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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 26, 2021 19:49:43 GMT -5
I don't think I could ever root against my country, even if I had major political differences with the athletes. I may differ from Rapinoe and LeBron on my beliefs but I still want them to succeed when repping the Red, White and Blue. If I'm going to own patriotism, I'm going to own it all the time. And I do think it's sad that more people don't fully comprehend just how great the US is at providing women equal opportunity in sports and give credit where it's due (in addition to men & women of all ethnic backgrounds). A lot of this equal opportunity is seen at the collegiate level (at least pre-NIL). If Brazil had the same college athletic structure (including the equivalent of Title IX) as the United States, they would probably destroy us in women's soccer, as would most of the Euro countries. The Dominican Republic is an interesting contrarian example to this. Baseball is a rite of passage for just about every male with a spec of athletic ability. In NYC, Dominican men are a large part of the rec softball circuit. But you never see Dominican women playing in any of the co-ed leagues. You'll see them drinking Corona behind the backstop cheering for the men. It's just a very different culture when it comes to defined gender roles. You never really hear about the DR or other Latin countries being a significant Olympic/international competitor in softball -- US challengers always seem to be Australia, Japan and Canada. LeBron isn't even playing in these Olympics! There are a ton of American college athletes/alums that are competing for other countries due to the fact of Title IX gives women an opportunity to play here. This is the reason the USA Women's Soccer team has been more successful than the men. Opportunity gave the USA a head start in the women's game. I'm aware -- using him as an example because he's someone whose definitely been politically outspoken and has suited up in the Olympic Games multiple times. To the point where some people would actively root against him even while he's wearing a USA jersey. Of the current Men's Basketball USA roster, I'm not sure of specific political or cultural opinions.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 26, 2021 19:53:58 GMT -5
Can’t say I’m particularly interested in these Olympics for a numbers of reasons. It’s kind of on in the background but certainly not must-see TV for me as it might have been in the past. 2 things make it hard IMO. 1) No fans -- you need energy in the building 2) The time difference -- by the time the tape delayed event is shown in prime time, everyone's gotten notifications via their ESPN or theScore apps. Even in 2008, sure you could go home to your laptop and look up results but very few people had smartphones. And by smartphone, I mean the original iphone.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 27, 2021 13:35:21 GMT -5
Japan beats USA 2-0 for the Gold Medal in softball
Japan's women beat USA in 3 X 3 basketball--that certainly surprises me
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Post by bison137 on Jul 27, 2021 14:13:09 GMT -5
Japan beats USA 2-0 for the Gold Medal in softball Japan's women beat USA in 3 X 3 basketball--that certainly surprises me The U.S. had already clinched first in the pool standings prior to this game, so their motivation level may not have been at its highest. Japan, who many picked to win a medal, ended up the pool play tied for 2nd. So while many don't picture Japan as being a basketball country, they apparently are pretty good in the 3x3 version.
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 27, 2021 14:36:17 GMT -5
Japan beats USA 2-0 for the Gold Medal in softball Japan's women beat USA in 3 X 3 basketball--that certainly surprises me The U.S. had already clinched first in the pool standings prior to this game, so their motivation level may not have been at its highest. Japan, who many picked to win a medal, ended up the pool play tied for 2nd. So while many don't picture Japan as being a basketball country, they apparently are pretty good in the 3x3 version. And it was true in softball...there was nothing to gain between Japan and USA playing on Sunday/Monday (won by the USA) and then the gold medal win today by Japan over the USA.
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Post by timholycross on Jul 27, 2021 16:39:03 GMT -5
The women's soccer game w/Australia was a joke- both teams were going through with a tie. So the last 20 minutes the US was content to let the Aussies pass the ball along the back line of defense and not challenge them. Fortunately little or no fans in the stands and televised at 3AM Eastern US time.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 27, 2021 19:53:36 GMT -5
Japan beats USA 2-0 for the Gold Medal in softball Japan's women beat USA in 3 X 3 basketball--that certainly surprises me The U.S. had already clinched first in the pool standings prior to this game, so their motivation level may not have been at its highest. Japan, who many picked to win a medal, ended up the pool play tied for 2nd. So while many don't picture Japan as being a basketball country, they apparently are pretty good in the 3x3 version. That is pretty cool.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 27, 2021 20:49:48 GMT -5
The women's soccer game w/Australia was a joke- both teams were going through with a tie. So the last 20 minutes the US was content to let the Aussies pass the ball along the back line of defense and not challenge them. Fortunately little or no fans in the stands and televised at 3AM Eastern US time. Doing their best to make the world's most boring sport even more excruciating to watch
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Post by bison137 on Jul 28, 2021 10:10:13 GMT -5
Japan beats USA 2-0 for the Gold Medal in softball Japan's women beat USA in 3 X 3 basketball--that certainly surprises me The U.S. had already clinched first in the pool standings prior to this game, so their motivation level may not have been at its highest. Japan, who many picked to win a medal, ended up the pool play tied for 2nd. So while many don't picture Japan as being a basketball country, they apparently are pretty good in the 3x3 version. The US women ended up getting the gold today by beating the Russians in the final. In the men’s competition, the Russians also lost, this time to Latvia.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 28, 2021 10:42:01 GMT -5
Nice to see Katie Ledecky get a Gold after the earlier disappointment, In three events, if I am reading it correctly, she has a gold, a silver , and a 5th place finish.
