Alright, first off... Congratulations to the United States and Canada for coming 1-2 in the Pyeongchang Olympics in February. Secondly, this is going to lead to a wonderfully wacky hockey tournament, which I will go into in a second.
But yeah, I am not sure how many have been following, but Russia has been dealing with more than a bit of a doping scandal to their Olympic athletes. A scandal that uncovered that, essentially the Russian government had been bankrolling a doping scheme to inflate the participation levels of their Olympic athletes. (Why yes, it does have Rocky IV undertones, thanks for noticing). Well, today the ruling came out, and the IOC did the one thing the NCAA is incapable of doing... The Olympic power has been banned from the 2018 Games. For the individual competitors who might have been trying to compete, they'll still be allowed to participate as an unaffiliated individual, but all Russian teams are gone, and any potential competitor must prove they were not a part of the scandal before getting their clearance. Not as easy as it sounds.
But lets be real, Olympic hockey is really why most people tune in, and oh man is this going to be a mess. First of all, the NHL is not participating in these Olympic games. Looking forward to seeing Austin Matthews and arguably the most talented crop of US hockey athletes we've had in a very long time run to possibly their first Olympic gold since 1980? Too bad, the NHL is staying home and the players are actively banned from participating. Ovechkin had previously said he would play anyway, but was informed by the NHLPA how impossible a task that would have been. So then the thought was that Russia would end up dominating this thing, as the KHL was sending their players, and while that league is a distant second to the NHL, it is the second best professional hockey league internationally. Buuuut now with the Russian team banned, its looking like they're going to keep all their players out as well, effectively creating a massive void of the best international players in this tournament. We're at a stage where it really is wide open on who can win this, but its probably going to come down to the Canadian juniors or US collegians on who wins it all.
Comments
In Soviet Russia, games ban you!
This just in.... the Ice Neck Hula Vodka Chug will be extra competitive this year with former Olympic athletes added to the mix.
Fuck Gary Bettman
"Let's grow the game in places like Phoenix, Canada (where is is already the most popular sport) and Florida. Let's not look internationally and try and grow it internationally"
Although you gotta wonder why there was no recourse for the 2016 Rio games.
Anyhow, the plot literally involved russian spies cutting a hole in a wall at Sochi and swapping urine samples of athletes they knowingly and willingly pumped full of PEDs. Straight out of a movie montage
Do you have an article for that? Sounds like a fun read.
There's a documentary on the flix called Icarus. It's crazy interesting and contains all the details of this whole thing
Here is a link to the explanation as reported by the NY Times:
Russian doctor explains how he beat doping tests
I watched the Icarus documentary on Netflix tonight... It is incredible. Highly recommend it to anyone interested.
its mind blowing how serendipitous that situation was to get that documentary made
Icarus won the Oscar for Best Documentary
Anna Sloan and Eve Muirhead would like a word.
In some photos she is qualified, and in others she looks super British
Need moar of this for the entertainment value...
I know curlers get a lot of flak for the percieved ridiculousness of their sport, but that was freakin' remarkable. Thanks for posting.
Deep cut: isn't mike McEwen one of the assumed identities of the American embassy staff in the movie Argo?
Katarina Witt
East German Engineering at it's finest
At 50 whatever she's still got it.
So, the KHL is not allowing their non-Russian players to play in the Olympics either? That's gonna hurt a lot of countries. I guess I'm glad to see that level the playing field a bit, but I do wish the NHL would get their heads outta their asses and let the guys represent their countries. Olympic hockey is probably the second-best team sports tournament in the world, behind the World Cup. (when the best athletes are allowed to participate)
Umm no. Have not ever watched a single minute of Olympic hockey. So many other better Olympic sports to watch.
Like Curling.
Though anything is fun to watch when you start learning how the competition works.
Speed skating, curling, Skelton, luge, bobsled, skijumping, the skiing and shooting events.
You forgot ice dancing.
Edit: forgot the /s. Actually I thought it should be rather self-evident, but apparently not.. 😂😂😂
Judge-scored events "where everything is made up and the points don't matter."
I still find myself watching a lot of the events.
I mean, we are CFB fans here...
Don't get me started on this again.
If there isn't a finish line, a stopwatch, a goal post or a basket, it ain't a sport.
Figure skating is just a child beauty pageant on ice as far as I'm concerned.
Sooo.....baseball isn't a sport?
baseball has a stopwatch/timer between pitches to speed up the game
I mean, I don't disagree with this statement...
What about tennis and volleyball?
Tennis technically times between end of previous point and the serve.
You are technically correct. The best kind. I will say that given how long some players take, it doesn't feel like they are actually being timed. I know Djokovic and Nadal have occasionally received warnings or lost a point, but it happens maybe once or twice a year.
I think Sharapova has occasionally been called out on taking too long as well. I am not even sure of the rule, but from time to time the TV Production crews add timers between points and the announcers talk about it taking too long.
