jazzbo Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 Amen. Spectacular, artistry and technology to marvel over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free For All Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 The lighting of the torch was way cool! Spectacular opening ceremonies! They really did a great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 The lighting of the torch was way cool! Spectacular opening ceremonies! They really did a great job. Indeed. Looked terrific in HD. That last thing they did with the dancers on the globe was stunning. I also really dig watching the "parade of nations." It's just so satisfying to see these athletes - especially those from the "tiny" countries - get their brief moment in the spotlight. The looks on their faces are priceless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 I also really dig watching the "parade of nations." It's just so satisfying to see these athletes - especially those from the "tiny" countries - get their brief moment in the spotlight. The looks on their faces are priceless! yeah, same here. They may or may not be pawns of larger forces, but you look at some of these folks, see the look on their faces, realize that "back home" for them might well be some little village or something, a world where the whole country has less people that are in the stands, and where they might see somebody they don't know every few years or so, and that this is really a "trip of a lifetime" for them, and hey... There's a basic humanity there that is pretty compelling, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 Does anyone pay attention to the Olympic Games anymore? Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brownian Motion Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 This particular Olympics is a way for transnational corporations to introduce Americans to our new Chinese overlords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 9, 2008 Report Share Posted August 9, 2008 This particular Olympics is a way for transnational corporations to introduce Americans to our new Chinese overlords. Hey, if it means that I too can have an LCD rug in my living room then I'm all for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 I lost my TV to my ex-girlfriend 6 years ago. She gave me instead the record player she got from her audiophile brother. One of my better investments. After that no TV, and a lot of good times. Damn...wish I'd got a deal like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Of course, after showing my disdain for this phony event, it would be unthinkable to actually watch any of it, but if I had seen any of it, I think I would have just said "Holy shit...these women badminton players play the game like the shuttlecock is a handgrenade about to go off any minute!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Of course, after showing my disdain for this phony event, it would be unthinkable to actually watch any of it, but if I had seen any of it, I think I would have just said "Holy shit...these women badminton players play the game like the shuttlecock is a handgrenade about to go off any minute!" If indeed you had... Great men's volleyball match between USA & Venezuela just concluded. Worth staying up late for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Olympics=Sports=Distraction for Sheep. Sorry, just my opinon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indestructible! Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Olympics=Sports=Distraction for Sheep. Sorry, just my opinon. Ah, the old "sport is the opiate of the masses" argument. Might well be true... then again, how would it be any different if we changed the equation a bit to: XXXX Festival/Concert/Gig=Music=Distraction for Sheep Cheers, Shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indestructible! Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 As for whether anyone still pays attention to the Olympics, well... huge TV numbers for the Opening Ceremonies, and the numbers are good for the first couple of days of events. So, yes, I'd say lots of folks are paying attention here in the U.S.. Oh yeah, let's not forget a huge chunk of those 1.3 billion Chinese who are probably pretty amped about the whole thing (they do make up a fifth of the world ya know). Digression ---> When are the good folks at the TV corporations here in the U.S. going to stop using the notion of "market share" as a way of trying to know exactly how many people are watching? Given the rise of YouTube, torrenting, etc., I'd say that an ever-growing chunk of people (the younger among us, to be sure) watch in ways the "market share" just doesn't measure right now. Hell, I know of several "grey-area" websites that will link me directly to pretty much all (well most) of the major TV networks in the world. And I mean the world! So, the Neilsen ratings might provide us with some numbers, and commentators will blab on about "market share"... but they have no idea what I'm really watching on my computer. Ray, do you know if the TV bigwigs are trying to get a handle on all of this??? Back on Topic ---> Yes... yes I am paying attention to the Olympics! Cheers, Shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Olympics=Sports=Distraction for Sheep. Sorry, just my opinon. Ah, the old "sport is the opiate of the masses" argument. Might well be true... Then again, it might well be bullshit. Two things common to all civilizations - sport & music. Two things common to more "advanced" civilizations - commercialization and exploitation of sport & music. In neither case are sport or music the problem. Not my opinion. Fact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Olympics=Sports=Distraction for Sheep. Sorry, just my opinon. Ah, the old "sport is the opiate of the masses" argument. Might well be true... then again, how would it be any different if we changed the equation a bit to: XXXX Festival/Concert/Gig=Music=Distraction for Sheep Cheers, Shane No different at all. The problem, and this goes for religion too, is not the "activity". The problem is the sheep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indestructible! Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Olympics=Sports=Distraction for Sheep. Sorry, just my opinon. Ah, the old "sport is the opiate of the masses" argument. Might well be true... Then again, it might well be bullshit. Two things common to all civilizations - sport & music. Two things common to more "advanced" civilizations - commercialization and exploitation of sport & music. In neither case are sport or music the problem. Not my opinion. Fact. Damn straight! The whole "sport (or religion) is the opiate of the masses" notion is simply garbage. As you stated, the sheep are the problem! I've always been somewhat perplexed (and amused) at how some folks in the worlds of sport and music come to view each other as enemies... musicians put down jocks, athletes laugh at musicians... when in reality the two worlds have so much in common! I love music and I love sport... but I ain't no damn sheep! Maybe I should make a bumper sticker outta that. Cheers, Shane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Men's basketball - Lithuania vs Argentina. Helluva ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 I've always been somewhat perplexed (and amused) at how some folks in the worlds of sport and music come to view each other as enemies... musicians put down jocks, athletes laugh at musicians... when in reality the two worlds have so much in common! Yeah, I hear you. But then again, some of the biggest sports fans I know are some of the finest musicians, and vive-versa. Ame with astuteness about each others' fields. And then there's this: http://www.wfan.com/play_window.php?audioT...audioId=1017802 The survivor of this: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...mp;#entry755684 I think that a lot of musicians, like a lot of the general public, are resentful of the attention and money that surround athletics. But if anybody thinks that if athletics were to vanish that tenor players would suddenly start making millions and all that, hey, ain't gonna happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 The problem, and this goes for religion too, is not the "activity". The problem is the sheep. Baa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted August 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 The problem is the sheep. They're trying to pull the wool over our eyes. ... I should admit that it's my job to pay attention to the Olympics, so in that sense I dread the drudgery of plodding along with this beast for two weeks. The whole Phelps thing is going to be pounded into us all until he will come to personify the Olympics for us (should he be successful). Yeah, he's on his way to accomplishing great things, but its the marketing and packaging and endless force-feeding that sours me. And in the end, he'll be celebrated on a box of Wheaties. Pass the sugar. (gulp) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 The problem is the sheep. They're trying to pull the wool over our eyes. ... I should admit that it's my job to pay attention to the Olympics, so in that sense I dread the drudgery of plodding along with this beast for two weeks. The whole Phelps thing is going to be pounded into us all until he will come to personify the Olympics for us (should he be successful). Yeah, he's on his way to accomplishing great things, but its the marketing and packaging and endless force-feeding that sours me. And in the end, he'll be celebrated on a box of Wheaties. Pass the sugar. (gulp) 1. What is you job? Seriously, I don't know. If you got to be surrounded by the hype, then...yuck. 2. I wish Mr. Phelps well, and will be following his quest, but for me, he is just one of many parts of the Olympics. I really do make a conccerted effport to avoid/disregard all they hyp lest it spoil for me the enjoyment of the competitions proper. USA men's soccer, vs Netherlands, just completed, tough break at the end, borderline heartbreaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papsrus Posted August 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 The problem is the sheep. They're trying to pull the wool over our eyes. ... I should admit that it's my job to pay attention to the Olympics, so in that sense I dread the drudgery of plodding along with this beast for two weeks. The whole Phelps thing is going to be pounded into us all until he will come to personify the Olympics for us (should he be successful). Yeah, he's on his way to accomplishing great things, but its the marketing and packaging and endless force-feeding that sours me. And in the end, he'll be celebrated on a box of Wheaties. Pass the sugar. (gulp) 1. What is you job? Seriously, I don't know. If you got to be surrounded by the hype, then...yuck. 2. I wish Mr. Phelps well, and will be following his quest, but for me, he is just one of many parts of the Olympics. I really do make a conccerted effport to avoid/disregard all they hyp lest it spoil for me the enjoyment of the competitions proper. USA men's soccer, vs Netherlands, just completed, tough break at the end, borderline heartbreaking. I'm the coach of the U.S. men's soccer team ... bada-boom I work on the copy desk in the sports department of our local rag. I'm moaning here in a half-hearted way, but really ... I get paid to watch sports. How bad can it be? (I live in constant fear that someday, someone will wise up to this scheme I've got going and drop-kick my ass to the curb. So far so good though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 Hey, if that's your gig, then I can understand where you're coming form. I thought you might have been one of these anti-sports whiners (of whom, btw, I was a most vociferous one from the age of about 14 to about the age of 26, when I quite accidentally had my childhood passion for baseball reignited, which led to everything else eventually coming back, just with eyes wider open). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 I'm the coach of the U.S. men's soccer team ... My son would like a few words with you, none of them particularly pleasant, I'm afraid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted August 10, 2008 Report Share Posted August 10, 2008 I made big bucks last year betting on the Special Olympics - I mixed steroids in with my kid's medications, he ran the 100 yard dash in about 4 seconds and broad jumped about 80 feet - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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