Beijing Olympics 2008

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Which seems to be weird since China and Pakistan are allies. Probably the Indians around the audience who are pissy .

Since then I've read a couple of accounts mentioning the warm reception that Pakistan got, so I guess we just misinterpreted the crowd response.

[ISiddiqui]

Maybe the crowd was just chanting "Moooooooooslims!" or "Impeach Mooooosharraf"?

[SirFozzie]

Watching Live on NBCOlympics.com Looks like USA will have 3 of the 8 quarter finalists in Women's Sabre

(Sada Jacobsen, Mariel Zagunis and Becca Ward). Odds are good that USA will get an early medal, even gold? (Zagunis won the gold at the 2004 Olympics and is ranked #1 in the world, Ward won the 2006 Worlds Title, and Jacobsen won the bronze in 2004 at Athens),

[sabotai]

I watched Jacobson's and Ward's matches. Jacobson's was close, but Ward destroyed her opponent. I have no idea how good their opponents really were, though.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Watching Live on NBCOlympics.com Looks like USA will have 3 of the 8 quarter finalists in Women's Sabre

(Sada Jacobsen, Mariel Zagunis and Becca Ward). Odds are good that USA will get an early medal, even gold? (Zagunis won the gold at the 2004 Olympics and is ranked #1 in the world, Ward won the 2006 Worlds Title, and Jacobsen won the bronze in 2004 at Athens),

(Each "discipline" of fencing is a one day, 64 fencer elimination tournament, matches are to 15 touches. Sabre's a bit wierd, as it's not ALWAYS first to touch their opponent, there's rules that once the opponent's launched an attack, you have to deal with it (parrying, or moving out of range) before launching your own.)

[sabotai]

And unlike epee or foil, you can use most of the sword (tip, front blade, top 1/3rd of the back) to score a point. In epee and foil, only the tip counts.

[SirFozzie]

Love the four in 1 video, have all four tuned to matches

[SirFozzie]

Zagunis is winning handily, but there's an injury on one of the other mats...

[SirFozzie]

Zagunis wins, 15-9 against the #3 fence in the world Yingying Bao. Got two shots at a medal there.

Edit:Jacobson wins 15-11, she's in the semifinals as well.

Ward wins on a sudden death touch that takes the judge a minute to figure out and determine who had priority on the attack, 15-14.

3 USAers out of 4 in the semi finals. Great way to start the Olympics

[SirFozzie]

Semifinals will pit

Sada Jacobson (USA)
Sofiya Velikaya (RUS)

Zagunis (USA)
Ward (USA)

Semi-Finals, Bronze and Gold-Medal Matches will not start until 7 AM Eastern

[sabotai]

I tried watching all 4 like you said, but those videos were small. I couldn't make out the scores. I edned up watching most of the Jacobson match and the end of the Ward match.

Looks like there is a long break until the Semis (meaning I'll be asleep when they start). I wonder if there is a way to go to the video of the matches (if they'll save them) before knowing the results. (Looks like they might show it on USA at some point tomorrow morning. TiVo to the rescue again!)

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

the opening ceremonies have been rather amazing.

Spectacular. I just bought my first HDTV, and the opening ceremony was simply amazing to watch.

[Senator]

I like what I am hearing. The past 8 years this board has been very tough on the Olympics. When it gets going, it seems people get pulled in and become advocates. It seems it's one of those things that is more fun to be a part of than just thinking about it.

[sabotai]

Female Sabre Semi and Finals will be on MSNBC at 3pm

[MrBug708]

(BEIJING) Beijing authorities say a Chinese man attacked two American tourists on the opening day of the Olympic Games, killing one of them before committing suicide.

The Beijing Municipal Government says the attack happened in downtown Beijing at noon on Saturday. Officials issued a statement saying the 47-year-old attacker, Tang Yongming, also injured an American woman and her Chinese tourist guide.

The attack took place on the second level of the Drum Tower, a popular tourist attraction in north Beijing. Tang threw himself from the ancient monument used to tell time centuries ago.
--------------------------------------

Wonderful

[SirFozzie]

Question: It might be a bit late now, but what's the stance on "spoiling events"

For example, the semis and the finals of the Sabre competition will air at 7 AM on NBCOlympics.com, should I avoid saying the results here for those of you who want to watch the medal matches at 3 PM on MSNBC?

[SirFozzie]

Sabre finals have begun. Results in spoiler tags.

Spoiler

All USA Final! Jacobson defeats Velikaya 15-11 (she was down 8-5 at one point) USA Could sweep the medals.

[SirFozzie]

Spoiler

the 2nd semi final is about to come up. These two have not only fought each other for World Titles before, but they also are members of the same fencing club, so they PRACTICE against each other too.


