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Olympics: Stronger, Higher, Faster, Doper?


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Olympics: Stronger, Higher, Faster, Doper?
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curiousuburb
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2004-08-13, 13:18

So I'm watching the opening ceremonies (pretty cool so far) and the commentary/news is all about new drug tests for synthetic hormones casting suspicion on the US Track and Field team and a sudden rise in athletes discovering "last minute injuries" or "that they've left the iron on at home" and withdrawing rather than get busted by tests they thought didn't exist yet.

Personally, I'd vote for two categories of sport.

Purist: absolutely maniacal drug testing to create a level playing field.
Positive drug test gets you a lifetime ban and your team kicked out.

Unlimited: any drugs you want, artificial limbs, exoskeletons, whatever.
Let's see how far a human can go. But don't complain if your head explodes or your nuts shrivel.
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ast3r3x
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2004-08-13, 13:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb
So I'm watching the opening ceremonies (pretty cool so far) and the commentary/news is all about new drug tests for synthetic hormones casting suspicion on the US Track and Field team and a sudden rise in athletes discovering "last minute injuries" or "that they've left the iron on at home" and withdrawing rather than get busted by tests they thought didn't exist yet.

Personally, I'd vote for two categories of sport.

Purist: absolutely maniacal drug testing to create a level playing field.
Positive drug test gets you a lifetime ban and your team kicked out.

Unlimited: any drugs you want, artificial limbs, exoskeletons, whatever.
Let's see how far a human can go. But don't complain if your head explodes or your nuts shrivel.
Amazing idea.
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curiousuburb
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2004-08-13, 13:48

First Opening Ceremonies I've ever seen where the march of the athletes is set to modern music by some Greek DJ who's won world titles (and reputedly gets the entire stadium dancing in the rehearsals). The camera is alternating between athletes partying and spinning decks.

Loved the 'artistic' part with evolution of sculptures, mythic body image of the gods/athletes and origins of Olympic ideals. Centaurs throwing glowing javelins, humans as animated art from the classical period, ancient sports demonstrated in slow motion wirework as if marionettes from Mt. Olympus, lasers tracing out dna... worth catching the replay for later if you missed the show live.
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autodata
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2004-08-13, 15:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb
Purist: absolutely maniacal drug testing to create a level playing field.
Positive drug test gets you a lifetime ban and your team kicked out.

Unlimited: any drugs you want, artificial limbs, exoskeletons, whatever.
Let's see how far a human can go. But don't complain if your head explodes or your nuts shrivel.
Love it. That would be absolutely great.

But now I have that daft punk song stuck in my head.
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stevegong
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2004-08-13, 16:25

The opening ceremony was absolutely awesome.

I was watching it on both Italian TV and French TV.

The Italian reporters kept dowplaying other countries ("Sudan is a very poor country"..."It's quite impossible that Singapore will win a gold medal"..."Look, not so many people are cheering for the Americans") and how so many people cheered for the Italians, and how they're the most enthusiastic.

The French reporters were doing a game of guessing wat the capital is of each of the countries, and they would point out every time there was a country that used to be former French colony.





What was it like on US tv?
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applenut
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2004-08-13, 16:33

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevegong
The opening ceremony was absolutely awesome.

I was watching it on both Italian TV and French TV.

The Italian reporters kept dowplaying other countries ("Sudan is a very poor country"..."It's quite impossible that Singapore will win a gold medal"..."Look, not so many people are cheering for the Americans") and how so many people cheered for the Italians, and how they're the most enthusiastic.

The French reporters were doing a game of guessing wat the capital is of each of the countries, and they would point out every time there was a country that used to be former French colony.





What was it like on US tv?
typical pompous italians

US tv? o, you mean the tape delay we get. well, that starts in 2 and a half hours. god i love NBC.
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stevegong
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2004-08-13, 16:45

Quote:
Originally Posted by applenut
typical pompous italians .

Really, and on top of that, sophomoric close mindedness. When italian football team lost at Euro 2004 everyone thought it was other people's fault.

I missed Italy so much when I was in the US. now I'm so ready to go back to UVa, land of the hicks.

sad thing is I know I'll miss Italy again when I go back. I have an incurable disease.

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Maciej
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2004-08-13, 16:53

God NBC sucks. AND, they're not rerunning it again, at least not when I check last night. I have to work tonight, therefore I can't watch the ceremonies, arguably the best part of the Summer Olympics. How its the situation on Canadian TV, I get some of that maybe I'll tune into that.

EDIT: Never mind, NBC is playing them on MSNBC @ like 1 in the morning my parents just informed me.

