2010 Winter Olympics - Vancouver, Canada (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by ThomasC

They also broadcasted the outside flame lighting, so I don't think they cut out anything of major importance.

They cut out the ambience with incessant chattering by the "hosts"

 

[ThomasC]

Originally Posted by DaveF , but yeah, they were annoying.

 

[DaveF]

Quote:Originally Posted by Edwin-S /forum/thread/298077/2010-winter-olympics-vancouver-canada#post_3660540

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by DaveF /forum/thread/298077/2010-winter-olympics-vancouver-canada#post_3660618

 

[Ockeghem]

It's great to see some snow in Vancouver! It was coming down lightly during the men's first round luge.

Wow, what a finish in the short track event. The Koreans were moving toward a sweep, and then two of them knocked each other out, and the U.S. got the silver and bronze as a result.

The Canadian women (the last I looked they were leading 15-0) and men have great teams in hockey. I'm pulling for both to win the gold.

 

[TonyD]

Haven't the 'Lympics aired on more then one channel previously?

I see some events are on cnbc but Uni HD had a bunch of stuff too, including replaying the opening China Ceremony many times.

 

[Walter C]

Originally Posted by Ockeghem But at least Korea did get the gold.

 

[Ockeghem]

^^^

Yeah, those two Koreans sure did look surprised.

"Haven't the 'Lympics aired on more then one channel previously?"

Yes. In 2002, we watched (I think) CNBC since our provider did not include what they referred to as 'local locals' in our package. That was the year that I became quite familiar with curling.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

I liked this Opening Ceremony much more than the bloated, overindulgent Ceremony for Beijing.


Bullshit! Whatever you might think of the Atlanta Games we got tons of financial benefits. We got a brand new baseball park (Turner Field) that wasn't paid for by the taxpayers. Plus, other substantial infrastructure upgrades that were privately funded. Since the Games the city has grown tremendously, thanks in part to hosting the Games.

"Economic research shows that hosting the Olympics brings no financial benefit to the host city / country. But it brings happiness. The host people are happier, on the whole, having hosted such a major event. So enjoy your additional happiness and try not to dwell on the cost"

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell

[#*&#!]! Whatever you might think of the Atlanta Games we got tons of financial benefits. We got a brand new baseball park (Turner Field) that wasn't paid for by the taxpayers. Plus, other substantial infrastructure upgrades that were privately funded. Since the Games the city has grown tremendously, thanks in part to hosting the Games.

That might be. Everything I've heard and read the past decade or so is that generally public expenditures on sporting events and facilities are not recouped. Atlanta may be the exception; I don't know.

In which case you're both richer and happier! Hopefully the Canadians will ultimately be as well off.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell ">[/url]

******* Whatever you might think of the Atlanta Games we got tons of financial benefits. We got a brand new baseball park (Turner Field) that wasn't paid for by the taxpayers. Plus, other substantial infrastructure upgrades that were privately funded. Since the Games the city has grown tremendously, thanks in part to hosting the Games.

[/QUOTE]
Financially, Atlanta may be the closest thing to an exception as there's been in the last several decades...

... however the damage done to our national image by the parade of chrome-plated pickup trucks during the opening ceremonies is something that will persist much, much longer.

 

[Ockeghem]

Congratulations to Canada for their first gold medal of these games, and their first ever while hosting. Well done! (I was also pleased that the U.S. got the bronze in this same event. I thought for sure that he was knocked out of medal contention, but he wasn't.

)

Here's the story on Bilodeau:

http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/freestyleskiing/news/story?id=4914790

And not too shabby a showing by the Canadiens in pairs skating (short program). Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay are currently in second. I was also pleased by the U.S. pairs performance in their short program. Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig are currently in the fourth position.

 

[Jay H]

Yes, was so glad that Bilodeau kicked some butt on the Men's Moguls and beat Dale Begg-Smith who was reported to run some kind of spam company... Down with spam!

Jay

 

[Walter C]

It must have been sweeter with the fact that Begg-Smith is a Canadian competing for another country. Honestly, I thought it was going to happen to Bilodeau, the same way it happened with Hiel the night before.

And the Chinese are dominating the pairs figure skating so far.

 

[Sumnernor]

In Europe (Germany) most of the sporting events are shown everyweek unlike (I believe) in the US such as the alpine and Nordic events, luge and bob.sled.For those not familier with Cross country - I find that the events are much more enjoyable than the alpine events such as the downhill and slalum. Many of the Nordic cross country events are by the clock - each person starts every minute or so and other events which I prefer are "mass starts". The particular events that I recommend are for the men : Sat, Feb 20 30 km (first half in the classic style and 2nd half in the free or skating style). For me, more interesting is the "free" style. The "classic" style is what most people learn at first when starting out with cross country. The other event is on Wed, Feb 24 the men's 4x10km relay. The first half done in the classic and the 2nd half done in the free. What makes the cross country races so interesting is the uphill and downhill and the path is usually not very straight. Doing a circle on level ground is difficult but going downhill at speed is much more so.

