User Comments, Suggestions, or Complaints | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertising
|
Demarini, Easton and TPX Baseball Bats
|
AllianceTickets.com has cheap MLB Tickets. Get all your Colorado Rockies Tickets, Seattle Mariners Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and all your favorite baseball tickets here. We also carry cheap Denver Broncos Tickets, Seattle Seahawks Tickets and Denver Nuggets Tickets. |
For wholesale prices on baseball gifts and equipment, check these stores out! |
Page rendered in 0.5573 seconds
53 querie(s) executed
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
...that weird cycling thing where they go as slow as they can until the last lap sprint.
The keirin is totally hypnotizing. It's basically all mental and about not cracking and crashing as the pace increases and the sprint hits. Regardless, I prefer the endurance track events, which have all been squeezed into a decathlon-esque medal event, which is annoying. And cross-country mountain biking is really boring, unfortunately.
As long as they have to ride ostriches, and jump on platforms, and avoid falling in a fiery pit - sure.
How will the IOC ever be made to cow to the pressure of baseball fans if the immortal primates still give the summer games an OT-thread?
I'm hoping to see Spinal Tap perform "Stonehenge"
Once we get enough bribe money, they will. IOC loves bribe money.
I'd also like to give another shoutout to the Modern Pentathlon, because it's a weird attempt to recreate a 19th century calvary officer's escape from a prison camp. You fight one guard with a sword, shoot another, steal a horse (seriously, it's in the rules that the horse has to be unfamiliar to you), run once you have to leave the horse behind, and finally you swim to safety.
Really, they should just recreate that as closely as possible then. Do it all in one go.
Also, George S. Patton competed in the Pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.
Shooting at a live target might be a smidgen controversial though.
He would have medaled too if he didn't completely miss one of his shots. Legend says he actually got another bulls-eye, but that the bullet went through a pre-existing hole.
Me too, I think the opening ceremonies might be the best part of the entire festival. I especially like watching the pure joy on the faces of the competitors from the smaller countries. You just know, in many cases, this is their opportunity for the "big time" and they are happy to be there; good luck to them. Oh, and I like to watch the marathons as well; I find it interesting as the cameras follow the runners through the streets and we get to see different parts of the host city.
Shooting at a live target might be a smidgen controversial though.
Make it one of those moving cutouts in police training courses, or something.
J.K. Rowling reading from "Peter Pan."
Forging the Olympic rings....
Let us know if the Americans dip the flag toward the host. They have not done so since 1936.
Since BEFORE 1936. And before that it was only done sporadically.
That's just being rude...
You have to put a spoiler warning there.... This slaughter don't work half as well if the shock factor is gone.
I imagine most of the attendees saw the giant wicker man on their way in and drew their own conclusions. "As long as we get to queue for a while, we'll put up with anything. Ooh! And could there be drizzle, too?"
"This flag dips for no earthly king."
Apparently nobody ever said it, but it worked so well with the American exceptionalism of the time that it kind of has stuck. It's even in the flag code, I believe.
Agreed.
I was disappointed we wouldn't see the insane choreography of Beijing, but this has been VERY entertaining.
At least I think that's what happened; from the way the entrance was directed and shot, it was a little tough to tell.
In the program listings, the show is called "XXX Summer Olympics". Really NBC? You had no one look that over and say, wait a minute?
Or perhaps it will all make sense when I watch the opening ceremonies?
Not dipping is not good enough. We should hurl our flag at the host nation's leader and attempt to impale him/her on it.
"We need to test to make sure you are earthly, Your Highness."
(First joke that popped in my head)
Suddenly I'm reconsidering my decision not to watch!
Or is just an extension of the rules of travelling in Europe, where you show a Canadian pin/patch so they don't think you're American?
I wasn't questioning the popularity of the event just that fewer tickets had to be sold. From my calculations of stadium size, number of events and number of sessions (Swimming and Athletics have two sessions a day) ticket sales are:
Equestrian - 250k - 300k (I used 50k for cross country but it could be a few more)
Swimming - 250k - 300k
Athletics - 1.45mm (this does not include either marathon which are free to view)
BTW, you horsey people are very sensitive.
Cease and desist letter in 3.... 2.... 1....
My current experience of the opening ceremony is seeing a dozen or so British people competing on Twitter to see who can mock it in the most dismissive and scornful fashion. Probably Gold Star - just Gold Star's running checklist of highlights would be better than that, but instead I think I'll just avoid the internet until 7:30. "
I'm seeing quite some Brit tweeps express their pride in the ceremony.
Maybe the Brits he's reading are all English and it's the Scots, Welsh and North Irish making fun of it, or something.
