Anyone else love the Olympics?

[archive_Mickey]

I am one of the few remaining Olympic fans left in the USA I guess.

For some reason I just love it! I guess its because I get to see sports that I dont usually see and I love rooting for our country. I love the storylines too and hearing about everyone and where they are from and how they got there.

I will be tuning in as much as possible.

GO USA!! http://www.anabolicfitness.net/smileys/banana.gif

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[Wood]

Summer Olympics are my favorite sporting events ever....

[archive_PDOGGY]

I think the women are getting more physically appealing prettier in Olympic competition.

Even the little badminton skirts look good. http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

I know.. shallow..

**************************
http://www.meccasoul.com/neuroticsoul/Slo/ake_clip_big.gif

[archive_Bjaarki]

The Olympic Games are not necessarily the most thrilling sport events ever. You'll see better basketball in the NBA finals, better weightlifting at a national PL meet, better cycling at the Tour de France, and better track and field (sometimes) at other venues.

But the Olympics do something that no other sporting event does. They bring all the countries of the world together for a week or two, for unbiased (theoretically) competition of a purely athletic nature, without the taint of politics or any other internationalist drama. That's why the tragedy in Munich in '72, the American boycott of the Moscow Games in '80, and the Iranian wrestler's refusal to face an Israeli opponent in Athens yesterday, are so antithetical to the spirit of the Games.

Athletes are, let's face it, generally not large-minded people. So what is crucial to us, as athletes, is that the Olympic Games are the only sporting event where athletes of every country contribute, not just to their sport, or to athletics as a whole, but to large-minded things, like world peace and understanding. They are the one place where athletes rise above even their sports, and become globalists - in essence, they become diplomats - in the cause of mutual respect, acceptance, and understanding between peoples. To the extent that we, too, value these things, the Games make all of us Olympians.

For that reason alone, the Olympic Games deserve the ardent support of athletes in all sports, everywhere.

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

[Wood]

Man I was soooooo glad to see the US Olympic basketball team get its butt handed to it on a platter by the Puerto Rican basketball team. Allen Iverson et all (except Tim Duncan) are so cocky - they deserved it. They need some humbling.

I have been mad at NBA players since they boycotted playing in the NBA in 1998 when they pickted for more money. I hope they lose. It will be the first time since the NBA players have been allowed to play that the US team has not won gold. I feel bad about feeling this way - but this is the one and only event I hope the US team loses. Those NBA players need a lesson.

Bjaarki - better play in the NBA???.... yeah that is why Arroyo embarrased the US team by picking off passes, faking out Stottlemeyer on a layup and they hit 3 pointers while the US team stood and wondered what hit them. At one time the US team was down by 22 points.

I LOVE the Olympics, get all teary eyed when they play the national anthem - but really want to know Iverson was part of the ONLY losing US team in world history.

[Pharm Animal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wood:
- but really want to know Iverson was part of the ONLY losing US team in world history.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>IverWho??? Fuck the NBA. I'd rather watch golf.

[Pharm Animal]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
They are the one place where athletes rise above even their sports, and become globalists - in essence, they become diplomats - in the cause of mutual respect, acceptance, and understanding between peoples.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Well said, B.

I love watching the Track and Field events. Those events bring the heart and soul of the games, all other events are a pale comparison from the true classic sense of the Olympics. The athletes that compete every Olympiad are astounding and always push human limits. What else can rival the feeling right before a 100 meter sprint, run head-to-head between possibly 5 to 8 of the fastest humans of all time? I love the sheer athleticism of it all!

I am blown away with the amount of sportsmanship that is displayed every 4 years at these events, and it's a testament that there still is some good in mankind's heart.

In my opinion, it's much more entertaining than watching a bunch of overpaid assholes trying to throw a ball into a hoop. Since basketball is so popular, I'm forced to assume that the general population has no comprehension of, and therefore, no appreciation for pure athleticism.

Oh, and golf sucks too. http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif

[joepalooka]

Ah I love watching most of the olympics except for basketball I never really cared for it being vertically challenged in all has something to do with it. BUt sprinting, and swimming and so on are great in seeing how far or how close a person or a team of persons come to beating or making world records. The competition is like no other. I know of a local kid from my part of the woods made the olympic trials for the decathlon and I am waiting see how that turns out. Let alone everything else, I just enjoy watching athletes compete.

[Curious George]

I like watching all of it. It stems from my fascination with how the body works.


Heheh.....I also loved watching Misty May's butt in the beach volleyball tourni.

Take Good Care,

Cg

[joepalooka]

It was quit nice watching her butt!! Let alone the chickies on the swim team and gymnastics I was flipping the channels going back in forth between volley ball and gymnastics!!!

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

joepaloompa just likes to watch little giggly girls twice his height all chalked up.

I like the track and field events. Sometimes in the sprinting events you'll get a glimpse of exposed girlie butt cheeks http://www.anabolicfitness.net/smileys/tounge[1].gif

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[This message was edited by Mr. Nobody on 08-16-04 at 04:57 PM.]

[joepalooka]

Yes this is true and there's nothing wrong with it either!!! http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[archive_Bjaarki]

You guys are soooooo hard up! Watching a 200m hurdle just so you can get a glimpse of exposed butt cheek.

Mr N, I know you've led a sheltered life, but I should probably let you in on a secret: The 'net is full of porn sites. All the ass shots you could ever dream of.

Just ask IronGod.

[archive_Ulter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
You guys are soooooo hard up! Watching a 200m hurdle just so you can get a glimpse of exposed butt cheek.

Mr N, I know you've led a sheltered life, but I should probably let you in on a secret: The 'net is full of porn sites. All the ass shots you could ever dream of.

Just ask IronGod.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And the 13-16 year old female gymnastic teams where full makeup because...

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Allen Iverson et all (except Tim Duncan) are so cocky <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow. Another Iverson hater and for no good reason. A.I. has actually been the voice of reason if you have been paying attention. He is the guy who has been bashing his teammates telling them that they need to wake the fuck up. He and Duncan have been the best players on the team. Check out ESPN.com for quotes from A.I. today and the other days. Him and Larry Brown have been echoing each other this whole time.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I have been mad at NBA players since they boycotted playing in the NBA in 1998 when they pickted for more money. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So has baseball, football, and now hockey. Do you still watch any of those? Sorry Wood, its a business. They get paid to play and that is their job. Are you telling me if your boss put a salary cap on your company that you wouldnt try to get more money no matter how much you were already making?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Bjaarki - better play in the NBA???.... yeah that is why Arroyo embarrased the US team by picking off passes, faking out Stottlemeyer on a layup <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Stottlemeyer? You talking about the Yankees pitching coach, Mel? Oooohhhh you meant Stoudemire.


<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> but really want to know Iverson was part of the ONLY losing US team in world history. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Seriously, why Iverson? Nothing makes me more mad then when people hate someone but know nothing about them. After watching this guy play every game from his rookie year to last year I can say that there are not many guys who play harder or want to win as bad. I'm sure you see the tattoos and the braids and practice speech and say that he is a punk. He is a good guy who gets a horrible rap because of the way he talks and the way he looks. You have no idea how hurt he is when he plays and how many guys in that league or other sports wouldn't even think about playing for a second with his injuries. I have seen his knee when it was as big as his waist yet he still played, did you ever see that on ESPN? Hell no, they'd rather run his "practice" speech over and over.

Why dont you pick on Marbury who hasnt done shit with his talent and shows up occasionally? Why dont you pick on Richard Jefferson who plays sometimes like he doesnt want to break a nail yet signed for $70+ mil last week?

I know why, because they dont look like A.I. and they dont talk like A.I. I would bet anything if you asked Larry Brown what the problems were with that team that Iverson would be the last person he ever mentioned.

I know Iverson isnt a saint so dont take this the wrong way. However he has been the victim one too many times. How about he was in jail for 4 months in HS for something he didnt even do and there was a tape that proved it!! How about 2 years ago some faggot tried to get him in trouble again for something he didnt do!! He does have a small chip on his shoulder but its for a damn good reason. If youve ever seen him joking around and drawing charicatures of his teammates when the camera isnt on then you would know that the face you see in front of the camera is just a mask.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Mickey]

BTW, I dont want this thread to turn into an arguement either.

I was disappointed today to see Phelps lose in the 200m freestyle. I wanted him to come close to tying Spitz's record.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Bjaarki]

Mickey, a word from a friend: Be careful when you lambast Wood (especially him) on any factual matter having to do with sports. The man has been a high-level competitor since before you were born .....

I was just thinking about the Phelps/Spitz thing. I remember when Spits won those 7 golds, and thought even then that it was a bit weird that swimming is such a "medal-rich" sport. You have separate medal competitions for each stroke (back, breast, FS and butterfly) and for various distances at each stroke, as well as the medleys. Really gives an advantage to swimmers in bringing home the heavy metal. It's like letting say, a sprinter, run for a medal forward for 100m, then a different medal if he skips, then a different one if he runs backward, then a different one if he waltzes around the track or something, and still a different one if he runs/skips/backsteps/waltzes in the same race, and then he gets to do the same thing all over at 200m.

