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I know it's the case, because I'm watching our Women's Soccer team playing with an utter lack of inspiration, and losing 2-0 to Norway, as we speak. The opening ceremonies aren't until Friday, of course, so that's when everything really kicks off, but I was excited to see them start anyway and it's always good for them to kick off with an entertaining sport.

So here's a nice, general 2008 Summer Olympics thread. What sports and nations are you looking forward to seeing? What do you think about the venues, the political and environmental climate, etc.?

For my end, I feel like I still have a vested interest in USA Basketball, so I plan to watch all those games that I can - I even watched all the men's exhibitions over the last week and a half, except for Russia. I'll of course turn on both Men's and Women's soccer whenever I can find it, and I feel like I've got a weird and pointless interest in Water Polo that I'll feed when possible.

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I can't wait to watch Olympic ping pong. Absolutely love watching it. Unfortunately, I don't know what time that shows, so it might be tough to actually watch it. It's most likely at like 2 AM when all the other unpopular sports are (like curling during the winter olympics).

That's the only sport I'll be upset if I miss. I find everything else entertaining but I won't actually set a block of time aside to watch those events.

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Although I haven't really been following them too closely, I think it'll be at least interesting to see how USA Basketball does this year. I mean, it's almost incomprehensible to me that they could lose, with all of the raw talent and athleticism they possess. At the same time, rooting for them also means simultaneously rooting for Coach K, and that's a real hard one to swallow.

And as an aside, curling is absolutely awesome. I suggest that everyone go and try to play a game of curling sometime in their life. Great fun if you go with your friends.

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I find your lack of faith disturbing...

I heard on NPR a few morings ago that the US women's soccer team was missing their best player due to a broken leg a few weeks back, so I wondering how they would do. not too well, apparently.

I'm with Caesar on the ping pong. Paint the Line from Penny-Arcade renewed my interest in it, to be honest. Hopefully it won't come on at such a baleful hour as you suggested though, Caesar.

I'm also looking forward to the high dive event this year, particularly the US women's squad. I can't remember the names, but we have two women this year who are going to attempt the most difficult 10 meter dive in the world this year.

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Two words... Women's Volleyball

But seriously, I do like the swimming events. The wrestling event can be semi-interesting. However, I will say that USA Basketball has my hopes with them.

I didn't even know that Ping-Pong was an olympic event, Forrest Gump would do awesome.

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I've started to get an interested in professional running because I've been starting to run (and reading running magazines), and I must say that I'm looking forward to the Men's Marathon. I hope that the two American men competing do well, and I hope my favorite, Brian Sell gets a medal. He's been training in a unconventional way, with a whole group of pros in a "running fraternity" started by these two guys in Detroit. Apparently Ryan Hall has better chance of getting a medal, but we'll see...

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I say what I wanna say, I play how I wanna play.

I'll mainly be watching for the men and women's soccer, it's the only sport I can bring myself to bother watching. Generally, I'm not a huge Olympics fan.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Quote (Harlequin @ 6th August 2008 14:30)

Apparently Ryan Hall has better chance of getting a medal, but we'll see...

I met Ryan Hall at a meet at Notre Dame back in my college days. He's a a genuienely nice human being (and superstar distance runners can very often be arrogant douchebags.) I'll be rooting for him.

Any and all track I'll be glued to the couch for. I love watching Jeremy Wariner (400), as well as Tyson Gay (100, hope he's recovered in time), Terrence Trammell (110 Hurdles), and Allyson Felix (200). I absolutely LOVE that USA is relevant in my old events again, the 800 (with the three Oregon kids (Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, Chris Smith,) and the 1500, even if none of those guys were actually born in America. I'll still be proud when Bernard Lagat crosses the finish line in first, and Lopez Lomong is one of the best stories of the Olympics, in my opinion. I just read he's going to carry the flag for America in the opening ceremonies.

The Redeem Team will be exciting as well, but they better not have any more 3-22 3 pt. shooting games.

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Hamedo: They did lose Abby Wambach, yeah, but that wasn't the reason they lost. They played HORRIBLY. I suppose it would take someone who is really familiar with the game to notice, but the touch on the ball and accuracy with passes were both really lacking. The only really good looking shot they had all match was from a girl with almost 200 WNT appearances and zero goals. Luckily, thanks to a New Zealand-Japan tie, the US could still move on with two wins.