User formally known as Sh0eWax

Last edited by Maciej : 2004-08-13 at 16:59.
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applenut
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2004-08-13, 17:51

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevegong
Really, and on top of that, sophomoric close mindedness. When italian football team lost at Euro 2004 everyone thought it was other people's fault.

I missed Italy so much when I was in the US. now I'm so ready to go back to UVa, land of the hicks.

sad thing is I know I'll miss Italy again when I go back. I have an incurable disease.

same thing happens to me. when im at home i cant wait to get out of NY and miss Cali so much, when I'm at cali it gets old and I miss the NY and east coast life.

id say i would look for a place in the middle but I think id kill myself in Kansas
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alcimedes
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2004-08-13, 17:52

full doping olympics would be the shit, but i would bet that nobody would watch the regular ones anymore. it wouldn't be nearly as entertaining.
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stevegong
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2004-08-13, 18:39

Quote:
Originally Posted by applenut
id say i would look for a place in the middle but I think id kill myself in Kansas
Really? I heard Kansas is a great place.

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curiousuburb
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2004-08-13, 20:46

The Iraqi team got a huge standing ovation (much louder than the US or anybody but the Greeks).

Perhaps unsurprising given the location and popular sentiment in Greece.
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curiousuburb
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2004-08-13, 20:51

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sh0eWax
God NBC sucks. AND, they're not rerunning it again, at least not when I check last night. I have to work tonight, therefore I can't watch the ceremonies, arguably the best part of the Summer Olympics. How its the situation on Canadian TV, I get some of that maybe I'll tune into that.

EDIT: Never mind, NBC is playing them on MSNBC @ like 1 in the morning my parents just informed me.
CBC was the coverage I watched (as the official Canadian Olympic Network). If you can pick it up (or perhaps even the Sat/Cable CBC Newsworld version) they'll be rebroadcasting the entire Opening Ceremonies a few times. Next repeat starts at 1900 PST.
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Crusader
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2004-08-13, 21:55

I really don't like the commentators for NBC over here. They make comments that seemed to be aimed to the lowest common denominator.

Oh yea, WTF is up with Taiwan being called "Chinese Taipei?" That makes me mad on some inner level

"It's a good thing there's no law against a company having a monopoly of good ideas. Otherwise Apple would be in deep yogurt..."
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Barto
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2004-08-13, 21:58

Chinese Taipei? That makes so little sense on so many levels...
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curiousuburb
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2004-08-13, 22:18

The "One China" policy precludes Taiwan from being listed as a separate country.

De facto, yep. Officially, no. Upsets the old guard of the PRC Communist Party.
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scratt
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2004-08-13, 22:47

Could we get HALO in the Olympics?

We seem to have virtually every other irrelevant sport added in now
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applenut
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2004-08-13, 22:49

Quote:
Originally Posted by scratt
Could we get HALO in the Olympics?

We seem to have virtually every other irrelevant sport added in now
like what?



The lighting of the giant joint was um....interesting.

Nothing compares to Barcelona and Lillehammer. The bow and arrow and ski jump remain the coolest.
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Alpha9
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2004-08-13, 22:55

Does this year's olympics have dodgeball? If so, I'll be tuning in whenever that happens.
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scratt
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2004-08-13, 23:10

OK,

Personally I have never been able to understand synchronised swimming.
Do they dope test sychronised swimmers... cos they must be on something!

Football.. I personally loathe... but putting that to one side.. Why in the Olympics?

And another thing... how come the entire Greek Baseball team is made up of Americans? And why Baseball? In the Olympics?

Why team sports at all?

Maybe I am mad!?!?!

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
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Barto
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2004-08-14, 01:07

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb
The "One China" policy precludes Taiwan from being listed as a separate country.

De facto, yep. Officially, no. Upsets the old guard of the PRC Communist Party.
I am aware of that, but why "Chinese Taipei"? What about the RoC or... I dunno, "Taiwan Province" if they really want to suck up to Beijing.
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EmC
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2004-08-14, 01:55

Quote:
Originally Posted by applenut
Nothing compares to Barcelona and Lillehammer. The bow and arrow and ski jump remain the coolest.
I personally liked the lighting of the cauldron at the Sydney olympics. It was very cool to see the water ignite in a ring around the torch bearer and then see the lit cauldron rise out of the water and ascend to the top of the stadium. Very awe inspiring. But then again most opening ceremonies are. I think they are the best part of the whole damned two weeks.

Overall coverage tonight was OK, I felt that we missed a lot of things that happened because NBC mashed a multi hour event into three hours of heavy commercial laden coverage. I also felt myself thinking several times throughout the evening and sometimes even yelling aloud for Bob Costas to STFU. JFC let me watch this and if I need to know the average flipper size of the Algerian underwater basket weaving team I'll look it up.