Don't you think that's weird?

BTW, it was that very thing - swimming as a "medal-rich" sport - that drove a lot of the early anabolic use. The GDR saw that they could dominate the medals standings if they put a bunch of young girl swimmers on gear (Oral Turinabol, which I see has come up in a different thread) and turned them loose at Mexico City and, later, Munich and Montreal. That's just what happened. The GDR won a shitload of medals, behind only the US and USSR, based mostly on the repeat wins of their women swimmers.

I think maybe there should be a limit on the races a single swimmer could compete in. BTW, I was a competitive swimmer in high school, just in the interest of full disclosure.

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Mickey, a word from a friend: Be careful when you lambast Wood (especially him) on any factual matter having to do with sports. The man has been a high-level competitor since before you were born ..... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That doesn't mean that he knows basketball or the person that he was bashing. He even admitted that he doesnt like it or pay attention to it. My friends dad is someone very high up in the Sixers organization and I have followed the team religiously. I can safely say that when it comes to Iverson, I am positive I know more about the man than he. Other sports or other players are up for debate.

I wasnt trying to "lambast" him either. As I have said before on this boad, its nothing personal. I am just defending something that I think was being shown in the wrong light. I know Wood is a good guy, I just get a little fired up when I see stuff like that http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif



I just watched the replay of that Phelps race and what you are saying B came to my mind also. In swimming there are so many opportunities to win medals. They said that no one has had more than 8 but its so hard for anyone to even come close to that number just because other sports dont give that many medal opportunities. Gymnastics and Swimming would be the two most, right? I know in track you can win like 4, but thats not even close to the 8 that you could win in those other sports.

I agree with you on maybe putting in a limit to the number of races that you can be in.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[Wood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mickey:
[QUOTE]
Stottlemeyer? You talking about the Yankees pitching coach, Mel? Oooohhhh you meant Stoudemire.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That is funny. yeah I meant Stoudemire. I say stupid thigns some times and just have to laugh. I got in an argument with a client today about if the LA Olympics were in 1984 or 1988. I could have swore they were 1988. There were some big games in LA in 1988 or thereabouts - because I dated this girl who went to them. But I was wrong - we bet a bag of M&M's, and now I owe him a bag of candy.

"A knee as big as his waist"...? Well I think your tendency towards exaggeration about his physical pain and injuries extends to exaggerations about his "good" character. I understand he is bigger than life to you,


I do follow NBA - this year I did not catch much of the NBA playoffs - I just wanted the Lakers to lose. In 2003 I did not miss a game and was real happy to see the Spurs win - but as was probably obvious I am a Tim Duncan fan.

Pro B ball has never held the appeal to me like college ball. And granted Iverson is not the lazy loafer that Shaq is - I mean Shaq is watching the games from his couch after all. But at the risk of putting everyone (including Tim Duncan) into one box, the NBA are the worst sort of whiners and egotistical do-nothings.

They went on strike for more money, which is farcical in my opinion - and I look forward to hopefully seeing many of them laying brick like refrigerator Perry (football) someday, ...okay its ridiculous but that is American at its best. But they started the strike right before the season began - good strategy for creating pressure on those in charge - but its their fans they were holding hostage. Not unlike an emergency room doctor going on strike right before his shift - its the people depending on him that he screws if the contract is not negotiated successfully. It would have been the fans that are screwed if the strike did not go well - the people THEY owe, and the people depending on them. They do owe something to their fans.

A good doctor would negotiate his contract so that it does not impact his ability to deliver care. Are all doctors this good? - no, but they should have their licenses removed and sent to work in a coal mine. The NBA players should have negotiated their contracts in a fair and reasonable way so that it would not impact their fans - and be big enough boys to accept the results of their, their agents and the owners ability to negotiate.

And if they don't like it, fire them, send them to the brick pits and heck...hire someone who can actually play good , hard clean ball - like the Puerto Rican team. I would prefer this to guys who jog slowly down court on a fast break while talking on the cellphone to their agents or stock brokers, hold their arms up lackadaisacally as theough they were really on defense, and jump so their toes barely come off the floor as though they were really exerting themselves.

I am not turning this into an argument, just stating my opinion.

[This message was edited by Wood on 08-16-04 at 10:05 PM.]

[Wood]

I feel bad for Phelps with all the pressure stacked on him to be USA's "great white hope", so to speak. Comparing him to Spitz is really unfair.

Spitz went to the 1972 Olympics holding the world record in all the events he competed in, or at least most of them. Phelps does not. Spitz was far and above his competition....
Phelps really has his hands full with Thorpe. If Phelps got 7 or 8 golds, it would have been a far greater accomplishment than when SPitz did it.

He is probably going to win 2 golds, and the real shame is he might feel bad about it, like he let everyone down. Its a shame they put such expectations on him, his situation is far different than the swimming climate for Spitz. It is much tougher for Phelps.

When this Olympic ends in 2 weeks I will probably crash like the end of a big cycle. I moved from the TV this weekend to do a rushed workout on Saturday, and about 2 hours on Sunday. I let my children stay up last night until the games were over.

[archive_Ulter]

Thoughts:

"and better track and field (sometimes) at other venues."

At what "other" venue are there 48 track and field events where there are 8 world records held? There's only one venue with that claim. The Olympics. No other venue has 2.

I am sorry that this USA basketball team is made up of the people who can't shoot and were not picked by the coach. He got what he got. No other coach in the Olympics was told that. The other coaches had dozens of athletes to choose from. THAT's the way it should be. Get a coach and let him pick his players and make it mandatory that they show up. If you want to play in the NBA then it's in your contract. Let's see the players union try to skirt that issue with the fans.
There is no one in the NBA making more money than players on the original dream team 12 years ago. In fact, in 12 years from now there still won't be anyone who makes the half billion dollars Jordan did. So if the current NBA players think they are above playing for their country because of all their G money they can kiss my ass.

Now that I think about it, that dream team could probably still win the gold today with a couple months practice. Well, maybe not, but they'd beat Puerto Rico.


Iverson:

This is a guy I can relate to. I don't think his posse should be allowed at the stadium but I like to watch him work. Because he does work hard on the court. Off the court? Hey, Chicago has 3 titles with Dennis Rodman, Iverson is a day at the beach. I think because of Rodman I understand a lot of things players in the NBA do on the court that I didn't before Rodman was on the bulls, so to me Iverson's ok. Case in point: Rodman didn't take Shaq out of his game by posting him up, he did it by feeling him up, sticking his hand between his legs from behind and grabbing his testes for a 4 game sweep.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> "A knee as big as his waist"...? Well I think your tendency towards exaggeration about his physical pain and injuries extends to exaggerations about his "good" character. I understand he is bigger than life to you, <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ok I did lie http://www.anabolicfitness.net/smileys/tounge[1].gif It wasnt as big as his waist (though it was close b/c he is skinny as hell) but his knee was huge from banging it on the floor one time. He limped around for several games when he should have been on crutches. It was probably the size of a canteloupe and I am not exaggerating on that.

Also he isnt larger than life to me....that would be Jordan http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif I like A.I. because he plays hard and he doesnt take stuff for granted. I just feel bad for him. Yes hes rich, but so many people hate him without even knowing him. Trust me you hear about when hes late to practice but I'm sure none of you hear about his charity softball event that he does every year and gives all the proceeds (and lots more) to the Boys and Girls Club in Philly and in his hometown in Virginia. That was last month and he got the NBA's charity award (or whatever its called) for it but you wont see that on ESPN.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>THAT's the way it should be. Get a coach and let him pick his players and make it mandatory that they show up. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ulter I agree with this 100%. It makes me sick to think that these guys are sitting home probably doing nothing while a patchwork team tries to win and take the criticism. Some guys had legit reasons (Ray Allen is having a baby this month and Karl Malone is hurt) but the rest are just slackers. They would rather sit home and waste their millions away and play Madden 2005.

I would give anything up to be in the Olympics for my country. I dont care if it was being held in Iraq. Like Wood said, I get choked up every time I see one of our people get a gold and listen to our national anthem on the podium. I dream of that stuff and I wish others realized how great of a thing that is.

Ulter you also bring up Jordan. This is a guy who played in the Olympics twice. He was the greatest player ever and he wanted to. Why doesnt anyone else want to? I think these young guys have never really worked for anything because they have always had money given to them and they thing that money is the motivation for everything. There is no more pride. This is a sad era http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_MR. BMJ]

The ORIGINAL Dream Team will forever be the greatest team ever assembled. Because they understand the basic mechanics of TEAM ball and defense, they could beat any team past, present, and future without any time practicing together.

