming, which is shown "live" later on, when it could actually be shown live (as in when it actually happens, as opposed to whenever "live" is on NBC's planet) instead of men's synchronized swimming?

And while I'm at it, how did those Russian men get the silver medal in team gymnastics? They didn't even compete. I know this because I watched the coverage. There were only two teams, China and USA. How the heck did those loser Americans come in third in a two-horse race?! Particularly when they had all that underdog, lost our two best guys, couldn't qualify before, but I'm do if for the Gipper backstory going for them? Man up, guys!

OTOh, I'm having great fun watchin Misty May and Kerri Walsh cruise through their events like German Panzers through Poland. But where do the competitors come from? They seem to just pop up one after another. When does it end? How do they decide third place - the team May/Walsh beat just before the last team? I have an idea - the other teams could play one another. That might be interesting!

And it's too bad there aren't more sports represented at the Olympics. Swimming's nice, gymnastics is cool, beach volleyball has definite goodness going for it. But wouldn't it something if they asked wrestlers or rowers or shooters to the party? It would be like a sports festival.

I'm just sayin'.

JR

[gsmittle]

I hear ya, JR. I kinda thought there were other sports and countries at the Olympics, but what do I know....

I did catch almost two minutes of dressage early one morning, though. Musta been a mistake.

g.

[germdoc]

I did catch almost two minutes of dressage early one morning, though. Musta been a mistake.

g.

If it involves men wearing a dress, count me out.

I'm becoming a real fan of women's beach volleyball. I like the uniforms. Misty May and Kerri's competitors? They're like the minority guys on Star Trek who beam down to the dangerous planet with Spock and Kirk. It's only a matter of time til they get vaporized or whatever. Just one question--how can any Olympic athlete be chunky? Those Belgians, they've been eating a few too many Belgian chocolates.

Reminds me of the Japanese and Korean swimmers. I've never seen a world-class chunky swimmer. Don't know how they do it.

[Uncle Cracker]

Also might consider Chinese OC, which apparently has been passing 13-y.o. girls as 16 in gymnastics.

Can't blame this one on the O.C. It is the Chinese government itself who issues the passports that these children use to "prove" their age.

[Uncle Cracker]

May-Walsh have talent to spare, but they nearly lost a set tonight because they forgot, albeit momentarily, that you still have to execute. This was a needed attitude adjustment that should be good enough to last the rest of the meet.

[shoottx]

The ony way to see any of the shooting is to watch the rewind programs on the NBC site. The coverage is not to bad, in fact the camera work on both trap and skeet has been excellent. It makes the event almost interesting. Saying that you need to understand I am a huge fan and I compete in these events. On top of all of that results will still suprise you since they are not covered any where else.

[TheRic]

.... Ugliest? No dispute here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bow-front.html. That had to hurt...

Understatement of the year. I would not be surprised if his weightlifting career is over.

[Uncle Cracker]

After an injury like that, many lifters simply cannot get their head around lifting again, regardless of the completeness of the repair and recovery. I ran into examples of a similar phenomenon in my younger days when I was involved in arm-wrestling. A sad thing...

[gsmittle]

Ugliest? No dispute here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...bow-front.html. That had to hurt...

That's just so... wrong. I hope the guy's doing OK. I can't even imagine how much that hurt.

g.

[gsmittle]

If it involves men wearing a dress, count me out.

Erm, the horse wears the dress...

LOML is bitterly disappointed that the guy's beach volleyball teams wear shirts. At least she can still ogle the divers, though.

g.

[Kristofor]

LOML is bitterly disappointed that the guy's beach volleyball teams wear shirts. At least she can still ogle the divers, though.

g.

If she wants to start the petition requiring all beach volleyball players to compete topless I think that she might find just a few people willing to sign....