Olympics Withdrawal

[mike45]

Has anyone else suffered from Olympics withdrawal? Before the 2008 Olympics, I really wasn't planning on watching much of the Olympics. But, as the games went on I found myself watching the games constantly. I watched almost everything that was broadcast. One day after the games ended, I turn the TV expecting the games to be still on and what? Nothing. Damn, another four years.

[El Scorcho]

18 months til canada becomes relevant again!

[dadaluholla]

I was unaware the Olympics had started yet.

[nickdawgy]

only 2 years if you like winter sports.

[Rival11]

Yes

[Rival11]

Originally Posted by El Scorcho

18 months til TV becomes relevant again!

I had to touch that up a little.

[matta]

I miss speed walking. In fact, I went down to the senior center this morning to catch a competition.

[Infrared Sight]

I have never watched any olympics that much at all in years past. This year I couldn't get enough of it. It was just so entertaining to watch. I will most definitely miss it until the next one comes up.

[B.A.]

It was a nice distraction during night work.

[Giantrobo]

Paralympics is just a few weeks away....

[Red Dog]

No. I watched a ton of it, but I'm glad it's over since it knocked me out of my routine.

[FantasticVSDoom]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

No. I watched a ton of it, but I'm glad it's over since it knocked me out of my routine.

Yeah, this is the same thing I was thinking...

[RoyalTea]

I've always wondered why both the summer and winter games are the same length of time (16 days).

in the 2006 winter games, there were 84 events in 7 sports.
in the 2008 summer games, there were 302 events in 28 sports.

I love the winter games, but I honestly feel like I get to watch pretty much everything I want to watch in the two week time span. But, for the summer games, I feel like after two weeks, there's so much more that I didn't see than I did see.

Also, it's kind of strange to see how long the duration of the games were at the turn of the 20th century.

1900 - May 14 to October 28
1904 - July 1 to November 23
1908 - April 27 to October 31

It wasn't until 1928 that a 16 day schedule was used.

[magiccmom]

Yes, it was the most enjoyable Olympics I can remember watching in a long time.

And it was visually stunning to look at. I was in awe of the water cube and the birds nest. Amazing. And in HD it was amazing.

[Red Dog]

The main reasons for the length of the winter games are that you need a 2-week window to have a full hockey 'tournament' and you need to have that buffer for bad weather for the skiing events.

[starman9000]

I prefer the pacing of the Winter games and enjoy watching pretty much all of the events.

[RoyalTea]

Originally Posted by Red Dog

The main reasons for the length of the winter games are that you need a 2-week window to have a full hockey 'tournament' and you need to have that buffer for bad weather for the skiing events.

I'm not saying that the winter olympics should be shorter, I'm saying the summer olympics should be longer.

[atlantamoi]

I loved watching them and for me to see them in HD for the first time was even more impressive. But I want to catch up on some movies and college football starts less than a week later. I'm okay with it ending.

[El Scorcho]

Good now we can stop pretending like we give a shit about diving, swimming, and gymnastics and turn our attention towards football.

[eXcentris]

Originally Posted by El Scorcho

Good now we can stop pretending like we give a shit about diving, swimming, and gymnastics and turn our attention towards football.

We?

Olympic Threadcrapping, you'd be good at it.

[Ginwen]

I got tired of it the second week, and now I miss it. By the end I didn't watch all the time, but if I wanted to watch TV, there was always something on.

[Jericho]

Originally Posted by RoyalTea

I've always wondered why both the summer and winter games are the same length of time (16 days).

in the 2006 winter games, there were 84 events in 7 sports.
in the 2008 summer games, there were 302 events in 28 sports.

I love the winter games, but I honestly feel like I get to watch pretty much everything I want to watch in the two week time span. But, for the summer games, I feel like after two weeks, there's so much more that I didn't see than I did see.

Also, it's kind of strange to see how long the duration of the games were at the turn of the 20th century.

1900 - May 14 to October 28
1904 - July 1 to November 23
1908 - April 27 to October 31

It wasn't until 1928 that a 16 day schedule was used.

Technically, the Summer Games are 18 or 19 days, it's just that none one admits it. Soccer always starts the Wednesday before the opening ceremonies.

But there's not a whole lot of reason to extend the games. All the team sports can play their tournaments in the alloted times, and most of the events take 1-2 days max. The only negative is as a spectator you can't watch it all.

As an aside, I'm suprised the Winter Olympics only has "seven" sports. I know the IOC considers Aquatics as one sport for the summer games (Aquatics includes swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, and water polo), so I don't know how it breaks down the winter sports. But off the top of my head I can think of:

1) Curling
2) Ice Hockey
3) Alpine Skiing (including moguls)
4) Cross Country Skiing
5) Ski Jump
6) Biathalon
7) Speed Skating (short-track and normal)
8) Figure Skating (including ice dancing)
9) Bobsled
10) Luge
11) Skeleton
12) Aerials
13) Snowboarding (including cross, halfpipe, and slalom)
14) Nordic Combined


even if you combine all the sledding events into one and combine cross-county skiing and alpine skiing, there's still more events left. I guess Biathalon and Nordic Combined get folded in elsewhere, although Triathalon is considered a separate sport in the summer games.

[El Scorcho]

Originally Posted by eXcentris

We?

Olympic Threadcrapping, you'd be good at it.

Oh shut up, If you actually paid a damn bit of attention you'd know I was continually posting in the olympic thread and following the events. I'm pointing out the hilarity that we, as a sports fan base, only give a shit about these sports every 4 years. Which is why very few people on this message board and in the public can even tell you where the Pan-Am games were held last year (and who performed well) or how many golds Phelps won at the world championships last year.

(I'm not saying I can, I'm just saying that for 2 weeks every 4 years, people act like they've been following this shit religiously all along)

[eXcentris]

Originally Posted by El Scorcho

Oh shut up, If you actually paid a damn bit of attention you'd know I was continually posting in the olympic thread and following the events. I'm pointing out the hilarity that we, as a sports fan base, only give a shit about these sports every 4 years. Which is why very few people on this message board and in the public can even tell you where the Pan-Am games were held last year (and who performed well) or how many golds Phelps won at the world championships last year.

(I'm not saying I can, I'm just saying that for 2 weeks every 4 years, people act like they've been following this shit religiously all along)

Who exactly is acting like they've been "following this shit religiously"? Regardless, that's a stupid argument. One, it's kindda hard to "follow shit" religiously when most of these sports have little to no visibility. Two, you can be a sports fan and appreciate watching sports you see very little of without following said sports religiously. It's not a matter of "caring".

[starman9000]

Man, seats in the bird's nest are still warm, and already an international incident has broken out in the sports forum.