When you have a starting 5 of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Malone/Barkley, and Hakeem Olajawuan (sp), it will forever be the greatest team ever assembled. This is not even pointing out the back-ups of Stockton, Shaq, Kemp, etc.....

Track & Field, Swimming, Wrestling, Cycling, Basketball, sometimes volleyball are pretty much the only things i'll watch. I'm probably missing a few though. Everything else like that fucking equestrian crap I could do without. I'd rather watch a match of Texas Hold 'em Poker in the Olympics than Equestrian.

Hopefully this doesn't sound wrong, but when there were more tension between the countries (ie russia, china, japan, Germany, etc) the Olympics were better. People took more pride in their sport than they do now. Everybody just seems to like each other, and there are never really any big rivalries anymore. I remember back when beating the Russians was huge and IMPORTANT. It just doesn't have that same competition anymore. LOL....hopefully that came out right.

The USA basketball team is a disgrace! I think everybody brings up great points. YES, i'm pissed that more professionals don't take it serious. All props to Puerto Rico and everybody else, they deserve it. They are hungry, and it is important to them and MEANS something to them. I'm not really gonna waste my time discussing this matter. All I know is when you have a great coach like Larry Brown (who is argueably the best NBA coach at this time), and he cannot bring this team together, then the team is definately flawed. Too bad he wasn't given the chance to pick the team he wanted. I really feel like the team who wins the NBA championship the year of the Olympics, should be the team we take to represent our country.

BMJ

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
You guys are soooooo hard up! Watching a 200m hurdle just so you can get a glimpse of exposed butt cheek.

Mr N, I know you've led a sheltered life, but I should probably let you in on a secret: The 'net is full of porn sites. All the ass shots you could ever dream of.

Just ask IronGod.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The only women I have ever seen naked http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif is my wife (twice when we lawfully procreated) and my daughter when she was a newborn. So for me seeing an exposed butt cheek is an imense thrill. Thanks for the tip about the net but please explain what this "porn" means. Are those pictures of women with no clothes on? http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[Wood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr. Nobody:
The only women I have ever seen naked http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif is my wife (twice when we lawfully procreated) and my daughter when she was a newborn. So for me seeing an exposed butt cheek is an imense thrill. Thanks for the tip about the net but please explain what this "porn" means. Are those pictures of women with no clothes on? http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Okay, I think it is time we tell him about the wonderful world of women's tennis.

I am glad to see that although Phelps is not getting the gold he is still getting the praise. He really is doing incredibly. The comparison to Spitz is not fair. Spitz was a giant - everyone was competing with HIM, he was not competing with anyone. He held the world record in everything he competed in.

Yesterday Phelps competed in the 200 m butterfly - the Olympic record was held by Pieter Van Den Hoogenband and the World record by Thorpe. Thorpe won and set a new OR. For Phelps to win 7 gold against these giants would truly be something legends are made of.

[archive_HULK1550]

For the first time ever im going to watch softball, have you guys seen the usa pitcher?

"Everybody wants to be a body builder but don't nobody want to lift no heavy ass weight"
-Ronnie Coleman

[archive_Ulter]

I saw her strike out Wade Boggs.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

Jenny Finch is one hot softball player. She is really good too and she has struck out a lot of MLB guys. Its so hard to hit a rising softball.

Finch is great yet she isnt even the #1 pitcher on her team, that is still Lisa Fernandez.

I dont think people realize how good the USA softball team is. They are like the Dream Team of '92. They went on a tour and won 70 games in a row. Realistically no one will come close to beating them.

Wood you make a great point. Phelps is racing against other greats. Spitz didnt have that kind of competition.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Mickey]

I was thinking about this swimming even more. If the guys used to be all juiced up then why are swimming records so easy to break?

I would think that the guys of old would have set the bar so high that it would be hard to reach their levels of success. However, swimming records are broken regularly and they dont stand long at all.

Any thoughts on this?

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Ulter]

It seems to me that swimmers wouldn't benefit from AS like other athletes. They need to be shaped more like, well, a fish. And too much mass means more to carry through the water.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

I just wanted to add that Iverson lead the team in scoring today (in another pathetic team effort) with a broken thumb on his shooting hand. If you have ever shot a basketball you know that you need your thumb to shoot and dribble.

He has also played with a broken hand before and other broken fingers. This isnt the first time he has played with that thumb broken either.

LeBron James said "Iverson never complains. Its exciting to see a guy who can push through the way he did."

You would think some of this would rub off on the other guys but I guess not. Their attitudes really amaze me. Iverson bashes them and talks about how they need to play hard and not have their own agendas yet they still play like they could care less.



How about the US men upsetting the Austrailians in that swimming relay race!! Go USA!

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_HULK1550]

if you lived anywhere around philly all you would hear is what a whinning fukin cry baby iverson is.

"Everybody wants to be a body builder but don't nobody want to lift no heavy ass weight"
-Ronnie Coleman

[archive_Bjaarki]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> If the guys used to be all juiced up then why are swimming records so easy to break? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

First of all, who says modern Olympians don't use gear? I've gotten so cynical that I pretty much assume that very high level competitors in nearly all sports use performance-enhancing drugs of various sorts. I have this argument with IronGod all the time, and I always tell him: "After all, if YOU thought of using gear to advance your athletic goals, why the hell wouldn't THEY?"

But I never said it was the guys who were on gear, bro. At least that wasn't the East German plan. It was the GDR girls who were on gear. Oral-Turinabol, a d-bol clone, to be exact, produced by the GDR labs of JenaPharm. This is all well-documented. See "Faust's Gold: Inside the East German Doping Machine" by Steven Ungerleider, among many other well-publicized and credible sources. I'm old enough to remember these huge Heidis and Gretas with shoulders out to here, with deep voices and hair on their chins. You would not want one of these babes mad at you. They were the main reason that, before everyone got hip to what the GDR was doing, they began to test the chromosomes of these chicks to make sure they were, in fact, girls and not men. Remember all those cheek-scrapings they used to do, and they all came back negative? They were girls, all right.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It seems to me that swimmers wouldn't benefit from AS like other athletes. They need to be shaped more like, well, a fish. And too much mass means more to carry through the water. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's a good point. Looking at the physiques of the male swimmers at Athens, you are not impressed by the muscularity of their upper bodies. Shoulders, traps ... even pecs and, to some extent, lats, are not well developed. You look at the track and field guys and half of them, at least, look like they're on test/tren/EQ. Every damn one of the gymnasts look like gearheads, with the characteristic thick upper bodies and slender hips/legs that testosterone tends to engender. By contrast, the swimmers look wide but not thick, and surprisingly soft. You never see any veins or striations in these guys, though their midsections and legs (and I would assume their pecs and lats) must be strong as hell.

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

I am Greek 100 %

I can trace my lineage back directly 3000 years on both sides

my culture is 5000 years old

yes I LOVE the olympics http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[archive_Bjaarki]

I thought the shot-put event from the ancient Olympic stadium was very moving. What must it have been like, to be competing there? I hope those who had that once-in-a-millenium chance to compete there were able to pause for a moment, and feel that incredible sense of history flowing up from the ground and through their veins. But I'm an incurable romantic. All the focus seemed to have been on repeated fouls and the medal count. That shit is here today and gone tomorrow, while the athletic tradition is, as OMEGA reminds us, thousands of years old.

Gave me goosebumps.

Now, if we could just get them to hold the women's beach volleyball venue there, under the original conditions (in the nude) ..... http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

MMMMmmmmmmmm ...............

indeed

I found the opeing cermonies moving

it reminds us of how we are all linked together

[Wood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
I've gotten so cynical that I pretty much assume that very high level competitors in nearly all sports use performance-enhancing drugs of various sorts. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have seen posts from guys doing marathons (skinny emaciated holocost looking wraiths) who want to know what gear to use.

[Wood]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
that it was a bit weird that swimming is such a "medal-rich" sport. You have separate medal competitions for each stroke (back, breast, FS and butterfly) and for various distances at each stroke, as well as the medleys. Really gives an advantage to swimmers in bringing home the heavy metal. It's like letting say, a sprinter, run for a medal forward for 100m, then a different medal if he skips, then a different one if he runs backward, then a different one if he waltzes around the track or something, and still a different one if he runs/skips/backsteps/waltzes in the same race, and then he gets to do the same thing all over at 200m.
.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

B, I can't tell you how many times I have found myself chuckling over this idea. I had never thought of it before, but in what has been just another typical "unfunny" week - this has provided me much mirth.

[archive_Mickey]

I thought I would post this just as an FYI.

From ESPN chat today with Chad Ford, their lead basketball guy:

Q: Tim (Philly): Now the whole world will see why Philly loves Allen Iverson. Do you feel that his play in these summer games will change the way the media and some haters feel about the guy?

