Events That Are On Right Now!

[Papi34]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

You know, if I did that (blow the bronze in an extremely risky attempt to win silver), I might consider going out and getting totally high or plastered....

Dude thats not even cool common man

[OILFAN #81]

Originally Posted by Papi34

Dude thats not even cool common man

Huh?

[OILFAN #81]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

With the men failing?

I actually think they will win. But I said 3 because 1 of them will fail the way things are going. I think Martin wins Gold as does the women's hockey team.

[The Goon]

You guys are hard. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for a Canadian athlete to compete in these Games.

[Papi34]

Originally Posted by OILFAN #81

Huh?

The guys an ex alcoholic/drug addiction it seemed like the poster was taking a cheap shot.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by OILFAN #81

Exactly. The athletes who are not expected to medal...........then that is a fine attitude to have. Just go out and do your best and see where the chips fall. But for the athletes who are supposed to medal, that is nowhere near the attitude they should have. They should be pissed off if they don't medal and not happy with their effort.

my favorite athlete interview so far besides beer guzzling skeleton dude is Hollingsworth. ya it sucked to see her crying, but she was devastated about not winning, not saying "Well shucks, I gave it my best shot and 4th is almost as good as a medal!"

i want to see more emotion out of our losers, because that at least gives me hope that they have determination to keep pushing and go for gold in the next Olympics. like that American female moguls skier that beat Jenn Heil for the gold. she didn't even qualify for the finals in '06, but that just gave her the inner fire to win this time around, not shrug her shoulders and say "Well I did my best"

[OILFAN #81]

Originally Posted by Papi34

The guys an ex alcoholic/drug addiction it seemed like the poster was taking a cheap shot.

Oh. Gotcha.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Papi34

Dude thats not even cool common man

I'm serious. I feel bad for the guy. To fight back, beat a drug and alcohol problem and then blow what looked like a sure bronze.... I know I might feel depressed enough to fall back into old habits....

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by The Goon

You guys are hard. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for a Canadian athlete to compete in these Games.

Maybe they should take up basket weaving.

[OILFAN #81]

Originally Posted by The Goon

You guys are hard. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for a Canadian athlete to compete in these Games.

Hard? It should be a thrill. You have a chance to bring home a medal in your backyard. That should pump you up!

[FiftyBelow]

In hindsight, I think we're being really hard on the athletes. I have no doubt that they have put in a 100% into their respective events. Who we should be blaming here is the Canadian media and the Own the Podium program for hammering into our heads the overblown expectations of our athletes. Its all about expectations... at this point they're just too high.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Maybe they should take up basket weaving.

Are you kidding? Materials cost money.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I'm serious. I feel bad for the guy. To fight back, beat a drug and alcohol problem and then blow what looked like a sure bronze.... I know I might feel depressed enough to fall back into old habits....

Drinking would have made him go faster.

[The Goon]

There's no shortage of pressure and expectations (Own the Podium). I thought there would be a lot of medals once the first gold came in but there's certainly been a struggle. I think DelBosco today and the Hamelins last night fell short of the podium because they were trying too hard which threw them off the game.

As a Canadian, I am extraordinarily proud of all our athletes. When they win, it's a glorious moment we all share, but when they fall short, we're disappointed, but we still stand in their corner.

[Papi34]

Expectations are ridiculous no doubt but when athletes like hollingsworth of Chris are ranked top in the world they should be better. But lets be real here at least these athletes were close and lost by taking chances or small margins.

The Biggest choke by far is Denny Morrison this guy straight S*** the bed he was terrible basically gave up in the 1500m when he was 20 feet from the final. He was ranked 3rd in the world and he finished what 9th!!! thats horrible and instead of manning up he blames coaching and his funding. Retire Denny or switch nationalities ya bum

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

In hindsight, I think we're being really hard on the athletes. I have no doubt that they have put in a 100% into their respective events. Who we should be blaming here is the Canadian media and the Own the Podium program for hammering into our heads the overblown expectations of our athletes. Its all about expectations... at this point they're just too high.

aside from a few exceptions, they're really not though. Canadian athletes have been tearing up the world championship events for all these different sports for the last few years, and only now on the biggest stage are they all failing. take a look at Jeremy Wotherspoon for the microcosm of the Canadian athlete. the guy has one more world championship speed skating titles than anyone else, but everytime he's had a chance to grab Olympic gold he has failed. Canadians just seem unable to handle the pressure that the Olympics bring, while the Americans seem to thrive on it and seem to always have unexpected medal winners who have the "run of their life" at the best possible moment

[GirlySports]

I heard a stat once that in olympic history, Germans have a 80% rate of athletes who won a medal at the previous world championships in that sport being able to medal at the Olympics. Americans are around 65%.. Canada is below 40%

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

In hindsight, I think we're being really hard on the athletes. I have no doubt that they have put in a 100% into their respective events. Who we should be blaming here is the Canadian media and the Own the Podium program for hammering into our heads the overblown expectations of our athletes. Its all about expectations... at this point they're just too high.

But a lot of these athletes have shown they can compete at a high level and win events. Expectations aren't a problem - delivering on them is.

[Sainters7]

Ya expectations are definitely challenging, but if you're an Olympian that's what you do, you overcome it and excel. Didn't seen to faze Norway when they hosted in '94 and ended up finishing 2nd in the medal standings. Or Australia in '00 when they finished an impressive 4th. That's what good athletes do. I love this country, but sometimes I think our famous laid back attitude hurts us in events like the Olys. I watched the interview of the bobsledder who crashed and he was laughing it off(though I think it was due to being rattled), it kinda irked me how he said its a good day anyways because one of his coaches just had a baby. Good to see the complete lack of fire inside..

In hindsight I actually like how Del Bosco pushed it. He's got that American killer instinct, he wanted the gold. He wasn't content with bronze so he went for it. I like that. I think more Canadians need that mentality. It seems like outside of hockey and perhaps curling, it vanishes. It's just frustrating.

[MRCboicgy]

it's all between the ears