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Luuuc
#NATC
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
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 Posted: 07/29/12 8:14 pm ::: |
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| Linzin wrote: |
| To be honest, I don't know why y'all are so riled up over the nationalism of Olympics coverage. Is there any country where that ISN'T true? |
I would doubt it. With the amount of money these networks have to pay for the broadcasting rights the ratings are very important.
Just because one American might be keen to see some Malaysian guy playing badminton doesn't negate the million who would rather see the American in a final competing for a medal.
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myrtle
Joined: 02 May 2008
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| Posted: 07/29/12 8:14 pm ::: |
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| Like I said in another thread, Canada is really good about broadcasting all the events with all the athletes regardless of nationality. It's almost to the opposite extreme and can get kinda boring. I don't mind some homerism but when it's gets so extreme that they don't bother to show events where Americans are not very competitive, that gets old.
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 07/29/12 8:53 pm ::: |
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| Linzin wrote: |
| BCBG25 wrote: |
| Linzin wrote: |
| Not that bitching about the officiating is new to the Games, but I have never seen a judges' decision in judo get overturned... |
It happened a couple of times today, both ippons against the same Japanese wrestler. He wound up winning bronze, Japan's first medal in a sport they hoped to win several. |
No, that happened a billion times yesterday. New video replay tech, etc. etc. (Personally, the new rules made watching a lot less fun than before, but whatever.) What I meant was after everything, if the two players are tied, the winner gets decided by the judges' decision (Three judges with the white/blue flags). I've never seen that decision get overturned. As far as I can tell, neither has anybody else.
Cho ended up winning a bronze as well. |
I didn't watch Cho's match, but I did watch the bronze medal match where they turned an ippon into a waza-ri after declaring the other guy the winner. Then they went into the Golden Score and the Japanese guy won. I thought you were talking about them changing scores all the time, which is really annoying, not unlike the challenges in tennis, but at least in tennis they get it right.
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SORF
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
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bridgehere
Joined: 07 Feb 2010
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| Posted: 07/29/12 10:16 pm ::: |
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| caune wrote: |
| sambista wrote: |
and now, for my next random thought . . .
i just saw nadia comaneci on cnn (noting the spaniards' complaints about their taco bell uniforms), and wow - that girl grew up! she's gorgeous and sporting a smart british accent. i had no idea. |
LOL, I thought she lived in Oklahoma? Maybe it was a slight Southern accent?
My random comment.
Hey NBC, I want more Mary Carillo and less, ok, let's make that no, Ryan Seacrest! |
Yep, she lives in Norman, Ok., with her husband, Bart Conner, and their son. She did become a beautiful woman. She and Bart have several things going on, one is a gymnastics center here in Norman. AND she does speak with an Okie accent. Yes, all Okies sound a little British.
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Howee
Joined: 27 Nov 2009
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Location: OREGON (in my heart)
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| Posted: 07/30/12 12:12 am ::: |
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Here's one that's resonated with me:
The Han Chinese apparently have a Table Tennis *gene* or something. 
I decided to focus on ping pong as a *new* event to learn more about this time around, and of all the athletes I can find in this event, only 3 are caucasian, one Japanese guy representing Brazil, and one Japanese gal. ALL the rest (regardless of the country they represent) appear to be ethnic Chinese. Even America's four reps here are genetically Chinese.
Not that it's a big deal, but I just wonder if there's ever been a sport more utterly dominated by one ethnicity/race like table tennis.... 
ETA: Okay, the site I've been using to research TT athletes is apparently NOT complete. 
Clearly, there have been a (small) handful of NON-Asian medalists over the years since it was started as an Olympic event, BUT....about 90% of all medalsts, male or female, have been either Chinese or Korean, and many other countries in this sport are represented by ex-pat asians.
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scullyfu
Joined: 01 Jan 2006
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Location: Niagara Falls
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| Posted: 07/30/12 2:01 am ::: |
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| Howee wrote: |
Here's one that's resonated with me:
The Han Chinese apparently have a Table Tennis *gene* or something.
I decided to focus on ping pong as a *new* event to learn more about this time around, and of all the athletes I can find in this event, only 3 are caucasian, one Japanese guy representing Brazil, and one Japanese gal. ALL the rest (regardless of the country they represent) appear to be ethnic Chinese. Even America's four reps here are genetically Chinese.
Not that it's a big deal, but I just wonder if there's ever been a sport more utterly dominated by one ethnicity/race like table tennis....
ETA: Okay, the site I've been using to research TT athletes is apparently NOT complete.
Clearly, there have been a (small) handful of NON-Asian medalists over the years since it was started as an Olympic event, BUT....about 90% of all medalsts, male or female, have been either Chinese or Korean, and many other countries in this sport are represented by ex-pat asians. |
16 yo american ariel hsing gave the chinese woman all she could handle today. her parents told her that if her gpa dropped below 4.0 there would be no more table tennis. no problem. she hopes to go to stanford to study business.
http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/HS/Ariel-Hsing.aspx
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SuziQ
Joined: 27 Nov 2005
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Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| Posted: 07/30/12 2:15 am ::: |
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| I really enjoyed the team handball. I kept thinking they were traveling, though.
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Tally24
Joined: 14 Feb 2012
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| Posted: 07/30/12 2:50 am ::: |
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| scullyfu wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
Here's one that's resonated with me:
The Han Chinese apparently have a Table Tennis *gene* or something.
