Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:37 am

NBC has the rights to all of the sports this weekend, and somehow we have a choice between ice dancing, amateur Euro hockey, and local news.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 11:13 am

Rex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:37 am NBC has the rights to all of the sports this weekend, and somehow we have a choice between ice dancing, amateur Euro hockey, and local news.

There's curling tonight! Men's USA vs Canada in primetime!

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 3:29 pm

Wow lol

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:04 pm

That's embarassing.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:10 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:04 pm That's embarassing.

Meh. The USA team is a bunch of kids from college and the junior leagues. But, Canada isn't much better - a bunch of 35 year-old has-beens and never-weres who play in Russia.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:20 pm

There will never be another situation like the Miracle on Ice.

pruitt2 · Post by **pruitt2** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 5:44 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 4:20 pm There will never be another situation like the Miracle on Ice.

If this USA team had beaten the NHL Canadians, then perhaps.

Olympic hockey without the NHLers is grim.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:56 pm

Eh, the 1980 team was carefully put together months in advance, had legitimate NHL prospects, was given a legit chance of winning a medal, and had the twin advantages of younger legs and home ice. The Soviets were a glorified all-star team that had grown complacent and was travel weary. Call it a miracle if you want, but that’s just bending to the narrative.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:05 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:56 pm Eh, the 1980 team was carefully put together months in advance, had legitimate NHL prospects, was given a legit chance of winning a medal, and had the twin advantages of younger legs and home ice. The Soviets were a glorified all-star team that had grown complacent and was travel weary. Call it a miracle if you want, but that’s just bending to the narrative.

It was a miracle, damnit!

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:09 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 7:56 pm Eh, the 1980 team was carefully put together months in advance, had legitimate NHL prospects, was given a legit chance of winning a medal, and had the twin advantages of younger legs and home ice. The Soviets were a glorified all-star team that had grown complacent and was travel weary. Call it a miracle if you want, but that’s just bending to the narrative.

The US were gunning for bronze, kind of like womens teams are gunning for bronze. USSR and CSSR were expected 1-2 because those were their national teams.

The first upset was the US beating CSSR in the round robin. Then Sweden also beat the Czechs to knock them out.

Then US beating USSR was a miracle. USSR won 8 golds before the pros got in.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:11 pm

And I don’t know how you bring Canada into this. Done some research and it looks like Canada lost the 1981 “Canada Cup” final to USSR by 8-1. Must have been a bunch of nobodies on that team!

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:17 pm

Rex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:11 pm And I don’t know how you bring Canada into this. Done some research and it looks like Canada lost the 1981 “Canada Cup” final to USSR by 8-1. Must have been a bunch of nobodies on that team!

That was a full Canadian team they slaughtered. Mike Liut still can't show his face in Canada.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:34 pm

Anyone who knows what Mike Liut looks like should absolutely get a free shot at him

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:39 pm

I feel like Shuster’s team is technically better than they were 4 years ago, but they’ve never lost that WTF quality to them. You know the longer they talk through a shot, the worse it is going to be.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:40 pm

Ryan wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:34 pm Anyone who knows what Mike Liut looks like should absolutely get a free shot at him

Probably saved his life that nobody wanted to go to Connecticut to find him.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:42 pm

Just hiding out in plain sight at a Waldenbooks 3 minutes before puck drop

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:48 pm

*drives to Hartford with a private arsenal*

*sees a fancy looking McDonalds on the way*

*life saved again*

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:50 pm

There's something called monobob!

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:13 pm

degenerasian wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:17 pm
Rex wrote: ↑Sat Feb 12, 2022 8:11 pm And I don’t know how you bring Canada into this. Done some research and it looks like Canada lost the 1981 “Canada Cup” final to USSR by 8-1. Must have been a bunch of nobodies on that team!
That was a full Canadian team they slaughtered. Mike Liut still can't show his face in Canada.

He was replaced by Peter Sidorkiewicz, that’s punishment enough.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:03 pm

Sure these ice dancers all look super-attractive but I bet when they’re not all glittered up they’re still super-attractive

pruitt2 · Post by **pruitt2** » Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:13 pm

: imrs.jpeg (73.32 KiB) Viewed 426 times

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:30 pm

IOC is such a bullshit outfit. How do you let this Russian skater compete?

It's one thing if this was all fuzzy judging "scandal" stuff. This is clear cut. She tested positive for a banned substance.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:21 pm

Shuster I never doubted you

pruitt2 · Post by **pruitt2** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:49 am

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:30 pm IOC is such a bullshit outfit. How do you let this Russian skater compete?

