11/24/24
February 18, 2010
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
A story on Winter Olympics trivia describes a failed Olympic sport I'd like to see: the Winter Pentathlon. It consisted of cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, shooting, fencing, and horseback riding. Though I would replace the last event with ice dancing.
posted by rcade at 08:48 AM on February 18, 2010
The Cavaliers jettisoned the 7'3'' 260 lb. Ilgauskas and picked up the 6'9" 235 lb. Jamison.
I'm glad the Wizards traded Jamison. He was too good to be stuck on that team now.
posted by bperk at 09:27 AM on February 18, 2010
NBC's cameras caught Shawn White's coach Bud Keene cussing as they discussed what White should do on his final run. Earlier NBC filmed Lindsey Vonn sobbing on her husband's shoulder for several minutes, so it was a night of weird live Olympic moments. NBC is going all reality-TV on us.
posted by rcade at 11:25 AM on February 18, 2010
No doubt, bperk. Except for his brief swim with Dallas, Antwan's played on some truly terrible teams, which is a shame since he's a very solid player and, by all accounts, a hell of a good guy. I'm sure a $13 MM salary softens the blow, but I'm still happy for him.
posted by Ufez Jones at 11:27 AM on February 18, 2010
NBC is going all reality-TV on us.
Then why, as the article suggests, should the network have to apologize for anything at all? Why should they have to apologize for airing profanity uttered in real-time. Man, that's as real as it gets. Raw.
posted by Spitztengle at 12:34 PM on February 18, 2010
A story on Winter Olympics trivia describes a failed Olympic sport I'd like to see: the Winter Pentathlon. It consisted of cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, shooting, fencing, and horseback riding. Though I would replace the last event with ice dancing.
rcade, seems to me I heard that waaaaaay back in the day, in the collegiate Winter Carnivals, each competitor would compete in cross-country skiing, alpine skiing downhill AND slalom, and ski jumping. Nowadays the closest you get are nordic combined (yumpin' plus cross-country) and alpine super-combi (GS and downhill) -- squish those back together and throw in biathlon-style shooting, and you've got a winter pentathlon!
posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:40 PM on February 18, 2010
In the White footage, White's coach and several other members of his entourage all had visors propped on their foreheads. Why do those guys need visors? They're not competing.
posted by rcade at 12:45 PM on February 18, 2010
Just a general observation, but I'm in France at the moment and I'm watching the Olympics on French TV and despite some of their lack of knowledge about certain sports (curling, hockey) and the language barrier (my French isn't all that great) and obvious French bias (duh), the whole experience is making me never want to watch the Olympics in North America again. I hate NBC broadcasts. I enjoyed CBC. No idea how CTV is handling it. But, compared to French TV, those are all shit. And they're all shit for one reason and one reason only:
NOT A SINGLE FUCKING COMMERCIAL. EVER. The only time I see a commercial is when they end the broadcast on one channel and I don't switch to the continuing channel fast enough. Let me tell you, watching coverage like this gives the games a kind of flow that I never saw before. It becomes such a time sink.
posted by mkn at 12:49 PM on February 18, 2010
so it was a night of weird live Olympic moments
How about Lindsey Vonn's "visualization" of her downhill run. I can't argue with what works but it did look a little funny.
Or the announcer who asked Vonn how she did such a good job holding her emotions in check as she's crying in triumph? Maybe Dude had the questions written down on his hand?
posted by cjets at 12:49 PM on February 18, 2010
squish those back together and throw in biathlon-style shooting, and you've got a winter pentathlon!
Nah nah nah - what we need is for them to compete at all of the first four disciplines whilst carrying a rifle and shooting at randomly appearing targets throughout. You're mid-air, halfway through your jump on the small hill and a target zips across on a wire in front of you? Deal with it; it's winter pentathlon. Go for the shooting points or try to nail the telemark landing? Up to you. That's the trade off.
I'd watch that. I'd watch the hell out of that.
posted by JJ at 12:53 PM on February 18, 2010
That whole "discussion" between Shaun White and his coach before his meaningless final run struck me as poor acting. The only reason I kept watching to that point was to see this rumored 1280 double McTwist. Did anyone seriously doubt that he'd pull that one out in his victory run? The whole reason he went so big in his first run, risking a fall, was to set up that second run for the McTwist: either he's already secured gold (which is what happened) or he wins gold with an insane trick only he could pull off. I appreciate wanting to hype it, but pretending to come up with it on camera was lame. Still, total fucking rock star.
posted by cl at 01:00 PM on February 18, 2010
His second Olympic halfpipe gold medal already won, White turned to U.S. Snowboarding coach Mike Jankowski and told him, "I can't snowboard right now."
