The Winter Games of the (blah blah blah) Olympiad Thread

[Jerjo]

Come for the bribery and corruption, stay for the hissy fits by figure skaters, x-games prima donnas, and Putin without a shirt.

If there is a worse governing sports body in the world than the IOC I would be amazed. Crack addicts have more integrity than those old men. Nonetheless, every time the games come around my wife and I camp out in front of the TV. I hate the human interest stories, hate any sport than requires judges, hate all the corporate tie-ins and ads but just the same, we try to tune out the bullshit and watch for sports themselves.

So here's a thread to discuss, bitch, and praise. Have it my friends.

[Facelift]

I don't have a ton of interest in the winter olympics to begin with - it's mostly sports I don't care about and a high proportion of them are determined by panels of judges rather than raw scores - but the numerous problems with Sochi itself are impossible to ignore

I just looked at Wikipedia and saw that Salzburg (Austria) was one of the other two main bidders for these games. SALZBURG lost to this medieval joke of a venue? How corrupt is this process, anyway?

This is an Olympic village where the tap water is poisonous (and unappealingly yellow anyway), the accomodations are like war bunkers, packs of wild dogs roam free (until they are killed by the snipers who were hired to thin their numbers) and the whole thing exists under the constant threat of terrorist attack and gay bashing.

These winter games are more like a Terry Gilliam vision of a dystopian future than an actual event in a decidedly non post-apocalyptic 2014.

The IOC really must be a complete and utter disaster of incompetence and corruption for this to be allowed to happen.

[Yves]

You've just the Games that more interesting for me to watch!

I actually prefer the Winter Games to the Summer Games, but I'm Canadian. We do much better at these games. We have a lot of athletes in the fringe sports like snowboard racing and skeleton. The coverage in Canada is more about the events, all of them, than just focusing in on Canadian athletes. I'll be curious to see how much live coverage I'll be able to get with the time differences though.

[Jerjo]

Put it in the bin provided!

[progeezer]

Put it in the bin provided!

I laughed my as off when KO did that bit last night!

I'll watch a bunch of it as I do every time the Olympics happen, and I have to admit, although I'm truly hoping against hope that nothing happens (think Munich), I think that the very real terrorism threat will also lure folks to stay aware of what's going on there, either on tv or online/print media.

[Yves]

Eye opening report. This is going to be a VERY interesting Olympics. I'm sure Whistler in 2010 wasn't perfect, but I think the world is about to see that it's a huge difference from Canada to Russia.

[Dave (in MA)]

[PindralProgger]

NBC News' Richard Engel: My Computers, Cellphone Were Hacked 'Almost Immediately' In Sochi.

"Being a reporter at the Sochi Olympic Games just got even worse.

NBC News' Richard Engel said that upon arriving in Russia to cover the upcoming event, he was hacked "almost immediately" -- and privacy is not something visitors should expect to have.

"It doesn't take long here for someone to try to tap into your laptop, cellphone or tablet," he said Tuesday night.

Engel decided to test Russia's privacy system with the help of American computer security expert Kyle Wilhoit, who set him up with two brand new computers and a phony identity, with fake names and addresses. When Engel connected them to the Internet in Sochi, he said he quickly received a suspicious email and was shocked when his computer was hijacked immediately after opening the email.

"In a minute, hackers were snooping around," he said. "The same thing happened with my cellphone -- it was very fast and very professional."

Within 24 hours, both of Engel's computers and his cell phone had been invaded, giving hackers the ability to tap and record phone calls. Brian Williams reported Tuesday night that "visitors of Russia can expect to be hacked"-- and it's not just reporters.

“The State Department warns that travelers should have no expectation of privacy," Engel told Williams on NBC's "Nightly News." "Even in their hotel rooms. And as we found out, you are especially exposed as soon as you try and communicate with anything.”

[Don Arnold]

Subscribed! ....this is shaping up to be a great thread!

[Dave (in MA)]

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Big Olympic fan here. Can't wait to see all the events I only get to see once every 4 years.

Short-track speedskating, bobsled/luge/skeleton, and curling top that list for me!

[WHORG]

I love the Winter Games - - - like Yves: I grew up in winter sports heaven, so I feel the love.

Saw many of the events in Lake Placid back in '80 - hockey, figure skating, ski jumping, etc - - - it was great stuff !!! (I grew up 24 miles away from town).

Best of luck to both the Canadian and USA !!!

[spellbound]

Can you imagine any other country providing excuses in place of accomodations? Isn't winning the site for the Olympics supposed to be an opportunity to let your country shine in the eyes of the world? I guess the US isn't the only oversized third-world nation. What do you suppose the Olympics would be like if the IOC were corrupt?

If there is a worse governing sports body in the world than the IOC I would be amazed. Crack addicts have more integrity than those old men. Nonetheless, every time the games come around my wife and I camp out in front of the TV. I hate the human interest stories, hate any sport than requires judges, hate all the corporate tie-ins and ads but just the same, we try to tune out the bullshit and watch for sports themselves.

We agree wholeheartedly. It is the same at our house.

[Banquo]

I can't wait...

[SteveSly]

I am planning on watching at least some of it. The Hockey should be great although prime time games in Russia will be in the wee hours of the morning in the eastern time zone.

[Brian Griffin]

Is Al Bundy attending the games?

BG

[PindralProgger]

And no fishing or double deckers. And if you have to puke, sorry!

[Jerjo]

Now this is my kind of a skating outfit:



I think Tara should have just downed the White Russian at the end of it.

[Yanks2014]

I love the olympics, so no griping by me. Yeah, the IOC are a horrible organization, and the choice of Sochi was a huge mistake, but I can push that aside and will enjoy the heck out of many events. Can't wait!

[Klonk]

I always look forward to the Winter Olympics. In particular, the hockey and skiing events. I hate figure skating and everything that surround it though

[spellbound]

NBC has the Olympic competition starting tonight. But the Opening Ceremonies are on NBC tomorrow night. When did time travel become a Winter Olympics competition?

[Don Arnold]

^^^

It's a common practice for some events to begin before the opening ceremonies. I don't have in my head which ones, or why this happens. Possibly to do with being able to fit everything in.

[ChrisXymphonia]

Looking forward to it. Will be following both shorttrack and speedskating (the one discipline we Dutch really excel in) a lot and will be trying to follow the langlaufen / biathlon events because these in past Olympics provided some incredible thrilling events.

[ChrisXymphonia]

It's a common practice for some events to begin before the opening ceremonies. I don't have in my head which ones, or why this happens. Possibly to do with being able to fit everything in.

There are some disciplines for which there are qualifying / ranking events that start ahead of the opening ceremony. I think snowboarding slopestyle (new event for this Olympics) was the main one today.

[JKL2000]

I love the olympics, so no griping by me. Yeah, the IOC are a horrible organization, and the choice of Sochi was a huge mistake, but I can push that aside and will enjoy the heck out of many events. Can't wait!

Once again I agree with Thomas - the politics (and the security situation) may prove a minor distraction (hopefully minor!), but the winter games are almost always a good show! I like all the downhill skiing events, the bobsleds and luge events, and the figure skating. All the speed skating events leave me cold.