Any other old guys like me notice how some of our 'Olympians' talk just like the hippies of the 1960's? Anyone listening, or who can stand listening, to Bode Miller (for ex) and hear his drivel about how he drinks, lives for the moment, "Yeah, man, its like ok and cool to lose, man!" -- he sounds just like a goddamn hippie.
Then, the snowboarder girl, Lindsyellis, or wtf her name was, sounds just like a stoner from Haight-Ashbury!
I don’t think of athletes in this way. It boggles my mind to think of these people representing our country. These hippie-bums are the best America can offer? Pathetic.
I know there are other fine athletes, but sheeshh…enough with the loser-hippies.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Any other old guys like me notice how some of our ‘Olympians’ talk just like the hippies of the 1960’s? Anyone listening, or who can stand listening, to Bode Miller (for ex) and hear his drivel about how he drinks, lives for the moment, “Yeah, man, its like ok and cool to lose, man!” – he sounds just like a goddamn hippie.
Then, the snowboarder girl, Lindsyellis, or wtf her name was, sounds just like a stoner from Haight-Ashbury!
I don’t think of athletes in this way. It boggles my mind to think of these people representing our country. These hippie-bums are the best America can offer? Pathetic.
I know there are other fine athletes, but sheeshh…enough with the loser-hippies.[/quote]
I think it has to do with which spot the athlete is from. The snow boarding crowd seems to mimic the surfing crowd in regard to their lifestyle (just an observation). I don’t think the gymnasts or shotputters talk that way, though.
Some of the newer sports, like the half pipe (sp?) are very young and tend to have a “cool” image and have those cultural overtones. Older, more traditional sports like the speedskaters are a bit more conservative.
My brother, his fiance, and I were talking about this exact topic this morning. I wonder why these athletes can’t just fess up and say something to the effect of “yea, I messed up and had a poor performance.” Nobody, including themselves, is believing their lies that they don’t care about winning, and if they don’t care about winning, they should be selling soy lattes, not competing in the Olympics (even if it is the Winter Olympics).
I think their comments are reflective of a trend in the modern west to do just enough to get by and subsidise the loser by devaluing being #1.
Good for them. You’re talking about snowboarders. They are in fact pretty representative of a lot of the people that gravitate towards that sport. Fun people. I’ve had a lot of good times partying with snowboarders on ski vacations.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Any other old guys like me notice how some of our ‘Olympians’ talk just like the hippies of the 1960’s? Anyone listening, or who can stand listening, to Bode Miller (for ex) and hear his drivel about how he drinks, lives for the moment, “Yeah, man, its like ok and cool to lose, man!” – he sounds just like a goddamn hippie.
Then, the snowboarder girl, Lindsyellis, or wtf her name was, sounds just like a stoner from Haight-Ashbury!
I don’t think of athletes in this way. It boggles my mind to think of these people representing our country. These hippie-bums are the best America can offer? Pathetic.
I know there are other fine athletes, but sheeshh…enough with the loser-hippies.[/quote]
Wow, people can perform at a high level and be Olympic-caliber athletes and still be fun and have fun. That’s pathetic? Sheeshh…
[quote]jsbrook wrote:
Good for them. You’re talking about snowboarders. They are in fact pretty representative of a lot of the people that gravitate towards that sport. Fun people. I’ve had a lot of good times partying with snowboarders on ski vacations.[/quote]
The Olympics is NOT supposed to be a party. The athletes are supposed to focus on why they are there. When Bode Miller has to swear that he wasn’t drinking the night before his competitions, what’s that tell you?
Sure, let 'em have fun – on their own time. I’m sure they have a high old time, smoke some dope and see if they can snowboard down a mountain and live. More power to 'em. But not when they’re wearing our flag and representing us.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
jsbrook wrote:
Good for them. You’re talking about snowboarders. They are in fact pretty representative of a lot of the people that gravitate towards that sport. Fun people. I’ve had a lot of good times partying with snowboarders on ski vacations.
The Olympics is NOT supposed to be a party. The athletes are supposed to focus on why they are there. When Bode Miller has to swear that he wasn’t drinking the night before his competitions, what’s that tell you?
Sure, let 'em have fun – on their own time. I’m sure they have a high old time, smoke some dope and see if they can snowboard down a mountain and live. More power to 'em. But not when they’re wearing our flag and representing us.
[/quote]
As long as it’s not affecting their performance (which I’m not sure is the case this year if they indeed were doing things detrimental to their races at night), the Olympics is and should be a party. Especially after winning medals.
