Canada vs USA

[Lori]

So Michael phelps and Shawn white would stay home as well?

Them, Ohno, Bode Miller, the skaters who go "on tour" when they're not competing, all of 'em.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Them, Ohno, Bode Miller, the skaters who go "on tour" when they're not competing, all of 'em.

 

[KD in CA]

So the spirit of the Olympics is BS?

Uh no, you and your silly LAMP crusade are BS. Welcome to ignore for a while.

 

 

 

Ryan Miller among the U.S. athletes walking into the Closing Ceremony. Smile on his face, camera in his hand. Glad he's getting to experience this moment.

I saw that too. Good for Ryan.

[PromoTheRobot]

So when is the rubber game? The series is tied at 1-1. Didn't Canada have to win by 3 goals?

 

PTR

[KD in CA]

So when is the rubber game? The series is tied at 1-1. Didn't Canada have to win by 3 goals?

 

PTR

 

Composite score for the two games:

 

USA 7

CAN 6

 

Just sayin'

[Acantha]

Uh no, you and your silly LAMP crusade are BS. Welcome to ignore for a while.

Yeah....it's about that time.

[DC Tom]

You (and others) gotta be the most shallowest people on the board .

 

We will see if they (NHL) send players to Sochi... I hope not. But, Ovie will be chomping at the bit. It hasn't been decided yet. So somebody is thinking about it... And it is not because Sochi is halfway around the world. Well, that is what they (NHL) will tell the "I gotta have my star player now world."

 

People really lose what the spirit of the Olympics is all about. Even sadder now that the USSR has been gone for 20 years. And now this... When did basketball, hockey, other team sports start sending their pros... Just a few years after the fall of the USSR. Truly sad.

 

 

 

After reviewing this thread...you should stick to bitching about fish. Really.

[ExiledInIllinois]

 

After reviewing this thread...you should stick to bitching about fish. Really.

 

Okay, I will stop talking common sense.

 

So I should NOT be bitching about this message:

 

 

 

The inclusion of professional athletes in the Olympic Games is patently unfair and a degradation of the spirit and goal of the Games. It should be common- sensically clear that a team who gets paid mega-millions to train to be the best will have an unfair advantage over amateur players who have to support themselves outside of training time. It appears to me that the Olympic Committee has buckled under to big money sports and corporate promotors, who have changed the focus of the games from a pursuit of pure athletic excellence to the positioning of their product as the sponsor of "the winner". Network broadcast coverage of the events, by its very nature,fits hand-in-glove with this commercial focus.

 

It would be refreshing to see a broader and more international coverage of the athletes and events in these Games.There are literally thousands of individual stories of personal triumph from all over the world. It gets boring seeing the same over-media exposed faces all the time.Why not cover some of the events that have no U.S. athletes competeing. Maybe it would inspire some young person watching to develop him/herself in that sport. The Olympics should encourage the pursuit of athletic excellence for the love of the sport, not because you will get paid millions to do it. Unfortunately, the latter is the message that's being put forth.

[Alaska Darin]

No. Wrong. There are probably many more that feel the same way... Just afraid to talk and get insulted and shouted down by the likes of you.

Then the only thing matching their stupidity is their cowardice.

Or, figure it is just not worth it. There is still a lot of fight left in me.

Fight? Is that the part where you talk about my balls?

I do admit... Sid Crosby (Pat kane, Jonathan Toews, Ovie or whoever will be next) does make for nice theatre. Kinda like your uncle beating you at arm wrestling when you are 8.

How exactly is that? Every single team in the hockey tournament used professional players. EVERY ONE. Go ahead and try to spin that.

Don't stars in other Olympic sports disgust you?

No. I don't have a grudge against successful people performing at the top competition available.

I betcha you would just love Kobi hitting a game winner at the buzzer in the Olympics.

Basketball isn't something I care very much about but I wouldn't have a problem with Kobe making a shot to win. The rest of the world has closed the gap in basketball BECAUSE of the "Dream Team", not in spite of it. The level of play in the NBA is the highest its ever been because the game has gone international. The world is a smaller place because of it and people share a commonality that wasn't there before.

 

Just as these Olympics were the most competitive ever. There were countries winning medals in sports they'd never won in and that was awesome to watch.