The US Men start tomorrow at 5am - hopefully I can find a replay later in the day!

And I'll agree with that one for the Winter Olympics - Curling is the best sport to watch all games, bar none.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Go Canada! I don't know, I'm not much into the Summer sports. Now hockey's a totally different thing... Anyway, I like to watch the diving and stuff since I am in swimming lessons. I also met a gymnist a while back at school who I hope to see in Beijing. Go David Kikuchi!

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There was a girl from about 10 miles from my hometown who was the US Synchro Diving team last night, which was a pleasant surprise. She and her teammate kind of blew it on their last two dives, though, and just barely missed medaling.

I fell asleep last night just as swimming was starting, though, and I just saw the 4x100 relay on replay. Absolutely unreal, that come-from-behind, World-Record-demolishing win.

And I missed the US having a great soccer game against Netherlands, because I couldn't find it on my friend's cable system yesterday morning.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

i dont know if canada won any medals yet but... GO CANADA!!!

Does anybody else think that the members of the US Basketball team are so cocky? They walk in during the opening ceremony like they're the best and coolest. They better do well (and not lose to another team in an embarrassing way like in Athens) or I'd be embarrassed for them. I guess they think they're the only professionals in the world, but they're certainly not.

I watched a few things (handball, water polo, archery) and it's nice to see sports being televised that my fellow U.S. citizens never care about, because I like watching them.

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You... obviously don't know that much about basketball. The fact is that the US team's talent level is WAAAAAY the hell above any other team's, and honestly the only thing that should stop them from gold is a bad shooting night combined with an unfamiliarity with the funky FIBA rules and international style of play. They have a right to be a little cocky, because they ARE better than anyone else - if they don't win gold, then this has been a major failure for Colangelo and the rest of USA Basketball.

Honestly, the only sports I enjoy watching during the Olympics are basketball and some of the swimming and track events. It's fun watching the obscure sports and great stories about the different athletes and countries, but honestly when you compare watching a day of Olympics coverage to watching a few basketball games or football games, I'll take the latter. And I meant both American football and international football.

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Soccer at the Olympics (for the men, at least) is sort of a joke; FIFA doesn't want it to rival the World Cup and so the teams are practically U-23 squads (only three over 23 players allowed per squad). And I'm guessing that many countries' respective footballing associations (particularly European and African) are happy that is the case -- the summer Olympics are at a bad time, sandwiched between Euro, the Africa Cup of Nations, and the crucial opening qualifiers for the next World Cup (in this case 2010). There's no real time in between for preparing for each event. The Asian Football Confederation did the smart thing and moved their continental cup to a year with a less crowded schedule (the last one was held last year).

Still, there are lots of quality players out there and even some of the best -- Messi, Robinho, etc. Go USA!

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Quote (laszlow @ 11th August 2008 19:48)

You... obviously don't know that much about basketball. The fact is that the US team's talent level is WAAAAAY the hell above any other team's, and honestly the only thing that should stop them from gold is a bad shooting night combined with an unfamiliarity with the funky FIBA rules and international style of play. They have a right to be a little cocky, because they ARE better than anyone else - if they don't win gold, then this has been a major failure for Colangelo and the rest of USA Basketball.

Yeah...you're right on the spot. The only thing I know about basketball are the rules; I don't care much for the NBA.

I understand that they're seriously good, but I just get irritated with cocky people. Haven't they learned from years of playing that the immensely skillful team doesn't always win? They just have the better chance of winning on paper.

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I say what I wanna say, I play how I wanna play.

I feel like this team has been doing an excellent job of not being too cocky. Other than Lebron's guarantee, they've been relatively quiet and professional. It's not their fault a legion of Chinese people mob them everywhere they go (the NBA is immensely popular in China.)

The 400 freestyle relay last night was one of the best races I've ever seen. I don't normally get as excited about swimming as I do about track, but I was standing on the couch jumping as Lezak tracked the French team down. That was ridiculous.

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Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
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I really can't fault the men's basketball team at all, given that this is the first team with any sort of spirit since 2000. They're putting effort into practicing and working together and actually turning themselves into a team, so they can back up any talk, rather than acting like they did in 2004. It's also nice that the team wants to be there and compete - LeBron in particular. Half the team didn't drop out because it was too much of a bother.