A: Chad Ford: I hope so. I think Iverson has been misunderstood. Yes, he's had his share of problems off the court and off the practice court, but Iverson is a warrior. He cares. He plays hard every night. He plays through pain as well as any NBA player I've ever seen. He stepped up to represent the US when so many of the top players wouldn't. I think he's great, and hopefully, those following the games will get a taste of what he's really about.

I think Chad's biggest point was that Iverson cares. A lot of people interpret his look and some of his actions as not caring or as a whiner as someone else said. This isnt the least bit true.


How about LeBron stepping up the last 2 games? I thought that he would do good because he is a great passer but he looked timid the first few games. I guess Larry Brown raged on him some so he decided to play hard and show how good he can be. Carmelo Anthony, Jefferson and Wade are in LB's doghouse.

Anyone else see that a lot of weightlifters failed their drug tests? None of the articles that I saw said what the drugs were. An entire team was almost suspended (I forget what country).

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[Wood]

Mickey I am opening myself to what you say...I am trying to feel ya.

but I think of Kerry Shrugg (***) vaulting on her broken foot for the USA Olympic gymnastic team at the last Olympics. heck I just think of all the people I have known who have : shook sacks of mail all week long with compression factures of the spine, won Karate tournaments with broken arms, worked in various occupations (janitors,farmers, mechanics, etc) when they had various fractures, torn tendons and ruptured discs. Playing ball with a broken thumb, while not what I would call heroic is at least not wimping out, but hey its his job.

I am trying to feel ya about Iverson but so far I am not seeing anything truly heroic or impressive.

(***) I may be mispelling Kerry Shrugg...maybe it was Scrugg or something completely different. Its like my mistake with Stoudemires name...I think I was thinking of Todd Stottlemyer who was a good pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks for years.

[archive_Mickey]

The Haters Can't Handle the Truth
By Jason Whitlock
Special to Page 2

I must've missed the memo -- the memo that went out to the red-blooded American sports public and explains exactly when it became OK to throw patriotism out the window and openly root against a U.S. Olympic team.


Yeah, I didn't get that memo. I'm wondering what was in it. Did it mention Allen Iverson by name? Did it have stipulations about the number of tattoos acceptable on an Olympian? Was there a cornrows clause? Or was the memo just straight and to the point?



What's the real reason why so many people are rooting against Iverson and co.?
Americans do not have to support a group of black American millionaires in any endeavor. Despite the hypocritical, rabid patriotism displayed immediately after 9/11, it's perfectly suitable for Americans to despise Team USA Basketball, Allen Iverson and all the other tattooed NBA players representing our country. Yes, these athletes are no more spoiled, whiny and rich than the golfers who fearlessly represent us in the Ryder Cup, but at least Tiger Woods has the good sense not to wear cornrows.


The memo must've read something like that. That's the only explanation for the near-universal hatred of our Olympic basketball team. Oh, you can hide behind a bunch of other excuses. You don't like the NBA style of play (which I don't). You're rooting for the underdogs. Shaq and Kidd and K.G. declined an invitation. The selection committee picked the wrong team.


There are a million excuses, some of which might legitimize a teeny bit of hostility toward USA Basketball. But there's no reasonable justification for the out-and-out hatred of Larry Brown's squad. There's no reasonable justification for the sheer delight that many red-blooded, patriotic Americans are taking from the USA's struggles.


In a poll on Page 2's Daily Quickie on Monday, 54.1 percent of the approximately 20,000 respondents said they wanted to see the USA team lose, and another 19.9 percent said they "kind of" would like to see it lose. I've sat on my radio show the past two weeks and listened to alleged patriot after patriot bitch about and shred Team USA and openly admit they want the team to lose. One guy, who identified himself as a former member of the American military, said he hates Team USA because the team doesn't "represent the America he fell in love with." I asked him to describe the America he fell in love with, and he said, "it was a country you could walk the streets without worrying about being mugged."


So there once was a time when a man or woman could walk the streets without worrying about a wild gang of NBA players whacking them over the head with a bottle and taking their wallet or purse? That must've been a glorious time, because you can hardly go anywhere these days without looking over your shoulder wondering whether Tim Duncan or Stephon Marbury is stalking you. I know it's dangerous to make too much of the sentiments expressed by talk-radio callers. But they speak for somebody. Monday evening I wore my Team USA jersey to the Rams-Chiefs game. As I walked to the stadium, people laughed at me and my jersey and several people made disparaging comments about our basketball team.


If this team doesn't win the gold medal (they beat Spain Thursday to advance to the semifinals), I half expect Americans to spit on Iverson, Duncan, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony at the airport. We haven't fielded a team this unpopular at home since Johnson and Nixon sent Team USA into Vietnam.


This is ridiculous, and it hints at a much larger issue.
Someone call Johnnie Cochran and have him send over "The Card" -- the race one.



This team is being discussed unfairly in the media and being treated unfairly by American sports fans. There's a lot of convenient denial going on. No one wants to deal with the truth because they're having too much fun blasting a bunch of black millionaires for being lazy, unpatriotic and stupid. With the exception of adding the word "millionaires," this is a very familiar tune.


It's just more denial. The truth -- and what needs to be discussed -- is that African-American basketball players no longer have a lock on the game. The rest of the world has caught up, at warp speed. The game has been exported and redefined in superior fashion.



Europeans like Dirk Nowitzki are playing a new brand of basketball -- very successfully.
Go ask the folks up in Canada what the Soviets did to the game of hockey. Don Cherry can tell you all about the Red Army team whipping Canadian and NHL fanny on bigger rinks with faster, more creative skaters. It was 1972, and Team Canada -- the best Canadian-born NHL players formed into a Dream Team -- took on the Soviet Union team, which had pretty much dominated international play since 1954. It was called the Summit Series -- eight games between the world's two hockey powers.


The Soviets won the first game 7-3 and led the series 3-1-1 before the Canadians rallied to win the last three games -- all by one goal -- to win the series. Paul Henderson scored a goal with 34 seconds to play in Game 8, or the series would've ended in a tie. One of the reasons Team Canada eventually prevailed is that the bigger, stronger Canadians began to resort to cheap shots and thuggery on the ice. Several Canadian players later admitted they were embarrassed by what they had to do to sneak past the quicker Soviets. A Canadian newspaperman had to eat his entire newspaper because he'd promised to do it if Phil Esposito, Stan Mikita, Ken Dryden and Co. lost a single game in the series.


Canadians invented hockey in the late 1800s, and once dominated it the way African-Americans dominate basketball. Eastern Europeans reinvented the game and made up nearly 70 years of hockey experience on the Canadians in just two decades.


Sound anything like what we're witnessing on the basketball court?


Eastern Europeans introduced finesse, speed and creative passing to hockey. No longer could you just dump the puck into the zone and maul the guy in the corner. You had to play the game. The Canadians weren't stupid and lazy. They were just slow to adjust to a new, superior brand of hockey.


"Back then, we thought our way was the only way to play hockey; and we found out it wasn't," American Ken Morrow, one of the heroes on the 1980 Miracle on Ice Olympic team, told me Wednesday. "The NBA is kind of going through that right now. Hockey went through it in the 1970s and '80s. The NBA should look at what we went through and learn from it."


Morrow, the current director of pro scouting for the New York Islanders, played 10 years in the NHL. He vividly remembers the 1972 Summit Series.


"You talk to people in Canada, and they'll tell you the Summit Series was like a national emergency," Morrow said. "It really shook the heart and soul of the Canadians."


The similarities between hockey and basketball and the impact that international play is having on the games is indisputable. The high rounds of the NHL draft now favor European players. The NHL in the 1970s celebrated the Philadelphia Flyers' Broad Street Bullies approach, which included beating people up. The game was played at a slow, boring, defensive pace. Does that sound anything like today's NBA?


"The skill portion of the game [hockey] is viewed as being superior by the Europeans," Morrow said. "But when it comes to character and heart and competing, it's still the Canadians and the American players. Just look at the top scorers in the NHL the last few years -- seven or eight out of 10 are European."


Doesn't that sound like Dirk Nowitzki vs. Ben Wallace?


The international style of basketball play is superior to the American game, particularly the NBA game. The wide lane, shorter 3-pointer and prevalence of zone defenses limit the effectiveness of the NBA's two-man game. You can't have three guys stand on one side of the court and talk to Spike Lee while your two best players go two-on-two on the other side. It's boring, and it doesn't work in international play.


It's also foolish and arrogant to believe that we can throw a team together that can take on the world in two or three weeks. We can't do it. Even if we had Shaq and Kidd and K.G., our team would need time to prepare. We obviously need role players.
Would Michael Phelps have been this excited about the Olympics if he was making millions as a professional swimmer?
What bothers me most are the charges that Iverson and Co. aren't trying and don't care. First and foremost, they do care and they are trying. They're competitors. They know what's at stake. They don't want to be ripped at home.


