Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

[Ulu]

And these guys ding me for my politics?

Oh Lordy! Step away from the thesaurus!

On some forums, two or three 4-letter words from either would have been plenty of response, that I could just read & quickly get along to business.

But you fellows have to drag it on and on, with poetry and prose, yet only beating a dead fish.

Anyhow I skipped over most of that toxic drivel between you wordy commonwealth fellows, because I wanted to gripe about the Olympics more.

Yet the sad truth is that I have not been watching it.

I am sort of boycotting because of the stuff where they let men beat the **** out of women, and the fact that I almost destroyed my legs training for the skateboard marathon, and those bastoids won’t even have a skateboard marathon.

They do rail riding, jumping, and kick flipping: in the angry childhood sport of destroying your sports equipment for self-indulgent fun.

I want to see a real skateboard race. A time trial, a top speed trial, a marathon, a dash, the slaloms, or all of the above.

Events where you have clear winners and losers. Competitions of style like the half pipe or the rail grind can sometimes have clear winners and losers.

Maybe they shouldn’t actually eliminate such, but I want to see racing!

 

[jjohnwm]

...On some forums, two or three 4-letter words from either would have been plenty of response, that I could just read & quickly get along to business.

But you fellows have to drag it on and on, with poetry and prose, yet only beating a dead fish.

Anyhow I skipped over most of that toxic drivel between you wordy commonwealth fellows, because I wanted to gripe about the Olympics more.

I spent decades in the trades, working on remote construction projects in the north country; fluency in profanity was a requirement of the job, and I can definitely carry my side of a conversation like that...but it's not appropriate here.

I'm not boycotting the Olympics, but I have never understood the appeal of watching someone else partake in a sport that I enjoy. Participation is wonderful; watching it on TV? Not so much.

If it's a sport that I don't or didn't ever play myself...even less reason to watch.

But this whole gender thing in sports is making it even less appealing. Until recently, the undeniable physical differences between males and females demanded that in most sports, the two genders competed in separate categories. Simple. Today, however with the ever-increasing number of genders that are apparently recognized as valid, along with all the subtle intergrades and variations and combinations, it's no longer simple; in fact, it's bewildering.

Add to that the fact that whenever there is competition, there will be people who will insist upon bending the rules to the breaking point...and there will be people who cheat...and there will be people who insist that the rules are too old-fashioned and must be changed...and it all adds up to a world in which the purity of sporting competition is a thing of the past. The essence of Olympic competition no longer exists.

Guys boxing with girls? Guys boxing with other guys who have become girls? Guys boxing with girls who have now become guys? Girls transforming themselves into guys, but still calling themselves girls, just so they can have a competitive edge?

Is there an event now in which the goal is to come up with the largest number of personal pronouns? Sorry, I already speak and understand English; I'm not going to re-learn the new version of it just because he or she has decided that they need a whole new set of words just for themselves.

Long story short: in the past I just didn't care. Now, especially after reading about some of these gender-manipulating hijinks and hoodwinks and transformations and whatnot...I actively dislike even hearing about the Olympics.

 

[Caperguy99]

I'm not boycotting the Olympics, but I have never understood the appeal of watching someone else partake in a sport that I enjoy. Participation is wonderful; watching it on TV? Not so much.

If it's a sport that I don't or didn't ever play myself...even less reason to watch.

As someone who played many team sports and did a few individual sports (some combat, mainly powerlifting), I watch to marvel at the capabilities of the human body.

Those weightlifters, male or female, are pushing their body - musculature, neurology, structure - to its absolute peak. In some instances, lifting weights that were literally thought of as impossible to move just decades ago, but with advances in training and nutrition are now possible.

I’ve never done gymnastics, but having been around athletic training I also have a great deal of respect for the extremities those athletes go through. And for many of them, at crazy young ages!

I’d say that’s why I’ve enjoyed having it on - whatever the sport and whatever the teams or the individuals, all of the people there performing are way, way more dedicated and successful at their chosen sport than myself or even anyone I’ve ever known. To even qualify for the Olympics, you have to be an absolute beast in your sport. You don’t usually get a chance to see people of such quality compete with others of the same caliber - and so I take advantage of the opportunity.

 

[esoxlucius]

I do a lot of cycling and used to do a fair bit of running. I think that when you've actually dabbled in a particular sport, and pushed yourself to your absolute limit, then watching the professionals do your chosen sport adds another dimension for me and makes it even more fascinating. I watch the Tour de France every single year and am regularly left awestruck and totally dumbfounded by their efforts from stage to stage.

I know just how much it hurts to turn yourself inside out on a bike pushing hard up a long climb for example, yet the top cycling pros would absolutely embarrass me. They are absolute beasts on their bikes and they have my utmost respect and admiration. They are demi gods to me because they do what I do, only do it wayyy faster and stronger than I ever could, even as a younger man.

Just watching these top athletes from the comfort of your armchair, yet never tried to push yourself the way they do, for me takes part of the spectacle away because you can never fully understand what superhuman feats these people are doing. You need to have felt the pain in your every bodily muscle just to get a basic appreciation of the effort they put into competing at the very highest level.

 

[Tristan's 6000 Fish]

I'm not boycotting the Olympics, but I have never understood the appeal of watching someone else partake in a sport that I enjoy. Participation is wonderful; watching it on TV? Not so much.

