beachbum

I'll take table-tennis, badminton, and even synchronized diving over rhythmic gymnastics any day. But I fear we're only a couple days away from being force-fed that too. And as to sport vs. skill, what's with archery, shot-guns, pistols, rifles, and fencing; looks more like old war games to me.

Overall though, I think Athens coverage is better than Sydney, from which I remember never ending athlete and location profiles, commercials ad-nauseum, with the actual games almost an after-thought.

elaine

ohmigod
Cricket? They're playing cricket?
And I missed it!

Barbara

I've been riveted to the Olympics, at least the part of them that NBC lets us see. I hate the way they keep the event I really want to see until 11:15pm or so.

Table tennis, volleyball (beach or otherwise), baseball, softball, etc,etc, are not sports. They're all games. The only true sports are track and field, swimming, equestrian, cycling.

Paul Hamm absolutely earned his gold medal and, as was explained in detail last night, the South Korean's score should have been even lower. If they alter anything, they need to review the tape of the South Korean's routine first. Overall, the men's gymnastics judges were appalling. Did you see the Russian guy on the high bar last night? Terrific routine, very badly scored.

All the gymnasts were amazing. I couldn't even get on to the balance beam, never mind jump around on it.

Track and field has been really exciting.

maitaitom

"rhythmic gymnastics"

but beachbum, you never know when one of those clubs or balls will hit them on the head. I do think somebody was drunk when they invented this event.

tcreath

I too don't understand how table tennis and beach volleyball can be considered olympic sports. What's next, shuffleboard?

My biggest issue is the jumping around without a time schedule. I enjoy watching gymnastics. I really don't want to watch the entire 6 hour coverage of the Olympics to see all the gymnastic sections. They will do about 20 minutes and they cut to another sport. An hour later gynastics will be on again, then 30 minutes after that. I usually end up missing part of it because I flip to it from another show and realize its on. It would be nice if they actually had some sort of schedule.

Barbara

I know what you mean, tcreath, and I wish there was too. There is some "sort" of schedule, which you can find at www.nbcolympics.com. It's not very accurate, though. For instance, last night the schedule showed that the men's 400m final would be shown between 10 and 10:30pm. It finally came on at about 11:10. It was worth the wait, though!

Scarlett

Last nights scoring of the mens High Bar gymnastics was such a mess that I don't think I want to watch anymore.
There have been judges in the past thrown out for taking bribes, recently three were suspended and last night they had to do it again..to watch those athletes try so hard then have a bunch of people with their own agendas foul up the scores makes me feel it is all useless.
And , in the Olympics, the audience should not have to scream and carry on to get the judges to change a score. This is not some hometown highschool ball game!

Thank you, I feel better now~

Patrick

About that Russian on the high beam, the audience booing the low scores, and the judges changing their mind. What was that all about? While they may have been off on their original scores, what kind of signal was that to the fans? Is it telling us that from now on if the audience makes a big enough fuss, the judges will change the score? Frightening possibility, that! Let's face it, most of these events have a lot of subjectivity in their scoring and when judges represent different nations, it all gets very controversial as we've been shown a hundred times. I like events that come down to a photo finish, that can't be disputed for this reason, although they tend not to be as interesting to watch.

maitaitom

"like events that come down to a photo finish, that can't be disputed for this reason, although they tend not to be as interesting to watch."

Unfortunately Patrick, even those have controversy, like the American backstroker who made a supposedly illegal turn. That's why I still love baseball. When the ump makes a bad call, it's argue fruitlessly and then on to the next pitch.

Suki

Patrick, I had the same thought on the judges reacting to the crowd; however, this morning I read that as soon as the score was flashed the Malaysian judge raised his hand to indicate there was a scoring problem and the Canadian judge followed suit. You would never have known this from watching NBC last night.The scoring did seem completely screwy on a couple of events. Oh, and this article also said that a Russian coach was inciting the crowd. I did not see that on NBC either.

Suki

One more thing: I heard a local sports guy on the radio talking about the synchronized diving in the same sort "oh, give me a break, this is a sport?" kind of way. He said that when the two of them dive into the pool together, try to knock each other out, and whoever emerges is declared the victor, that's when he will consider synchronized diving a sport. I thought it was kind of funny.

degas

We need to get rid of all those sissy, prissy sports and add some practical ones:

gator wrestling

beer bottle throwing

hot dog eating

gas passing

knife throwing

watermelon hurling

subway car packing

Patrick

Hey, degas come to Florida. They already do all that. It's called "Saturday afternoon at Hooters".

degas

Patrick, I just might - owl watching is a favorite pastime of mine!

bugswife1

Didn't the Korean guy who got 'beat' out of the gold medal to Paul Hamm, fall in an event as well? I could have sworn he lost momentum on the high bar and came down off the routine and had to go back up and finish. That means they each made a major mistake.

Leona

I'm with you, Degas!


BORing!

Scarlett

Exactly Patrick!
In the "old days" things were not scored down to the last one millionth of a second also..
IMHO- The Russian was the best.
He went beyond what was required and did it with skill, perfectly and it was the most exciting to watch.
Hamm was good and so was the Italian, but where did those scores come from?
The Korean hit his foot on the bar, which at least, let Hamm off the hook with that controversy..sort of.
And it is the athletes who suffer.

degas, my darlin, there is a Hooters not far from my house. On a river where one can fish, pass gas AND gator wrestle.. Are you thinking of trying out?

Scarlett

JoeG..."every morning starts with Katie Couric dangling her stumpy legs, giggling "

So funny & so true~

Sjoerd

*Underwhelmed*? NOT! These are one of the best Olympics ever and on-par with Sydney.
It is great that there are so many different sports because there is something interesting for all of us. everything is very well organised, there have been no or few traffic problems, and all athletes rave about the facilities in the Olympic Village. The Greeks have done a perfect job and most (all?) visitors are having a great time.
What I hear from my friends in the US is that TV coverage in the US has been very bad and focused on the US athletes only. Please remember that 95% of the people in the world are *not* Americans and there are many, many great sportsmen and sportswomen from these countries, too.

Mathieu

I think that it's high time that the olympic committee made some kind of distinction between what constitutes a 'sport' and a 'game'. And then, those sports and games where winners are 'judged', and those where winners are declared objectively (hitting the target, or reaching the finish line, etc.) How that distinction is made will not be easy, but hopefully result in the ousting of some of the more dubious events currently on display. (Once enjoyed as a childhood plaything, how did Trampoline end up as an Olympic sport ?)

What gets me - particularly when watching some of the gymnastic events, is the speed of the competetitors performance. How the hXll can a judge see all of that and make a fair judgement on the performance ? Surely while they are making notes they'd be missing something ? Do they have replay before posting their scores ? Can they really see everything from where they sit ? Feet together, knees together etc. ?