But do they care about the Olympics the way Michael Phelps does? No. And we shouldn't expect them to. American basketball players don't spend their childhoods dreaming about playing in the Olympics. Their goal is the NBA. For swimmers and track athletes and gymnasts, on the other hand, the Olympics is the pinnacle.

If there was a professional swimming league that would make Phelps filthy rich, I guarantee he'd dream of making that league more than he dreamt of making the Olympic team. Phelps might even turn down a spot on the Olympic team, if it interfered with his professional swimming offseason.
Once every four years, Phelps and Carly Patterson and Justin Gatlin get an opportunity to strike it rich. They go all out. Don't romanticize it. They're chasing money -- endorsement opportunities -- just like the NBA players. Phelps, Patterson and Gatlin might be more cooperative and gracious with the media during the Olympics because they only have to deal with us once every four years. We don't know how they'd react if they were forced to talk to us every day almost year round.

The criticism of USA Basketball is borderline racist, is definitely unsophisticated and exposes a lot of super patriots as hypocrites. Allen Iverson is wearing our jersey -- our red, white and blue -- and playing the game the way we taught him to play it.


We owe Iverson support when he's representing us abroad. Save the hatred for when he's back home skipping Sixers practices and boring us to death playing a two-man game with Glenn Robinson.

-----------------------------------------------

When I read this today I thought of this thread here. He makes some very good points to which I agree and especially the one in the beginning about golfers being just as whiny as bball players.

That makes me think of a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to sports: why tennis players and golfers insist on it having to be silent for them to hit a ball. Why can basketball, baseball, hockey and football players accomplish athletic feats that require just as much skill (and I think more)in their sports with thousands of fans screaming at them all of the time yet the golfers and tennis players can not?

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Bjaarki]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> That makes me think of a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to sports: why tennis players and golfers insist on it having to be silent for them to hit a ball. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's because their sport (tennis is a sport, but golf is about as much a sport as delivering the mail) derives from a cultural elite that thinks everyone in the world should shut up for them while they do their business.

But on your original question, I love the Olympics a lot more today than I did yesterday.

The skimpy bikinis on those Beach Volleyball chicks have certainly "raised my ratings," but I think I've fallen hopelessly in love with Guo Jinging .....

[therealj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki

(tennis is a sport, but golf is about as much a sport as delivering the mail) derives from a cultural elite that thinks everyone in the world should shut up for them while they do their business.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe you can explain to me why the greatest athletes in the world all turn to golf. When Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, John Elway and Roger Clemens are playing golf together it must be an exercise in elitist behavior, and probably has nothing to do with the fact that to a man they all find golf to be the most challenging sport they've ever played. I could possibly accept your social views of the sport if this were 1934. I work in the golf industry 5 days a week and have done so for the last 6 years of my life and feel a little more in touch with the current face of golf than you. It's odd that someone with your intelligence would make stereotypical comments towards both the sport and the people that play it....on a side note someone with platinum status at elite should go search for my argument from the 2000 Olympics in the chat board, where I predicted exactly what happened to the US basketball team

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[archive_Bjaarki]

Please, J! Please don't do this to me. It's like offering the dangerous potion to Dr. Jekyl, to ask me about golf. We've had exactly this discussion before, where you made the same argument. It's cruel, is all. You know I can't stay rational about this thing, so I must deduce that you're discovering a sadistic streak in yourself and want to torture an irrational, grizzled old man, or maybe things are just too damned boring up there in the Frozen North.

PLEASE???? I'd much much MUCH rather talk about Guo Jingjing .....

Well, I'm just getting my BP down again after some tangles the past few days, so if you insist:

These admittedly great athletes are not playing golf because they think it's the most challenging game in the world. Do you really think Roger Clemens thinks a round a golf is more challenging than putting a 98mph fastball so close to an opposing slugger's chin that it bags him a called strike and scared hitter? I don't think so. I'm sure it's not easy to put the little egg in the hole, but it's not easy to do a lot of things that require aiming things. Billiards comes to mind. Darts. Maybe bowling, though I bet that requires a lot more muscle than golf.

I would imagine that all these great athletes play golf because (a) they're rich, and (b) they have a lot of free time on their hands. Isn't that pretty much all that's required? Money and free time. I can't think of a single poor person who golfs, can you? No, the po' folk just groom the fairways for the rich white folk and then go play a real sport, soccer or hoops, in the evening. Golf is just too resource intensive. I crack up when I hear Arizonans bitch about water crises while they're laying out the plans for a new 18-hole course.

But I don't want to get into that again, damnit. I told you a million years ago that this subject just keys right in to some old social class resentments of mine left over from the '60's, and I've always admitted I hold this stereotype of the golfer as a fat fuck with a cigar in one hand and a beer in the other who, when the Doc tells him he's obese and should drop 50lbs, rejoins that he gets plenty of exercise. He's an athlete. He golfs. I drive right past these potatoes everyday on the University course on the way to my office. If I could see a single one of them ever do so much as one pull-up, I'd die. Just die. So, yeah, that's my stereotype about golfers, and by my count it fits about 95% of them.

But I don't hold stereotypical attitudes toward the sport of golf. Golf's a game, not a sport. If golfers are sportsmen, much less athletes, so's my mailman, because they do pretty much the same thing - drive around a lot, walk around a little, and put small things in small holes.

Now ... can we talk about those really hot Chinese divers, and maybe that Romanian gymnast Katalina something-or-other?

[therealj]

I can tell you as a former captain of my high school volleyball, football and basketball team and someone who has played football post high school golf is the hardest game I've played. I don't even want to get started on out of shape athletes in baseball and football. To call an offensive lineman who is 125lbs overweight and runs a 5.5 40 an athlete, because he wears shoulder pads and drops back 5 yards when his QB is throwing or presses forward 5 yards when his RB is running is absurd. And to call David Wells and athlete because he can contort his fat ass and release a baseball at high speeds and do no more, an athlete is equally absurd. Now if I'm a DH and my one required skill is to stand at home plate and try and make contact with that pitch do I then become an athlete, and what exactly have I done to deserve the status of athlete? Made contact with a ball or managed to trot 90 feet once I've made contact. My 6yr old daughter can do that and the last time I played softball I'm pretty sure I saw overweight drunk people do the same, are they athletes. On a sidenote I made about $30k last year living alone supporting myself and paying child support and I somehow manage to golf...who knew

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor



The question – or declaration – pops up every now and then, and it never fails to irritate me, more so than most pompous statements that irritate me.

"Golf isn’t a sport."

For those slightly less golf-phobic, it’s sometimes framed as a question: "Is golf really a sport?"

The question should be: Which sport is the most difficult?

The answer: golf.

The question usually comes from a sportswriter who has athletically cultural blinders on, which limit his field of vision to three things and three things only: baseball, football and basketball. I’ve worked in many sports departments. I know the type.




They spend most of their working hours honing their fantasy league team in one of the three major sports, at the expense of whatever newspaper is overpaying them. They spend most of their off-hours watching ESPN Alternate reruns of the 1987 regular season matchup between Southwest Louisiana and Florida A&M.

Sometimes, it comes from regular Joes who have never been to a driving range or putt-putt course. I heard it again just the other day from such a person.

The problem with the question is one of presumption. Those who question whether golf is a real sport presume that a sport requires only the physical abilities of one who plays one of the three majors.

Run, jump, bust heads.

It depends on how you define a sport. If you define a sport as only running fast, jumping high and butting heads, then no, golf isn’t a sport, unless you’re talking about Tiger Woods’ caddie.

But, if you believe a sport requires eye-hand coordination, intense focus, stamina and a cut-throat sense of competition, you cannot help but call golf a sport.

The hardest of them. If it isn’t difficult, then why do so many, even the pros, have such a devil of a time hitting a ball straight that isn’t moving? The last time I looked, golf doesn’t throw high and tight sliders at you.

There are countless ways of striking a golf ball, even with the pros. The trick is to find the most effective swing and repeat it over and over. That takes unbelievable mental discipline, a symbiotic waltz between brain and muscle.

That’s where the stamina part comes into play. Golf is much more physical than, say, softball or bowling, and you never hear those sports’ legitimacy being questioned. Or at least you hear them questioned less often.

Still, you don’t have to be superbly conditioned to excel at golf, though it helps. But you do have to have a ton of mental discipline to be good at it.

Think of it: you see more tantrums in golf than any other sport, and it usually involves the breakdown of the mental process.

The question brings up the idea of what makes an athlete. You used to hear the same sort of drivel about Larry Bird not being a true athlete, when measured against Michael Jordan, Julius Erving and the like.

Bird was not only an athlete, but one of the best, maybe the best ever in basketball. He couldn’t sky with Jordan or Erving, but he had court vision that was unequaled, except maybe by Magic Johnson.

Though he wasn’t particularly fast or high-jumping, he had quick hands, feet and eyes. And ,of course, he wanted to win more than most anybody who ever played.