The rule is no more than 25 seconds. And they actually relaxed the penalties in 2013 to increase the chance that the chair umpire would enforce it. The first violation is a warning, then it's loss of point. It never really goes past that.
There is nothing cooler than watching Shaun White unleash himself on the halfpipe. Everything else has taken a back seat for me in recent Winter Olympics. Sochi was an outlier.
Also, the Winter Olympics are, overall, far superior to the Summer games in my opinion. There are very few winter events that I won't watch (maybe none). I find the summer games pretty dull by comparison.
yep Hockey is waaaaay down the list of winter sports. Curling is king (no /s)
I removed the /s above, because curling is fascinating when you start watching it.
Though I'm still not sure it's a sport.
Curling is Canadian corn hole. You know a drunk guy invented that sport, eh?
Curling was actually invented in Scotland. Hoot, man!
So, you're saying alcohol was definitely involved, then?
100%
That's hilarious!
One weekend without Hokie Football and we're debating the merits of curling in the Winter Olympics.
This off-season is gonna be a rough one...
BUZZKETBALL THO. FINAL FOUR.
Why do people hype p the Final Four? Why not the Elite Eight or the championship?
Can't forget the Biathlon, I mean skiing and shooting totally go together...
Quite possibly the most impressive sport in the Olympics. And NBC seldom ever shows it. I have to get the app to watch most of the events.
There is plenty of history that says they do.
we really need a sarcastic font on here Joe. As an owner of many weapons who loves to shoot and who grew up skiing this is the only event at the winter Olympics I actually find enjoyable
It's one of my favorites. Robin Williams called it a Norwegian drive-by.
This Netflix documentary details the whole scandal. Highly recommend.
Beat me to it. But yea crazy good documentary
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
Will UNC receive any sanctions or will they still be allowed to participate?
Will it matter? There might not be a Peyongchang (or however you spell it) in two months...if you know what I mean
Man, Krusty the Clown is gonna lose his ass on this promotion.
Any event that involves a judge IS NOT a sport and figure skating sux unless it involves a totally qualified lady. See above.
So boxing isn't a sport? Track and field? Ski jumping or half pipe competitions?
Track and field is a sport because the fastest person wins.
Half pipe competitions are competitions, not sports
Boxing is a sport because you can compare punches landed, knock downs, and knock outs, but it is frustrating how each match is effectively determined by the equivalent of the CFP committee.
Well said bar.
Also ski jumping is a sport because it's decided by distance.
You know except for the points judges give the jumpers based on how they jump, how well their skies stay together etc.
Also how high up the ramp they start their jump. That's a value that's adjusted from skier to skier based on conditions.
Still though, the final determination would be distance, which is completely objective. If every skier in the competition has an exact same hurdle, launch point, and landing, the distance determines the winner.
...and if you make a big mistake, you die
I'm guessing that he meant any sport where a judge's score determines the winner. In track and field, whoever jumps the highest/farthest , runs the fastest, or throws the projectile the farthest wins. In ski jumping, the winner is the athlete who jumps farther than everyone else. And yes, half pipe belongs in the figure skating /ice dancing / non-sport category, IMHO, for just that reason. Boxing (or other combat sports), which has been mentioned by others should not fall into the non-sport category because the athletes are competing head-to-head and the judges are there to keep score on effective blows landed (or whatever criteria they're scoring) in case neither competitor scores a decisive victory. I have a hard time considering events where the winner is determined by a panel of judges' perception of vaguely-defined criteria like degree of difficulty, artistic expression and execution a "sport". There's just too much subjectivity involved.
I define "sport" the same as the first result you get when you google the word:
"an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment."
By that, all those things, whether judged by a panel or by non-subjective means, are sports.
You may be technically correct (insert futurama gif here), but in my opinion, that definition is lacking. What I, and apparently a lot of others, think of when we hear the word "sport" is an athletic competition with an objective method of determining a winner. The others, like gymnastics, figure skating, halfpipe, etc., which rely on subjective scoring methods can be perfectly valid athletic competitions, but land on a somewhat lower tier in the sporting heirarchy.
I'd argue that a sport is a competition wherein your opponent's (opponents') physical and tactical actions directly and necessarily influence yours, and vice versa.
I think that's probably a little to rigid. I'd mostly object to the phrase "tactical actions". If we go with that definition, NASCAR is a sport, but alpine skiing, swimming, and the throwing and jumping events in track and field are not. Even the sprinting events in track and field don't really involve any tactics beyond "run faster than the other 9 dudes (or ladies) on the track".
I'd say "trying to pass" counts as tactical, yeah, Which is why speed skating is more of a sport than say, swimming is. swimming is more of a competition to me, because it could be done individually with no other competitors and still theoretically have the same results.
What are you thoughts on track & field events then? I think they are all the same in that you could just have everyone go individually and the fastest time wins, but it becomes a sport when you are all out there together and actively trying to beat each other.
I think that's why I included "tactics" initially. Obviously a distance runner who knows how to push and ease his pace can attempt to wear out other runners. That's much less obvious in a 100m sprint or a 50m swim meet where the strategy is "go as fast as possible". But javelin? pole vault?
