I'm a bit embarressed to be an American....

Skating in this olympics has been filled with all kinds of crazy stuff, but did anyone watch the men's free skate tonight? The Russians and American were brilliant, amazing, all medal winners without question.

What I can't believe is the commentary by NBC. I actually listened to them try and justify the gold medal win by Yagudin by saying that it was due to him moving from St. Petersburg to the USA. They called him a Russian American and said that this was the reason he got gold. Really tasteless. I was just glad to see him kiss the ice as a crack at the Canadians.

No offense to the Canadians in any way, you guys have great athletes, but in a subjective sport it's not right to not let the pairs enjoy their gold, let alone their silver. The Russians lost the technical but won the artistry. Combined with the short program it only makes sense that it was a close competition. For the Canadians it must really be heartbreaking to skate the best performance of your life and come in second, but it's a subjective sport and their artistry wasn't the same. Their technique was amazing and the Russians faltered in the triple, but let's not ruin the entire sport. That's the way it is. Sometimes it's in your favor, sometimes it's not.

I've listened to Scott Hamilton call the results of other competitions wrong. The press really shouldn't quote that guy. He was a great skater, but his commentary is tasteless. Granted there seems to be a fishy french judge, but that's just a matter of "being unstable" or something else weird, has nothing to do with the skaters, and shouldn't have been brought to the level where the gold and silver medalists are unable to relish in their amazing victories.

Get rid of the judge if something was wrong, give the Canadians a gold as well, and then sit down and explain to them all how subjective sports work. If they can't take these kinds of results they shouldn't even compete. It happens all the time and will always happen. Lots of other sports deal with this. As an athlete you come back the next time and prove the judges wrong.

We need American commentators that aren't so tasteless and rude. They sat there for 5 mintutes telling the audience how Yagudin was conceding the free skate to Plushenko, when obviously they were wrong. Then Leno comes on with a bunch of rude and "cold war" jokes.

Last but not least, let's keep the cold war attitude out of our living rooms. That's not what I want to hear about for hours on end when I watch the olympics. Stick to the sports and if there's a shitbox judge, kick 'em to the curb and move on.

Whew...rant...sorry....just can't believe I can't watch ice skating without all the bullshit.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

I was just ranting. I was rooting for both the Russians and Americans tonight, and in the pairs the Russians and Canadians, but in one way or the other the commentators seem to ruin it. A hundred million people are watching the olympics on NBC in the USA and they need to get their act together imop.

For all you Canadians out there I bet you'd be overjoyed to hear that the ice skating commentary including a reference to the Canadian victory being a victory for North America, not Canada..., North America. That really upset a Canadian friend, and made me wonder what the hell is going on with these guys...

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

well you have to remember, we'll pay a guy hundreds of millions of dollars to shoot/hit/kick a ball. but pay the people that risk their lives to protect us just above minimum wage. let's make a salary cap for pro sports players at say 50k-100k and see how many play it for "the love of the game."

[insert philosophical statement here]

What happened in the Ballett??

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

Matisaro is on target with that comment. I totally agree. If we are as a global community to one day become "united", will a "nationally" oriented enterprise as these olympics still have their place?
All this "Patriotism" seems to go against the whole idea of a true "united nations". Canada is as bad as the rest in that regard!
Put a cap on professional sports salaries and, yes, you will most defenatly see the better players step forward. A different bread of players will step forward. Perhaps not those with only $$$$$ in their eyes, but those who understand they are there to entertain.
At that point professinal sports will no longer be about winning at all "costs-$$$", and will become something altogether different and productive for society.
Danny

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

Well they gave them the gold medals.
Whupteedo.

The only true and fair thing to do would be to replace all the judges and have all the skaters repeat the competition.





<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <b>(·Y·)</b>

When a Canadian athlete wins a medal it's a victory for Canada not America.

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.

Whoa, no way, I got to read up on that story at cnn.com.

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

OMG!
did u see the auzzie that won the speed skating?
how freaky was that????



Overclocked athlon 1200C @ 8.5 x 166FSB + PC2700 = GOOD!

I read up on the whole situation, and giving gold to the canadians as well was retarded. Not that they didnt deserve it or anything( I dont know, I didnt see the show) But giving 2 gold medals just sounds like some kind of low brow sitcom solution.



"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

Well I hope that French judges fur coat was synthetic! Anyone see that little piece of news cast where we could se that women ? Man her nose was so high up, there should have been a red tower light on it!

"...the thought of them being little green men sticking sticks up our butts is just ridiculous."

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

That E in techiE is most certainly for Eccentric!

"...the thought of them being little green men sticking sticks up our butts is just ridiculous."

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

That's it. I'm boycotting NBC. I'm offended now. They just can't seem to say anything good about the Russians without following up with something negative or derogatory.

The scoring is very bad too. I hesitate to use the words "political scoring", but it seems fairly obvious.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

Someone send me a 10. Please?

Lyrics. Wasted time between solos.

Both are in the mail.

<font color=blue>You get what you pay for.... All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

can i have a blond 38D please?

Overclocked athlon 1200C @ 8.5 x 166FSB + PC2700 = GOOD!

Not 10 years old man...

And if I got one, I'd just keep her around for 9 years, then... okay, that's getting disturbing now.

Lyrics. Wasted time between solos.

Okay, but before you do, could you send over some Swedish women my way?

It's kinda funny cause the Swedish press was saying that these olympics were going to be awesome after Sweden beat Canada. They called it Sweden's greatest hockey moment ever. Now they've totally reversed their positions.

Lyrics. Wasted time between solos.