 

[Jay H]

Yes the "classic" style is generally called "nordic" style in America and the faster "freestyle" is skate sking. Most Backcountry skiing is nordic just because the skinny trails aren't condusive to the wide tracks needed for skate skiing but then skate skiing is much faster overall. I don't follow competitive XC skiing but I know skate skis are a bit different than waxed or waxless nordic skis so I presume the racers switch skis between the two types? or is there some kind of hybrid ski I'm unaware of...

A lot of the skiing and luge/bobsled are somewhat better as a spectator on TV, but it is hard to replace the "atmosphere" of being there...

Jay

 

[Sumnernor]

I agree with the statement about "being there" in getting the atmosphere but that is true with all sports. I first started watching cross country ("Long Lauf" in germ an) back in the early 80's when the world Championships were in Lahti Finnland. There in the last part, the course comes down the hill with a 180 degree downhill turn- very interesting when 2 or 3 people are together.

My terms "classic" and "skating" are from the english announcers on Eurosport. The german uses "Klassisch" and "Frei". On the official FIS website (http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/) is uses "Classic" and "Free". I have seen that in the US, people send a "text" message but that is not exactly correct. I don't have a cell phone but the germans use the correct name which I am told is "SMS".

I predict that the US will get a medal (perhaps gold) in the Team Nordic Combination. The Americans all come from Steamboat Springs.

For the men & women events, they change skis (?and poles) between the Classic/Nordic and the Free part. From what you said - is their no wax for the Classic/Nordic events. The big countries such as Norway have a big staff to determine the best wax.

I predict that the Italians will get a medal in the relay.

 

[Jay H]

Sumnernor: Very interesting, thanks for the help. I'm an occasional backcountry XC Skier and have waxless "nordic" skis (Karhu Pavos) but I don't have a downhill or any kind of ski background so all of it is fairly new and I'm self-taught so I usually stick to intermediate-beginner like trails. Enjoy it a lot and great to be able to watch it on TV. The snow by me (I'm just outside New York City) is typically crappy, icy, we get lots of mixed precipitation but this year it has been good south of the city as you may have heard.

We always call it text messaging, but my contract with ATT does use "SMS" so I'm familiar with that, it's not free for me so I don't use it...

Wax skis aren't as popular with the general public except for the really serious and the racers who race Nordic/Classic style. However, XC skiing, in general, along with snowshoeing has been getting more popular as people start to think of becoming more fit and realizing how much prettier and nicer hiking in winter is as opposed to summer time hiking.


I'm surprised I didn't see more Norwegians in the nordic combined. I know they are huge in XC Skiing, but is ski jumping big in Norway? Cause I know they seem to dominate the XC skiing yet I didn't see a lot of Norwegians fighting for the medals in the Nordic combined...

Jay

 

[Sumnernor]

The best Norwegian in the Nordic Combination is Magnus Moan. In the recent NC he started 40th and ended up 9th. He is the best cross-country racer in the NC but is somewhat poor in ski-jumping. He needs to improve alot in his jumping. I believe he is currently 3rd or 4th in the NC standings. Norway has some good jumpers trying to keep pace with the Austrians. Moan ought to be coached in the ski-jumping phase. Because of the extreme competition within Norway's cross-country, he does Nordic Combination. The coach of the Norwegian ski-jumping is a finn who is very good.

My above suggestions of what to watch does not mean not to watch the rest. It also helps to be fimilar with the cast of characters. I hope that the NBC announcer knows enough of who to watch etc. Most USA viewers are very unfamilier with Xctry racing as it is not shown, to my knowlige, on US TV. Most/all people in the US do not hear much about when the Ice Hockey worlds are happening (in May every year)

Another person to watch in the NC besides Magnus Moan is Hannu Manninen who is finnish He is fair with the jumping and good with the cross-country - not as good as with Moan.. He won the NC for several years and wants to get his first (individual) olympic gold medal.

I predict that the Italians will get at least another medal. Yesterday, Piller-Cottrer,an Italian, was just beaten by a Swiss in the 15km free race. The italians did well in Torino Olympics and I consider the Italian men to be the best of non-scandinavia countries. A few years ago in the Olympics in Norway, the Italians just beat Norway (with Bjørn Dæhlie) in the men's relay. Other names to watch out for are Piller-Cottrer and Di Centa. A few years ago, there were 2 very dominant Italian girls: Stefania Belmondo and Manuela Di Centa. I just read that Manuela is the sister of Giorgio Di Centa who is in the 2010 Olympics and that she was the first Italian women to climb Mt. Everest in 2003

. My only visit to an importand event was one day in 1999 in Ramsau, Austria where the World Championships were and I saw Belmondo win a race. Pre Salt Lake City Olympics , the russian women won alot but I am sure they were not "clean".

 

[Jay H]

Sumnernor:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/olympics/2010/writers/phil_taylor/02/16/skinny.ski.jumpers/index.html?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin

Don't follow ski jumping either but it appears that the world's best ski jumpers are also very very skiiny. Check out those height/weight ratios in the link above, men that are like 5'10"ish and weighing around 130lbs!!! That's pretty light and I imagine would not be that ideal with the XC skiing part, I don't see how they would have the energy and reserves to make it 10km!! I would think an ideal balance for the nordic combined would require a bit more muscle mass and muscle mass = weight...


Jay