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stevegong
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2004-08-14, 04:57

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusader
I really don't like the commentators for NBC over here. They make comments that seemed to be aimed to the lowest common denominator.

Oh yea, WTF is up with Taiwan being called "Chinese Taipei?" That makes me mad on some inner level

Well, there was also a country called Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia.

Why aren't you mad on some inner level about that?

But this taiwan problem really is starting to get very pressurised. I really hope things turn out for the best of everyone's interest, though I don't know what's going to happen.
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Barto
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2004-08-14, 05:32

Probably because at the time Macedonia was in flux... whereas Taiwan has been an independent county in all but name since 1949.
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Crusader
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2004-08-14, 08:17

I'm mad because it seems that China is able to bend world opinion against a sovereign, democratic state. I don't want to hear that "Well China did own Taiwan..." If I recall correctly, Taiwan is home to the legitimate Chinese government, making the Mainland Chinese government the rebels. The World is just too pussyfooted to make an issue of the human rights, trade, and IP violations that occur in Mainland China.

So yes, that is why I'm mad. The World turns a blind eye to China, to the extent of pretending that Taiwan is really part of China. Oh yea, look who gets to host the 2008 Olympics!

"It's a good thing there's no law against a company having a monopoly of good ideas. Otherwise Apple would be in deep yogurt..."
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scratt
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2004-08-14, 08:24

It's rife though dude...

Come on look at the situation in the middle east.
It's ok for Israel to build it's own version of the Berlin wall and have nuclear weapons!

The real perpitrator of the 911 horror is still at large and (whilst he was a very nauty man) the dictator of another country is now in jail and the country he once ruled so badly is in a state of chaos... all because he happend to have a few phone calls with people who happened to be in the same room as Bin Laden once. Christ on that basis half the rulers of the modern world should be clapped in irons!

Oh yes and lets not forget about good old Libya... Our bestest oldest mate all of a sudden....

And why? Capitalism, trade, politcal affiliations and Oil.

F&%k the little people!

'Remember, measure life by the moments that take your breath away, not by how many breaths you take'
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Eugene
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2004-08-14, 08:35

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb
Loved the 'artistic' part with evolution of sculptures, mythic body image of the gods/athletes and origins of Olympic ideals. Centaurs throwing glowing javelins, humans as animated art from the classical period, ancient sports demonstrated in slow motion wirework as if marionettes from Mt. Olympus, lasers tracing out dna... worth catching the replay for later if you missed the show live.
The NBC HD feed was awesome. Kudos to NBC for electing to use two entirely different broadcast teams to cater to both the SD and HD viewers. My only complaint to NBC is that the SD side got Costas and Couric while the HD side got Mary Carillo and No-Name.

I loved the opening ceremonies...the best since Barcelona's. It was much better than Sydney parading Greg Norman and Olivia Newton John on floats or Atlanta's godawful chrome Chevy pick-ups.

I loved the drum and bouzouki intro, lightshow, centaur , human sculptures, the wirework...everything except Bjork. Jeez, I've never, ever appreciated her singing.
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psmith2.0
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2004-08-14, 09:10

Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousuburb
The Iraqi team got a huge standing ovation (much louder than the US or anybody but the Greeks).

Perhaps unsurprising given the location and popular sentiment in Greece.
And the best part is that they are able to play - and even lose - with no fear, thanks to us and some other nations. A beautiful little side benefit of ousting that a-hole and offing his two demented sons.

Of course, I wouldn't expect anyone involved to acknowledge that. Bad form and all...

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scratt
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2004-08-14, 09:21

I'm just glad that it was pure genuine love of people that brought the ousting of that 'a-hole' about and not self centered misguided capitalist greed and ignorance.

But then hey... What do I know!
:smokey:

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stevegong
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2004-08-14, 09:41

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusader
I'm mad because it seems that China is able to bend world opinion against a sovereign, democratic state. I don't want to hear that "Well China did own Taiwan..." If I recall correctly, Taiwan is home to the legitimate Chinese government, making the Mainland Chinese government the rebels. The World is just too pussyfooted to make an issue of the human rights, trade, and IP violations that occur in Mainland China.

So yes, that is why I'm mad. The World turns a blind eye to China, to the extent of pretending that Taiwan is really part of China. Oh yea, look who gets to host the 2008 Olympics!


I think people in the US know far too little about China and Chinese history to understand China. I am certainly not a chauvinist, but what you are saying here I don't find appropriate. I think people should at least visit China before formulating conclusions and spreading anti-China negativisms.

What do you think?

And can we please try to not turn this into a political argument? We need more love and understanding in the world, not hate.

Last edited by stevegong : 2004-08-14 at 10:27.
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