[quote]Wreckless wrote:
Hmmm, this is probably what the East-German coaches kept telling their athletes. And then they filled them up with chemicals.
What word of the concept “winter games” didn’t you understand?[/quote]
What part of Olympic Winter Games don’t you get? Winter games are what you do on your weekends in Colorado or wherever. Burn one down and head down the slopes, right?
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Wreckless wrote:
Hmmm, this is probably what the East-German coaches kept telling their athletes. And then they filled them up with chemicals.
What word of the concept “winter games” didn’t you understand?
What part of Olympic Winter Games don’t you get? Winter games are what you do on your weekends in Colorado or wherever. Burn one down and head down the slopes, right?
NOT at the O, please.
[/quote]
Well, maybe if you’re so upset about it you should represent the US at the games. Oh wait, that’s right, your uptight attitude hasnt done a thing to improve your athletic performance, whereas their laid-back attitude seems to have gotten them to the pinnacle of their respective sports.
Well, maybe if you’re so upset about it you should represent the US at the games. Oh wait, that’s right, your uptight attitude hasnt done a thing to improve your athletic performance, whereas their laid-back attitude seems to have gotten them to the pinnacle of their respective sports.[/quote]
Bode Millers getting drunk every night and the snow boarder girls hottdogging cost them the opportunity to be at the pinnacle of their respective sports.
Each sport has it’s own language. The snowboarding lingo has evolved from the California skateboarding Dog Town talk, which evolved from the surfer dude speak. Need a translator?
[quote]Yo Momma wrote:
Each sport has it’s own language. The snowboarding lingo has evolved from the California skateboarding Dog Town talk, which evolved from the surfer dude speak. Need a translator?[/quote]
It’s that laid back attitude that is similar to the hippies of the 60’s.
It’s a frame of mind. Not necessarily confined to some who are young. I’ve seen 60 year old “hippies.”
I think when they allowed in different events they opened it up to those types. I can’t say that I admire anyone who would take defeat as well as some of these kids have, but that’s just my own frame of mind.
Well, maybe if you’re so upset about it you should represent the US at the games. Oh wait, that’s right, your uptight attitude hasnt done a thing to improve your athletic performance, whereas their laid-back attitude seems to have gotten them to the pinnacle of their respective sports.
Bode Millers getting drunk every night and the snow boarder girls hottdogging cost them the opportunity to be at the pinnacle of their respective sports.
Good potential wasted.[/quote]
If you make it to the olympics you ARE at the pinnacle of your sport. I’m not going to argue semantics, whether pinnacle should be considered upper echelon or only the gold medal winner. The bottom line is that if there were any americans better than them Bode and Jacobellis wouldn’t have been at Turino.
They are the best athletes you have for those sports. YOu have alot of support for athletes in your country, they are all regulary challenged, ranked and then sent to the olympics. So if you take them out, because of a few cultural/personality issues then your going to loose medals. From the attitudes some of you display in these threads when people say they dont care that they lost or screwed up because of a trick… you bitch. You can’t handle loosing, yet have the hide to suggest that they should get out of the way or grow up.
They earnt their right to be there. So you cant complain about the attitudes of the “best” in the sport. Those attitudes helped get them where they are. They are probably very competitive but at the same time understand that shit happens. Or it just wasnt their day. Get over it.
When Jacobellis claimed it didn’t matter, I thought she was just trying to put on a brave face. She was clearly devestated after it happened. She made a single spilt second error in judgement.
Bode Miller on the other hand is just a plain ass. He came in to the games overweight and out of shape and kept his attitude all the same. I wonder if the Nike marketing execs think the old adage, “no press is bad press” applies here.
I would argue that at the Olympic Level the physical attributes of the athletes are fairly consistent. Some are a little behind and some clearly ahead but the majority are at a very high level of physical condition and training for their sport.
Sometimes it’s the athlete who came to win that day that prevails. In other words the one who is the best mentally conditioned, all other things being equal.
Take a cross country skier. If your Canadian, US, German, Italian you have had access to the best training methods, coaches, etc. They are all in superb physical condition and have great technique. What seperates the winner from the also ran is desire at that point. Who will endure enough pain to win? I heard one of the CC skiers comment that if he doesn’t collapse at the finish line he didn’t try hard enough and will not win at the Olympic level. It’s mental at that point. Not caring if you win or not isn’t going to give you the motivation to win.
If you don’t give a shit and can win anyway, imagine how good you could be if you had a more competitive edge.