It's spooky. They have the exact same mannerisms, when looking to the judge to see who gets the point

[allpro10050]

Spoiler

Becca Ward clinches a American sweep in Sabre

[MrDNA]

Can you imagine how much the Chinese spin doctors must be freaking out right now about that stabbing? NOT the image you want to put out there when hosting the world, trying to show you're not the bad guys.

Actually, I wonder if that's part of why this guy did it.

[Icy]

Nice, first gold medal for Spain! (we were favorites so not big surprise)

Spoiler

In cycling

[MrDNA]

US women not doing too hot against Japan in Volleyball. I hope they pull it out as this is probably my favorite Olympic sport to watch. Gotta say Japan is putting on a show, though.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Question: It might be a bit late now, but what's the stance on "spoiling events"

For example, the semis and the finals of the Sabre competition will air at 7 AM on NBCOlympics.com, should I avoid saying the results here for those of you who want to watch the medal matches at 3 PM on MSNBC?

I remember last time that once it was on tv, we could talk about it, but not until. Now that we have spoiler tags, it should probably be in there.

That said, I don't know how anyone else feels about that but it seems reasonable.

SI

[AZSpeechCoach]

Woman's beach volleyball just makes me want to whip it out and spank it. I love uniforms from Victoria's Secret and celebrations that could be on the Playboy Channel.

[Karlifornia]

Fencing SUCKS! The Olympics are GARBAGE! Here's my myspace blog about it:

Originally Posted by karl myspace blog

The Olympics..........


....FUCKING SUCK ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just woke up this beautiful Saturday morning, and I saw that the Olympics were on two different channels. "Oh, that's cool," I thought. First off, MSNBC had women's handball (I don't care if these lame ass sports are men's or women's competition, btw, they are equally unwatchable). I don't know what handball qualifies as in the Olympics, but it didn't look like the handball I played as a kid. You'd hit the ball against the wall, and your opponent would get one bounce to gauge it, and they'd smack that shit against the wall. And you'd have little rules like "black magic" where you'd say "black magic" and then swing your hand above or below the ball, and it would be up to your opponent to try and hit the ball again before it bounced twice. But, they couldn't! They were totally fucked! Now, this handball I was watching was like soccer where you used your hands. Honestly, I don't have any idea what was going on. However, team handball was awesome compared to...

WOMENS' FENCING! I fucking hate fencing. I hated it before, now I hate it even more. So, I switched from MSNBC to plain ole NBC. You know, NBC must have the quality programming, since it's network and all. Nope!!! It was fencing, followed by men's bicycle racing. Oh my fucking Christ. What a puddle of liquid SHIT!

The fencing was mind-boggingly ridiculous. To call that sport is laughable. It's like playing tag with swords, if the rules of tag forced you to run directly into each other, and then shriek horrifyingly loudly if you got tagged. I mean, I didn't mind the shrieking entirely...it was two well-off nerdy ivy league girls (who else, really? I've never seen a fencing team from the projects) sounding like they were orgasming after every "touch" as the announcers called it.

So, anyway, they'd run into each other, one girl would cum, and then the announcer would say "Ohhh...point for Jennifer! Amazing footwork on the repost touch", and then I would change the channel.

[ISiddiqui]

Your blog fucking suck ass. Fencing is great.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Female Sabre Semi and Finals will be on MSNBC at 3pm

Ugh, I turned on MSNBC at 3 and it wasn't on. The chick on CNBC lied to me last night.

[molson]

Why do the fencers shriek when they're hit? That was a little startling at first - I thought she got stabbed right through the armor.

[LloydLungs]

I thought some of the fencing girls were kind of cute.

[MJ4H]

dude. your blog said handball and fencing suck?

GTFO

[BrianD]

I was a bit disappointed by the fencing as well. I was hoping for a bit more defense and back-and-forth action. There is probably nuance that I am unaware of, but I didn't get the feeling that I was looking at world-class talent.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Question: It might be a bit late now, but what's the stance on "spoiling events"

For example, the semis and the finals of the Sabre competition will air at 7 AM on NBCOlympics.com, should I avoid saying the results here for those of you who want to watch the medal matches at 3 PM on MSNBC?

Going to be tough. Watching sports live online and not talking about it, not really knowing when they will be broadcast on TV...

Maybe have two threads? One with spoilers (free to talk about live online stuff) and one without (the one to go to just to talk about stuff on TV)?

Either way, doesn't really matter to me. Extensive use of spoiler tags would probably be enough.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by BrianD

I was a bit disappointed by the fencing as well. I was hoping for a bit more defense and back-and-forth action. There is probably nuance that I am unaware of, but I didn't get the feeling that I was looking at world-class talent.