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Post by hcpride on Jul 28, 2021 11:26:51 GMT -5
In what must have been an unwatchable contest, the US apparently beat Iran by 60 (!) in men’s hoops.
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 28, 2021 11:56:29 GMT -5
In what must have been an unwatchable contest, the US apparently beat Iran by 60 (!) in men’s hoops. It wasn't good but Iran isn't one of the top teams in this competition.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 28, 2021 13:11:38 GMT -5
In what must have been an unwatchable contest, the US apparently beat Iran by 60 (!) in men’s hoops. So you would not enjoy watching Holy Cross beat bc by 60 in basketball?
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Post by timholycross on Jul 28, 2021 15:52:07 GMT -5
Would be more like HC beating Umass Boston by 60. Wait! What?
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Post by bison137 on Jul 28, 2021 17:33:45 GMT -5
I watched the UFC yesterday instead of the Olympics. Japan may be the last Democracy to drop billions on the games. France has the summer games in three years I believe so it will be interesting if they cut back on spending. . . . An Autocracy like China or Russia can go all out but I sense Democracies will be less inclined. Just noticed this, so sorry for the late response. As you mention, France has the 2024 games. But two more democracies have the following two Olympics. Los Angeles long ago locked up the 2028 games. And just last week, Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games. (Hungary and Germany are two other contenders who were knocked out earlier in the new streamlined bidding process.)
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Post by thecrossisback on Jul 28, 2021 17:57:34 GMT -5
Found this Attachments:
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 28, 2021 21:58:41 GMT -5
I watched the UFC yesterday instead of the Olympics. Japan may be the last Democracy to drop billions on the games. France has the summer games in three years I believe so it will be interesting if they cut back on spending. . . . An Autocracy like China or Russia can go all out but I sense Democracies will be less inclined. Just noticed this, so sorry for the late response. As you mention, France has the 2024 games. But two more democracies have the following two Olympics. Los Angeles long ago locked up the 2028 games. And just last week, Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games. (Hungary and Germany are two other contenders who were knocked out earlier in the new streamlined bidding process.) Los Angeles is planning on using as much of their existing regional sports infrastructure as possible if I remember correctly. Boston reached some kind of finalist position for the 2024 bid and then Professor Zimbalist from Smith College and other experts on publicly funded sports venues and the usual NIMBYs slammed it and LA emerged as kind of a White Knight for a U.S. bid. One of their rationales was they have experience putting on an Olympics and they have much of the infrastructure in place without billions of new construction. Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games without a competing final bid. Australia's public debt as a percentage of GDP is 32% compared to 70% for the U.S. and 219% for Japan. These Olympics have really backfired for Japan.