This still applies to sprints and swimming. Also the fact that someone is right next to you changes how you swim/run. I never ran track, but I did swim and having that person next to you can impact how you swim your race which can change who wins. Would be the same as speed skating IMO.
aside from the fact that a speed skater can literally cut you off
I'm not sure I understand the difference in scoring making something less of a sport. If anything, you have to have MORE skill and be MORE perfect in the subjective scoring events because being slightly off means you are scored poorly and don't beat the next person.
Either way, calling one sport 'lower tier' than the other just because it's scored qualitatively instead of quantitatively, to me, diminishes the fact that these athletes put the time and effort into training, and the accomplishment of qualifying for the Olympics.
It's purely a semantic debate, and not all that important in the grand scheme of things, but it's an entertaining subject to argue about. What I enjoy most about sports is that you're competing head-to-head with an opponent (or opponents) and the competitor who objectively outperforms the other(s) is the winner. In football, if you score more points, you win, even if you played an ugly, sloppy game. In wrestling, if you pin your opponent, or score more points based on clearly defined rules, you win. In sprinting, if you run X meters faster than anyone else in the meet, you win. There's no room for opinions. I respect the ability of a figure skater to pull off a triple lutz without tearing every ligament in his lower body (I sure as hell could never pull that off. I'm happy just to remain upright skating in a straight line.), but the winner is not necessarily determined by a clearly-defined, objective scoring process. The opinion of the judges, who all have their own biases and prejudices plays far too large a role in sports like figure skating, gymnastics, freestyle skiing, synchronized swimming, diving and other such events. I respect the heck out of people who can do those things at an internationally competitive level, but those events just don't meet my criteria for what a "sport" should be.
I'd like to add that arguing over whether a sport is a sport could be considered a sport because of the one objective rule.
Leonard is always right.
But again, the judging criteria are purely subjective, which places it firmly in my competition category, not sport. Deeper down the rabbit hole we go.
Agreed completely. Just because a result can't be determined on a rigid set of criteria doesn't mean it's less of a competition.
Most 'sports' have some level of subjectivity built in anyways. Shoot we almost lost a basketball game to Ole Miss recently in part because the referees made calls that were... subjective at best. That game was certainly influenced by judgment calls. How is that so much different than a panel of experts judging an athlete's performance in a half pipe?
Yep!
Damn is that top wave Teahupoo? That's about as heavy a wave as I've ever seen.
Yes...it's the heaviest wave in the world (that's been found so far, that is)
Dang. I'd never ride it but I'd love to be in the skiff at the end of it to get that view in real life
Here's another one you don't here about often. Shipsterns Bluff, Tasmania.
It's a slab break with what is called "steps" you have to surf over. Insane! Pretty much a "Tow-in" spot.
2nd pic in my entry above is Kelly Slater in the pro contest at Long Beach, Long Island, New York City.
The point I was making with these is that surfing is an example pf a sport that is subjectively judged, but the commitment by the contestants is over the top, just like some Olympic sports.
Also, if they make video gaming an Olympic sport but not surfing, that would be the stupidest thing ever...
There is a video from a few years ago of a guy at "Chopes" (what surfers call it) in the barrel and a jet ski driven by the local Tahitian town (Teahupo'o) mayor (Raimana) being too far in and the jet ski goes over the surfer's head stuck in the lip. Insane!
I found the video, go to the 1:45 mark...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25yXVXbzrjo
The Ole Miss example falls short because, while poor officiating can affect the outcome, it does not directly decide the result. The players still have to score more points (an objective, quantifiable goal) to be the winner. Bad officiating can definitely make that goal more difficult, but except in very rare cases those judgement calls don't put points on the board (i.e. a terrible goaltending call) or take them off. (cough. cough. Danny Coale caught the damn ball. cough. cough.)
After the Manny Pacquiao vs Jeff Horn fight, I'd say boxing has trended toward massive corruption where the judges matter more than the fight itself.
Had a little fun with this one this morning
Can anyone please explain why the NHL wont let their players go to the freakin olympics? This sounds like the NHL being pathetic from first glance other sports find ways to allow players to represent their countries, see international breaks in soccer for example.
NHL wants IOC to cover insurance on players IOC did it last time but won't going forward.
Wait people that participate in the Olympics Use PED's?! Let me put on my shocked faced
I enjoy hockey but was never my first choice in Olympic watching. And recently women's hockey has been MUCH more enjoyable.
For the "not a sport" people. First win an Olympic medal doing these things then tell me how much they're not a sport.
Skeet shooting?
Bobsledding and the Luge
Speeeed and wrecks always entertaining!
And Bobsledding and Luge's crazy and wasted half-brother, Skeleton.
I'll start watching when they line up two sleds next to each other at the starting line.
Maybe give them some weapons to use on the track, Road Rash-style
Mario Kart: Bobsled
complete with rogue banana peels
Jamaican team starts out with a blue shell