This post has been edited by Neal on 12th August 2008 13:01

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I was fairly unimpressed by the French 400 relay swim team's attitude both before and after the race.

Beforehand, it was comments about how they would dominate the Americans. After the loss, the quote from Alain (the final swimmer) was something like "He won by a fingernail. It is nothing." Yeah, stay classy France.

I have to say, I'm very proud of our men and women over there and how they are doing. I watched the US women's beach volleyball the other day on a whim...... God bless America.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

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Quote

I can't wait to watch Olympic ping pong. Absolutely love watching it. Unfortunately, I don't know what time that shows, so it might be tough to actually watch it. It's most likely at like 2 AM when all the other unpopular sports are (like curling during the winter olympics).

I just wanted to express my complete agreement with this statement. Olympic ping pong is amazing. And for the record, after watching several hours of olympic curling during the last winter olympics, i became somewhat obsessed

Does anyone else here love throwing events? Discus, Shotput, Hammer Throw, and Javelin. As a high school thrower, I just enjoy watching the pros. But It's just crazy to watch these athletes throw.

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I'm watching some ping pong right now. 2 AM US Eastern time, USA Network. Whee!

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Quote

Does anyone else here love throwing events? Discus, Shotput, Hammer Throw, and Javelin. As a high school thrower, I just enjoy watching the pros. But It's just crazy to watch these athletes throw.

Agreed with that statement, although I haven't gotten to see any of it so far this year.

Does anyone here have any doubts on Michael Phelps not getting eight medals in one olympics? I think he can, and I think most of the rest will be records.

Did anyone else see the Mens 4 by 200 relay? The United states seemed to dominate that one.

This post has been edited by yomama on 13th August 2008 13:19

Whenever it is on, I usually try and watch the U.S. Men's Basketball, but I was watching some of the Men's swimming events last night.

Quote (yomama @ 13th August 2008 08:19)

Quote

Does anyone else here love throwing events? Discus, Shotput, Hammer Throw, and Javelin. As a high school thrower, I just enjoy watching the pros. But It's just crazy to watch these athletes throw.

Agreed with that statement, although I haven't gotten to see any of it so far this year.

You haven't missed it yet, the track and field events don't start until Friday.

The 4X200 was just an absolute slaughter. I want Phelps to break the record, but I hope there's a little drama in the last 3 races. He made the 200 free look way too easy on Monday.

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Hip-Hop QOTW:

"Yeah, where I'ma start it at, look I'ma part of that
Downtown Philly where it's realer than a heart attack
It wasn't really that ill until the start of crack
Now it's a body caught every night on the Almanac"

"Game Theory"
The Roots

I come from the group of people who don't have a taste for regular TV sports--as in, I don't like to watch American football, and I don't particularly care for hockey, basketball, or baseball.

I don't think I have particular events I feel like watching, though I generally don't mind watching the Olympics, especially since most of the events are stuff that I don't usually get to see on TV.

That, and I'll occasionally watch something based on the fact that I'm a heterosexual male. A particularly interesting coincidence happened a few days ago--I decided, while in the shower, to watch women's diving. Then when I got out of the shower, women's synchronized diving was on.

I'm not specifically a fan of any athlete, mainly because I don't really know who's competing. (I guess I've been using my "names of people I pay attention to" mental slots for politicians instead of sportspeople or celebrities.)

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Am I the only one who thinks Phelps is a genetically altered fish-man?

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Michael Phelps is amazing. What an athlete. Just wow.

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Is something wrong with me if I'm more impressed with Dara Torres' silver medal performances (she's the 40 year old swimmer) than I am with Michael Phelps medal races? All of his wins just seem effortless and expected (because he's insanely good), and I'm sure being older than all of the other competitors is a big challenge, even for the experienced.

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I am impressed with Michael Phelps, but his performance in the relay for his eighth gold medal was nowhere near as good as the US swimmer who swam the anchor lap. In the first 50m, he put EVERYONE away. It was the exact same for his first relay.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

Michael Phelps owes Jason Lezak a gold watch or something. That's two relays in which Lezak was the star, and two team golds in Lezak's hands. Now, I completely believe that Phelps is the best swimmer of all time, but I'm also saying that he owes Mr. Lezak at least a delicious steak dinner.

This post has been edited by laszlow on 17th August 2008 22:06

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