Olympics thread

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Monster
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Monster »

Q12543 wrote:
AbeVigodaLive wrote:
monsterpile wrote:
Q12543 wrote:
monsterpile wrote:





The USA swimmer who got the silver had the swim of her life and was thrilled. It's kinda funny/interesting that she has some sweet corporate job all lined up. It seems like a lot of these other athletes you wonder what is next for them. A good friend of mine knows a gymnast that was in the running to be on the USA Olympic team. He knew that even if he made it unless he medaled he probably needed to move on and do something else with his life financially. He didn't make the team because of the way the roster was constructed but his life as a gymnast and moving on came quickly. He lived in the Olympic housing etc and had to move out and pretty much immediately start his new life. I'm sure he will be ok and maybe everything ending like that makes it easier to move on but it sounds kinda tough.

It's hard to watch any sport without wondering. There has to be guys taking doing stuff they aren't supposed to even in basketball. Something that helps with recovery time makes a ton of sense with the grind of an 82 game season. Oh well I guess. I don't have the answers to fix it that's for sure.



So a neighborhood kid just missed qualifying for the Olympics. He just graduated from college but just signed on with NIKE to be a full-time pro athlete. He can continue going to school for his PhD while training year-round. But he almost didn't sign because he was pretty disgusted by the "culture" surrounding Olympic athletes.



[Note: His parents are the nosy, opinionated neighbors who like to comment on others parenting and dog-training skills. As much as I want to tell them to "go fuck themselves, what do you know"... it's sort of hard when their eldest kid is a potential Olympic athlete with a backup career as a rocket scientist. Seriously. The kid already has his Master's in Aerospace Engineering.]



Yeah, I think there has to be some level of dysfunction for these people that reach the very tippy top of an Olympic sport such as swimming, biking, track/field, etc. I mean, the level of training and intensity required is insane, not to mention the pure monotony and grind of it. Whether it's PEDs, overbearing parents, occasional drug/alcohol benders that lead to trouble, or some combination therein, it's not all motherhood and apple pie. There is usually a lot of ugliness involved.


I've heard plenty of discussion of the International Olympic Committee being pretty corrupt so the dysfunction probably starts at the top. And I would have said that not including that guy that is going to get arrested for pulling a Mike Tice scalping tickets. Lol
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Q12543 [enjin:6621299]
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Q12543 [enjin:6621299] »

Monster, There is the IOC and it's rampant white-collar crime and corruption and then there are the athletes that dedicate a huge chunk of their lives to get to the Olympics....two different things in my opinion. The dysfunction with athletes I think has to do with the type of personality driven to compete at that level along with the sheer monotony of it all. I think it can lead to ugliness, whether it's Michael Phelps getting a DUI and then contemplating suicide because he wasn't sure what his life's purpose was beyond swimming or Justin Gatlin getting busted for PEDs. The world of biking - especially in Lance Armstrong's era - was just ruthlessly dirty.

Anywho, the media has done a great job feeding us a lot of feel-good storylines - and they are mostly legit - but we don't see a lot of the dysfunction that goes on behind the scenes.
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AbeVigodaLive
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by AbeVigodaLive »

Q12543 wrote:Monster, There is the IOC and it's rampant white-collar crime and corruption and then there are the athletes that dedicate a huge chunk of their lives to get to the Olympics....two different things in my opinion. The dysfunction with athletes I think has to do with the type of personality driven to compete at that level along with the sheer monotony of it all. I think it can lead to ugliness, whether it's Michael Phelps getting a DUI and then contemplating suicide because he wasn't sure what his life's purpose was beyond swimming or Justin Gatlin getting busted for PEDs. The world of biking - especially in Lance Armstrong's era - was just ruthlessly dirty.

Anywho, the media has done a great job feeding us a lot of feel-good storylines - and they are mostly legit - but we don't see a lot of the dysfunction that goes on behind the scenes.



I see similarities between the IOC and big-time collegiate athletics.

Both have done a good job on the touchy-feely stuff over HERE... to keep us from noticing all the money grabs and corruption over there...
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thedoper
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by thedoper »

Butler is good.
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Monster
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Monster »

AbeVigodaLive wrote:
Q12543 wrote:Monster, There is the IOC and it's rampant white-collar crime and corruption and then there are the athletes that dedicate a huge chunk of their lives to get to the Olympics....two different things in my opinion. The dysfunction with athletes I think has to do with the type of personality driven to compete at that level along with the sheer monotony of it all. I think it can lead to ugliness, whether it's Michael Phelps getting a DUI and then contemplating suicide because he wasn't sure what his life's purpose was beyond swimming or Justin Gatlin getting busted for PEDs. The world of biking - especially in Lance Armstrong's era - was just ruthlessly dirty.

Anywho, the media has done a great job feeding us a lot of feel-good storylines - and they are mostly legit - but we don't see a lot of the dysfunction that goes on behind the scenes.



I see similarities between the IOC and big-time collegiate athletics.

Both have done a good job on the touchy-feely stuff over HERE... to keep us from noticing all the money grabs and corruption over there...


Q I agree it's a different sort of dysfunction but so think what I was getting at is that because the IOC is corrupt at the top it often doesn't have the highest concern with the athletes well being and like Abe said some parallels can be drawn towards the NCAA as well.
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Q12543 [enjin:6621299]
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Q12543 [enjin:6621299] »

It looks like the dysfunction of Olympic athletes just reared it's head again in the form of Ryan Lochte.......what a knucklehead.
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Monster
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Monster »

I just want to mention that I saw Jordon Burroughs in a meet a couple years ago for Nebraska. I knew he was good but it was silly how easily he took care of the guy he went up against. He had every advantage, quicker, stronger, technique etc etc. it was no wonder he was ranked so highly. It was my first wrestling meet I had ever went to in person and I went with a long time friend of mine who had family who had medaled in the Olympics in wrestling years ago. I had some good commentary and instruction on what I was watching. It was a fun time I need to do it again.
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Coolbreeze44
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Coolbreeze44 »

Yeah it's a little bit of a knee jerk reaction, but I've lost some respect for Jimmy Butler's game during these Olympics. He's shot poorly and he isn't nearly as tough and gritty as I thought he was. He's got some punk in him. Very relieved we didn't deal the type of assets for him that were talked about at draft time.
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Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167]
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Brooklyn_Wolves [enjin:14608167] »

CoolBreeze44 wrote:Yeah it's a little bit of a knee jerk reaction, but I've lost some respect for Jimmy Butler's game during these Olympics. He's shot poorly and he isn't nearly as tough and gritty as I thought he was. He's got some punk in him. Very relieved we didn't deal the type of assets for him that were talked about at draft time.


meh... he's still a very good NBA player, another evidence that FIBA play has little to do with NBA. Draymond Green couldn't get it going and mostly found himself riding pine next to Barnes. A lot depends what kind of role your coach is giving you. Jokic is a much better player in the NBA than Radulica but their coach prefers the latter player.
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Monster
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Re: Olympics thread

Post by Monster »

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Yeah it's a little bit of a knee jerk reaction, but I've lost some respect for Jimmy Butler's game during these Olympics. He's shot poorly and he isn't nearly as tough and gritty as I thought he was. He's got some punk in him. Very relieved we didn't deal the type of assets for him that were talked about at draft time.


meh... he's still a very good NBA player, another evidence that FIBA play has little to do with NBA. Draymond Green couldn't get it going and mostly found himself riding pine next to Barnes. A lot depends what kind of role your coach is giving you. Jokic is a much better player in the NBA than Radulica but their coach prefers the latter player.


Cool when you posted at thought this was going to be why you lost respect for Butler.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17354748
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