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  • Lead up to Sochi

    Time for a special thread to monitor progress to the Olympics.

    This somewhat disconcerting article was the trigger to start things off:

    http://www.womenshockeylife.com/blog...d=1151&CatId=6

    Clearly not the message most of us would like to hear while many are trying to grow the game overseas/internationally.

  • #2
    Re: Lead up to Sochi

    There are many potential large scale debacles looming for the Olympics.

    Just to start Sochi is among the warmest cities in Russia during the Winter. It is the equivalent of having the Winter Olympics in Charlestown, SC.

    Massive amounts of construction corruption beyond other Olympic norms all at the fingertips of Putin.

    At best a very unstable security environment.

    And all things gay/lesbian confrontations internal Russian politics and society.

    Hope for the best here but just because they are not prominent in the headlines does not mean deep, serious concerns are there.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Lead up to Sochi

      Originally posted by OnMAA View Post
      This somewhat disconcerting article was the trigger to start things off:

      http://www.womenshockeylife.com/blog...d=1151&CatId=6

      Clearly not the message most of us would like to hear while many are trying to grow the game overseas/internationally.
      The issue is disconcerting, but I agree fully with the author. The Olympic spirit is not based on, "If I can't win, then I won't even compete." What a loser attitude by the Swedish committee. The honor in athletics is in the effort, not the success. For old men to decide to "take their ball and go home" brings dishonor to the country in a way that no loss on the ice ever could.
      "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
      And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Lead up to Sochi

        And yes - the article on the Swedish team is a bad attitude.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Lead up to Sochi

          Originally posted by ARM View Post
          The issue is disconcerting, but I agree fully with the author. The Olympic spirit is not based on, "If I can't win, then I won't even compete." What a loser attitude by the Swedish committee. The honor in athletics is in the effort, not the success. For old men to decide to "take their ball and go home" brings dishonor to the country in a way that no loss on the ice ever could.
          Very well said Arm!
          Fire Chiarelli!

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Lead up to Sochi

            Glad the 1980 U.S. men's team wasn't forced to pull out when they were getting hammered by the Soviets in those games leading up to the Olympics. Nobody gave them much of a chance, but when it counted they did pretty good.
            Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Lead up to Sochi

              Originally posted by OneTimer View Post
              Massive amounts of construction corruption beyond other Olympic norms all at the fingertips of Putin.
              Me thinks corruption has been a general problem in Russia for many decades. Don't see it as a Putin created problem.

              Many years ago, I had the privilege to talk to a prominent NHL scout. He went to Russia back in the day just when the cold war was ending. He told me that the Russian Mob was ten times worse than the Italian mafia in NY and Boston. He needed to pay $25 grand every time he wanted to talk to the head coach at the time (Thikonov) about a player and he would get typically get a short no as an answer.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Lead up to Sochi

                Originally posted by ARM View Post
                The issue is disconcerting, but I agree fully with the author. The Olympic spirit is not based on, "If I can't win, then I won't even compete." What a loser attitude by the Swedish committee. The honor in athletics is in the effort, not the success. For old men to decide to "take their ball and go home" brings dishonor to the country in a way that no loss on the ice ever could.
                100% agree with that. This quote had me in stitches :

                For old men to decide to "take their ball and go home"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Lead up to Sochi

                  Originally posted by OnMAA View Post
                  Me thinks corruption has been a general problem in Russia for many decades. Don't see it as a Putin created problem.
                  Not Putin created but very much Putin abetted.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Lead up to Sochi

                    Well he did not invent corruption in Russia but Sochi is his personal playground for his brand of corruption.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Lead up to Sochi

                      Originally posted by OneTimer View Post
                      Well he did not invent corruption in Russia but Sochi is his personal playground for his brand of corruption.
                      Sochi just presents opportunity. That is no different than some of the corruptions seen as part of other large scale events like this in the past in many places around the world.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Lead up to Sochi

                        Russia corrupt? apparently people have never been to New Jersey or Illinois

                        one thing I wonder is how much longer there will even be women's ice hockey in the Olympics, sure other countries are getting better and adding players, but nowhere near as fast as Canada and the US, in women's hockey you must improve significantly from year to year to advance, if you stay the same or improve only slightly, you are falling behind

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                        • #13
                          Re: Lead up to Sochi

                          Originally posted by pokechecker View Post
                          Russia corrupt? apparently people have never been to New Jersey or Illinois
                          Read up on Alexei Navalny, Mikhail Khodor*kovsky (no matter which side of his case you believe, the corruption is jaw dropping), or Anna Politkovskaya.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Lead up to Sochi

                            Originally posted by Eeyore View Post
                            Read up on Alexei Navalny, Mikhail Khodor*kovsky (no matter which side of his case you believe, the corruption is jaw dropping), or Anna Politkovskaya.
                            Puzzy Riot didn't make your cut?

                            compared to the Stalin years, today they are boy scouts

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Lead up to Sochi

                              Bump for the Dan Church conversation

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