It's one thing if this was all fuzzy judging "scandal" stuff. This is clear cut. She tested positive for a banned substance.

If she was from Romania or Finland, no way she's allowed to compete.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:56 am

pruitt2 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:49 am
Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:30 pm IOC is such a bullshit outfit. How do you let this Russian skater compete?

It's one thing if this was all fuzzy judging "scandal" stuff. This is clear cut. She tested positive for a banned substance.
If she was from Romania or Finland, no way she's allowed to compete.

She is under 16. She is being protected as a youth and as a result not fully responsible. Only reason she is competing while the investigation is ongoing.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:58 am

pruitt2 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:49 am
Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:30 pm IOC is such a bullshit outfit. How do you let this Russian skater compete?

It's one thing if this was all fuzzy judging "scandal" stuff. This is clear cut. She tested positive for a banned substance.
If she was from Romania or Finland, no way she's allowed to compete.

Well... There's also the US (black) female runner who points out that this attractive, young white female gets a pass, while she was banned for a similar infraction.

I know most folks on here aren't really paying attention, but this decision is pretty outrageous. You can't have a system where being U15 pretty much allows for any kind of nonsense. Being protected, while skating against adults who have to follow all the rules is a ridiculous system.

Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski both detailed that they were both tested from very early ages (12 and 13), so the idea that this Russian skater was too young/naive to fully understand what was happening around her is just preposterous.

It's also long past time that Russia is just outright banned from international competition on any level. Their culture is beyond fucked up at this point.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:59 am

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:56 am
pruitt2 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:49 am
Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 5:30 pm IOC is such a bullshit outfit. How do you let this Russian skater compete?

It's one thing if this was all fuzzy judging "scandal" stuff. This is clear cut. She tested positive for a banned substance.
If she was from Romania or Finland, no way she's allowed to compete.
She is under 16. She is being protected as a youth and as a result not fully responsible. Only reason she is competing while the investigation is ongoing.

Sorry, didn't see this... See my post above. If she wants to compete at the Olympics, she needs to be covered under the same rules as "adults."

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:28 am

it's not an Olympic-specific issue, however

not arguing that the rule shouldn't be changed. but this same scenario unfortunately happens in any WADA competition

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:56 am

Yeah, that's a good point. The decision wasn't the IOC, it was the Court of Arbitration for Sport (roughly the Supreme Court of international sports governing.)
The IOC isn't going to hold medal ceremonies for the team competition and also if she wins in individual until they hold another hearing in a few weeks (months?)

It's being pretty widely reported that she's going to lose that case, and be stripped of her medals and everyone else will move up a spot. It's insanity.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:00 am

Rex wrote: ↑Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:21 pm Shuster I never doubted you

That was a hell of a shot. And that one in the end before. But otherwise it mostly seemed to me like they were getting out-thought and out-shot.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:01 am

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:56 am Yeah, that's a good point. The decision wasn't the IOC, it was the Court of Arbitration for Sport (roughly the Supreme Court of international sports governing.)
The IOC isn't going to hold medal ceremonies for the team competition and also if she wins in individual until they hold another hearing in a few weeks (months?)

It's being pretty widely reported that she's going to lose that case, and be stripped of her medals and everyone else will move up a spot. It's insanity.

I have no faith the Sportacrats from the CAS to do what is expected

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:22 am

Yeah, who really knows... But the fact that they're not going to hand out medals in two premiere sports, not to mention the pall this is putting over all of the figure skating events (non-stop questions from the media) sure isn't going to be forgotten anytime soon.

This might be the black eye that is necessary to get the Russians banned from int'l competition for a couple of cycles. This is incredibly problematic for the IOC and other governing bodies. Everyone knows she's dirty, and there she is about to win another gold.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:34 am

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:22 am Yeah, who really knows... But the fact that they're not going to hand out medals in two premiere sports, not to mention the pall this is putting over all of the figure skating events (non-stop questions from the media) sure isn't going to be forgotten anytime soon.

This might be the black eye that is necessary to get the Russians banned from int'l competition for a couple of cycles. This is incredibly problematic for the IOC and other governing bodies. Everyone knows she's dirty, and there she is about to win another gold.

Based on the amount of $ Gazprom and other Russian Political related Oligarch companies spend on sports...have a hard time seeing the IOC ban them.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:36 pm

It's really hard to ban athletes, even if state sponsored. You can throw out the country but then they'll compete as ROC. And then if you disallow that, they will compete as independents, no affiliation. The Olympics have had independent athletes or refugee athletes forever.