There are golfers like that. Vijay Singh has a quiet intensity to go with his remarkable talent. Ernie Els has more pure talent than anyone on tour with the possible exception of Tiger Woods. And, of course, Woods has toned down those derisive descriptions of golf as a leisure activity dominated by fat, middle-aged white guys.

Hitting a golf ball straight and true is a science and an art. Just because there are more people out there willing to show you how to do it for a fat fee, more so than any other sport, doesn’t make it any easier.

I played all three major sports growing up; they all came naturally to me. I tried golf at about the same age; it did not come naturally to me.

Does that mean it isn’t a sport, because it doesn’t come naturally to most people. No, it just means it’s a sport that’s a little more subtle and complicated – and a hell of a lot harder.

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[archive_Ulter]

How to win friends and influence people.
by Bjaarki

Southerners, Canadians, Golfers, who's next? You're on a roll.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[Wood]

Can you believe the Olympic committe is asking Hamm to give his gold medal to Korea?

[therealj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wood:
Can you believe the Olympic committe is asking Hamm to give his gold medal to Korea?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm having a hardtime understanding why'd he keep a medal he shouldn't have won...correct me if I'm wrong.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Yang, the bronze medalist, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his parallel bars routine. If he had received the proper score, he would have won gold and Hamm would have won silver. Three judges were suspended, and FIG said the results would stand.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If this is indeed the case how can he wear the gold and actually believe in his heart he earned it...I would never want to win on a technicality

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[This message was edited by therealj on 08-28-04 at 01:47 AM.]

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I can't think of a single poor person who golfs, can you? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You dont have to be rich to play golf B.

My dad is 53, and doesnt really have any money. He has a job with the county govt (you know what that means in NJ) and he paid to put his 2 kids through private school their whole lives and college, so you also know what that means......he doesnt have any money.

He pays $2000 a year to have a twilight membership (play after 1 pm) at a course that is right down the street from his house and is one of the best in NJ (actually its two courses, Blue Heron Pines if you have heard of it). He literally plays at least 5 times a week. He also got into the hobby of making clubs and makes knock-offs that are the same as the $500 clubs but 1/4 of the price.

He is a 2 handicapp and kicks all the young guys butts.

You dont have to be rich to play golf. There are ways that you can play a lot without footing a $150 green fee every time you go out. He goes to work at 7 am so he can get off at 3 pm and play golf until 7 pm.


However, I will say that golf is a game of skill but its not a sport in which you have to be athletic by any means, which I think is a reqirement for something to be a true "sport". It basically requires a lot of practice do develop certain skills and I would agree that I would compare it more to something like table tennis, a game that takes lots of skill and practice, but not much athletic ability. I think MJ plays because its a challenge for him because it requires a lot of skill, he is by no means using his athletic ability to play that game though. Think about that.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Bjaarki]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I can tell you as a former captain of my high school volleyball, football and basketball team and someone who has played football post high school golf is the hardest game I've played. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hardest game? GAME, J? Not SPORT? You're learning, J!

J, chill, bro. There are two things about which I have always razzed you, but in a good-natured way. Being a golfer and being Canadian. It's just a type of play, like how my training partners razz me on my skinny calves, glasses and popped out delts, and how other guys razz me on being an elitist academic. I enjoy play like that - it's immature, but who cares? - but I'll stop if you want. You know, or at least you should know, that you're one of the guys I most like here.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Southerners, Canadians, Golfers, who's next? You're on a roll. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, first of all, a lot of guys chimed in on the Southern thing, including you, I think because of pent-up anger about how GWB and his Dixie Clique have screwed us. And I've heard a lot of jibes, both ways, between Americans and Canadians, including a few from you. That is all good-natured, though the Southern thing seems dead-serious.

But ... who's next, Ulter? Anabolic discussion board mods, probably. At least those who'll say out of one side of their mouth how they think they have no right to tell anyone how to live and then, from the other side of their mouth, go on to do just that. Those who never take a knock themselves because everyone is in awe of them, but who think they can throw out gratuitous insults at members by name and won't take feedback on it, won't withdraw them. It's the gratuitous part that bugs me. The uncalled-for part that isn't good-natured kidding, but contains words that wound. I know, use, and understand the nuance of words, and the motivations behind their use, very well. Better than anyone here, I bet. That's what I'm trained to do. Words are THINGS, man. They are as material as daggers. So, yeah, anabolic discussion board mods like that are probably next.

On the Paul Hamm thing, last I heard the Chinese gymnast was unfairly graded down 1/10 of a point on the difficulty of his routine (which would have given him the gold if the mistake had not been made), but was unfairly graded up 2/10 of a point because he used an illegal fourth "hold," instead of the three that are permitted. I don't know where that all comes out, but I think it's unfair to lay the incompetency of the gymnastics federation at this kid's feet.

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ulter:
How to win friends and influence people.
by Bjaarki

Southerners, Canadians, Golfers, who's next? You're on a roll.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How about a Canadian, who moved to Florida and turned into a golfing redneck. He owns a chicken plant in Alabama, a hog farm in Kentucky and regularly donates lots of money to the republican party and the church which he faithfully attends 3 times a week.....you might see him in NYC pretty soon, lol

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

If you want to razz Ulter, ask him what happened at the Arnold's last year, lol? Ulter, how many emails are you still getting about this, lol......o.k., I appologize beforehand....

PS: This goes with the excepted theory of "if you tell a lie often enough it becomes accepted as truth".......

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[therealj]

B,

I know you like me and at one time I liked you too http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif .. In all seriousness I don't mind the little jabs here and there, and I especially don't mind them when they are directed at me. When I stumble across little jabs against not so much the game but the people that play it I feel almost like someone who walked in the room to discover people are talking about them. Golf is how I make a living and a passion of mine, so forgive me for be so defensive. Again you can dislike the "game" all you want, but please don't lump me with the 50yr old fat fuck smoking the stogie. I'm the one behind him wearing a skin tight shirt carrying my own bag while sipping on a powerade waiting to bomb another ball 320 yards. As far as the Hamm controversy, I wasn't sure of all the facts...if the Korean received marks he shouldn't have then fuck him...he can enjoy his bronze

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[archive_Bjaarki]

Got you covered there, J. I'll lay off the jabs. And I don't lump you in with the fat fucks with stogies. Remember, I've seen plenty of your pics. Roosevelt Greer used to like to do needlepoint, but I never put him in the same category as my grandmother .....

On the original question here, I was in awe watching the 4x400 relay last night. But that wasn't an Olympic record, much less a WR? How could that be? The US took gold by almost 5 seconds. Incredible.

The NY Times this morning has an article about how, in Track and Field and the strength events, WR's just aren't falling like they should. They are in swimming, but not in other events. Is steroid testing that coercive? I should also say that, while I've fallen head-over-heels for Guo Jingjing and a foxy Romanian gymnast named Katalina Whatever, I've not been impressed by the physiques of the male athletes I've seen. The sprinters look buffed and strong as hell, like gearhead bodybuilders, pretty much, but otherwise I guess I was expecting to see veins and rippling striations all over the place in all the venues, and everyone (with a few exceptions) look smooth and fairly small. Nobody seems to have any traps. Even the 185lb-class wrestler, Cael something-or-other, did not look impressive. Is that just lighting? Something with the camera effects? Have my standards morphed that much? Or is it just that the athletes are not, in fact, using gear and ergoenics after all, as I've always assumed they would be, despite the testing programs?

Question behind this, maybe meant for another thread, is: Just how prevalent is performance-enhancing drug use in major competitive athletics now?

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

[archive_Ulter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Got you covered there, J. I'll lay off the jabs. And I don't lump you in with the fat fucks with stogies <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
You know I never thought about it until now when I read that, why do people make light of golfers. I agree it's a game not a sport because you don't play against anyone* and physical conditioning doesn't set one player apart from another. But there are lots of people who play games, and some for a living, and no one makes fun of them. Billiards jumps to mind. I have never heard anyone belittling a 9 ball champion. In fact lots men I know envy other men who are able to play billiards well. I do. Who doesn't like to watch someone make trick shots with a cue stick and balls or clear the table off the break? Unless of course you’re opposing him/her.

*J made the point that Wells, and many pitchers in baseball are not in shape. That's true but they play against someone. If that fat out of shape pitcher doesn't throw the ball past the batter he's playing against he won't have a job.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The NY Times this morning has an article about how, in Track and Field and the strength events, WR's just aren't falling like they should.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I read that article yesterday B and it also got me thinking.

It was interesting how all of the records that they mentioned were in the late '80's.

I watched Rulon Gardner (sp?) wrestle his first match and the guy from Poland that he was wrestling had some pretty big traps and shoulders on him and it made me do a double take.

