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Winter Olympic Events you would eliminate (1 Viewer)

Patrick_S

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With the Winter Olympics well under way I got to thinking, if I were in charge what events would I remove from the games?

While not my complete list I would do away with Snowboarding Half Pipe and Figure Skating. I just do not like events that involve human judges being the determining factor.
I prefer events in which the out come is determined on the field of play.

Does anyone else have events that they would like to eliminate? If so why would you eliminate the event?
 

Lew Crippen

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True enough figure skating is judged—then again so are gymnastics and diving in the Summer games.

Even with all the unevenness in judging, I find what these athletes can do to be so compelling that it is worth watching nonetheless.

I’d also observe that human judgment comes into play in many ‘objective’ sports. Good, bad and ugly calls have decided the outcome of many a game.
 

Holadem

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Why would anyone want to eliminate something as beautiful and mesmerizing as this?!

Curling deserves to stay, for sheer originality and absurdity :D.

--
H
 

Lynda-Marie

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Actually, listening to the commentary of judged sports is RIPE for MST3K fans, especially figure skating:

"You should talk. When was the last time YOUR fat, has-been ass did a jump like that?"

I spend a good deal of time with a friend heckling the judges every time an event like this comes around. It's a pretty sad commentary on my life.
 

Bruce Hedtke

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Whichever ones Americans don't win gold in :D

Seriously, curling. Not that I think it's worthless or pointless but because everytime I'm skimming through the channels and I happen across the broadcast of it, I can feel myself being sucked into the evil vortex of curling. It's a black hole...I can't look away.

Bruce
 

Adam_S

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speedskating, just so damn boring to watch, stupefying actually.

I'm definitely getting my four year figure skating fix, damn if Pleshenko wasn't amazing tonight. Also enjoying some downhill skiing too (Nordic Combined was pretty cool and moguls was surprisinging fun) due to the magic of TiVo and watching it at 2x, done more quickly and eliminate repetitive Maddon commentary. I enjoy snowboarding as well because what they do on the halfpipe just seems so surreal.

But figure skating is my favorite.

Curling on the other hand was the best reason to play the N64 Nagano Olympics game, the most fun event on the whole game.

Ski jump is cool. Who doesn't like luge (yay sledding competitions!) and bobsledding. :)
 

andrew markworthy

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For all those who want to dispose of figure skating - so what you're saying is that you don't like attractive young women in short skirts doing vertical splits? ;) By all means get rid of the men's figure skating, but the women's figure skating stays.

The winter sport I would get rid of is that dumbass skiing down a short bumpy track with a couple of little jumps thrown in (sorry, can't remember its name). I can't think of a more pathetic-looking 'sport' other than that farce in cycling where they all go as slowly as possible round the track until the last 100 metres. And please nobody give me the 'it's a lot harder than it looks and it's really technical' argument - it looks dumb.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Ice dancing and all the "extreme sports". Personally, I do not think that any sport that determines its winner via judging is truly a sport, even though the performers are very talented individuals. However, it's a performance, similar to spending an evening at the ballet, not a competitive sport.


However, there is not a judge deciding that one touchdown is worth only 4 points and another worth 8 points due to "artistic merit". Every sport has rules that need to be enforced, but the actual scoring is completely objective.
 

Chuck Mayer

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Figure skating is the beating heart of the Winter Olympics, especially in terms of $$$$ (financing a lot of the rest of it). My personal fave sport is speedskating. I wouldn't get rid of any of it, save for Bob Costas and the horrific NBC coverage.

Great picture, Thomas.
 

Jay H

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I would get rid of figure skating too, not entirely just because it's subjective is that I can see that elsewhere other than the olympics. There are so many pro tours and "world cup" events on tv that having half the TV schedule on the olympics dedicated to figure skating of some kind is kind of redundant. Kind of like basketball in the summer olympics.

Hockey, is at least played differently than the NHL, it's more open and less physical and it's more fun to watch, especially the women's hockey. Skiing, you can see elsewhere but not as much the same fashion as figure skating which can have 2+ hours in prime time dedicated to it.

I think the speedskating relays are very fun to watch, though sometimes I'd like to see those guys skate on tracks, not ovals. The same reason I can't stand watching NASCAR and much prefer anything like WRC events or at least F1 racing.
Put those speedskaters outside and on non-ovals!

jay
 

Jeff Gatie

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Guess you've never watched baseball, football, hockey, basketball etc. All of them are judged by humans and I guarantee you there is less objectiveness in judging the approach, execution and landing of a salchow than there is in the average MLB umpire's strike zone. Also, the judging rules in Figure Skating can't be less complicated than the home run rules in Tampa Bay.


As I said in the other thread, I'd rather play a pick-up hockey game on 3 AM ice and lose to a girl's team than win the gold medal at the Olympics in Figure Skating, but these are incredible athletes. Plus, they have to look good in froo froo costumes, something most NHL'ers never have to contend with (thank god).

Ice Dancing, on the other hand, does fails the "Official Jeff Gatie Definition of a Sport, Rules 1 and 3":

1) Must not be derived from another sport just so people who suck at the original sport can get a chance to win a medal.
Examples: Rhythmic Gymnastics, Synchronized Swimming, Ice Dancing

3) Must have a risk of injury greater than doing average everyday things like taking a shower or shoveling snow. Examples: Golf, Bowling, Billiards, Ice Dancing.
:D

PS, besides - Katarina Witt, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sasha Cohen? Yowsa! Plus, have you've seen Tara Lapinsky lately? She was barely 16 in 98', but ain't 16 no more. ;)
 

andrew markworthy

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Just out of curiosity (and this isn't a challenge, but genuine interest) - how many people who think skating et al are artistic and too subjective would object to e.g. a piano playing competition as being a meaningless way of discriminating between different pianists?
 

Jeff Gatie

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:laugh:

My mom called me up the other night and said "I don't know if you want to hear this, but Curling is on USA right now." I flipped it on and I too was sucked in. Last Olympics I found myself watching the Womens's preliminary rounds between Canada and Who-cares-ikstan at 2AM and still could not look away.
 

Scott Merryfield

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But curling fails your Rule #3, Jeff. :D

I'm not denying that figure skaters are very talented and gifted performers, and I will watch some of the women's skating (hey, I'm a sucker for a good-looking female in a short skirt, too ;) ), but I pretty much ignore the scoring and medal competition part of the event. They may as well draw names out of a hat to determine the winner, as far as I'm concerned.

Ice Dancing, on the other hand, makes absolutely no sense to me as an Olympic sport.
 

Jeff Gatie

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I guess I am biased because I had a sister who was into competitive sakting, so I understand most of the judging and can see the difference between a superb and no so superb program. It does not take much and a lot of it is easy to pick up just by watching. Essentially, if it looks good, it is good.
 

RobertR

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Sometimes you can see clear differences in figure skating--a wobbly spin, a stumble, etc. But there are too many examples of biased judging in it for my taste (especially political biases). I much prefer sports that involve objective accomplishments--the fastest time, the longest, highest, etc. As for the "attractive women in short skirts" aspect, trying to put a number on it misses the point. :)
 

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