So he didn't.
He flew instead.
And the legend grows...
posted by cl at 01:13 PM on February 18, 2010
mkn, no commercials? Wow. I'm so sick of missing half of each end so they can show the same pathetic commercials over and over.
posted by apoch at 02:00 PM on February 18, 2010
cjets:
How about Lindsey Vonn's "visualization" of her downhill run. I can't argue with what works but it did look a little funny.
That's normal -- downhill racers do this all the time. It's very effective, and yes, looks goofy as all get-out.
JJ:
Nah nah nah - what we need is for them to compete at all of the first four disciplines whilst carrying a rifle and shooting at randomly appearing targets throughout. You're mid-air, halfway through your jump on the small hill and a target zips across on a wire in front of you? Deal with it; it's winter pentathlon. Go for the shooting points or try to nail the telemark landing? Up to you. That's the trade off.
Two words: primitive biathlon. Click the "Scenes of past biathlons" link and check out the, um, uniforms.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 02:19 PM on February 18, 2010
I appreciate wanting to hype it, but pretending to come up with it on camera was lame.
I don't think that's what they were doing. White was open with reporters the day before about the fact he was saving something new for the finals.
posted by rcade at 02:32 PM on February 18, 2010
"What do you want to do," said Shaun's coach.
"I don't know, man, ride down the middle?"
"No, man. Relax. Have some fun."
"Drop a double-mick at the end?"
"Yeah, drop a double mick. You send that thing. And make sure you stomp the shit out of it."
OK, I still doubt that the dialog wasn't planned, because the trick clearly was, but maybe it was genuine. In any case, it was amazing to see how much bigger he went than everyone else. His first straight air was just huge.
posted by cl at 03:03 PM on February 18, 2010
In the White footage, White's coach and several other members of his entourage all had visors propped on their foreheads. Why do those guys need visors? They're not competing.
Maybe there is an open snowboarding area next to the competition zone. They have an open skiing area next to the downhill area. I saw some people going by in the background during the men's downhill.
Maybe the guys get in some boardin' time before/after White does his run.
posted by grum@work at 03:08 PM on February 18, 2010
Visors? You mean like that dorktastic thing that Jon Gruden used to wear? I've never seen anyone wear a visor on the hill. If I did, though, I'd assume it was because of the sun, in which case it doesn't matter if you're skiing, riding or standing still.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:22 PM on February 18, 2010
See-through masks. You can see his coach wearing one in the link. His entire entourage had them.
posted by rcade at 03:32 PM on February 18, 2010
They gotta get off the hill somehow, and I assume they don't scoot down on their butts. Even less plausible is the idea that hardcore snowboarders would ride the lift back down. They'd rather ride in a sled than that. So they wear goggles (not visors) for the ride down.
posted by tahoemoj at 03:38 PM on February 18, 2010
NOT A SINGLE FUCKING COMMERCIAL. EVER. The only time I see a commercial is when they end the broadcast on one channel and I don't switch to the continuing channel fast enough.
The USA Today says the IOC gets roughly half its broadcast money from the USA. The US gets a commercial-ridden broadcast and the rest of the world is happy.
posted by bperk at 04:23 PM on February 18, 2010
The USA Today says the IOC gets roughly half its broadcast money from the USA. The US gets a commercial-ridden broadcast and the rest of the world is happy.
U.S. World Subsidies -- Not Just Limited to the UN and Pharmaceuticals!!!!
posted by holden at 04:52 PM on February 18, 2010
The USA Today says the IOC gets roughly half its broadcast money from the USA. The US gets a commercial-ridden broadcast and the rest of the world is happy.
Another brilliant move from the geniuses at NBC. Maybe they could have saved some money by having Conan host the Olympics.
posted by cjets at 05:28 PM on February 18, 2010
The US gets a commercial-ridden broadcast and the rest of the world is happy.
Not me. I'd like to register a complaint.
And I'm not the only one.
posted by owlhouse at 06:00 PM on February 18, 2010
From Owlhouse's link:
Nine was inundated with complaints of homophobia after the pair quipped about Weir's outfit.