As for the track guys I think people get too suspicious about them because they appear to be so lean and muscular. I have two very good friends who ran track in college and are brothers. They both used to look big and ripped when they were training yet I know they never even went as far as taking creatine. The guys that run sprints are studs, natural freaks to begin with. When they add in THG to make them .03 faster, it doesnt make them look much different. Tim Montgomery looks exactly the same as he did when he was on now that he's off, except he's slower. I know a lot of people who look like Maurice Green or Crawford but they have never touched anything but weights. Some people are just exceptional athletes.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Bjaarki]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> You know I never thought about it until now when I read that, why do people make light of golfers ... there are lots of people who play games, and some for a living, and no one makes fun of them. Billiards jumps to mind. I have never heard anyone belittling a 9 ball champion. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Goddamnit! Here I go again, so please turn away from the computer, J.

The difference between a golfer and a 9 ball champion is that the former considers himself an athlete, while the latter doesn't. The former's exploits will be reported in the sports section of the paper and the 6:00 news along with the people who truly are strong and fast, while the 9 ball guy will get a human interest story at best. I never make fun of dart throwers (better not!) or pool players, but I do make fun of golfers. It's for a lot of reasons, really, but in part it's because they consider themselves athletes playing a sport, which I think is totally bogus.

Part of it, for me, is also the elitism, the priveleged part of it. When I was a boy, maybe 11 years old, I was walking home from school along a road that divided a golf course, the Montecito Country Club near Santa Barbara. Rich bastards, all. Well, as I was walking along, I guess this guy must have tee'd off or something, because this TopFlite comes hurtling out of nowhere and hit me right on my right wrist. SMACK! It crushed something in there. My right wrist has always bugged me ever since. A few years ago I aggravated it catching fastballs my son was throwing, so now I still tape it up when I lift.

The motherfucker saw the ball hit me. An 11-year-old kid. He came driving his little golfcart up to me and jumped out, a look of concern on his face. I can still see the flab jiggling under the waist of his Izod as he hustled up to me. And do you know what he wanted to know? He wanted to know where his ball was. "Where's the ball kid? You okay? Where's the ball." He didn't give a shit how I'd been injured, because I was from a different social class, his kids didn't walk to and from school. So I hurled that fucking little egg of his as far into the trees as I could (I'm a leftie, thank God!), and told him I had no idea where his ball was, which was quite true, then.

So I make fun of golfers because of their misbegotten idea that their (for the most part) pathetic physiques are the physiques of athletes. I make fun of them for social class reasons, and for that fat motherfucker who had not the tiniest tad of decency in his heart to be concerned about a child he'd just injured with his silly game. But I will not make fun of J again, ever! At least not for a week or two. The man is an athlete (but golfing didn't make him so).

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I agree it's a game not a sport because you don't play against anyone* <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't think competitiveness per se makes something a sport. I'm not exactly sure what a "sport" really is, what defines it, but having a competitive aspect to it is certainly not one. People run for pleasure all the time. Very few of them ever compete at it. They just run. Running is a sport, even as they do it, in my mind at least.

Probably the greatest living athlete is a woman you've never heard of, and while she competes occasionally at her sport, its only within the past couple of years that she's done so, long after her rep as a fabulous athlete was established. Competition is just not a main thing to her, so that can't be what makes her an athlete, or what she does, a sport.

Read: Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World by Lynn Hill. The strength, stamina and conditioning of free climbers is nothing short of astonishing. Not a man or woman here could even attempt to do what she could do without a second thought. You wouldn't want to try. If we fail under the bar, we "get buried." If she fails, she really GETS BURIED.

That's a sport, alright. And 99.9% of the people involved in it do it just for fun.

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

[archive_Ulter]

I don't think it's fair to dislike them just because they are popular and are covered by ESPN on a daily basis. Nor do I think you can dislike them because one was a dickhead to you. Lots of them were dickheads to me when I was a caddy. But my question was more about golfers as competitors being belittled by so many, 2nd only to NASCAR drivers.
Running is a sport because atheletes compete against other runners, head to head. Simply because some do it for the exercise doesn't take anything away from those who run competitively.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Mickey]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Lots of them were dickheads to me when I was a caddy. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I will second that! I quit after a couple of months, it wasnt worth getting shit on every day.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Bjaarki]

I guess I didn't understand your question, Ulter, about who it is that disses golfers, and under what conditions. I thought your question as phrased was a general one, "You know I never thought about it until now when I read that, why do people make light of golfers." I didn't read is as necessarily having to do with competitive golfers or anything.

You "don't think it's fair to dislike them just because they are popular and are covered by ESPN." Who cares about fair? In the phrase of the brilliant cognitive psychologist Robert Zajonc, "Preferences need no inferences," shorthand for saying that "preferences" (liking/disliking) are usually not based on any cognitive process at all. They just ARE, is all, and you can find traces of emotional liking/disliking for an object long before you can find traces of any higher cortical function, much less an articulated reason. That's how prejudices happen, I've got mine, and in this particular case, I have always said that my feelings about golf are irrational. I'm sure a lot of your feelings, preferences and so forth are not rational, either. Everyone's is. Anyway, do you remember me always saying that my feelings about golf are not rational? I've said it about a million times. Then why knock me because I'm not "fair"? It's pretty annoying that I keep having to issue the same disclaimers over and over, about this and other things, and it's like no one ever notices them. Or maybe they just don't read the "fine print."

But I can dislike anyone I want, for any reason that pleases me. Correct? At the risk of once again offending J (who I really do like and care about), I was explaining to the members here what some of those reasons are for my dislike of golf. I have always said that "class resentment left over from the 60's" is a big reason for me to dislike golfers. Do you remember me using that phrase many times? Now you know where that resentment comes from. And the constant coverage of golf on "sports" channels is another reason for me to dislike golf, fair or not.

You seem to be saying that competing against other athletes is necessary for an activity to constitute a sport. That's ridiculous. Many athletes compete only against themselves. That's probably true of most of us. Other athletes don't compete at all. High-altitude climbers, scuba divers, surfers, etc., etc., are, typically, exceptionally well-conditioned athletes, but they don't compete. They do it "because it's there." You don't compete in BB or PL, do you? So you're not an athlete, you don't participate in a sport? You look to me like you do.

Bjaarki

[therealj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ulter:

Running is a sport because atheletes compete against other runners, head to head. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They are actually running against the clock for the fastest time, in the same manner golfers are competing for the lowest score, not against other golfers per say. This thread makes me want to bang my head against the wall...

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[archive_Ulter]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by therealj:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ulter:

Running is a sport because atheletes compete against other runners, head to head. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They are actually running against the clock for the fastest time, in the same manner golfers are competing for the lowest score, not against other golfers per say. This thread makes me want to bang my head against the wall...

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therealj@anabolicfitness.net
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No J, they are not racing against the clock. The race is timed but they race against each other. In doing so you may beat the clock by setting a record, but you win the medal for beating those in the race.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[archive_Ulter]

Drinking tonight B?
Sorry to step on your civil liberties. Yes you can dislike anyone you want for belonging to a group, even if the group is golfers. I just never thought of you as a bigot. I guess this changes that.

No, I don't consider myself an athlete. I don't think bbing and pling are sports unless you compete against others. I don't compete so for me it's an activity not a sport.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein

[therealj]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ulter:

No J, they are not racing against the clock. The race is timed but they race against each other. In doing so you may beat the clock by setting a record, but you win the medal for beating those in the race.

"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." -Albert Einstein <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

True and granted I was reaching a little....I'm also done with this argument for the simple fact I play golf, I play competitive golf, nobody else on this board as far as I know can say that, and to expect the type of people(see I can stereotype people too) that frequent these boards to understand the athletic skill that is required to play golf at the level I do is clearly impossible
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therealj@anabolicfitness.net

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

My prejudice is against chimpanzees pretending to be presidents of the most powerful country of this earth. Lets correct that one in November.

(That should put a smile on all of us)
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[archive_Bjaarki]

If only he were only pretending to be President, Mr. N. If that were so, we could have him committed or something. But ... the man REALLY IS THE PRESIDENT !!!

Ulter, I'm surprised that you don't consider yourself an athlete, or lifting a sport. I really am. Competition seems to define "sport" and "athletics" for you. It doesn't for me.

Generally I hate these "According to Webster's Dictionary ...." arguments, but I looked up a couple of terms at Dictionary.com and include the results here:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> SPORT:
2. An activity involving physical exertion and skill that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often undertaken competitively.
3. An active pastime; recreation. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

So we're both wrong, Ulter. Sport need not be competitive (it's only "often" competitive), and golf is a sport, at least under Def 3, and even under Def 2 if the guy carries his own golf bags. I will now do my best to repress any memory of my having admitted that golf is a sport and return to my natural state of bigotry http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif. I just hope J isn't listening, or I'll never live this down .....

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>ATHLETE:

A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Again, competition is elective, not required. Even engagement in a sport is elective, since mere engagement in physical exercise will do it.