Let's say US Track and Field was really dirty and was caught, plus a few other athletes from other sports and you suspend USA. You're not stopping the Basketball Dream Team or Katie Ledecky from competing. They'll get there one way or another. The Dream Team would be let into a qualifying tournament by FIBA where they beat Tahiti by 100.

So either they're USA, or USOC or independent, you can't stop clean athletes from competing.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:59 pm

First off, to be crystal clear, the reason Russia is in so much hot water is that they are actively pushing a state-run doping program. When US (or Canadian or French or almost everyone else*) gets caught cheating, they ban or suspend the athlete. Marion Jones and others associated with the Balco scandal weren't doing so under some large conspiracy pushed forward by US track or the US Olympic folks. Now, you can (in hindsight) wonder why more questions weren't being asked, particularly around a few of the track athletes back in that era that were "all of a sudden" putting down record times, seemingly out of nowhere. But that's an entirely differently animal than what was happening in E. Germany (and other Eastern Bloc countries and now Russia.)

That's why the US sprinter I referenced above has a squishy point in all of this. She'd have an argument (on the merits, as opposed to sentimentality) if Katie Ledecky got caught smoking dope and didn't get banned.

And that's really the point of all this. The Russians do this to prove a point about how great they are at all of these sports... it's very deeply engrained in the Communist/Autocrat ethos to prove they are better than the West in a highly visible way.

When you strip the state's ability to truly raise the flag and play the anthem, you are taking a MASSIVE aspect of the benefit of the state-run doping program out of the mix. And, of course, when they knowingly put forward athletes that have tested positive, you take away the medals (obviously).

=-=-=--=-=-=-=

* - What's not being discussed are the longstanding "suspicions" around China and its athletic programs. There's a ton of smoke, most notably the swimmer that got banned a few years back... But there are a lot of other very fishy things going on. One of the reasons they want to push participation ages up is the concern that China, behind their near-totalitarian rule, is pushing kids to take PEDs and other practices that are pretty sketchy/dehumanizing.

And, degen, I'm not really sure what you mean. Of course you can ban or suspend athletes if they test positive. If you mean you can't ban an entire populace from competing, sure, I guess. But from what I understand, they sure would find it difficult to compete unless they got outside the testing procedures/apparatus of Russia. They can't just say "no country, no tests" and since Russia is (obviously) at the heart of the sponsored cheating... If it goes down like that, they (the athletes) are going to need to figure out another (clean) way to compete.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:34 pm

That's what I mean. You can ban athletes but not a blanket ban from athletes from a country.
For example, tennis is in the Olympics and you can't ban Medvedev and Rublev from competing. They have nothing to do with the Russian state-run program, they don't even compete for Russia in grand slams, the country is just for our benefit as viewers and they don't even live in Russia, they are professional. This is where the fuzzy line of professional and amateur comes into play. Amateurs get state-sponsored funding and state-sponsored cheating, not professionals.

Now if the Olympics said, you must be an amateur and part of a state program to compete like in the 70s then yeah, you can kick an entire country out. But that's not the case anymore. The waters have been muddied long ago by allowing pros. Lebron James, or Medvedev or Shuster are basically hired guns with citizenship.

pruitt2 · Post by **pruitt2** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 5:40 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:22 am Yeah, who really knows... But the fact that they're not going to hand out medals in two premiere sports, not to mention the pall this is putting over all of the figure skating events (non-stop questions from the media) sure isn't going to be forgotten anytime soon.

This might be the black eye that is necessary to get the Russians banned from int'l competition for a couple of cycles. This is incredibly problematic for the IOC and other governing bodies. Everyone knows she's dirty, and there she is about to win another gold.

I have a feeling when the ratings come in for this Olympics, the IOC is going to be in a bit of a panic. Figure Skating is the one sport that gets a ton of people watching who never watch sports. And a drugged up minor winning gold is not a good look.

No amount of inventing new sports will remove this taint. Think we're moving into an era where the Olympics is no longer going to be what it once was.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 5:45 pm

Dunno. If we all make it to 2028 I'm those will be huge in the market that counts.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 6:59 pm

Biiiiiig curling gane coming up. Womens USA vs Canada. Loser is out.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:30 pm

rass wrote: ↑Tue Feb 15, 2022 5:45 pm Dunno. If we all make it to 2028 I'm those will be huge in the market that counts.

Beating Italy 84-3 in demonstration football (spoiler-free) for all the ratings