2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

[FreshFish]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Perhaps, rather than ban the dopers, they might just have another category of competition instead?

Let them use whatever they want and have a separate set of competitions for them.

Sort of like how UFC tries to maintain a "clean" image while WWE, not so much....


Though I actually am conflicted when I think about it seriously. For awhile I thought that laws that require motorcycle riders to wear helmets might be an infringement on personal liberty ("no other victim but the reckless person himself" type of tripe), until I heard from an EMT that when they respond to a crash with a helmetless cyclist involved, the cyclist isn't the only one affected by his/her choice not to wear a helmet, it is a gruesome task for them to deal with the mess he left behind. I changed my mind about the law after that, it isn't solely to protect the cyclists after all....

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

There was a story on the artistic synchronized swimmers getting the shaft on BBC. Pretty clearly they never did anything wrong but if the whole team is banned they will be too.

Which is why I'm in favor of each sport's governing body making the ruling instead of the IOC make a blanket decision.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Though I actually am conflicted when I think about it seriously. For awhile I thought that laws that require motorcycle riders to wear helmets might be an infringement on personal liberty ("no other victim but the reckless person himself" type of tripe), until I heard from an EMT that when they respond to a crash with a helmetless cyclist involved, the cyclist isn't the only one affected by his/her choice not to wear a helmet, it is a gruesome task for them to deal with the mess he left behind. I changed my mind about the law after that, it isn't solely to protect the cyclists after all....

There's also the costs (and not just dollars) of caring for a helmetless motorcyclists who is in a vegetative state despite "pulling" the plug.

Then there is the flipside. I knew someone who visited hospitals to maintain medical equipment his company sold. He was in Florida shortly after they passed their no helmet law. He asked the doctors and nurses there what they thought of the new law.

They said, "We are getting a lot more young, viable organs donated..."

[RaceBoarder]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

http://deadspin.com/rio-olympics-ath...ble-1784219622

And so it begins...

I'm curious to see how the next two weeks play out. Are things really as bad as they are made out to be? Once the games got rolling after a few days, all the horrors of Sochi seemed to die out. Hopefully Rio will follow that route. At least with social media we can see for ourselves and we don't need to rely on NBC.

[walrus]

http://deadspin.com/rio-olympics-ath...ble-1784219622

And so it begins...

I'm curious to see how the next two weeks play out. Are things really as bad as they are made out to be? Once the games got rolling after a few days, all the horrors of Sochi seemed to die out. Hopefully Rio will follow that route. At least with social media we can see for ourselves and we don't need to rely on NBC.

If a country with oil dollars can't make it work how much longer will Olympics keep happening. The graft behind the scenes must be unreal.

[bronconick]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Well I expect the Japanese to have 2020 Tokyo under control compared to thisn

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

If a country with oil dollars can't make it work how much longer will Olympics keep happening. The graft behind the scenes must be unreal.

They can go on. Just stop swindling these sh*thole third-world and developing countries out of billions of dollars that should be spent improving the lives of their citizens, instead of hosting global sporting events. There is absolutely no excuse for building a new venue for every fcking event. None. Other than the sheer greed of the IOC and the billionaire class that lines their pockets.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

http://deadspin.com/rio-olympics-ath...ble-1784219622

And so it begins...

Oh, that glorious tweet at the end...

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Other than the sheer greed of the IOC and the billionaire class that lines their pockets.

That's all the IOC is. A way for billionaires in western countries to bribe millionaires in third world countries to steal financial transfers from western middle class taxpayers intended for third world indigent populations.

Replace a couple nouns and the same holds true for international finance.

[joecct]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

@NESNFuel: (Formula1 El Supremo) #BernieEcclestone's mother-in-law is being held for the highest ransom in Brazil's history. http://nesn.com/?p=621572 http://twitter.com/NESNFuel/status/7...981824/photo/1

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

@NESNFuel: (Formula1 El Supremo) #BernieEcclestone's mother-in-law is being held for the highest ransom in Brazil's history. http://nesn.com/?p=621572 http://twitter.com/NESNFuel/status/7...981824/photo/1

What's the over/under for kidnappings in Rio in August?

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

What's the over/under for kidnappings in Rio in August?

We have Brazilian friends who are letting their daughter do semester abroad in Turkey next year. They won't go to Rio because "it isn't safe."

[unofan]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

So I gotta ask, has Rio gotten that much worse since the World Cup 2 years ago, or is it just that that was spread over the whole country while the Olympics are concentrated in and around the city? Because that seemed to have gone off relatively smoothly.

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

So I gotta ask, has Rio gotten that much worse since the World Cup 2 years ago, or is it just that that was spread over the whole country while the Olympics are concentrated in and around the city? Because that seemed to have gone off relatively smoothly.

I think they already had a fairly developed soccer infrastructure.

The other thing is even if the corruption was the same for both, it's the second one where you'll get the real sting in the tail for all those construction dollars that magically vanished.

Also, they've been sliding into political chaos for the whole time, so yeah it's getting worse. They had a functioning government 2 years ago for one thing. Now everybody's either in jail or scrambling to put the other guy in jail before they go to jail.

Finally, there are fewer than 1000 athletes at the World Cup. The Summer Olympics are ten simultaneous World Cups.

[ticapnews]

So I gotta ask, has Rio gotten that much worse since the World Cup 2 years ago, or is it just that that was spread over the whole country while the Olympics are concentrated in and around the city? Because that seemed to have gone off relatively smoothly.

It has gotten much worse. The president wanted to put a stop to the corruption so they ousted her and put someone in charge that will keep the spice flowing. As a result the country has sunk into an economic depression (or hell hole to be accurate) with the poor taking it on the chin while they live in the shadow of the fabulous wealth the World Cup and Olympic Games created. Mix together a police force that hasn't been paid and drug lords that act with impunity and you get a volatile mess. The spotlight of the Olympics takes what would be just another problem in the third-world and places it front and center for the world to see.