Shred Gruumer Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 This is not a flame or what ever you want to call it... But countries win metals for what they are good at and are promoted.. Im sure we have good nordic guys and stuff.. but we don't win ski jumping or biatholon.. kids don't do that... and thats fine.. but if we don't push those programs like we dont half pipe don't expect it.. I admire the one off guy who does it on his own and wins it.. its a great accomplishement.. and we know every country has those people.. Canada.. great at hockey... USA great at football. its just what kids grow up in. and if they are only exposed to certain things then you don't get a pelithera of contenders .. I guess Im saying its cool seeing different sport that we don't normally see.. I just wonder what would happen if we supported some of these sports.. to be honest.. I know our town is big on figure skating.. but never seen a speed skater.. Put football in the summer olympics.. golf used to be until no one watched it and it got cut.. come on ..curling.. lets put snow ciggerette toss in it.. what do you put in and what do you not.. like speed skiing.. or speed biking on snow.. where do you start or stop.. its just a question.. just conversation piece so im not bashing or anything.. just thoughts thats all.. RSS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortcutToMoncton Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Put football in the Olympics? American football? When only one country in the world would be able to field a team? Yeah, that makes sense. :p (Not that women's hockey is much better) greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Yeah... STM beat me to it... Curling is probably a way more popular sport then American Football (looking at in how many countries it's played). If you wanted a similar sport in the Olympics, it would have to be Rugby, that is played in more then 2 countries... It was quite absurd when Baseball was pushed into Olympics, too. Luckilly, it didn't last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Prokopiw Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Should be split into three or four sections and be held in the same number of cities/continents at the same time.Then no one city,state or country for that matter has to go 2 billion in the hole to host the whole enchilada.Still have it every four years but choose sports not from the host country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I agree with prokopiw stop the waste promote the sports! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0ardski Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Sandpoint needs an ice rink how about bowling in the olympics:lol: Curling would way more fun to do than bowling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffV Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Should be split into three or four sections and be held in the same number of cities/continents at the same time.Then no one city,state or country for that matter has to go 2 billion in the hole to host the whole enchilada.Still have it every four years but choose sports not from the host country. The Olympic committee helps fund the hosting nation. This is a privilege for each country to host the Olympics. I disagree with spreading the events out in different countries, you wouldn't get the same vibe as hosting it in one country and city. Having spent half my life in Germany and Austria the Olympics had more hype and was embraced in Europe everyone loved watching it. I'm finding that is not the case in the US. People I work with are not into it. Radio hosts bash it, blah, blah blah. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I think for some of these things, it's a matter of facilities. Canada got the sliding tracks in Calgary from '88, now we're producing some world-class sliders. We have an outdoor oval here in Saskatoon, we got Catriona as a result. And of course it's all about whether you care about winter sports or not. Hard to care about them when you're living in Florida. When you're mired in snow 6 months of the year like we are, it's more important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 <iframe src ="http://www.vancouver2010.com/widgets/medals-widget/" width="306" height="340" frameborder=0 scrolling="no"> <p><a href="http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-medals/" title="Vancouver 2010 Medals">View the vancouver2010.com medals' table</a></p> </iframe> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Hockey, figure skating, and, believe it or not, curling are extremely popular here in Houston. We even have a luger for Argentina living in Katy and training in parking garages. Most high schools in my area have hockey teams, along with football, baseball, basketball, etc. I've seen Chad Hedricks working out at my neighborhood rink, too. The reason? The oil industry and our many Canadian transplants. The American media doesn't help promote the sports of the Olympics but don't believe that there aren't pockets of interest throughout the country. It doesn't help that Tiger puts out a 13 minute statement last week that ESPN is still obsessing over, either...but, of course, a rival network has the Olympics, so their coverage is going to be held at a minimum. If you look at what the media covered alone, you'd get a skewed snapshot of what American sports viewers watch. The truth is, they show what they think will garner them the most advertising income. If we could track how many Americans are watching the live feeds of events on the 'net, you'd have a better idea of what Americans really want to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 US 1 medal per 11 million people, KOREA 1 per 11 million GER 1 per 3.4 mill ,CAN 1 per 2.2 mill, AUS 1 per .82 mill ,FRANCE 1 per.62 mill, Norway 1 per.25 mill. Sort of changes ones perspective as to who the real winners are ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 US 1 medal per 11 million people, KOREA 1 per 11 million GER 1 per 3.4 mill ,CAN 1 per 2.2 mill, AUS 1 per .82 mill ,FRANCE 1 per.62 mill, Norway 1 per.25 mill. Sort of changes ones perspective as to who the real winners are ! if the number of allowed competitors was tied to population you might have a point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 US 1 medal per 11 million people, KOREA 1 per 11 million GER 1 per 3.4 mill ,CAN 1 per 2.2 mill, AUS 1 per .82 mill ,FRANCE 1 per.62 mill, Norway 1 per.25 mill. Sort of changes ones perspective as to who the real winners are ! Hey, are you Brian Williams? That per capita stat is just a distraction. More valid would be medals per inch of snow. Or medals per weeks below freezing. 1/2 the US and 3/4 of Australia never sees winter. How can they be expected to excel in winter sports? Canada and Norway have a climactic advantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Canada and Norway have a climactic advantage.And it's colder here, too. Wait, you weren't talking about what I thought you were talking about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skatha Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 if the number of allowed competitors was tied to population you might have a point. US population 300 million Canada 33 million Germany 82 million Norway 8 million Even if we sent 0.01% of the population than would be 30000 participants. Who's signing up for the team with me? I'm sure they could use a 46 year old mother of 2 for their human interest stories Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Houghton Posted February 28, 2010 Report Share Posted February 28, 2010 Yeah, forget curling. Bring on.........cricket! Even more popular than rugby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdyno Posted March 1, 2010 Report Share Posted March 1, 2010 I agreee that the big factor is having the "special" facilities. I lived in Calgary in '88 and saw the influx in participation in things like the sliding sports and speed