Argentina - 89, USA - 81

[nomas]

Dream Team goes down.

Your thoughts?

Freddie

[squirrley]

yea **** YOU FREDDIE! j/k honest. I am so pissd off about that one! What the hell happened to my dream team? They were doing so well, kickin ass on that court. Hmm well its bound to happen sometime...so Im hoping for the women to come through!

THAT SUCKED IT DID! BUT were still kickn ass in so many other things. Ok so not in G. Wrestling, I cried when our man took off his shoes and placed them in the middle of the ring. That was truly sad.

But the womens soccer kicked ass! WAHOO...so really I'm pleased with the overall competition of the Olympics. Its been a hell of a ride for some of the competitors, but thats what makes it great! I have enjoyed every bit that I have watched.

Just a couple of more days...and I'd bet it would be safe to say, that we showed our shit this year! We've got some amazing atheletes, as well as other the countries. It was great to see the competition out there this year! I love the Olympics!

[MVPlaya]

THAT SUCKED IT DID! BUT were still kickn ass in so many other things. Ok so not in G. Wrestling, I cried when our man took off his shoes and placed them in the middle of the ring. That was truly sad.

Are you serious?

I have wrestled for 6 years and I hate Gardner with a passion. When I competed on the wrestling circuit, even the most patriotic conservative American I knew hated Gardner, because we see him as an insult to the sport. When Gardner faced Karelin, the greatest wrestler in the history of the Olympics, in 2000, Gardner was by far the weaker player and performed so horribly he shouldn't even have broken (advanced to elimination rounds). His entire strategy throughout the match was to go belly down on the floor so that Karelin couldn't lift those 300 pounds of fat. Most forms of wrestling penalize you if you stall, purposely avoid wrestling, or flee, but Greco-Roman wrestling never had this problem because competitors perform with dignity. Gardner insulted the dignity of the entire sport when he simply fled a better opponent and engaged in petty tactics. With half a minute left and the score still tied at zero, Karelin attempted a throw by placing both his hands around Gardner's neck. The referee penalized Karelin by 1 point for a rule that states you can't interlock hands right beneath the neck. This call was flawed on the basis that Karelin neither interlocked hands nor were his hands beneath the neck. For the next 25 seconds Gardner abused this flawed call and continued to get down low on the floor like a turtle and avoid wrestling. With a few seconds left, an angry Karelin left the match when it became obvious that these 300 pounds of fat weren't going to get off the floor. In the end, Gardner won by 1 point off a flawed technicality against the greatest wrestler in the world. He won, not because he was a great wrestler, since he made NO offensive moves. No, he won because he was too fat to be lifted off a floor that he was hugging with all his might. I consider Gardner a disgrace to the sport of wrestling and I was disgusted to see him make it to the finals once more. If Gardner had any shred of dignity or any respect for the sport he would have left his 2000 Gold medal next to his wrestling shoes when he walked off that mat, because his victory was illegitimate and disgraceful and he knows it.

[squirrley]

Well I dont know anything about this form of wrestling, I had no idea until this morning you werent allowed to attack the legs. From the few matches I did watch, it just seems to different than what Im use to, my brothers wrestled for years, and one of them was the UP State Champ. This is a much different form of wrestling. I only heard of Gardners "story" this week, all of the trials and tribulations he has faced in his life over the last several years. Thats why I commented on the sadness of it.

I dont get the whole strategy of this wrestling. I didnt see things that were really aggressive per say, unless they picked one another up and threw them down. This particular form of wrestling seems very limited in what you can do for moves. From what I did see, more time was wasted in just waiting to see who was going to move in first. But thank you for letting me know about Gardner. I guess at times I see past the sport and look at the individual as well. Thats the Today Show for ya!

[Breezy18]

Just a couple of more days...and I'd bet it would be safe to say, that we showed our shit this year! We've got some amazing atheletes, as well as other the countries. It was great to see the competition out there this year! I love the Olympics!

yes, well look at the draw that the US has. Very high population to choose from and you guys have someone in just about every event! UNLIKE Canada, eh? We just don't have the pop to put people out there. Not to mention the government does nothing to help these people.
Don't listen to me Squirt. I'm just pissed at Perdita tripping in the hurdles. DAMN! Now THAT was sad.

[nomas]

But Canada kicks ass at the winter games, Breeze!

And back to the "Dream Team"...I'm kinda happy they got humbled. They were too arrogant, is why they lost. Not the players..the entire league and those who thought they could easily take gold by quickly assembling a team of stars and not even giving them proper time to play together as a team to know each other. They are still the most athletically gifted, but that doesn't cut it in basketball anymore. The better TEAMS win. Just ask my Lakers what happened in the last finals.

