In surprise news, the IOC has asked London if they'd be in a position to host the 2016 Olympics. Apparently, Rio might be fucking stuff up a bit. Who could have possibly seen this coming? Honestly, though, I'm getting less and less impressed with the Olympics. It's become way, way too financially driven, and less and less about the spirit of competition. Personally, I think they should just pick two places in the world; one for the summer Olympics, one for the winter Olympics, and then every Olympics is held at those two places for the foreseeable future. Any country would be allowed to use those facilities to train their country's Olympians, if they so choose, and countries bid to be that year's host country and share in the profits. It's fucking insane to dump the millions or billions of dollars into "one-off" facilities that are then left to rot for years to come. Focus: Discuss the current state of affairs of the Olympics. Alt-Focus: Describe your ultimate "Special" Olympics events.
It's depressing to me that a country will dump $50 billion into building out a crappy venue, in a city wholly unsuited to hosting that many people, end up screwing up some of the courses to the point where the people who don't crash are the ones who win, and now that massive investment is basically going to fall into the ground because - surprise! - shoveling billions of dollars at a half-assed construction project doesn't turn a city into a thriving center of the sporting world. I suspect - and this is just a theory mind you - that there may have been some areas of Russia that could have benefited from a $50 billion construction project where actual reusable infrastructure would have been built.
Alt-Focus: One called "Manners" where each athlete dresses in a tuxedo and has to sit through a 7-course meal without getting food everywhere, using outside voices, or soiling themselves.
Frankly, I completely lost interest in the Olympics when professionals were allowed to compete. It becomes 'All Star' games in events I couldn't give a shit about. My favorite Olympic memory was the 1980 Hockey Gold Medal round. I don't even like hockey, but it was amazing to watch these amateurs face off against the Russians and win. You will never see that again in any Olympics as it really is all about 'medal count' and endorsement deals. For an event that was supposed to be a celebration of sports and sportsmanship there is precious little of it left. In short, I don't bother watching (we had an Olympic thread last Winter Olympic's wherein I stated the same thing), nor will I bother to watch until such a time as amateurs are actually competing against one another. If I want to watch an All Star game, I'll just wait til the appropriate event airs and not engage in the self delusion that these athletes are doing it for the love of sport. At least with pro sports, it's more honest, they're doing it for the money and aren't shy about saying it.
Now we're going to be subjected to unending hours of commentary on how bad the Olympic facilities are and, if by some miracle they get it right in time, what a miracle it was they got it right in time. Costas is already wetting himself over this. Screw it. Make those prissy little bitches rough it a little bit. The track isn't smooth and you can't beat the world record by .0001 seconds? Cry me river you big baby. Make the gymnasts do their balance beam routines on a tree trunk held up by cinder blocks. Make the swimmers swim in open water. Make the runners run through that giant shantytown slum in Rio. The Olympics are boring. Spice it up.
They already do that. As an actual event. I'll refrain from calling you a dumbass, but it's really hard.
I read an interesting article the other day about Detroit being a possible candidate to host the 2024 Winter Olympics due to its size. This may seem like a terrible idea seeing the absurd state that Detroit is in financially being bankrupt and all. They have the square footage all around the city in the form of shitheel slums, all they need are the buildings, which every city builds anyway. I don't know how massive world events are paid for, but this could be a major turn around in the cities future if it gets funded by big govt. Not just the ridiculous amount of money that could be generated from tourism, but the infrastructure that is created could prove invaluable to the city and be just what the city needs to turn around. Then again, can you picture it, Detroit 2024 Winter Games! To your left, you see Hamtramck, to your right is Canada! Come see the dilapidated Silverdome and Tigers Stadium while dining on the beautiful Detroit river! Maybe the Mayor turning down the consideration was a good thing
I'm always shocked when people are surprised to hear FIFA and the IOC are corrupt. Its funny to me because they are the most corrupt organizations imaginable. How did Russia get the Winter Olympics and the World Cup? Clearly it was because its such a progressive country which a rich, inclusive history. Its definitely not because Putin and the Oligarchs made the head people at the IOC and FIFA fucking rich as fuck. Same thing with Brazil. If you want an Olympics, get all the cash you can, and shove it in someone's face, that seems to work well.
