2008 Summer Olympics - Beijing, China

[BlueCrush]

So is anyone excited about the Summer Games in China? I always look forward to the Opening Ceremonies (Tonight 6:30pm-11:00pm CST on NBC). My favorite events to watch are:Track & FieldDivingSwimmingFencingGymnasticsWeightliftingWrestlingI Also always like to follow the medal count. It's just fun to see where everyone is at. I like to root for the smaller countries that only have a couple entries.

[joatmon]

is not really excited. I'm going to be crazy busy the whole time they are going on, won't be able to watch much. I hope that whatever US TV network has the broadcast contract does a better job than last time. WIth the time zone difference, the events will be completed many hours before they hit the airwaves here in the US, and it is frustrating to listen to the commentary, even the between event commentary, of the talking heads as they try to build some suspense. If you are going to watch it on TV and don't like spoilers, then hide from the internet, and the other TV networks.I do like it when the tiny countries do well in some event.

[bodhi_tree777]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon » I do like it when the tiny countries do well in some event. Same here, I tend to root for countries who are a political or economic underdog, the same way I root for whoever's playing against the Yankees . May watch some of these Olympics, but its been far more interesting watching the Chinese government go into paranoid EVERYONE SMILE WE'RE A HAPPY FAMILY mode, what with the fashion tips for its' citizens (no more than 3 colors at a time!) and forced english lessons.And lets not forget the forced evictions. And heavy-handed security. And forced layoffs. Really inspiring some national pride there.

[Houston]

The opening ceremonies were terrific - absolutely stunning.I hope everyone can forget about politics, realize athletes from around the world have put their all for many years into training for the Olympics, and simply enjoy what they see at this wonderful competition.CBC carries it all -or almost all - of the time. (Comcast channel 99 here in SE Michigan.)

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by Houston »The opening ceremonies were terrific - absolutely stunning.I hope everyone can forget about politics, realize athletes from around the world have put their all for many years into training for the Olympics, and simply enjoy what they see at this wonderful competition.CBC carries it all -or almost all - of the time. (Comcast channel 99 here in SE Michigan.)+1 it was awesome, though I fell asleep during the entrance of the countries... ah well I recorded it lol.You guys see the news though? One of the american coach's relatives was killed when touring a site in the city. They can't question the attacker because the guy committed suicide at the scene. Its believed that the attack was not premeditated as the relative was not wearing anything to indicate he was a part of the american Olympic team.

[Blueridge9]

Quote, originally posted by Houston »The opening ceremonies were terrific - absolutely stunning.I hope everyone can forget about politics, realize athletes from around the world have put their all for many years into training for the Olympics, and simply enjoy what they see at this wonderful competition.Yes, stunning!! I was AMAZED at the number of volunteers working cooperatively for months to practice the routines. There were 2008 drummers in that opening number for example. I learned that China invented paper and has a maritime tradition. I especially loved seeing all the little children in costumes and the Tai Chi masters.The Canadian team looked like they were enjoying themselves. I think the American team was over dressed. I liked that the Australians wore sandals.About the unfortunate violence...I wonder why the stabber would attack? Was he making a protest about all the Olympic activity or was he a disgruntled employee or a rejected boyfriend of the tour guide or just a disturbed person? Even Chinese heavy-handed police could not prevent that.

[BlueCrush]

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »+1 it was awesome, though I fell asleep during the entrance of the countries... ah well I recorded it lol.You guys see the news though? One of the american coach's relatives was killed when touring a site in the city. They can't question the attacker because the guy committed suicide at the scene. Its believed that the attack was not premeditated as the relative was not wearing anything to indicate he was a part of the american Olympic team. The opening ceremonies were awesome!The guy that was killed and his wife that was injured are local business people who owned Bachman's one of the most well known local plant and flower nurseries in Minnesota. Sooo sad. Here's the local headline:http://www.startribune.com/

[tribalman]

i missed the opening ceremonies cause i was at work but i have been watching the stuff on NBC. since i'm usually up late i get to see the stuff live. i was watching the us mens volleyball and they were showing the matchups, looks like the gold won't be awarded until late august! there is stuff i'd like to talk about but you all haven't seen it yet.

[AKLGT]

ok, come'on guys... are we doing awesome or what??? Just amazing!!!! Mav's bored of watching them, but I LOVE the Olympics (except the synchro swimming and gymnastics stuff). Just WOW!!!!

[BlueCrush]

There have been some amazing records being broken so far. I have had too many olympic hangovers (staying up too late...lol). But it has been well worth the lack of sleep. Phelps was incredible winning 8 Gold Medals - They say it will never be done again!!!! Lightning Bolt actually decelerated on his world record breaking win in the 100 meter dash in 9.69 seconds. They say he could have done it in 9.5 seconds. Definitely the worlds fastest man!! I didn't care for his cockyness though. Women's Gymnastics all-around was great with the US going 1-2 in the finals. Looking forward to more Track & Field events.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush » I didn't care for his cockiness though..I do not know the entire story, but you do have to remember this athlete's father went MIA (divorce or left?) a long time ago and was raised by his mother. That and the strong guidance/support from a loving/caring mother more than likely gave Phelps a desire/hunger to strive for excellence and confidence while never backing down from a challenge. Do not read it as pure cockiness, maybe more of confidence and a "look at me now Dad, where ever you are I did it without you."