I agree. Watching a bunch of geeks run in circles to win a trophy is utterly boring in my opinion. I've always thought, It must suck to train your whole life, to run in a circle with a bunch of sweaty African-Americans, to win a medal.
I've run 5k every day, except Sunday's, since I was 14, but I've never liked sitting and watching people run in the Olympics.
I used to watch old Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and the Tate dude fights, to learn, and implement their fighting tactics when I was younger, and did teakwondo.
But now I don't do teakwondo anymore and, boxing is a disgrace. It's not even the same sport anymore. If I randomly chose to identity as a woman I could go beat up a real one in a ring in under 25 seconds and that's appealing to people? Disgusting.
I'd rather be playing a sport than sitting watch that crap.

I do enjoy watching Real athletes play sports that I like, so I can learn and implement what they do, into my training, to improve.
Not an It fighting a woman, and thinking that's an accomplishment. The geek was to scared to fight a real man, it pretended to be a woman so it could actually win.

 

[Caperguy99]

Just watching these top athletes from the comfort of your armchair, yet never tried to push yourself the way they do, for me takes part of the spectacle away because you can never fully understand what superhuman feats these people are doing.

I agree - in soccer, for example, there’s a lot of BS gamesmanship, complaining, and diving. But as someone who played at the men’s level - but nowhere near the Olympics - watching the national teams play is crazy. Every player - even the mediocre ones - would be by far the most skilled person I’ve ever played with. The control they have of the ball, accuracy, power, and speed/dexterity is literally hard to fathom. And that’s every team in the tournament - the ones that win are another level even again.

 

[esoxlucius]

The ultimate football player on the planet at the moment is probably Christiano Ronaldo, and of course Leo Messi is pretty close too.

The longevity of those two, and at the highest level, has been nothing short of extraordinary.

I have a soft spot for Christiano because it was my team, Manchester United, which first bought him from his home club in Portugal, Sporting Lisbon, wayyyy back in 2003 as a spotty 18 year old kid.

I regularly watch old footage from his United days and can't help noticing that all his old team mates are all now long retired. Some have started their own businesses, some have gone into football management and some are pundits on sky sports and the likes, but none of them are still playing, not for years now.

Yet Christiano is still playing pro football in Saudi Arabia, and still scoring goals for fun, and he's nudging 40!!

A remarkable athlete.

 

[tlindsey]

Guys boxing with girls? Guys boxing with other guys who have become girls? Guys boxing with girls who have now become guys? Girls transforming themselves into guys, but still calling themselves girls, just so they can have a competitive edge?

This is very disturbing. It will take someone to get seriously hurt or killed before things change.

 

[Caperguy99]

The ultimate football player on the planet at the moment is probably Christiano Ronaldo, and of course Leo Messi is pretty close too.

The longevity of those two, and at the highest level, has been nothing short of extraordinary.

I have a soft spot for Christiano because it was my team, Manchester United, which first bought him from his home club in Portugal, Sporting Lisbon, wayyyy back in 2003 as a spotty 18 year old kid.

I regularly watch old footage from his United days and can't help noticing that all his old team mates are all now long retired. Some have started their own businesses, some have gone into football management and some are pundits on sky sports and the likes, but none of them are still playing, not for years now.

Yet Christiano is still playing pro football in Saudi Arabia, and still scoring goals for fun, and he's nudging 40!!

A remarkable athlete.

That’s the golden age of professional football, imo - you had Renaldo with Man U., Gerrard with Liverpool, Terry at Chelsea, and a (16 year old!) Wayne Rooney at Everton. Fantastic games.

 

[Ogertron3000]

I think this sums up the difference between us English hard nuts and those Canuckistanian wussies very nicely, lol.

Joking aside though I prefer sports with a bit of substance to them myself. The endurance sports such as marathons, ultra marathons, triathlons and, being a cyclist, the ultimate sporting challenge imo, the Tour de France, three full weeks of hell for the competitors.

All that training goes into something worthwhile so to speak, unlike the 60 or 100 metre sprints where all that training literally goes into a few seconds of work!

Thats why i like the 100mtrs, years of training but if they slip for even 0.2 seconds its all over. Its only 10 seconds or so but they need to be fully focused on a lot of things while running as fast as they can in a certain way.
Really thats what i like about the olympics in general. its all coming down to a certain moment after they have been preparing for years, i really feel bad for some athletes when something goes wrong or they make a slight mistake and thats what makes the difference between a medal or not.
I do wonder about the mentality of some of the athletes, it would be cool to win a gold and be officially best in the world at something but its strange to me to dedicate your life to something as obscure as shot put or the only sport in the whole thing i truly consider pointless the "walking" race. Even then i feel sad for them if they get disqualified for walking too fast and being accused of "jogging" instead.

here is the moment in all its glory

I The geek was to scared to fight a real man, it pretended to be a woman so it could actually win.

This isnt actually true, i dont know why so many are getting worked up over something false.
The algerian boxer is biologically a woman. she isnt trans and was never a man, she has all female reproductive parts from birth, apparently there is some chromosome change that makes her produce a lot more testosterone than a normal female which does give her an unfair but natural advantage. I dont know if its fair or not , is it the same as someone very tall having an advantage in basketball or long jump?
If she has been found to have been dosing up on testosterone or something similar she should be banned from competing.

I have always said to compete against women in womens sport you should have been born with a uterus and ovaries, this boxer was so meets my personal definition of a biological woman. Apparently there are 100s of definitions but i dont want to debate them.