Beijing 2008

[Andrew]

So, who's watching the Games?

I caught a little bit of the opening ceremony and bits and pieces today but the only event I'll be seeking out to watch is the basketball tournament. Still, there's no shortage of coverage so if I get tired of the Foxtel marathons I might find myself flipping over to it.

[Leander]

I do. I don't want to talk about politics but just from the sportive point of view I am looking forward to the Olympics. I am only interested in team sports though such as ice-hockey, haha.

I'll watch some basketball games and soccer games.
Unfortunately, many games take place in the middle of the night and I cannot watch them. I'd like to see the German national team play but they always play at 5 am.

I'll definitely watch USA - China which will be on at 4pm tomorrow.

[Cartar]

Watching here. Aside from basketball tournament, I´ll probably watching few football matches, definitely will be watching beach volleyball, some of the athletics events. Perhaps tennis aswell. This is gonna be interesting

[StupidBoy]

Yea Im watching. Mostly basketball, but I'll be watching gym, swimming and athletics because we have our top performers there.

[Andrew]

I don't want to talk about politics but just from the sportive point of view I am looking forward to the Olympics.

I understand why some people are boycotting and protesting the Olympics over the issue of Tibet but to me the Games represent a time to put aside conflicts like that and focus on sports and competition. That's not to say that issues like those should be ignored as such but I don't think having a quarrel with some of the political activities of the host nation should prevent you from cheering on your own country's athletes. Still, I do understand why some people do feel they can't watch the Olympics for political reasons.

[Leander]

That's why I said that I do not to talk about politics but watch and enjoy basketball instead.

It is not just Tibet but also the violation of human rights, child labor, forms of slavery in rural areas (with some kind of mafia behind all that), censorship, the lack of a real freedom of speech...the opening ceremony was very political as well. China showed off their military power when hundreds of men acted in perfect synchronization. Due to history, such a performance would not be allowed in Germany or Austria. Some elements of the opening ceremony reminded me of Leni Riefenstahl and propaganda movies of Hitler (just the esthetics). I also dislike the way Chinese athletes are trained. They are drilled like machines from childhood on.

I am not one of those that boycott the games. I leave all the things mentioned above aside and just concentrate on sports. They are definitely enjoyable.
I said that I do not want to talk about politics as it would be off-topic, things cannot be changed and the Olympics should be mainly about sports.

[Patr1ck]

I am watching Team Handball right now after Lithuania just defeated Argentina in basketball in a close game. Kleiza hit a 3 for the lead and then Argentina threw it out of bounds on the inbound play.

Team Handball looks interesting, I don't remember ever seeing it before. It looks like it would be fun to play. Looks like they are playing with a mini-basketball.

[buzzy]

When I watch Handball it always cracks me up how many steps they take. I know they can take 3 steps before the dribbling and three steps after, it just looks strange when they walk all over the court. That may be the right sport for some NBA players ..

2T: I only watched Germany-Angola so far, but Im looking forward to the USA-China game in an hour.

[Leander]

Wow, what a start. Yao Ming for three. LOL China is behind by only 4 points after the first quarter.

Why did Jason Kidd start?

Off-topic: why does Carmelo Anthony wear this arm band? He wears it all the time but why?

[buzzy]

The whole game is a highlight reel so far. Great to watch!

Why did Jason Kidd start?

The don't really need the scoring of Paul or Williams with the other 4 starters on the floor. Jason brings leadership and experience they badly need

Off-topic: why does Carmelo Anthony wear this arm band? He wears it all the time but why?

Doesn't everybody wear a certain accessory always?
You can also ask why the hell everybody started wearing those long arm sleeves last NBA season.
Just a habit I'd say in most of the cases..

[Leander]

No, I want to know if it is just looks or if it serves some medical purpose.

[shadowgrin]

Looks, or knowing tendencies of players might be because of superstition or habit.

[Patr1ck]

Leander is correct, it is for a medical reason, after a surgery Melo had. AI wears it for a similar reason.

[shadowgrin]

Yeah, but it is already safe to remove such accessories after some time when they have fully healed. Players let it stay because they already got comfortable and used playing with it.

Same with Rip's face mask.

[Leander]

The American jerseys are horrible. Why do they have white letters on white background? Only the shadow is black. Hardly readable.

[Drex]

That's exactly what I thought

It's been fun so far.

[Matthew]

The American jerseys are horrible. Why do they have white letters on white background? Only the shadow is black. Hardly readable.

If it's bad for you, think of the poor Chinese.

[Jing]

The American jerseys are horrible. Why do they have white letters on white background? Only the shadow is black. Hardly readable.

If it's bad for you, think of the poor Chinese.

[Andrew]

That's why I said that I do not to talk about politics but watch and enjoy basketball instead.

I realise that, but it is an issue related to the games that I've seen a few people comment on in older threads so I thought I'd throw in my two cents since it was alluded to.

So far China is leading with eight gold medals, though the United States has the most combined medals with a total of twelve (as of this post, anyway).

[[Q]]

does anybody watch the pointless events? like airgun shooting? the only events i would actually sit down and watch would be basketball, women's volleyball, and women's beach volleyball.

[benji]

How are any of the events any more or any less pointless than the rest?

[GoHornets]

I can't watch many games. I go to school in the morning, just when all the games are being played.

I hope I can catch a good handball game. I liked Spain - Croatia.

I also watched USA - Chian (Basketball) and USA - Argentina (women hockey)

[Oznogrd]

How are any of the events any more or any less pointless than the rest?

there is no provable point but it all boils down to your definition of sport which could take days and days to paint a complete picture of...you know what never mind im not doing that

I have to admit i havent watched a second of the games. It actually physically hurts me to watch them at this point after training so long to try to make it there. But i will say go USA, australia, and and other countries represented by this forum...

[Andrew]

Are you still competing at all?

[benji]

there is no provable point but it all boils down to your definition of sport which could take days and days to paint a complete picture of...you know what never mind im not doing that

But isn't all sport also pointless? And isn't that the point? It is an escape from the things that do matter?