2024 Olympics - General commentary

King of Defense said:
Oh yeah -- I have a full inbox!

Curling is a very social sport. Even at relatively high levels, the expectation is that you'll hang out a bit with your opponent after a game. Winner buys the first round.

But if you want to be good, you need to make a bit of an effort to take care of yourself. Sweeping is hard work.

Former NFL defensive end Jared Allen has turned into a half-decent curler. Some other NFL veterans joined him at first, but he's the one who managed to play at an elite-ish level (enough to be on one of the top five or so teams in the country).
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I always wondered how often the curlers, that are sweeping, avoid running into the stones as they pass by them. Moving quickly, on ice, would seem to not be ideal conditions for that. Other than the impressive aim of the shooting curlers, that is most impressive.
 
DevilHorse said:
I always wondered how often the curlers, that are sweeping, avoid running into the stones as they pass by them. Moving quickly, on ice, would seem to not be ideal conditions for that. Other than the impressive aim of the shooting curlers, that is most impressive.
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Most of the time, we aren't moving that fast. It's only when the rock is thrown really fast that you'd have trouble keeping up and navigating any obstacles, but coincidentally, the faster it's going, the less sweeping is going to affect it, anyway.

So when you're watching high-level curling, you'll see people racing along the ice to keep up with even the fastest of shots -- they might only affect it a 1/2-inch, or maybe they're not ensuring the rock won't hit a tiny bit of debris that affects its path. Those people have usually been on ice since they were 5 years old. At MY level? If it's that fast, I just wave to it.

I've fallen a couple of times and hit my head once. No concussion, but it wasn't fun. So I wear a headband if I'm in "serious" competition and might be asked to do a little more sweeping.
 
This is Olympics-adjacent, so hopefully I’m choosing the right thread for this.

Cooper Flagg made the USA Select Team. Only non-pro on the team. Cool opportunity for him, and hopefully means we will get some more footage of him this summer.

www.espn.com

Duke freshman Flagg headlines USA Select team

USA Basketball has invited 17-year-old incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg to practice against Team USA as one of 15 players named to the USA Select team ahead of the Paris Olympics.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
DukieTiger said:
This is Olympics-adjacent, so hopefully I’m choosing the right thread for this.

Cooper Flagg made the USA Select Team. Only non-pro on the team. Cool opportunity for him, and hopefully means we will get some more footage of him this summer.

www.espn.com

Duke freshman Flagg headlines USA Select team

USA Basketball has invited 17-year-old incoming Duke freshman Cooper Flagg to practice against Team USA as one of 15 players named to the USA Select team ahead of the Paris Olympics.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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Great opportunity for Flagg. But… where’s Paulo?:rolleyes:
 
The mayor of France was on the evening news the other night, making a cordial but unconvincing case that the Seine would be ready for swimmers.
 
This is only tangentially related but I watched some of the track last night to clear my head from other things. I was once again reminded how bad the announcers for track are, particularly compared to swimming, where Rowdy Gaines is a national treasure. I like track more than most people and can enjoy it for what it is, but the announcers just drain the excitement out of it. And they have been doing it for years. An announcer usually doesn't make or break a sport for me but in this case, it doesn't help.
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
This is only tangentially related but I watched some of the track last night to clear my head from other things. I was once again reminded how bad the announcers for track are, particularly compared to swimming, where Rowdy Gaines is a national treasure. I like track more than most people and can enjoy it for what it is, but the announcers just drain the excitement out of it. And they have been doing it for years. An announcer usually doesn't make or break a sport for me but in this case, it doesn't help.
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I always enjoy when Dwight Stones announces but he's best with the field events since that was his area.
 
OldPhiKap said:
But will it be ready for curlers?
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Maybe?

M
 
CrazyNotCrazie said:
This is only tangentially related but I watched some of the track last night to clear my head from other things. I was once again reminded how bad the announcers for track are, particularly compared to swimming, where Rowdy Gaines is a national treasure. I like track more than most people and can enjoy it for what it is, but the announcers just drain the excitement out of it. And they have been doing it for years. An announcer usually doesn't make or break a sport for me but in this case, it doesn't help.
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Different strokes, I guess -- I love the NBC track and field crew. Ato Boldon is as skilled a commentator as I've seen in any sport anywhere.

It was also nice to have Emma Coburn offering her insight on the steeplechase -- though, of course, I'd rather see her racing.

Coburn is responsible for one of the funniest moments I've seen in track and field. A bunch of the other runners saw her go way out in front and assumed she was a hired pacemaker who would drop out at some point. Nope. She won by a very wide margin. THEN she went on to win world and Olympic medals.

 
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