Winter Olympics 2018

Did it have an oiled man from Tonga in the snow?
:snowman_with_snow:

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Yes, yes it did.

http://www.cnn.com/2018/02/09/sport/pita-taufatofua-tonga-flag-bearer-skiing-winter-olympics/index.html

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Things are heating up…

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Four Gold Medals for Germany already.
…but to be honest it would feel better if the Russians were there since they have always been major contenders in all those sports.
Victory tastes…stale.

Do they dope? Hell yeah they do. Just like everyone else does, I am almost sure about that. I still believe that they are mainly banned for political reasons and that’s a shame.

This has the potential to get political very quickly, so I want to temper my response with generalities. Having observed at close range the doping scandal surrounding professional cycling in the 90s and 2000s, I’ll just say that the clean up has to begin somewhere. Initially, I thought that the IOC didn’t go far enough. But as you said Aginor, it is undoubtedly a more widespread occurrence than the currently targeted team.

Certainly when results appear superhuman, it is normal thinking to be suspicious of PED use. However, victories shouldn’t be judge, jury, and executioner. I think that the best approach is to enjoy the results, and if you question your country’s Olympic committee’s ethics, try to make a difference where you can.

Until there is firm evidence otherwise, go Deutschland! Go USA!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1W8EBLYPdI

@Rhinosaurus

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Concerning the semiRussian waxing of team USA in men’s ice hockey today, I have a question to those of you that follow the NHL. Are there any good NHL players from the US, or are they all Canadian and European? It is easy to want to blame the US Olympic Committee for poor performances, but perhaps like as is the case with Nordic sports, we just don’t have the athletes skilled enough to contend.

The U.S. can and does produce good players- Patrick Kane has three Stanley Cups and was named one of the 100 greatest NHL players. Jonathan Quick has two Cups and was the most recent goalie to win the playoffs Conn Smythe MVP award.

But here in the US, of the available talent pool of elite level athletes, Hockey is fourth behind Football, Basketball, and Baseball. In Canada, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries, if you are an elite level talent you are lacing up skates.

Plus add in the fact that we don’t train and practice International rule hockey, or play international tournaments, to the same degree that the other hockey powers do and it can be tough for us to do well.

Much of the same can be said of U.S Soccer, in advance of a World Cup without us.

Our Olympic Basketball team is really good though…

Thanks Tankerwade. That makes sense to a point. With 320 million citizens, one would think that the talent pool is pretty deep. But I suppose it would not not make fiscal sense for the NHL to adopt International rules for a tournament that happens only once every four years.

It will be different when they add lacrosse to the Summer games, a sport where the pros are poorly compensated, but whose players regard being selected for team USA their highest accomplishment.

I think you are downplaying them a bit @Tankerwade.

Austin Matthews, Johnny Gaudreau, Dylan Larkin, Kane, Quick, Phil Kessel, Max Pacioretty, Joe Pavelski, Blake Wheeler, T.J Oshie, Jack Eichel, van Reimsdyk etc etc. A really strong squad.

If the Olympics were using full teams and not the non-NHL’ers it would be a Canada vs USA final for sure in my opinion.

That ‘Russian’ (who aren’t even meant to be playing due to the doping band) vs USA was not a reflection of hockey players for the countries. A lot of old Russians end up in the KHL (easy money) so managed to avoid the NHL ban. The US squad was mostly college players.

Why?

Because the National Hockey League (NHL) (the US/Canada league) did not agree terms with the Olympic committee this year. The NHL are in the middle of their season, the travel would have meant a month break for all teams at a crucial time and the Korean’s would have trouble raising the insurance money for any player injuries (it sucks to have your star player knocked out mid-season).

This year is not a proper Olympic Hockey year unfortunately. No NHL players can play (which basically means the best players in the world), which means only minor leagues or young players (or old players who have retired in the KHL Russian league).

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That’s a shame. I hope that that USOC and the NHL are feeling some responsibility for their actions. Let the finger pointing begin.

Maybe. Maybe not. My point was that there ARE good U.S. players on the squad, but the lack of results is complicated, and far more to do with our diverse attitudes towards many different sports in this country.

I wish that were true.

Here is the U.S. Mens team in 2014. An Olympics with NHL players -

US%20Team%202014
Bottom

That team did not medal.

2014 Mens Olympic Hockey medal winning teams:

Gold - Canada
Silver - Sweden
Bronze - Finland

Edit: Fixed I think…you need the bottom of that roster

I remember Wayne Gretzky from EA Ice hockey game, he rocked :slight_smile:

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The young US players would have an impact I think, especially as Sweden and Finland aren’t aging so well with new prospects. Austin Matthews is a pretty good player for example, as is Larkin and Eichel. With Kane and Oshie on that big ice they could give anyone a run for their money. I agree that often the US squad seems to get coached pretty badly in international tournaments, and there are some odd squad selections sometimes.

The USA did win the 2017 World Juniors. Olympic Silver in 2010, 2002, with 4th in 2014 for your ‘did not medal’ in a pretty close game.

I think they are generally in the pot in knock-out tournaments like the Olympics with Sweden, Finland and Russia. With Canada likely getting the gold (that squad is ridiculously OP) then I think it’s basically out of those four teams of who usually gets the silver.

USA USA! :slight_smile:

Wasn’t the Great One a Canadian? :hatched_chick:

He had a brother that played as well. They hold the record for number of combined points by brothers of a massive 2,861 - 2,857 for Wayne and 4 for Brent… :slight_smile:

Very much so. :canada:

It’s tough to beat Teemu when he is not in the mood for it.

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UK 1up on Italy @komemiute in the Curling :grin:

Just saying :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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