The Glade 4.0

I think I much prefer the summer games to the winter ones.

Especially the swimming.

However, I think this time around, I'm going to watch some of the cycling if I can.

This dude has terrifying guns.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Damn!

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Raell Kromwell

Apparently his name is Robert Forstemann.

http://thefixedgear.wordpress.com/2010/ ... orstemann/

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Holy shitsnacks!

Guns nothing, that dude's thighs are as big as my freaking chest.... I bet he could kick the head clean off a gorilla.

/edit: Holy crap Aethien is right that blog is really disturbing

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Track cyclists are freaks.

I find that I prefer Winter Games, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because of all the equipment you generally need? Maybe because of the generally higher risk of snow sports? I do kind of like fencing and the oddball sports like decathlon, pentathlon, etc.

Edit: That's kind of a disturbing blog ...

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

hmm. TKD, Sailing, gymnastics are the summer sports that hold much interest for me. (then again, those are the three I ever really participated in IRL)

Opening Ceremonies... (DVR Liveblogsortathing cause I'm bored.)
Kenneth Branagh:
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.

I was with em up to the National Anthem... The pastoral thing was cool, then the industrial revolution, the Queen's entrance... All pretty cool.

Then, um, healthcare? Wait, what? Also, the announcers need to STFU.

Alright, JK Rowling, cool. Still not sure where they're going with this. OMG SHUT UP VIERA.

100 foot tall Voldemort... that's pretty cool. Versus... a hundred Mary Poppinses. Yes, my argument is invalid.

Mommy, I can't sleep, my duvet is far too bright. I'll go with Creepy, Lauer.

Oh hell yeah. Football soon! 9/5 baby!

Hooray! Mr Bean! Awesome. Much <3 for Rowan Atkinson. So. Awesome.

Alrighty, a Mini. Frankie and June say Thanks Tim. Tim Berners-Lee... Who what now? Yes Matt, maybe I shall google him. Hold a tick whilst I do that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
Hm, so he's England's Al Gore, Inventor of the interweb! Very well, carry on NBC.

So raver kids use the longest glowsticks evar. Ok, bring back the 100' Voldemort. Please.

Excuse me Opening Ceremony, you seem to have spilled some 60's on you. Wait... if she dropped her phone... how's he calling her on it? Oh... horrible revelation... if we're going through British music, era by era... does that mean we're going to get spice girls and One Direction? Queen, nice.

Wait... was that the TARDIS? Right at the end of the Queen song? <rew> <Play> OMG yes! that's the VWORP! And now a commercial... /sigh.

Animal Practice... Pass.

And back. So we get TARDIS sound... but no Doctor? LOL Frankie goes to Hollywood. Eurythmics, cool. Yeah Meredith. You don't understand a lot. The Prodigy.. Unexpected and cool. Wow she has big hair. And a kiss, and a facebook update thingy. lol. Dizzy Rascal? Who? I'm sure they could maybe have found someone that we've heard of for this decade. But then I'm American. So eh

Oh look! There he goes, inventing the internet! Viera: "A selfless act, he wanted to be sure the worldwide web was for everyone to enjoy and noone to abuse" Higa... wubba... /sigh.

Yay, more fireworks over the Thames! And Smarmy Soccer guy with the torch on a boat. and ad.

GE imaging, Target kids going to college, HP and powering people... Oh wait, I can FF. batmanomegamcdonalds and back.

Alright... I guess the show is done then... Phelps Interview. I dunno how good this Lochte kid is, but I hope Phelps kicks everyone's ***.

Oh kay then. I guess that was the opening finale then... Parade of nations coming. BMW ad with 'Sail'. Good song.

Overall, China's was better I think. Far grander in scale and production. This was... I dunno, a bit all over the place. Ah well. Let the games begin

Edit: Adding on after the parade of nations. Couple of speeches, eh. The torch thing. Super cool, and wow that was an asston of fireworks. And now, Paul McCartney.

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Holy shitsnacks!

It was just too odd for me. Really.

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Raell Kromwell

Yeah, I don't disagree with that. Still watching the parade of nations.

They're all so pretty...

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Holy shitsnacks!

That's hilarious, Farsky.

I honestly had trouble choosing between the opening ceremony and the Dodgers game ... OK, actually, I only had trouble choosing because my wife came home early to watch it with our son, and I kinda felt like I should share it a bit. The game was a great game to watch, well-played, very tight.

The funny part about the ceremony is that our boy (7) has been playing Civilization lately, and mentioned the similarity to the game when the smokestacks came up. So, it's good for something. Plus, he watched all the countries come through in the parade of nations, wondering what their special units would be ...

But, yeah, I can't stand the commentary. It's like once every four years we get a geography lesson, courtesy of NBC. I'm glad I missed the Voldemort part, too.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

It took me a lil while to decide, and I was expecting to hate it, but it was awesome. You guys need to get to grips with its amazing awesomeness. This is all ;-p

Were you inside? Or at Hyde Park, maybe? Heard that that was the place to be, if you weren't actually in the stadium.