[BlueCrush]

Quote, originally posted by ou.grizzly »I do not know the entire story, but you do have to remember this athlete's father went MIA (divorce or left?) a long time ago and was raised by his mother. That and the strong guidance/support from a loving/caring mother more than likely gave Phelps a desire/hunger to strive for excellence and confidence while never backing down from a challenge. Do not read it as pure cockiness, maybe more of confidence and a "look at me now Dad, where ever you are I did it without you."I was referring to Usain "Lightning" Bolt from Jamaica not Phelps. That's why I noted that comment after I was talking about Bolt. I didn't sense that from Phelps at all.

[northvibe]

what the....beijing was shrunk!!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new....html

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »I was referring to Usain "Lightning" Bolt from Jamaica not Phelps. That's why I noted that comment after I was talking about Bolt. I didn't sense that from Phelps at all.I do apologize, I have not been able to follow the Games as close as I have wanted due to other engagements. No wonder I did not understand the comment about the lightning bolt.

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by northvibe »what the....beijing was shrunk!!http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new....htmloh my!!! the effort involved in planning and building that is incredible! great job Hong Kong! i just wish i could see it in person.

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »There have been some amazing records being broken so far. I have had too many olympic hangovers (staying up too late...lol). But it has been well worth the lack of sleep. Phelps was incredible winning 8 Gold Medals - They say it will never be done again!!!! Lightning Bolt actually decelerated on his world record breaking win in the 100 meter dash in 9.69 seconds. They say he could have done it in 9.5 seconds. Definitely the worlds fastest man!! I didn't care for his cockyness though. Women's Gymnastics all-around was great with the US going 1-2 in the finals. Looking forward to more Track & Field events.ya, in an interview after Bolt won, they asked if he could have gone faster for a more secure WR. He said he didn't care about the WR, just wanted to win and when he knew that was secure he just started to celebrate! LOL must be nice to be THAT fast... right? and what about the women??? 1-2-3 sweep?? NICE! up until yesterday, we weren't fairing so well in Track and Field, where we primarily dominate! Was telling Phil that though China was catching up, once T&F comes, we'll be back up in the medals... then it didn't happen. LOLbut last night... FINALLY! US is back in the game!

[Kari]

I want to hug Bela Karolyi for saying what a lot of people are thinking about the weird scoring that seems to score Chinese gymnasts too high and Americans (and others) too low. I do however, have to be a little bit afraid that the more he says, the more he is at risk for being attacked by some lunatic.

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by Kari »I want to hug Bela Karolyi for saying what a lot of people are thinking about the weird scoring that seems to score Chinese gymnasts too high and Americans (and others) too low. I do however, have to be a little bit afraid that the more he says, the more he is at risk for being attacked by some lunatic.I honestly think he needs to control his opinions a little more. Sure maybe its what we're thinking... however the US and other teams have done their fair share of cheating as well. Sure the girls may not be 16 but big deal? Imagine if they were 16 and had another 2 years or more on the US team for training. We'd have gotten smoked for sure.

[engineertwin2]

Mav, in gymnastics, there is some apparent advantage to being slightly younger, but I agree. You competed and lost. The Americans tended to start with lower starting values, so they were kind of in trouble to start with.As for not awarding a double medal for the uneven bars, eh it was possible and actually happened. I support the decision because who gets it? Do you give it to the person who tried something technically more difficult but didn't execute as well? Or do you give it to the slightly easier routine, executed better? Tough call and arguments both ways.

[Kari]

The scoring issues are not lying in the start values -- it's in the deductions. There has been more than one occasion where it seemed no one from the broadcast booth seemed to feel enough deductions were taken from the Chinese gymnasts for their mistakes.And yes, there is an advantage in the younger gymnasts competing, but that really wasn't what I was talking about...I was talking about scoring with the proper amount of deductions. I have no problem with competing and losing, so long as that competition is scored fairly, and in some instances here it's not seeming like it is.

[Mavrik]

Now I would agree that the chinese were given more points if the judges were chinese. Instead they were a bunch of white women who looked like they knitted doilies(sp) in their spare time. I thought the new judging system ment that in the event of a tie for a metal, the score with the least amount of deductions won?But yeah the chinese brought high start values with them. And even if they really were 16... that would not have prevented Alicia Sacramone from falling... twice.

[Kari]

I'm not talking about the team final (which, btw, if you look at nbcolympics.com there is a video explaining why it wasn't just Alicia's mistakes that cost them)...I'm talking about the vault event final, exclusively, in this case. Chung Fei's entire vault was just off. They just talked about it on the broadcast, which I'm guessing you will see later tonight because of the time difference. She simply didn't receive all of the deductions she should have, for whatever reason.They can't even have a Chinese judge while a Chinese gymnast is competing on an event, but regardless, for some reason they don't seem to be getting deducted for everything in some cases. On beam during the all-around the Chinese girls had more balance checks than anyone and weren't deducted for all of them. It just doesn't make sense.