I decided to focus on ping pong as a *new* event to learn more about this time around, and of all the athletes I can find in this event, only 3 are caucasian, one Japanese guy representing Brazil, and one Japanese gal. ALL the rest (regardless of the country they represent) appear to be ethnic Chinese. Even America's four reps here are genetically Chinese.
Not that it's a big deal, but I just wonder if there's ever been a sport more utterly dominated by one ethnicity/race like table tennis....
ETA: Okay, the site I've been using to research TT athletes is apparently NOT complete.
Clearly, there have been a (small) handful of NON-Asian medalists over the years since it was started as an Olympic event, BUT....about 90% of all medalsts, male or female, have been either Chinese or Korean, and many other countries in this sport are represented by ex-pat asians. |
16 yo american ariel hsing gave the chinese woman all she could handle today. her parents told her that if her gpa dropped below 4.0 there would be no more table tennis. no problem. she hopes to go to stanford to study business.
http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/HS/Ariel-Hsing.aspx |
I was baby-sitting my sister's daughter and we were watching the TV show Figure it Out and Ariel was on the TV show and that's how I learned about her and I've been following her ever since. I was sad she lost today becuase I got really into it. It's funny how you can root so hard for someone you barely know anything about just because they wear the Red, White and Blue, then turn around and root so hardly against someone you hardly know anything about just becaus they don't. |
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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Admiral_Needa
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caune
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 07/30/12 8:18 am ::: |
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| Linzin wrote: |
| Not that bitching about the officiating is new to the Games, but I have never seen a judges' decision in judo get overturned... |
My time to bitch...watching Rafaela Silva's breakdown after they ruled her waza-ri an illegal strike was heartbreaking and at the same time touching because the Hungarian was just as shocked and helped her up. Almost all commentators agreed that it was not an illegal strike and, at the very least, should be downgraded to a Yuko instead or a penalty. That was brutal...
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kool-aide
Joined: 09 Jun 2009
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| Posted: 07/30/12 9:09 am ::: |
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| scullyfu wrote: |
| Howee wrote: |
Here's one that's resonated with me:
The Han Chinese apparently have a Table Tennis *gene* or something.
I decided to focus on ping pong as a *new* event to learn more about this time around, and of all the athletes I can find in this event, only 3 are caucasian, one Japanese guy representing Brazil, and one Japanese gal. ALL the rest (regardless of the country they represent) appear to be ethnic Chinese. Even America's four reps here are genetically Chinese.
Not that it's a big deal, but I just wonder if there's ever been a sport more utterly dominated by one ethnicity/race like table tennis....
ETA: Okay, the site I've been using to research TT athletes is apparently NOT complete.
Clearly, there have been a (small) handful of NON-Asian medalists over the years since it was started as an Olympic event, BUT....about 90% of all medalsts, male or female, have been either Chinese or Korean, and many other countries in this sport are represented by ex-pat asians. |
16 yo american ariel hsing gave the chinese woman all she could handle today. her parents told her that if her gpa dropped below 4.0 there would be no more table tennis. no problem. she hopes to go to stanford to study business.
http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/HS/Ariel-Hsing.aspx |
She definitely surprised the 2nd seeded player w/ that tough match. I hope Ms. Hsing is able to rise in the international scene and really do well in 4 yrs (she'll just be 20). Maybe she can help grow serious table tennis in the USA. Like young fencers a while back helped grow fencing. There weren't many fencers in the USA way back when my sister fenced. Now it's a growing sport here.
Howee, I think it is more just that different sports are popular in different countries/areas and as folks migrate/immigrate they bring their favorite sports like they bring their favorite foods.
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StevenHW
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Linzin
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Marjie
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| Posted: 07/30/12 6:05 pm ::: |
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| Anyone see the womens' water polo? Some of the players need more coverage in the swim wear. Big thong swimsuit butts are not appealing! Cover some cheeks.
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readyAIMfire53
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ChicagoAnnie
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sambista
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| Posted: 07/30/12 7:59 pm ::: |
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| readyAIMfire53 wrote: |
| sambista wrote: |
| BCBG25 wrote: |
| SuziQ wrote: |
| I really enjoyed the team handball. I kept thinking they were traveling, though. |
Or were flagrant-fouling all the time. 
It's a very popular high-school sport here, but I could never get into it; it's borderline violent sometimes. |
the small oregon college where i spent my first two years really promoted handball hard, and i was on one of the teams. but after i left that school, i couldn't find a soul who played handball. years later, i tried racquetball and squash, but it wasn't the same. i really liked the feel of batting the ball with my hands. i wound up going with tennis. go figure. |
Um, this is TEAM handball. It's like water polo without the water and the ball is about the size of a volley ball. |
then i gotta see this, because the only team handball i knew was two people, ball the size of a fist. this sounds almost like dodgeball!
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Linzin
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caune
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jaye
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GEF34
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| Posted: 07/30/12 9:52 pm ::: |
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| Linzin wrote: |
| sambista wrote: |
| then i gotta see this, because the only team handball i knew was two people, ball the size of a fist. this sounds almost like dodgeball! |
Sounds like you're talking about fives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fives
...which is super minor sport that I didn't know people even played in the US. Huh.
ETA: Although apparently there's something else called American handball. Wtf.  The only handball I knew growing up was the Olympic version.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_handball |
I've always thought it was called handball, I used to see a lot of people play fives in the park when I was a kid, not sure how popular it is overall in the US, but I did see it a lot as a kid.
Team handball, the Olympic version is awesome, part of me wants to try it, I think I would suck, but it looks like a lot of fun to play.
And of course good old American handball, I used to play all the time as a kid, we used to have some crazy games on the playground. 
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Brutal is right.