They do NOT already spice it up. Just look at fencing, what pussies. Armour. A face mask. A foil-- not even an actual sharp sabre. Gay. As. Fuck. You don't need electric targets to know you've been hit, that's why God invented blood in the first place.
I find it quaint when people have this whimsical view of how the Olympics used to be with "amateur" athletes. Sure the US hockey team was a bunch of college guys, but nobody on that Russian team was an amateur and nobody would be now. All that banning professionals would do is encourage bullshit military jobs and whatnot for top athletes from other countries to backdoor Olympic eligibility. All that allowing professionals to compete did was allow for talented athletes to actually get paid from being the top athletes in their sport, as well as stop the ridiculous charade of fake amateur athletes. It might make it interesting for basketball, but that and hockey are the only sports where there are true "pros" competing. Even sports like skiing or swimming, where there are full circuits and money to be made, all ended up pointing to the Olympics. Its kind of ridiculous to disregard these athletes being actual people with lives outside of a single competition every 4 years in the name of some utopic idea of "pure competition". But ok, I'll look forward to you telling us about how you watched the All Star Game in field hockey or the All Star meet in Track and Field or Swimming since the Olympics is just a stupid cash grab for athletes. Say they are boring, say there are events that are stupid, bitch about NBC and its public interest story nonsense or overcommercialization, thats fine, but to call the athletes money hungry and champion an Olympic era that was fucked up in terms of competition and fairness because of a single historic memory is pretty myopic.
I just look forward to more people wondering why the U.S. sucks donkey balls in weightlifting. *GIANT WINK* *GIANT NUDGE*
Alt-Focus I would like to see a game called Blade Runner where Oscar Pistorius is the referee, or more aptly judge, jury and executioner. It would involve a sheet of ice with all contestants blindfolded and razor sharp swords strapped to their arms. Still working on the details but the concept is strong.
I think the 4x100 should replace the aluminum relay baton with a police baton, and you should be able to strike the other competing runners with it. No tripping, though. Can't fuck up a gentleman's game with cheap-shots. Also: Kumite. It's long overdue, and we all now know that brick don't hit back.
This. Also, I think an alcohol intake requirement for the athletes of many events would spruce up the appeal somewhat..at least for me. Jamaican bobsled team? Touching story.....Jamaican shitfaced bobsled team? Poetic! I'd give the Olympics a shot if they did that...
Oh I wasn't even referring to Crossfit, although I will say that the fact that entry level athletes thinking they can do Crossfit style training to become as proficient as olympic weightlifters in their sport is laughable. HOWEVER one of the good things Crossfit has done is it has exposed athletes to barbell sports that would've otherwise never even considered them, so if Crossfit introduces someone to weightlifting and from there they go to a good weightlifting camp or coach (Pendlay, Broz, Bell among others) then that's nothing but good for the sport. I was referring to the fact that other countries basically have their own state sponsored, um, "supplementation regimes" with oh so rigorous testing, meanwhile we shoot ourselves in the foot by actually sticking to said testing (Pat Mendes being a notable example). Important note: This isn't to say that the IOC hasn't caught people from several other countries (they have). I have zero pity for these people. I forget who said it, but it was something to the effect of "a drug test isn't a PED test, it's an IQ test. If you get caught you're a dumbass." I'm referring to the fact that on top of Olympic testing we also monitor ourselves, and other countries...well there's no concrete evidence that they do or don't, but if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. One last note, before anyone starts complaining about steroids. I know this isn't a PED thread, but the Olympics and steroids are pretty inter-related.
Sochi has already demonstrated the shitty quality the Olympics will accept. If they tolerated Russia, Rio could probably build stadiums with dead babies and still get the go ahead.
I've been saying this since my first track meet. Your head would need to be pretty far up your ass to not see this coming. When I visited Sao Paulo in 2011 there was already a real feeling of uncertainty about the Olympics, like they knew well ahead of now they'd bit off more than they could chew.