Smithers MINNEAPOLIS

I’ve always heard that since golf is a sport that golfers are atheletes.

I couldnt “comfortably” smoke a cigarette doing anything. Now drinking a beer is another matter. Maybe that should be the standard.

I’m reminded of my insistence that “athletes” are historically those who participate in track and field, and others are just playing games. Sports, on the other hand, actually exclude most of the games we play as well–”sport” historically refers to combat sports (jousting, boxing, etc..), hunting, and fishing.

Not quite sure where cycling fits in, and I’m equally not sure that I’d want to ruin a cool thing like cyclocross by putting it into the doping/political blender we call the Olympics these days.

I wouldn’t count on Orienteering as an Olympic sport because of all the rampant doping. Unlike, say, BMX, snowboarding, or the Jamaican bobsled team.

Cyclocross done right is artistic expression.

“athletes” are historically those who participate in track and field
Right on.

In an interview with Olympic track cyclist Gregory Bauge, he stated that if he weren’t a cyclist, he’d like to be an athlete.

He was talking about being a runner.

disclaimer:
You can read the exact same post on the ‘Ready to ride’ forum.

I’ve felt this way for an eternity (and I’m old enough to know what an eternity is). I’m an Olympic purist. Throw it out if it isn’t run, throw, jump. If you can get to the line first, throw it further or jump further, you win. NO SUBJECTIVE SCORING AT ALL. If need be, throw out cycling because it needs a machine. I still thank the local that invented roller blades, because roller skate dancing would have been an Olympic sport if they hadn’t come on the scene.

So you would get rid of curling? Snowboarding freestyle? synchronized swimming? Diving? Canoeing/Kayaking? Equestrian dressage? That would ruin the prestige and majesty of the Olympics. I say get rid of swimming or at least cut it down. There is about 3 slow techniques and 1 fast one. its lame

curling? bowling on ice
Snowboarding freestyle? fun to watch, but judged
synchronized swimming? OMG!!
Diving? Too political
Canoeing/Kayaking? without style points; fine
Equestrian dressage? who’s the athlete here?

What if you can measure something with a tape measure and then have a smoke right afterwards?

Is that a sport?

I’m just saying…

Scrabble uses a stopwatch.

Then
F1 driving – not a sport
Soccar – not a sport?
Any team competitions -not sport?

If you can not measure it with a tape measure or a stop watch, it’s not a sport.

Clearly wrong – you’ve eliminated the 90% of sports that keep score. My counter proposal: If the objective is to score points but nobody’s playing defense, it’s not a sport.

If the objective is to score points but nobody’s playing defense, it’s not a sport.

So the Madison and Points Race isn’t a sport? I’ll accept that.

The cigarette test, rules out the Madison and by proxy all track cycling events too. I remember an interview with Merckx where he said he smoked to prepare for the environment of the winter track season. He implied that riding the boards in the smoke filled stadiums was like smoking a pack a day. Second hand smoke is still smoking.

So the Madison and Points Race isn’t a sport?

Definitely sports. You ‘play defense’ by winning the points yourself.

right, the best defense is a good offense.

Seriously though, I believe anything can be a sport. The majority of sports that are traditionally associated with the olympics are there because they were the sports that were popular in the Victorian era, not the ancient Greek era otherwise it would be only wrestling, jogging and throwing stuff. No cricket, horses or bikes.

It doesn’t really matter what sports are played. What is cool about the olympics is that it is a venue where countries can get together and play together. It sure beats fighting wars, diplomatic envoys and corporate ventures.

If I could change anything about the olympics it would be the coverage. I hate the way on tv here it’s all rah! rah! rah! U! S! A! Not that this doesn’t have its place and I am not saying that it’s not mirrored in other countries, but it would be nice if licensing requirements for media rights demanded a bit more coverage of the sports your country sucks at and the athletes who beat you.

For example, in the Brit coverage of Cycling the Women’s road race was heavily covered since they won, but the Men’s road race, where they sucked, basically focused on images of the guys taking pee breaks and a short shot of the finish.

I’m not saying we need equal coverage of everything, but it would be nice to require minimums to give maximum exposure to the games other countries play in order to promote better participation across the board. At the very least, Americans need to know who won stuff we’re good at as well as the stuff we suck at like cricket and the competitive computer coding events.

When I lived in Michigan we got a Canadian channel and their Olympic coverage was outstanding.

Also, I enjoyed Hockey Night in Canada, and drinking beer, eating beef jerky, and watching curling all Saturday afternoon.

Now there’s the solution to bad Olympic coverage; Don Cherry does all the play by play, eh? :^) Is he still alive?

And you merge ice dancing and hockey to form a new sport called “figure hockey” that resembles rollerball on ice? Never mind.

Agreed that coverage here is awful. I remember staying up until 1:30 am in 1992 to watch the 10k, and they showed about two minutes of it, went to 20 minutes of “personal interest” stories, and then showed the finish. I was ticked. I could understand the interest stories at normal hours, but why couldn’t they figure out that the guy up at the middle of the night might just want to watch the race?

Table Tennis, which is awesome, is definitely a sport. Bill Clement is doing play by play on the Olympics coverage, so there’s your hockey announcer connection.

Grapes was working for ESPN during the Cup Playoffs this year.

I don’t think Vijay could smoke at the same he unleashed a drive. Just sayin.

It is also called the Olympic Games. Not the Olympic Sports performed by athletes.

“It is also called the Olympic Games. Not the Olympic Sports performed by athletes.”
Which reminds me; bridge (yes, the card game) was actually being considered a while back, and I think it was a demonstration sport.

Yeah, coaches corner would make the Olympics more bearable… as long as Ron Mc Clean is opposite Don and the table full of empties to balance it out. And maybe Ross Rabigliati for the full color commentary.

I like the CBC sports. But still, we’re talking Canada here. They embrace the mosaic, not the melting pot. They could teach the world a thing or two. Being in your face about patriotism isn’t what it’s aboot, eh — it’s all about dressing up in the Roots Canada gear and carrying a stuffed beaver and being proud of the Canuck who got silver, eh!

And I hear what you say about the Curling. I love to lie in bed and listen to women’s curling yelling “hurry hard” — It’s the best thing on tv.

so here you go then.. check out the portuguese coverage of some sort of trampoline thing.. it’s on live now.. follow the link to RTP1 at http://www.cyclingfans.com
yikes ! Dong Dong from team china just gave a “fortissima” performance.

I suppose you could measure how high they get.

Gymnastics is sport. Rings? Horizontal cross. The Chinese men make the americans look like pasty fat babies.

Seldom I write comments but resource really cool