Freddie

[squirrley]

Youre right Nomas, I thought about that yesterday, that maybe their arrogance got the better of them, but I wasnt able to catch any of the games. I USE to be HUGE into basketball in the late 80's, was a Lakers fan for a bit, then Detroit Pistons, then Chicago, I just didnt find a team that meshed well. I havent been able to get into basketball at all over the last 10 years, I do catch the finals when they come around just to see who made it. The sport kinda lost its finesse to me.

Anyway~even though the Dream Team lost their chance, there have been some disappointments here and there. And Breezy, I watched what I could when Canada was in an event. If USA wasnt in something, I go for Canada. Canada has some talent too! I think ALL of countries have real talent.

Ok~one thought...what do you think of S. Hamm(think thats his lastname) the guy who won the gold in the gymnastics? And all the hoopla surrounding the judges error in adding? I watched an interview with him, and he said he's not giving it back. That he earned it, and watching the replays, the other guy(wasnt it a Russion who was suppose to get it?) made more errors than he did. But honestly, I think if it were a judges error, and the Olympic Committee wont give the guy a gold, he should in good faith give it to him. I cant imagine the emotions that theyre both going through, I couldnt even fathom winning it, let alone having to know in your heart of hearts you didnt really earn it and come home with it. Maybe he has a right to keep, but I think the better part of me, would step up, and give the gold to the rightful winner. I would feel so much better about it, and now I mean his medal is distorted to some degree anyway.

I dont know~theyre is always going to be ups and downs for people no matter what event youre involved with, its just nice to see people who bust their ass no matter what country theyre from, and come out on top! Four years of training for 2 days of events just boggles the mind!

[Breezy18]

I did not see the even of which you speak, Squirt, however I did hear about it and read it in the paper. I also found an interesting article on the net. Here it is...

Editorial: Keep the gold medal
The judges, not Hamm, made the error

Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, August 28, 2004
Outrageous. Olympic judges make a scoring error and they want the men's gymnastics all-around gold medal winner to fix their mistake by giving his medal back.
No way.

The international gymnastics federation apologized for the error and suspended three judges, but said it couldn't change the results under its rules. Instead, they asked 21-year-old American Paul Hamm to give up his gold medal as "the ultimate demonstration of fairplay." Incredible.

The International Olympic Committee had the right response: "As long as the federation gives a result, and as long as there is no proof of manipulation or corruption, we will accept the result. We accept that human error is unavoidable in judging and refereeing."

Hamm is an innocent party in this. He put in an amazing comeback performance. He deserves his moment of glory.

I have to say, I'm inclined to agree. In Salt Lake City, when Sale and Peltier "won" the Gold for figure skating and EVERYBODY knew it, the judges STILL awarded the Gold to the Russian pair. The crowd, the commentators and most of the house thought the gold should have gone to Sale and Peltier, (veteran observers claimed it had been one of the best-executed, most flawless pairs performances in some time.) Does anybody remember how they handled it? When the Olympic committee stepped in and said the judging was corrupted they did NOT ask the Russian pair to give their medals back, NOR did the pair offer. Sale and Peltier were awarded a Gold in addition to the Russians. The Russian pair were innocent in this as was Hamm, recently. If it is proven that the judging is "fixed", so to speak and the Gold Medal winner is allowed to keep their medal, how can they, in good conscience ask Hamm to give his back? Remember that Australian who won the speed skating at the last winter Olympics? That was a result of one of the skaters, (don't remember which country he was from) wiping out and taking out the American, the Canadian and himself all of who were vying for first place. As it was, the Australian (who was behind), skated across the finish line first, and the American and Canadian scrambled up from the ice and crossed second and third respectively. Fair? No. But it happens. The Australian said it best afterwords when he received his medal and was interviewed by the media. "I know I don't deserve this," he said smiling, "but I'm taking it home anyway." C'est la vie!

[GBRaul]

Another person tripped in the hurdles too - Allen Johnson from USA. Thus he failed to qualify for the finals. Ended up a Chinese international winning. Liu Qiang if I'm not wrong.

[Illusional]

the dream team sucked this year. i'm not really into basketball, however there were a lot of players who turned down being on the dream team.. i think that this dream team is the leftover team. raverboy

[GBRaul]

Agree with you there Illusional. I saw them scrape past Spain and I was like OH MY GAWD... they are SO GONNA DIE against Argentina. At least I was sorta hoping that a team like that would just die against some team before they got to the finals (oops! Don't kill me! ) How right I was...

[Illusional]

i think that basketball isn't worth watching..well atleast in the olympics. raverboy

[GBRaul]

How about the NBA then? I don't know... I don't watch basketball much actually. I just happened to see it on TV when my brother switched it on. I watch more soccer than basketball.

[Illusional]

i dont' really watch sports. overall i rarely watch television. raverboy