(Example: Molloy - "They don't leave anything in the locker room those blokes." McGuire - "They don't leave anything in the closet either, do they?")
Translation: His Penis frightens me.
posted by cjets at 07:39 PM on February 18, 2010
Great moments in journalism: Hey, Sven Kramer, you just won the 5,000 meter speedskating gold medal! State your name and your country and the medal you just won for the American audience "for tape identification purposes."
posted by rcade at 08:33 PM on February 18, 2010
I noticed a bit of international female sports interviewer solidarity there. The Dutch interviewer seemed to think the question was OK. Thankfully, Sven just laughed. international female sports interviewer solidarity
That's probably a single word in Dutch. Because I have just learned that 'speedskateminded' certainly is.
posted by owlhouse at 08:41 PM on February 18, 2010
They gotta get off the hill somehow, and I assume they don't scoot down on their butts. Even less plausible is the idea that hardcore snowboarders would ride the lift back down. They'd rather ride in a sled than that. So they wear goggles (not visors) for the ride down.
That, plus it's just part of your gear. People who work on the hill quickly learn that the way not to lose things like goggles, hats and gloves is to have them on your body at all times. When I was working as a ski instructor, we'd all do that whenever we went inside: gloves clipped to belt, hat stays on, goggles stay on hat. 'sides, it's not like you want to be showing the world your hat hair.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:48 PM on February 18, 2010
posted by grum@work at 10:43 PM on February 18, 2010
lbb, are you saying that I'm not a nerd, even though I still clip my mittens to my jacket at 40? Neato!
posted by tahoemoj at 11:43 PM on February 18, 2010
In the White footage, White's coach and several other members of his entourage all had visors propped on their foreheads. Why do those guys need visors? They're not competing.
I just thought it was similar to why baseball managers wear the full uniform, which is to say that I have no idea why.
Actually, I'm sure those goggles come in handy at times. Keeps the wind off your face, and while it was dark by the time the event ended the tinted shades were probably needed earlier.
posted by dviking at 01:15 AM on February 19, 2010
I think the Dutch interviewer thought her American counterpart was an idiot. That country treats speedskaters the way we treat NBA stars. That video was like a foreign reporter asking Tom Brady to state his name and position at Super Bowl media day.
posted by rcade at 07:35 AM on February 19, 2010
The writer in that Dontrelle Willis story makes the claim that no athlete is in it for the money: "But Willis and his big-league colleagues have a different take on money and performance. It's the latter they most care about. Their professional and athletic pride, the essence of their esteem as athletes, is what drives them."
There's no way that's true for everybody. Some players are clearly in it mostly for the paycheck.
posted by rcade at 07:39 AM on February 19, 2010
Nah nah nah - what we need is for them to compete at all of the first four disciplines whilst carrying a rifle and shooting at randomly appearing targets throughout. You're mid-air, halfway through your jump on the small hill and a target zips across on a wire in front of you? Deal with it; it's winter pentathlon. Go for the shooting points or try to nail the telemark landing? Up to you. That's the trade off.
Then all you need is James Bond and its a movie.
posted by Debo270 at 09:11 AM on February 19, 2010
lbb, are you saying that I'm not a nerd, even though I still clip my mittens to my jacket at 40? Neato!
Clarification: if they're each clipped to the end of a sleeve, you're a nerd. You're a jumbo nerd. If they're clipped together to a jacket tab made for the purpose, you're one of the cool kids.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:32 AM on February 19, 2010
Clarification: if they're each clipped to the end of a sleeve, you're a nerd. You're a jumbo nerd. If they're clipped together to a jacket tab made for the purpose, you're one of the cool kids.
My wife is threatening to attach a long string to my gloves and thread it through my jacket sleeves so I won't keep losing them. I put them down and can never remember where.
But if you ask me to describe the snow bunny I saw on the slopes at Sunapee 40 years ago, I can do that.
posted by Howard_T at 06:43 PM on February 19, 2010
The Cavaliers jettisoned the 7'3'' 260 lb. Ilgauskas and picked up the 6'9" 235 lb. Jamison.
The move was described as a decision by the Cavs to "bolster" their front line. And bolster they did. It wasn't clear that the occasionally invertebrate Ilgauskas was ever a full fledged member of the front line on a day to day basis.
They could have added Muggsy Bogues and called it bolstering.