skating once we had world class facilities. Same with ski jumping and the Canmore Nordic Center. If you had to travel several provences or states away to train, it would eliminate a lot of potential participants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbass Posted March 1, 2010 Report Share Posted March 1, 2010 How about spending the money we spend on the olympics on youth sports programs and low income housing instead of high end athletes and overpriced facilities that serve only a small portion of the population? Let sponsors take care of the professional athletes. I am as excited as anyone for Canada to win gold in hockey but I don't like the fact that taxpayers paid the way for millionaire hockey players to play at the olympics. They should have paid for the privilege. I see so many kids that can't compete in sports because their families can't afford the travel and expenses. I wonder what you would see if you looked at the household incomes of kids in high level competitive sports and compared it to the average household income. It costs kids almost $10000/yr to play rep hockey up here. I know a couple of families that have 3 kids in rep hockey. They aren't poor families (although you would think that they would be after dishing out that coin each year ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 1, 2010 Report Share Posted March 1, 2010 on that note jon, why are you spending thousands of dollars to slide down a hill when you could use that money to help others? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideGuy Posted March 1, 2010 Report Share Posted March 1, 2010 Surely when kids see representatives from their country kick ass in a sport it motivates them to participate. There has to be a trickle down effect from this success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbass Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 on that note jon, why are you spending thousands of dollars to slide down a hill when you could use that money to help others? Sorry for sounding soapboxish.:o I don't think I can help but sound hypocritical on the subject. I think it has a lot to do with how I'm getting jaded on professional athletes, particularly hockey players. It has a lot to do with their behaviour and their arguable position as role models. I guess I envision sports programs being built from the bottom up instead of the top down. I try to put as much as I can into the youth sports programs here. We buy hockey equipment for kids we know that can't afford it. We have also sponsored kids to travel to competitions as everywhere is far from here. I supervise after school sports programs when I can. I have even driven local kids to their hockey games who don't get the parental support they need to get them there on time or at all. You are right though, I could and I should be putting more into helping others. I am very fortunate that I have a great job that affords me an excellent standard of living. It is good to be reminded every once in a while of your blessings. Thanks Jack. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbass Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 It is interesting how we North Americans count the country with the most total medals to be the winner in the Olympics. Didn't the country with the most gold medals used to be considered the champions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 $75 dollar membership for a rope tow 45 years ago looks like a bargin today. I appreciate what you say about helping others but you can only do so much, Enjoy what you do while helping others we're not judging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack M Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 It's easy to think that sports stars make too much money for playing children's games. They're not curing cancer, right? Or are they? If millions of people think it's fun to watch people skate around with sticks and shoot a rubber disc into a net, then those players deserve a fair and substantial share of whatever the market brings in, even if that means millions of dollars. What they then turn around and do with that money is what matters. Many, dare I say the vast majority of, millionaire sports stars are incredible philanthropists. Even if they lavish themselves with a life of opulence, they still have to pay people and give people jobs to support that lifestyle. I guess if they kept all their money in a safe in their home, then they'd be truly greedy. As for spending money on Olympic facilities and training for athletes, it seems that we as a species have agreed that sports are a good and healthy thing worth supporting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbass Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 It's easy to think that sports stars make too much money for playing children's games. They're not curing cancer, right? Or are they? If millions of people think it's fun to watch people skate around with sticks and shoot a rubber disc into a net, then those players deserve a fair and substantial share of whatever the market brings in, even if that means millions of dollars. What they then turn around and do with that money is what matters. Many, dare I say the vast majority of, millionaire sports stars are incredible philanthropists. Even if they lavish themselves with a life of opulence, they still have to pay people and give people jobs to support that lifestyle. I guess if they kept all their money in a safe in their home, then they'd be truly greedy.As for spending money on Olympic facilities and training for athletes, it seems that we as a species have agreed that sports are a good and healthy thing worth supporting. I tried to find tickets for the next Vancouver Canucks game. The cheapest tickets I could find were single tix at $77.50. Imagine a family of 4 going to the game. That's $310 without snacks, programs or merchandise. It can be tough for many families to make that purchase. Is it worth it? Maybe. It might be an unforgettable memory... Would it not be more efficient if some of the money used by athletes to to pay people and give people jobs to support their lifestyle stayed with the fans so they could use it to support their own lifestyles? ha ha...a bit of a circular argument I guess. There definitely are some incredible philanthropists in the professional sports world. Much of what they do is bring attention to important issues through their status and high visibility in the media. Kudos to them. I would argue (most likely unsuccessfully) that we don't just pay athletes to play sports. As people who spend large amounts of money on our sports, we realize that for the most part we participate in them for the love of the sport. Don't we really pay athletes to be role models for future athletes as they continue to improve at their sports? Does that cost millions per athlete? Maybe. This is just a point of view of course. With hockey being less popular in the US, I have heard that it is much more affordable for a family to go to a game. It sounds like hockey in these places is in a precarious position as they try to pay the player's high salaries . Sorry for being off track. I love hockey a lot so I tend to rant about it. The Olympics definitely motivate new people to join sports. The other benefit of the Olympics is that sports facilities get built where they normally may not. Hopefully these facilities are available for everyone interested in the sports to use. The Arts and Sports are humanities greatest achievements. The time I spend playing sports with other people or making music with others are the highlights of my week. It is just my wish that it was affordable to more people. I am not disputing the value of sports. I do wonder if the current economic system is the best way for everyone to benefit from the value of sports. Whew! another essay! Oops! Didn't mean to put you to sleep. :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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