I'm not an expert on fencing (or even a novie or causal fan), but with the rules being different for Sabre and Foil and Epee, you might get more back and forth with Foil and Epee since only strikes with the tip of the sword count.

[ISiddiqui]

Maybe have two threads? One with spoilers (free to talk about live online stuff) and one without (the one to go to just to talk about stuff on TV)?

Probably the best option.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I'm not an expert on fencing (or even a novie or causal fan), but with the rules being different for Sabre and Foil and Epee, you might get more back and forth with Foil and Epee since only strikes with the tip of the sword count.

I'm hoping this is the case. I want to like fencing, but I just couldn't get into it this morning.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Your blog fucking suck ass. Fencing is great.

Oh, dude. You're so wrong...fencing is terrible. It's a lame "sport" for lame rich people. Watching the gold medal match was ridiculous. I can't believe someone won a gold medal for that. If I was her family, I couldn't even pretend to be excited. And just imagine, her family is going to have to watch that ridiculous dog and pony show at every holiday dinner.

"Hey, aren't you Becky's new husband? Wanna watch my Gold Medal match from Beijing?"

"Oh, wow! Yeah, you got a gold medal? That's AMAZING! Let's totally watch it!"

"Ok, you're about to have a mindgasm!"

(the video plays, and finishes..Becky's husband responds)

"So you won the gold medal! Now, if you could be so kind as to tell me WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT BULLSHIT?"

That is so not a sport. It's garbage. I'm convinced that the gold medal winner could go on a 20 year bender of booze and clove cigs, and come back and at least medal.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

dude. your blog said handball and fencing suck?

GTFO

Handball could have been ok...I was just waking up when I watched the handball. I'll give it a pass. The fencing...yeah...no!

[ISiddiqui]

I will quote MJ4H

Originally Posted by MJ4H

dude. your blog said handball and fencing suck?

GTFO

Olympics just ain't for you.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I will quote MJ4H



Olympics just ain't for you.

I enjoy many olympic sports, particularly the ones that display feats of athleticism. Swimming, track and field, hell, I even respect gymnastics.

Maybe I'm just jealous. I was a great tag player as a child, but my mom couldn't afford to buy me a sword.

ISiddiqui, you'd probably like the movie Stay Tuned, starring John Ritter..he brought the joy of fencing to inner city youths after he escaped a nightmare alternate, television-based reality. BTW, yes, I always turned that movie off when he started trying to make like D'Artagnan.

Why don't the olympics just have paintball duels while their at it? 20 paces and then turn and fire your paintball.

[MJ4H]

So anyway, back to the olympics now?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I enjoy many olympic sports, particularly the ones that display feats of athleticism. Swimming, track and field, hell, I even respect gymnastics.

Maybe I'm just jealous. I was a great tag player as a child, but my mom couldn't afford to buy me a sword.

ISiddiqui, you'd probably like the movie Stay Tuned, starring John Ritter..he brought the joy of fencing to inner city youths after he escaped a nightmare alternate, television-based reality. BTW, yes, I always turned that movie off when he started trying to make like D'Artagnan.

Why don't the olympics just have paintball duels while their at it? 20 paces and then turn and fire your paintball.

they do have shooting. Just not with paintballs and at other people.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

So anyway, back to the olympics now?

I was hoping someone could, you know...maybe TELL ME about the finer points of fencing?

I'm only calling it out in the hopes of being proven wrong, like any good scientist (I am not a scientist)

[Karlifornia]

Three Americans standing on the pedestals? Why even waste the jet fuel taking them to Beijing? Just do this in Valdosta, Georgia...the true titletown.

[duckman]

Just let me know when USA Men's Basketball play.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

I was hoping someone could, you know...maybe TELL ME about the finer points of fencing?

I'm only calling it out in the hopes of being proven wrong, like any good scientist (I am not a scientist)

FWIW, that's not at all how your blog post read.

Anyway, they are showing the fencing semi-finals and finals on MSNBC now.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by sabotai

FWIW, that's not at all how your blog post read.

Anyway, they are showing the fencing semi-finals and finals on MSNBC now.

I thought the fencing fans would be a little less sensitive, what with the participants being STABBED WITH SWORDS!

[Karlifornia]

For anyone who would like to see what the sun can do to your skin, check out the beach volleyball finals on right now.

EDIT: errr..this probably isn't the finals..

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Your blog fucking suck ass. Fencing is great.

+1

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Time Warner has also temporarily added USA HD, giving us four HD networks for the Olympics. Sweet.

And depending on where you are the USA HD might not actually be temporary...

[Senator]

Originally Posted by duckman

Just let me know when USA Men's Basketball play.

Please be joking.