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Post by Tom on Jul 29, 2021 7:56:44 GMT -5
Just noticed this, so sorry for the late response. As you mention, France has the 2024 games. But two more democracies have the following two Olympics. Los Angeles long ago locked up the 2028 games. And just last week, Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games. (Hungary and Germany are two other contenders who were knocked out earlier in the new streamlined bidding process.) Los Angeles is planning on using as much of their existing regional sports infrastructure as possible if I remember correctly. Boston reached some kind of finalist position for the 2024 bid and then Professor Zimbalist from Smith College and other experts on publicly funded sports venues and the usual NIMBYs slammed it and LA emerged as kind of a White Knight for a U.S. bid. One of their rationales was they have experience putting on an Olympics and they have much of the infrastructure in place without billions of new construction. Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games without a competing final bid. Australia's public debt as a percentage of GDP is 32% compared to 70% for the U.S. and 219% for Japan. These Olympics have really backfired for Japan. I always thought Boston had most of the infrastructure in place to put on games. What Boston lacked was the infrastructure to deal with millions of fans/visitors to the city at once I'm not sure how long NBC's broadcast rights last, but I think ratings are pretty low right now and if that trend continues, likely the next television contract won't do as much to off set the costs
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Post by timholycross on Jul 29, 2021 9:40:55 GMT -5
Los Angeles is planning on using as much of their existing regional sports infrastructure as possible if I remember correctly. Boston reached some kind of finalist position for the 2024 bid and then Professor Zimbalist from Smith College and other experts on publicly funded sports venues and the usual NIMBYs slammed it and LA emerged as kind of a White Knight for a U.S. bid. One of their rationales was they have experience putting on an Olympics and they have much of the infrastructure in place without billions of new construction. Brisbane was awarded the 2032 games without a competing final bid. Australia's public debt as a percentage of GDP is 32% compared to 70% for the U.S. and 219% for Japan. These Olympics have really backfired for Japan. I always thought Boston had most of the infrastructure in place to put on games. What Boston lacked was the infrastructure to deal with millions of fans/visitors to the city at once I'm not sure how long NBC's broadcast rights last, but I think ratings are pretty low right now and if that trend continues, likely the next television contract won't do as much to off set the costs Pretty spot-on. If the public expenditures for the games were more or less limited to improvements to public transportation and highway improvements (not necessarily new roads, but fixing the bad ones that the Big Dig put on the back burner for a couple decades) the bid might have received a lot more support than it did. Also, I guess, housing that could have been converted to low income units to fill a need for that sort of thing.
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 29, 2021 10:00:13 GMT -5
I always thought Boston had most of the infrastructure in place to put on games. What Boston lacked was the infrastructure to deal with millions of fans/visitors to the city at once I'm not sure how long NBC's broadcast rights last, but I think ratings are pretty low right now and if that trend continues, likely the next television contract won't do as much to off set the costs Pretty spot-on. If the public expenditures for the games were more or less limited to improvements to public transportation and highway improvements (not necessarily new roads, but fixing the bad ones that the Big Dig put on the back burner for a couple decades) the bid might have received a lot more support than it did. Also, I guess, housing that could have been converted to low income units to fill a need for that sort of thing. The athlete village was supposed to be at UMass-Boston which would have been pretty nice on the water. I love the argument that LA "knows how to host an Olympics"...They haven't hosted since 1984 which will be 44 years ago in 2028. The first two LA olympics were 52 years apart. Nearly a generation between each.
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Post by Tom on Jul 29, 2021 10:04:02 GMT -5
I always thought Boston had most of the infrastructure in place to put on games. What Boston lacked was the infrastructure to deal with millions of fans/visitors to the city at once I'm not sure how long NBC's broadcast rights last, but I think ratings are pretty low right now and if that trend continues, likely the next television contract won't do as much to off set the costs Pretty spot-on. If the public expenditures for the games were more or less limited to improvements to public transportation and highway improvements (not necessarily new roads, but fixing the bad ones that the Big Dig put on the back burner for a couple decades) the bid might have received a lot more support than it did. Also, I guess, housing that could have been converted to low income units to fill a need for that sort of thing.For reasons I don't fully understand, I was not appointed to the committee. My plan had all the athletes staying in Harvard and MIT dorms. BC dorms, being a little bit removed from downtown could also have been used for an Olympic Village
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Post by rgs318 on Jul 29, 2021 10:07:30 GMT -5
Nice win in the volleyball pool for the USA women (15-13 tie-breaker). US won the first two games, Turkey took the next two. Overall it was a great match to watch live!
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 29, 2021 10:08:30 GMT -5
Nice win in the volleyball pool for the USA women (15-13 tie-breaker). The Indoor Volleyball is such a better sport to watch over the Beach version.
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Post by rgs318 on Jul 29, 2021 10:10:11 GMT -5
Nice win in the volleyball pool for the USA women (15-13 tie-breaker). Then Indoor Volleyball is such a better sport to watch over the Beach version. It is different, but why is it better?
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 29, 2021 10:22:34 GMT -5
Then Indoor Volleyball is such a better sport to watch over the Beach version. It is different, but why is it better? More actual teamwork and strategy which in Beach Volleyball is Serve, Bump, Spike. Very few long rallies in the Beach variety.
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