[Pete]

Congratulations Canada. Well played

[Alaska Darin]

Okay, I will stop talking common sense.

 

So I should NOT be bitching about this message:

 

 

 

The inclusion of professional athletes in the Olympic Games is patently unfair and a degradation of the spirit and goal of the Games. It should be common- sensically clear that a team who gets paid mega-millions to train to be the best will have an unfair advantage over amateur players who have to support themselves outside of training time. It appears to me that the Olympic Committee has buckled under to big money sports and corporate promotors, who have changed the focus of the games from a pursuit of pure athletic excellence to the positioning of their product as the sponsor of "the winner". Network broadcast coverage of the events, by its very nature,fits hand-in-glove with this commercial focus.

 

It would be refreshing to see a broader and more international coverage of the athletes and events in these Games.There are literally thousands of individual stories of personal triumph from all over the world. It gets boring seeing the same over-media exposed faces all the time.Why not cover some of the events that have no U.S. athletes competeing. Maybe it would inspire some young person watching to develop him/herself in that sport. The Olympics should encourage the pursuit of athletic excellence for the love of the sport, not because you will get paid millions to do it. Unfortunately, the latter is the message that's being put forth.

Thanks for posting someone else's opinion.

 

You should try and get the other 9 people who agree with you to start a movement. You could call it: "The Very Special Olympics".

[ExiledInIllinois]

Thanks for posting someone else's opinion.

 

 

It is also mine. Since I am a poor writer and can't articulate my argument well in writing, I should have just cited it from the start and be done with all you Philistines.

[Booster4324]

The rest of the world has closed the gap in basketball BECAUSE of the "Dream Team", not in spite of it. The level of play in the NBA is the highest its ever been because the game has gone international. The world is a smaller place because of it and people share a commonality that wasn't there before.

 

Hmm interesting point. Not sure it is true, but it would explain a lot. Nice post.

 

Oh and congrats Canada.

[Alaska Darin]

It is also mine. Since I am a poor writer and can't articulate my argument well in writing, I should have just cited it from the start and be done with all you Philistines.

So you can't articulate but other people are Philistines. It's like there's nothing you're not hypocritical about.

 

Not big on the "Very Special Olympics" idea?

[Pete]

this thread is hilarious

[KD in CA]

I feel like I'm watching Hunt for Red October.

[Bullpen]

Hey what's goin on in dis here thread chidrin?

[Booster4324]

Hey what's goin on in dis here thread chidrin?

 

Nothing mother...

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Hey what's goin on in dis here thread chidrin?

 

Eric is starting trouble again!

[DC Tom]

Okay, I will stop talking common sense.

 

So I should NOT be bitching about this message:

 

 

 

The inclusion of professional athletes in the Olympic Games is patently unfair and a degradation of the spirit and goal of the Games. It should be common- sensically clear that a team who gets paid mega-millions to train to be the best will have an unfair advantage over amateur players who have to support themselves outside of training time. It appears to me that the Olympic Committee has buckled under to big money sports and corporate promotors, who have changed the focus of the games from a pursuit of pure athletic excellence to the positioning of their product as the sponsor of "the winner". Network broadcast coverage of the events, by its very nature,fits hand-in-glove with this commercial focus.

 

It would be refreshing to see a broader and more international coverage of the athletes and events in these Games.There are literally thousands of individual stories of personal triumph from all over the world. It gets boring seeing the same over-media exposed faces all the time.Why not cover some of the events that have no U.S. athletes competeing. Maybe it would inspire some young person watching to develop him/herself in that sport. The Olympics should encourage the pursuit of athletic excellence for the love of the sport, not because you will get paid millions to do it. Unfortunately, the latter is the message that's being put forth.

 

Even if you are talking common sense, you're still greviously misinformed. You think the "spirit" of the Olympics was embodied in Cold War competetion, and pro athletes started playing in the Olympics only after the Cold War ended? What amateurs were on the 1980 Soviet hockey team? Olympic soccer has a LONG history of using pro athletes (at least going back before WWII). Pro basketball players outside of the NBA have been allowed to play in the Olympics almost since inception.

 

The substance of your rant is based on complete nonsense - professionals competing in "amateur" games isn't a post-Cold War development. It's been going on for a LONG time.