Several of my English relatives have been commenting on FB, and the reaction from them is uniformly positive.
Obviously fencing isn't like actual swordfighting, since in actual swordfighting, you don't get "touched", you get poked full of holes, or you get muscles cut, or bones broken. As for the armour stuff, heavy armour is actually overrated, unless you can pick when you fight, and you have someone else to haul around the armour. Try marching for a full day with a suit up of armour, weighing at least 50 pounds, in hot weather, then having to fight. You don't get to take the armour off, you don't get to put it down. Even sitting down with it is a pain, since you then have to get up. Whatever the protection the armour gives you, it detracts in the form of exhaustion. You can try this if you join the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, basically for medieval fantasy geeks).
The Brits I'm following, who are expressing pride are Welsh, English, Scots, American immigrants, Canadian immigrants.
It's a sport, one that involves:
-a particular field (the strip, long and thin)
-a particular implement (a foil, epee, or saber)
-a simple scoring system (if you hit the right part of the other person with the right part of your weapon, you get a point - a "touch")
-a set of rules governing infractions, for which can be given yellow, red, and black cards
The scoring system breaks down further as follows:
-in epee, you have to hit with the point of the weapon, and you can score a touch anywhere on your opponent's body, from their feet to their head
-in foil, you have to hit with the point of the weapon, but you only score a touch by hitting them on the torso
-in saber, you can hit with the point or the side of the weapon, and you can only score a touch by hitting them above the waist
-in epee, if you both hit each other at the same time, you both score a touch
-in foil and saber, if both people hit each other at the same time, the one who had "priority" on attack gets the touch
-"priority" is determined either (a) by starting to attack before the other fencer, or (b) parrying the other fencers attack by blocking their weapon with yours, or by moving out of distance and having their attack fall short)
This doesn't resemble a swordfight much at all, but it does create a sport with a wonderful combination of athleticism and creativity. You have to be very fast, and flexibility helps a lot, but you also need to attack where they don't expect, vary your movement, and find creative ways to get into or out of space to score a touch.
I'm really looking forward to watching the fencing on streaming. I was never good (made it to the NCAA regional finals as a senior, but that's less impressive than it sounds, and I got really lucky, then came in 12th out of 12), but I really loved the sport.
I think that to appreciate fencing, you have to first divorce it from actual swordfighting or SCA medieval geekery."
I enjoy, and dabble in, fencing AND SCA medieval geekery. My interest in one feeds my interest in the other.
"This doesn't resemble a swordfight much at all, but it does create a sport with a wonderful combination of athleticism and creativity. Y"
I don't have a problem at all with it not resembling a real swordfight, to be clear. And actually, it isn't a bad representation of a real swordfight, towards the later part of how real swordfighting developed, ie away from heavy armour and heavy swords that were primarily used for as clubbing weapons than as poke holes in the opponent weapons, towards light, yet strong, swords that were used as poke holes in the opponent weapons. Heavy armour and heavy swords are not all that useful, if you can barely move because you are exhausted from hauling that armour all over the place, and your opponent is poking holes into you with his light yet strong sword.
A fitted suit of armor doesn't feel heavy as the weight is distributed evenly, it just makes you move slower. As for the worth of protection, I don't think the Hospitaller Knights at the siege of Malta 1565 would have given up their armor even though it must be hellish to fight in one during an Mediterranean summer. They could feel pretty safe in their armor as long as they didn't get separated and surrounded or dehydrated.
Also, if you can afford a suit of armor you don't march, you ride.
You can try this if you join the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism, basically for medieval fantasy geeks).
They don't actually try to kill you in the SCA.
Uh, it makes you move slower BECAUSE it is heavy, regardless of how it "feels". That it makes you slower is PRECISELY the point. Heavy armour is useful, IF you can pick your fights, and your opponents are using inferior weapons, weapons that cannot pierce the armour. And even heavy armour has joints where you can be pireced.
"Also, if you can afford a suit of armor you don't march, you ride."
Yes, and you sometimes will need someone to help you get onto that horse, if you are hauling around at least 50 pounds of extra weight. And that extra weight will tire your horse out too, since that horse is a living thing, not a car. Which means you might need a spare horse.
"They don't actually try to kill you in the SCA."
No they don't. You do however get to march around in heavy armour for a whole day, in hot and humid summer weather. Try it, before you say that "it doesn't feel heavy, it just makes you slower".
Interesting that they used mostly, if not all British (or commonwealth*) bands as background music for the parade of nations, but switched to an American band for Team GB.
* I liked how they switched to the Bee Gee's when Fiji was announced. Nice bit of drollery.
