Olympics anyone?

Though we like the Winter editions more than Summer, we really enjoy the Olympics, so we'll watch as much as we can. Just hope Rio doesn't embarrass themselves and/or spoil the competition. I follow sailing in particular and that venue is a complete abomination...all countries should have refused to participate, but no chance that would happen.
 
I will watch plenty.

I think a lot of the disinterest is because we don't have context. Many of us have never done a winter biathlon, or any kind of gymnastics, for example. Or maybe your biking and swimming was never timed, and you never ran any kind of race, even a simple 5k. But if you have context, you see just how amazing these athletes are. And of course, some events transcend personal context. I think figure skating is one, where artistry and physicality come together.

I have context with: swimming, running, biking and volleyball. When I see the times, or plays in the case of vball, I just can't believe it.

I once was a swimming official for a warm up event to Olympic qualifying. Being there on the deck, I was just completely blown away by the achievements I saw.

However, if I watch rowing, I fall asleep. I don't understand what the accomplishment is. No context. I didn't go to Ivy League schools. Yet I'm sure a bunch of Ivy League alumni can't wait to see the rowing. Etc...
 
samclem said:
Nope, just not very interested anymore.

1) (I hate to admit it but) the end of the Cold War did take some to the drama out of the games for me, and lowered the stakes. Definitely this is an overall "good news" item, but still . . .
2) The steroid stuff is just too much. Clean athletes can hardly compete in many events, and we don't find out until years later that the winners were on the juice.

I don't know why, but the winter games now capture my interest more than the summer games.
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Yes... same here. Winter games are much more enjoyable these days. With all the doping and cheating and IOC corruption, the summer games have become a very sordid spectacle, IMHO. But even still, I'll probably give in and watch some soccer and volleyball, maybe a little track and field, but that's about it.
 
I will watch the women's soccer matches and maybe the marathon events.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
Will probably watch a good bit of it. Having spent career in water resources, find the pollution aspects and athlete exposure pretty amazing. Given the exposure one would expect I'd be amazed if there isn't reporting of a good bit of illness. Hope not for the athletes, but expect it.

Standing back a bit, I've gotten pretty damn cynical about Olympics, World Cup etc. The corruption and doping just makes it all a bit hard to commit to for me. Yes, I know there are clean athletes who work their hearts out, but the cloud makes it hard for me to see through.
 
bjorn2bwild said:
This is what the average American Olympic athlete looks like, collectively and broken down by sport -

The Average American Athlete
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Cool link, thanks!

Despite all the criticism surrounding the organization (much of which is well-earned) I think the Olympic competitions are a lot of fun and will watch. Most of the athletes are true amateurs and obviously so happy to be there that their joy is contagious. It's a great time to be retired, eh. :)
 
bUU said:
We'll record the opening and closing ceremonies, and watch them as background noise during dinner when we have nothing to talk about. If I don't want a sport for three years, it seems pretty pointless to feign interest in the fourth year. Meanwhile, international pageantry and national cultural pride are things I find myself interested in all through.
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Reminds me of a substitute teaching gig during the Winter Olympics one year (1992?) Students BEGGED me to let them watch a hockey game that was being aired during the school day. They all swore that they were HUGE hockey fans. So I said, "Sure, if any of you can explain 'icing' to me we'll watch the game." ...crickets... So we went on with the lesson plan for the day.

OP - no, I probably won't watch any of the events. I'll probably check up on the golf results, but won't bother to watch.
 
I've lost interest in most of the competitions where the results are determined my judges. Don't trust any of them, have seen too many bad choices over the years.
 
I enjoy seeing the variety of sports out there that we really only get to see every four years. In the summer, things like shooting (I'm not a gun fan but love to watch the precision of the shooting), gymnastics (I prefer the men to the women but watch both), rowing, kayaking, fencing, etc. Winter I enjoy the sleds, cross-country skiing, biathlon (more shooting), etc.

And I'll watch some soccer and track & field. Maybe some basketball.
 
I enjoy the Olympics. I don't watch continuously but I try to catch some of my favorites. Gymnastics and swimming are my favorites
 
The IOC corruption is the biggest issue to me. Much bigger than doping or cheating that rules and enforcement can address to equalize the playing field.
But to know some bureaucrat is getting tons of money and benefits - to pick some country is outrageous.
I'm not sure why but it upsets me enough I would happily vote for the death penalty for such IOC bureaucrat and of course the briber individual.

So it has killed the excitement of the Olympics I used to feel, before I knew the about the payoffs.
 
Sunset said:
Now you have something to aspire towards fitness wise. :LOL:
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"I watch sports on TV for exercise. I'm really tired after a good game, aren't you?" - Galagher

Sunset said:
The IOC corruption is the biggest issue to me. Much bigger than doping or cheating that rules and enforcement can address to equalize the playing field.
But to know some bureaucrat is getting tons of money and benefits - to pick some country is outrageous.
I'm not sure why but it upsets me enough I would happily vote for the death penalty for such IOC bureaucrat and of course the briber individual.

So it has killed the excitement of the Olympics I used to feel, before I knew the about the payoffs.
Click to expand...


Being a practicing cynic/curmudgeon, I can confidently state that influence peddling, bribery, cheating, etc. was/is/forever more will be evident in many human interactions...
 
The Olympics has became too big, has too many events which don't make sense, different sport has different rules on who can participate, too many athletes are doped out, too many athletes are recruited to play for another country, .............
 
Used to like watching them but there became just too many commercials and human interest stories and too little actual competition. Ruined it for me. Never watch anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
 
Sure, we'll watch them if they're on when we're watching TV--we won't go out of our way to watch them. I really hate the melodramatic back stories we have to sit through--just show the events.
 
OK, I guess because I eat supper, it's pretty easy to watch the Olympics when they show them in the early evening.
So I have watched Phelps get his 20th gold medal and the US women gymnastics team do their stuff.
The actual events are pretty exciting.

The RIO Olympic calamities are astounding
- green swamp water anyone :D
- Folks being robbed, bus windows being broken, the un-readiness of RIO to host the games.
 
Bestwifeever said:
Sure, we'll watch them if they're on when we're watching TV--we won't go out of our way to watch them. I really hate the melodramatic back stories we have to sit through--just show the events.
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Streaming FTW!

I've watched I'd guess at least six hours of competition every day since they started, almost all of it on a stream or replay where I could skip around to what I want to see. Being on the west coast, the primetime "live" coverage is tape delayed, so we're seeing stuff three hours after it happened. I watched the entire gymnastics team final in about an hour on the replay stream, instead of spread out from 8 until before midnight on primetime.

The other advantage of the streaming coverage is no back stories, straight competition. Definitely the way to go.

Yesterday alone, I watched two 7's rugby matches, the women's USA soccer match, the entire gymnastics team final, and all of the swimming finals and semi-finals in about five hours. Wife and I are sports geeks, but especially for the Olympics considering we are both "Olympic sport" athletes. (She is a retired gymnast, me triathlon and running).

NBC tailors their coverage for what they think women want, since by numbers women watch more Olympics than men do. And their 20-year-old research suggests that women WANT more of the backstories and less of the actual competition... hence why most of their coverage is advertising ($$$) and back stories. Pass.
 
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