I personally consider myself an athlete - line me up with 20 guys my age, pick the one who looks athletic and you'll end up with me, the same would be true of you, my friend - and I am about to go meet Richard Gear at the gym to practice my sport.

Bjaarki

... Then, do what you have to do.

[archive_Ulter]

Thanks. I could have looked up the definitions too. But I don't let Webster define everything for me. What I posted is how I feel about it, just that.

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

For me, an athlete is defined as one that makes a living practicing his sport. For me BB is just a hobby, even though I spend a lot of time in my pursuit. You can look athletic without being an athlete....does that make sense? Maybe only in Austria http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[archive_Bjaarki]

Ulter, by your definition of what you do, I think you'd have to call yourself ... an ACTIVIST. I won't stop you, but just make sure it's in a good cause, you DO live in a swing-state, you know.

God damn, Mr N, you are really raising the bar. Not only do you have to compete to be considered an athlete as Ulter would have it, but now you have to make a living at your sport to be considered an athlete? Do you realize that under your rule, Jim Thorpe was not an athlete? Jesse Owens was not an athlete? Babe Diedrikson, Buster Crabbe ... in fact, until they scrapped the amateur-only thing, no Olympian was an athlete? But let's take it further. Why don't we say you have to be an Olympic champion with $10 mill in endorsement deals to be considered an athlete? Everyone else is just a pussy.

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me. To me, athletics is the pursuit of strength, speed, endurance, agility and skill through disciplined training, and anyone who does that can call him- or herself an athlete. I'm glad that's so. It helps guys like me at very low levels of a sport identify with and, thus, take inspiration from fellow athletes at much higher levels than ours. If you compete at your sport, then you're a competitive athlete, and if you make a living at it you're a professional athlete, but those are just levels of greater and greater proficiency at and dedication to your sport, though there are plenty of noncompetitive nonpro athletes out there who are damned proficient and dedicated. So, if you're a lifter with the level of intensity that most of us bring to bear in the gym, you're an athlete by my count ...

... though you can be a hobbyist and Ulter can be an activist if you two really insist. But then I'll want to check out your toy trains and Ulter's political bumper sticker collections .....

You know, it is really discouraging to me that none of you red-blooded American boys want to talk about Guo Jingjing or Katalina whats-her-name. We're supposed to be talking about love and the Olympics, and I have just described the point of their intersection, haven't I?

Bjaarki

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

You are right, I meant "professional athlete". Damn, nothing excapes your eagle eye and razor sharp mind (said in a non sarcastic but admiring manner)

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

I again saw the gold medal winning floor routine of the american gymnist (forgot her name)....and almost felt dirty liking her trim athletic figure with that nice accent of budding feminity

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________

Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.

[archive_Bjaarki]

The young American's name is Carly Patterson, Mr. N.

What do you mean, you "almost felt dirty liking her trim athletic figure with that nice accent of budding feminity." I felt horny as hell watching Katalina whats-her-name from Romania.

Good god! Are all Austrians as prudish as you? YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS, BUT NOT YOUR FANTASIES, bro.

Fantasies are free.

Enjoy them.

And now, for me to enjoy one of mine, let us now turn to the subject of Guo Jingjing .....

[archive_Ulter]

I didn't see either girl compete or I'd throw in my chauvinistic two cents. Like I did when I posted about 13 yr old gymnasts in full makeup.
I saw Carly Patterson for the first time on the MTV awards last night. She's hot.

By your definition though B all the fat, drunk, softball players I knew in Chicago are athletes. And sorry, I can't buy into that.

[archive_Mickey]

Some more Iverson talk for your information http://anabolicfitness.infopop.net/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif



Sunday, August 29, 2004

A.I. gets it right: It's an honor to be here
By Adrian Wojnarowski


ATHENS, Greece -- All those things the public struggles to see beyond -- the tattoos, the cornrows, crooked baseball caps -- could no longer be the excuse for missing out on his finest hour. These Olympic Games were the best of Allen Iverson, a performance people never wanted to believe possible for him. Maybe it was true he was once the unwilling pupil of Larry Brown, but his old 76ers coach should've been studying the lessons Iverson taught on selflessness and accountability in these games.

The most telling moment of all was in the minutes after the United States' loss to Argentina in the semifinals, when the possibility for gold and glory were gone. When the coach stayed on his self-serving course of blaming USA Basketball, his players and the officials, Iverson stayed with his message in these games: It was an honor to represent his country, and his team had an immense obligation to treat the bronze medal game as though it was playing for gold.

When Brown had come to give a concession speech for the Olympics, Iverson delivered a public pep talk to his teammates for the eventual 104-96 victory over Lithuania.

"If you don't get it done the way you expected to," Iverson said, "I think it's important that you get it done the best way you can. It's important that we come out and fight, and get the people proud of us back home."

Nobody conducted himself better, nor behaved like a better representative of this basketball team than he did in the games. Maybe everyone believed Iverson needed to bring back a gold medal to use the Olympics to rehabilitate his image. They were wrong. There was far more virtue in defeat than victory here. America found out much more about Iverson without him winning the gold, than it ever would've with him winning it.

"It's an honor to be named to this team," Iverson said. "It's something that you should cherish for the rest of your life. And honestly, this is something that I will cherish even without winning a gold medal. I feel like a special basketball player to make it to a team like this."

When the United States needed a standup spokesman in these games, it was co-captain Iverson taking the tough questions for as long as people needed him, not co-captain Tim Duncan. He was never afraid to make himself front and center, even when the public unjustly wanted to make him the embodiment for the reasons they didn't like this team, and even rooted against it. They should've been here. They should've watched Iverson play, and listened to him talk, and understood his desire to represent the United States far exceeded his need for self-preservation. He was willing to expose himself to the hits, the way no one else did here.

Iverson was the co-captain of the United States Olympic team and understood the selfish and self-defeating consequences for constantly tearing this team down, the way Brown did, instead of trying to find a way to make this work. Everyone else had done enough analyzing of the flaws in the USA Basketball system, but there was a responsibility the coach and the captains had to deliver direction to this impossibly young team. What good did it do for the players to constantly hear Brown telling the world they didn't have enough time to prepare for the games, except to give those fragile psyches excuses for losing?

"We had to understand from the first day that was the amount of time we had to prepare," Iverson said. "Was it enough of time? I don't know. But we knew we had to get it done in that time.

"And that's not any excuse we could use."
When NBA commissioner David Stern had a chance to talk with reporters in Athens, he had two clear agendas: make sure people understood he loved the way his players handled themselves and make sure he let them know Brown had disappointed him. Brown never stopped doing it, and Iverson never started. Iverson had come to represent the United States, and representing it meant honoring his responsibilities to the end. It didn't mean trying to distance yourself from responsibility and blame, to protect your own legacy and reputation.

"Sometimes the historical ways to motivate a team don't necessarily play out quite as well when you're in an international setting," Stern said. "This was a team that was put together, by everyone, including the coaching staff. So, I don't buy the well, 'I'd like to have this, I'd like to have that.'

"It's not about who didn't come. You take your team to the gym and you play with what you got and then you either win or lose. This whining and this carping is not fair to [those] who are representing their country admirably and well."

On his way home, Iverson started recruiting teammates for 2008. He wants to come back again. He had the time of his life wearing the red, white and blue, and just hopes the United States will give itself its best chance for gold medal in Beijing.

"For as anybody who grew up in the U.S., and was able to be a basketball player in the NBA, you understand the things that your country has done for you and your family," he said. "It gave you an opportunity to be able to support your family and be recognized as a household name. It was just an honor to be able to do something like that, and I would advise anybody selected to a team like this to take that honor and cherish it.

"It shouldn't be a question in your mind. When you get a chance to represent your country, what's better than that?"
Maybe it's time everyone understands that even not winning a gold medal is better than that. And most of all, maybe it's time everyone takes a moment and looks past the cornrows and tattoos and bronze medal -- all the things they swore they never wanted to see on an Olympic basketball player -- and see what they believed they always did: one hell of a proud American.

"Come on, get serious!" Arnold in Pumping Iron

[archive_Mr. Nobody]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="**-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bjaarki:
The young American's name is Carly Patterson, Mr. N.

What do you mean, you "almost felt dirty liking her trim athletic figure with that nice accent of budding feminity." I felt horny as hell watching Katalina whats-her-name from Romania.

Good god! Are all Austrians as prudish as you? YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS, BUT NOT YOUR FANTASIES, bro.

Fantasies are free.

Enjoy them.
.....<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


It gets complicated when you have a 16 year old daughter at home. If I understand right those girls are all about that same age.

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Disclaimer:
Mr. Nobody is presenting fictitious opinions and does in no way, shape or form encourage, use nor condone the use of any illegal substances or the use of legal substances in an illegal manner.
The information discussed is strictly for entertainment purposes only and shall not take the place of qualified medical advice.