London Olympics

[johnnya24]

No one in the U.S. needs to use the BBC website. NBC is also streaming every athletic event live and for free at http://www.nbcolympics.com/. (everything except the Opening and Closing ceremonies).

Isn't it a paid-for service? I also heard the streams were poor and choppy. BBC streams are HQ.

[OaklandA's]

Isn't it a paid-for service? I also heard the streams were poor and choppy. BBC streams are HQ.

Nope, all free, and good quality. NBC also has free apps for phones and iPads that stream every event live.

[swampdragon]

womens water polo suits - look for them

actually I am a fan of the brutal game. It is like rugby where your opponent can drown you

[johnnya24]

Nope, all free, and good quality. NBC also has free apps for phones and iPads that stream every event live.

This is the more like the reaction my feeds have been bombarded with: http://www.sbnation.com/london-olymp...-shaky-weekend

[Steve]

I can't wait to watch the track and field events. As a former track athlete, watching it on TV really brings me back to my days of competition. I can't even imagine how tough it would be to try and high jump with thousands of people watching, though.

Pretend their naked?

[johnnya24]

What events did you do? I used to do the short sprints ... had bags of raw speed, but no endurance. The macho sports teachers used to get very annoyed every year when their "athletes" came in a distant second in the sprint (60-80m ... don't think it was ever a full 100m). Was hopeless at the field events ... anything that involved upper body strength was beyond me. I reckon I probably would have enjoyed the Triple Jump, but that would have involved interacting with the teachers ... not that they had a clue anyway.

[Lucky]

When I started learning to high jump, Fosbury had not won in Mexico. We were still jumping into sawdust pits, so a flop would have been suicide.

(The guys here who have met me, like Bhob, Byron, RC, etc., probably wouldn't believe I was ever a high jumper, but this was not long after the Depression.)

[johnnya24]

Well I got a track (and soccer) scholarship to college to compete in the high jump and long jump. I wasn't quite good enough at either for college level competition. Back in high school I ran the 200 and 400 and did high/long jump. I dabbled in triple jump and even did pole vault for a little while. I vaulted 14', which I thought was pretty cool (but sucks overall). I high jumped 6'9", which is 6" taller than I am. I never got much past that mark that I achieved in high school, though. In college everyone jumps 7' or more.

That's pretty awesome. The very existence of scholarships like this must also be a huge incentive for participation. Instant reward for achievement. We could only dream of having a system like that ... the organisation of sport in US schools and colleges is lifetimes ahead of us.

The two girls who won our first Gold today are an example of this ... one is a soldier funded by the Army, and the other is a girl who was watching the Beijing Olympics and became inspired to enroll for a program looking for "athletic girls of a certain height to try out for rowing, handball and cycling" ... 4 years later she is a Gold medalist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/01/olympics-2012-success-stanning-glover

It's a great human interest story, but also a sad indictment of our school system which does NOTHING to identify talent. We could never identify and produce a young talent like Missy Franklyn or a Michael Phelps ... and even if they did manage to find their way into a private club, they will never achieve their full potential. It has taken private bodies and lottery funding to turn around our Olympic sports ... the system is a disaster ... I laughed at the opening ceremony when Jacques Rogge praised the UK school system as the first in history to include sport in the curriculum ... this was of course private schools in the 19th century ... now it is a disgrace.

[Judge Jude]

"I dabbled in triple jump and even did pole vault for a little while. I vaulted 14', which I thought was pretty cool (but sucks overall)."

My nephew, who was a good athlete in HS (main sport was varsity soccer, made it as soph), did no better than 13 feet - and that was a lot better than most, it seemed. Pole vault is very tough to master, especially in high school, due to upper body strength and leg strength needed, it seemed. 14 feet is a good number.

[johnnya24]

"I dabbled in triple jump and even did pole vault for a little while. I vaulted 14', which I thought was pretty cool (but sucks overall)."

My nephew, who was a good athlete in HS (main sport was varsity soccer, made it as soph), did no better than 13 feet - and that was a lot better than most, it seemed. Pole vault is very tough to master, especially in high school, due to upper body strength and leg strength needed, it seemed. 14 feet is a good number.

Pole Vault in High School LOL ... we were lucky we have a rancid old sand pit full of cat sh!t.

[Judge Jude]

Not exactly on a field of velvet - theirs was the only high school in the county with a respectable coach who knew the pole vault at all, and he grabbed up several athletes from different sports and did enough to get them a county-best, team-wise. I heard no Olympic music in the background of that school, lol

My high school didn't have (American) football, and no soccer either til I was a freshman. And no band.
My university didn't have football (or a band), either.

Kind of narrowed the pecking order - neither extreme jocks nor extreme dorks had official outlets.
#heynow

[johnnya24]

Yeah, I was good at pole vault but there was another guy on my team who was better and I was already doing well in several other events. Gimmicks, if you will.

They should have a quadrathalon, a septathalon, and a decathalon

[johnnya24]

Here's me bitching about sport in schools, and the next day ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/02/olympics-2012-boa-school-sport

"It's one of the worst statistics in British sport," said Moynihan. "It is wholly unacceptable that over 50% of our medallists in Beijing came from the private sector. It tells you that 50% of the medals came from seven per cent of the population.

Won't make any difference though ... we sold a huge % of our school playing fields to developers over the years.

[B-Fly]

Here's me bitching about sport in schools, and the next day ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/02/olympics-2012-boa-school-sport

Won't make any difference though ... we sold a huge % of our school playing fields to developers over the years.

It would seem we've got the opposite problem here -- too much emphasis on and resources dedicated to sports in our public universities.

[Steve]

It would seem we've got the opposite problem here -- too much emphasis on and resources dedicated to sports in our public universities.

I'm surprised you are posting today. I would have thought the badminton controversy would have had you in bed all day with the covers over your head.