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by Kari »I want to hug Bela Karolyi for saying what a lot of people are thinking about the weird scoring that seems to score Chinese gymnasts too high and Americans (and others) too low. I do however, have to be a little bit afraid that the more he says, the more he is at risk for being attacked by some lunatic.I completely agree. and he makes me laugh sooooo hard! LOL

[AKLGT]

hahahha! ya, i watched that vid of "don't throw alicia under the bus!"how true! no matter if she got her score and did it right, US would have still lost. and don't mind phil, he's just mad that Canada is sucking wind these Games.... He doesn't get into it as much as I do... but hey, they only come around every 4 yrs so I gotta get my dose of Olympic fever when i can!

[Mavrik]

Yeah I'm kinda done watching the olympics. if all I'm going to hear is whining and complaining from the anouncers and what not about how unfair the judging is and blah blah blah... I'm sorry but its ruined the whole enjoyment of the games. I'm more into watching the performance then listen to complains. I bet that if Nastia was on the russian team... no one would care about the scoring.

[808 Vibes]

Congrats to Natasha Kai and U.S. womens soccer team...Gooooooooold! http://starbulletin.com/breaki...=7581Anxiously awaiting results for Bryan Clay!

[AKLGT]

yes! I was bummed we lost the gold in softball and water polo though. I was hoping we'd sweep them all... however, may/walsh were the BOMB!!!!

[AKLGT]

(removed)! why won't they let us watch the men's beach volleyball finals live?????

[AKLGT]

come' on guys! I can't be the ONLY one watching the Olympics????nail biter for the men's volleyball team!!!! we prevail to gold medal round! whoo hoo!!!!!

[zionzr2]

Uh... I saw the final Live last night!Great Game!

[Whelan]

Not sure if it was mentioned already but the Chinese gymnasts are underage crooks. Sorry, its my personal opinion.

[Markmysite]

Yeah Whelan don't you know ... the Chinese girls are only 4' tall when they turn 16 there? Yeah right.~~~~~~~~~~~~I have enjoyed watching the olympics. I usually only watch a few things I care about, but with the TV schedule off so much I watched or recorded it almost every night.At least I don't feel guilty/perverted for watching some of the American girls do gymnastics this time (some are over 18 ... lol)

[KNINE]

I watch anything the Americans are competing in. Then I watch which ever sport has the best looking girls. Womens beach volleyball

[808 Vibes]

CONGRATS Bryan Clay on being the best...GOLD! http://starbulletin.com/breaki...=7588 Two Hawaii Gold Medal Olympians in the same olympics! This is forever going to make a positive difference in kids and sports...

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Not sure if it was mentioned already but the Chinese gymnasts are underage crooks. Sorry, its my personal opinion. But all official government documents including passports and birth certificates show otherwise...ah well, dead horse... put down your sticks and move on.

[Whelan]

official documents blah blah, most of the stuff was deleted from records, there are competitions they were in registered as young than what they should have been, etc.If I was a country of over a 1 billion people and government controlled everything, I could make documents saying I was 18.Oh well.

[808 Vibes]

Bryan Clay wants to be on the Wheaties box. Come on, Wheaties!

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by Whelan »Not sure if it was mentioned already but the Chinese gymnasts are underage crooks. Sorry, its my personal opinion. well being Asian myself, I can say we always look younger than we really are, however, there is NO WAY those girls are 16. besides, I was reading one of the articles and they have found info on the 2 in question listing their DOB/Years for 3 yrs putting them younger. but regardless, it's a done deal. sure, they falsified the docs and lied, but they still kicked the US asses! is it more damaging they did it when they were 14 or 16? what difference does it make at this point. I think it's cheap they cheated, but they still whooped our butts in the events. I still believe the judging wasn't as good as it should have been but that's subjective, right?anyways, Bryan Clay is the man!

[808 Vibes]

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »anyways, Bryan Clay is the man!yep, all that and in the smog...with ASTHMA!

[AKLGT]

Quote, originally posted by HawaiiPontiacLover »yep, all that and in the smog...with ASTHMA! ya, i know. I have no excuses now (asthma) to not get my (removed) outside and start running/jogging/walking.

[Mavrik]

And now they are over... gonna need something else to do now LOL

[DarkVibe]

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »And now they are over... gonna need something else to do now LOLwow, that was fast i didn't get to see any part of it this year. i'm more of a winter Olympics guy anyway.

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by DarkVibe »wow, that was fast i didn't get to see any part of it this year. i'm more of a winter Olympics guy anyway. I like to watch both but probably never watched any as much as I watch this past summer one. Probably because of the time zone difference.

[NibCrom]

Yay! The USA won basketball!

[AKLGT]

I love the Olympics. I will watch it as much as I possibly can. now I have to wait for 2 more years... and then the house will be all US and Canada flags everywhere! whoo hoo!!!!and yes, the US did a great job, just a little disappointing on the track and field events for the relays.

[engineertwin2]

Did anyone else resort to calling them the Phelplympics instead? I think what he did is awesome, but gotta feel for some of the other athletes that did well during the first week.