Go watch some fencing for me or something.

_________________
This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Men's Cycling Road Race, some Swimming, women's indoor volleyball, and some men's beach volleyball.

Still more to come. I think this is the most I've watched of the Olympics in a good long time, if not ever.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Rowdy Gaines... STFU. You're ruining the swimming with all your verbal diarrhea. Stop prattling about how so and so should just "shut it down" and conserve their legs for the finals. Look doucher, if you don't go hard, go home. It doesn't matter how much energy you save for the finals if 8 other people decide they need to go balls to the wall in the prelims and post a better time than you.

Oh, and FFS NBC, can you have more than one event or heat or whatever before running 6 ads?

Also, is it just me or is it sexist to have the women's floor exercises with all sorts of dancing and posing and music, and the men's is just an exhibition of jumping, leaping and handstands.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Is it wrong of me to expect this Japanese Women's Volleyball team to activate their magic love starball power and whip the **** out of the Italians in an explosion of sparkles, glitter and beams of energy?

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Holy shitsnacks!

Depends...have you taken acid? If so, expect to see just that.

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Raell Kromwell

Olympics Quote of the night: "And once again, it was that damned pommel horse"

Grats Team GB!

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Holy shitsnacks!

Under the heading of Not-So-Good-Minton...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympi ... ds-newsxml

Don't say I didn't warn you... Badminton cheating by the Chinese is nothing new
By MARTIN SAMUEL


It was earlier this year that the website Badzine published its statistics showing the frequency of walkovers in all-Chinese badminton matches. Chinese players had been scheduled to meet 99 times in 2011: on 20 occasions the game was either not played, or not completed.

When China played China, 19.8 per cent of games did not reach a conclusion. And when China played anyone else? The figure dropped to 0.21 per cent. No doubt the Chinese athletes said there was nothing untoward in those figures, too. At these Olympics, this is a line we have been hearing a lot.

It was at this point, however, when the evidence was so overwhelming, that the Badminton World Federation should have felt compelled to act. China were expected to win every gold medal at the London Olympic Games and all reasonable evidence suggested that the athletes and coaches at the pinnacle of the sport were behaving in a nefarious manner. Instead, a blind eye was turned. Today, the reputation of badminton is in tatters.

The sport has rightly expelled eight athletes from the Olympic women’s event, but it is too late. Charges will be brought but not all of the culprits are in the dock. Chinese badminton has conspired, literally, in this degradation of sporting contest, tainting rival associations with their behaviour but throughout they have been abetted by those with a duty of care. It is pathetic that the BWF are posturing as men of action now, when for years they have indulged the most obvious cheating.

Every bit as blatant, in fact, as what occurred at Wembley Arena on Tuesday night when Chinese second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei upset the odds by losing a group game to Danish pair Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen.

This placed them in the same half of the knockout draw as Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang, meaning a gold and silver double would be impossible unless Wang and Yang lost, which they then attempted to do. Sensing this their opponents, Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na of South Korea, tried to lose too, but failed. Then the next pairs, from South Korea and Indonesia, played to get beat. A very genteel crowd turned ugly and with good reason. Far from justifying the cost of the tickets and the trip, this occasion was worthless, bankrupt.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Yea, I saw a bit of that on the news today. What I don't get is why is it even an Olympic sport?

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Raell Kromwell

Here is video of the Chinese 2nd team throwing their match.

Can't link the video directly, so you'll have to click to nbcolympics.com
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/badmin ... match.html

I don't know the details of the other teams, but in the case of the chinese, they had two teams entered, considered the top two teams at the event. Both teams ended up in the same 'pool', so the 2nd team decided to lose in order to avoid having to play the 1st team, and thus be eligible for the Gold/Silver.

Apparently, losing on purpose is not unheard of in these types of tournaments. I can't necessarily blame the players. They are trying to win the best way they can. I blame the organizers of the tournament brackets making a system where losing can be preferential.

Perhaps the biggest piece of idiocy is, the punishment for getting a 'black card' from the ref for intentionally losing points, is to forfeit the match. Kinda silly, since that is what they want in the first place. Punishment should be disqualification from the tournament (which is ultimately what happened here, but not until there was a bunch of protest from people outside of the sport).

As far as why it's an Olympic sport. Why shouldn't it be? It's more of a sport that Gymnastics or Ice Dancing. At least they keep score.

I had a high school gym teacher who was an Olympic badminton player. He used to set up nets in the gym after school and bring some of the international and college players in to practice. It's an intense sport. I've read accounts of the shuttlecock travellng at speeds near 200mph coming off the racket.

It's just as much of a sport as Tennis or Table Tennis or Skeet Shooting. The hand/eye coordination required is off the charts..

I feel sorry for this Japanese boxer.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/boxing ... ision.html

NinjaEdit:
Here is an article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/au ... ing-boxing

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/rowing ... niger.html?

So, it looks like the boxing match decision was overturned on appeal.. and rightfully so...

Edit: And the official was kicked out too..
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ ... E_EXPELLED

Brilliant

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Holy shitsnacks!