OLYMPIC SPOILER-FREE THREAD (with 24-hour event result embargo)

[Kepler]

Post here if you can control yourself. Post on the other thread if you JUST GOTTA SING!!!!

 

[UCBadger]

US mixed doubles curling had a really good day on Friday, defeating Canada 7-5 and, later, Czechia 8-1 to go 4-0 in the competition. While everyone is having to learn the idiosyncrasies of the new stones Thiesse and Dropkin seemed to master the stones by their 4th game. They seem to be able to hit any shot they wanted/needed. Saturday's games are against 4-0 Great Britain and lowly 0-4 South Korea.

 

[Kepler]

Italian coverage continues to be incomprehensible and thus excellent. Plus they are running the English graphics so I know where we are in events. Best of both worlds.

Summary of Italian TV ads:

• No military bullshit
• Very few guns
• Very little violence
• Lots of skin
• Really, really white

As much as I hate snowboarding the speed events like the GS are pretty cool.

 

[walrus]

Italian coverage continues to be incomprehensible and thus excellent. Plus they are running the English graphics so I know where we are in events. Best of both worlds.

Summary of Italian TV ads:

• No military bullshit
• Very few guns
• Very little violence
• Lots of skin
• Really, really white

As much as I hate snowboarding the speed events like the GS are pretty cool.

I'm watching on CBC, good coverage of Womens Downhill, those ladies are crazy. Seen a few go off the mountain via helicopter

 

[Kepler]

The M and W Parallel Giant Slalom snowboard semis, bronze, and gold were great. The drone coverage is spectacular.

How long have they posted the aggregate technical during the free skate? That's pretty interesting and it helps shut the announcers up. Was it CYA after the last bribery/cheating judging scandal.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Was noting the drone angles in last weekend's final World Cup Super G event before the Olympics. Really makes us gapers feel like we're running the course.

 

[Kepler]

What is remarkable is even with that the slope still appears flatter. I was watching a jerkwater competition in Killington sitting by course-side and the coverage slid right past the place we were sitting. Looking out on the course it was an insane slope -- on the screen it looked gentle.

The only people I have ever seen catch the true vertical drop angle are those teenage fuckwits who glue a GoPro on their head and ski down a 60-degree mogul ice sheet, and probably break their leg. For whatever reason, their footage looks exactly like what they actually see. It might be because they are often in woods and the tree shadows break up the runs and show a gazillion little edges and angles, while on the real slopes there's just very little way of judging depth because it's groomed and open.

I have seen this happen IRL too when mogul runs are very steep. Back when I would take a crack at those if you hit them right at dusk the profiles were reinforced by the lighting and they were great, but if you hit them at high noon all the contrast evaporated and you could bottom out and never see it coming. A very nice way to snap a tip, and that's if you're lucky.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Yes, but I also had a ski instructor many years ago who liked to joke that everyone's eyes automatically add an extra 10-15 degrees to every slope.

As does one's mouth when telling the story afterward.

 

[Kepler]

Mine said "Loose sweaters conceal the disappointment they reveal" and taught us about the clitoris. We were 13.

Ski school is the best.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

What is remarkable is even with that the slope still appears flatter. I was watching a jerkwater competition in Killington sitting by course-side and the coverage slid right past the place we were sitting. Looking out on the course it was an insane slope -- on the screen it looked gentle.

The only people I have ever seen catch the true vertical drop angle are those teenage fuckwits who glue a GoPro on their head and ski down a 60-degree mogul ice sheet, and probably break their leg. For whatever reason, their footage looks exactly like what they actually see. It might be because they are often in woods and the tree shadows break up the runs and show a gazillion little edges and angles, while on the real slopes there's just very little way of judging depth because it's groomed and open.

I have seen this happen IRL too when mogul runs are very steep. Back when I would take a crack at those if you hit them right at dusk the profiles were reinforced by the lighting and they were great, but if you hit them at high noon all the contrast evaporated and you could bottom out and never see it coming. A very nice way to snap a tip, and that's if you're lucky.

This happens with race tracks all the time. I have not seen a single piece of video that truly depicts how steep the end of the front straight into the first turn at the Circuit of the Americas (for those who don't know, that's where the U.S. Grand Prix F1 race is held in Austin, TX) is. Not one.

But when you see it in person, and especially when you drive the track, it's amazing how steep it actually is. But you'll never know from any video.

And that's just one example. Every race track with massive incline/decline changes is like that.

 

[Kepler]

Interesting. Never occurred to me they are real hills. I thought they were all I dunno maybe 3-5%.

The elevation change between Eau Rouge and Raidillon is 30 metres. At it’s steepest point the gradient up Raidillon after exiting Eau Rouge is an 11% incline.

Holy fuck. To put that in perspective, the steepest legally permissible ruling gradient for the US Interstate Highway System -- that means the vwery steepest portion of any part of the highway, whether it's 600 feet or 6 inches -- is 6%.