Why is Comcast charging me $9.95 to watch the Olympics?
I've found it thus far to be somewhat exciting, very exciting, VERY exciting.... and then I lost all interest.
David Bowie is British.
I thought that was the Wallflowers.
edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot. Don't know what I was thinking.
edit, edit: OK, I'm not totally crazy, as the Wallflowers did cover it.
I applaud the awesome amount of hallucinogens the entire United Kingdom seems to be on every day.
"
When it has fecking rained everyday for the whole fecking summer, until this week, what else to do, but be on hallucinogens.
If you've never seen this, it's mind-boggling.
I can't keep my eyes off the severed unicorn head. It's hypnotic.
The funny thing is that I can totally see here saying, "If you're quite sure ..."
NBC needs better prep for the march of nations. Some really dumb comments that made me, as an American, facepalm.
WOO OLYMPICS!
Ok, sure, it would have offended most of the former colonies, but it would have been lots of fun.
That's nothing compared to how much it would have offended US Navy.
You won't want to miss the pole vault.
China won the first gold of the games in rifle shooting. China really just loads up on shooting, diving, weightlifting, table tennis and badminton medals, it seems. Not like the old Cold War days where USA and USSR were really going head to head in events. Only time NBC gets to play up the rivalry aspect between USA and China is in Gymnastics and some of the women's swimming races.
(Also, sadly, was a fencer. I fenced at an alumni meet over five years ago, that was the last time.)
They did however say that the local TV coverage gave the distinct impression that it was an Australian event with one or two foreigners brought in to make up the numbers.
Pretty much any event that is primarily an endurance event, I would think.
Not really. In weightlifting at least, the Chinese are at their weakest in maybe more than 10 years, the women especially look weaker than they have been in a long time; the only Chinese woman lifter who is odds on favourite for gold is Wang Ming Juan in the 48s. They are basically rebuilding. Their target was 2008, many of their greats, both the men and wonem, multiple Olympic golds / WRs types, retired after 2008. Weightlifting this time around should be China vs Russia vs Kazakhstan vs Iran (though none of the best from each of these 4 countries generally are in the same weight class, directly competing with each other), with some lifters from Turkey, Vietnam, Poland, Belarus, Armenia, S Korea, N Korea, maybe Japan, added.
As for badminton, they do have some rivalry with some of the SE / E Asian (Indonesia, Malaysia, S Korea) countries, and Denmark, it is just that some of those countries, for example Indonesia, have fallen off a bit / somewhat recently, for various reasons.
But can it be an endurance event when the hot favorites are the sprinters? :-)
China has made attempts at Track and Field, especially women's long distances, but were caught cheating.
Swimming is where you can pile up medals as a swimmer, like Phelps, can dominate multiple events. A team with a great foursome can haul in a pile of medals in swimming.
How is the US not dominant at all the shooting events? Is it because ammunition is so cheap that we don't need to be that accurate? Sorry, that was purely a joke - I do not want to turn this into some sort of political thread.
The US kid was completely twisted and nervous also.
I know your post was just a joke, but the US does have a big influence over international shooting, even if our shooters are not that dominate.
For example, WVU has 5 current or former shooters/coaches from their school team (regularly one of the best in the NCAA) competing in London. 2 of those shooters are Italian born, one is Scotish, and I think one is Swiss. WVU's current team also has members from Poland and Estonia. WVU has recruited almost all of it's talent from Europe over the years, and I would imagine other top shooting programs are similar.
Seems the world class shooters like to come to the US to train/compete; but obviously compete for their home country in the Olympics.
Also the shooting now uses a laser gun. It's controversial, but it does make it more "Modern".
Do have to wonder why the USOC doesn't try to start some sort of recruiting drive at police departments, gun clubs and the military. As it stands, I think a lot of US sport shooters are either current or ex military.
Also, I have to say that watching archery on TV is sort of like the world's most suspenseful game of Battleship. Which is.... oddly entertaining, in a strange way.
There is also skeet & trap shooting events, and I assume they still do the rapid fire pistol event. The Olympics also have non-air rifle/pistol events, that are at a longer range than the air alternative.
EDIT: Even the non-air rifle/pistol used in shooting competitions are still a lot different than firing a civilian hunting rifle or a police/military issue weapon.
Seems the world class shooters like to come to the US to train/compete; but obviously compete for their home country in the Olympics."
Not surprising. US unis offer full ride scholarships to athletes all over the world, in a whole bunch of sports. So those athletes accept those scholarships and study and train in the US.
Ok, the biggest difference between the men and women's soccer is the goalkeeping.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main