Beijing 2008

[Gaffer 0]

The poor old English Olympic Committee have 4 years to get ready to completely emabarrass themselves trying to compete with that.And you know it will just be David Beckham kicking a flaming football to light the torch

QFT we are so gonna fail, china have owned us four years in advance Yeah awesome opening, thought that letting the kid who survied the earthquake lead the team out was a nice touch.All the buildings and venues just look amazeing, shame its in a smog filled city and the goverment is a bunch of commie bastards.Anyways think it will be a good games.

[SlapStick 0]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ZO9SOM2rk...feature=relatedYes, Im bored and hungover

[LJB723 0]

Isn't booze hard to come by in Israel?

[SlapStick 0]

Isn't booze hard to come by in Israel?

Just in case you're not joking, Israels a jewish state so beer and everything else is fine. Tel Aviv is challenging for the "gay capital of the world" title. Its a completely liberal highly active night life city. There is nothing really oppressing or anything, the orthodox jews can be seen but you can life your lifestyle how ever the hell you want to. I thought the same before I arrived(hooked up with an israeli chick in mexico and followed her over) but its a great place. Beach is a 10 minute walk from city centre and the Israeli women are AMAZING. best country I've been in so far for women. After WWII jews from all over came, so there south african-morrocan-polish heritance etc.My mam popped over for a week and loved it, if it wasnt for the "troubles" it would have to be one of the best tourist destinations, even now there a lot of tourists. The locals appreciate you because they know most people are put off, I've never felt in danger once. I have not seen one bar fight or anything like that, unlike in Dublin city when you see 1 per club you are in. Probably because they don't drink as much and army is compulsary so that geeky annoying guy who pissed you off could be a commando rambo type.Tel Aviv is a bit of a bubble to Israel though and everyone calls it Sin City.Cliff Notes: I love living in Israel

[LJB723 0]

Cliff Notes: I love living in Israel

Fair do's. I just recall you complaining about the gambling laws so thought they might have been strict about other fun things too.

[Bizzle 0]

I'm waiting for Tanner's "I told you so" post.But yeah overall prelims thoughts from this morning-Chicks 4im was about what I expected, 4:36 to make finals. Coventry's breaststroke looks like it is going to take her out of that race. It's doubtful anyone outside the top 4 can medal, although maybe she'll figure it out tonight. My buddy had a better morning swim than her morning swim at trials-I'm pretty stoked to see what she can do tonight.Dudes 4im was a LOT faster than I expected, 4:11 to make finals is pretty sick since not too long ago that was the WR. Once again, no one outside of Phelps Cseh and Lochte will medal-Marin has no butterfly and will be so far out of the race early (prolly 5 seconds down at the halfway mark). Watch Phelps be 2 seconds under WR pace tonight-place is gonna go nuts.Dudes 400-Holy crap, tons of 343s and 344s. Anyone in the final can win. Literally anyone. The guy who makes his move earliest is going to have the best chance (look for someone to take off on the 250 wall or so).100 breast-sigh. That's all.100 fly-what a crappy swim for Dekker and Trickett. Get your crap together Trickett.400 free relay-whatever, it's prelims, relays don't matter (although the US men saying they want the WR in prelims tomorrow is pretty awesome).China's swimmers were much quicker than expected, they are going to pick up a few medals that no one saw coming.

[SlapStick 0]

Fair do's. I just recall you complaining about the gambling laws so thought they might have been strict about other fun things too.

lol, I forgot about that when I was rambling about how "you can do what you want here". Ok asides from that, its a great laugh.on topic: I don't know much about the Irish sportsfolk but one of our Boxers won his first round 22-2, thats not bad

[LJB723 0]

100 breast-sigh. That's all.

What does this mean? I really enjoyed the breaststoke events. 6 guys under 60 seconds is pretty special. Or are you pissed that Hansen only qualified 10th fastest?Will probably miss Phelps' first gold because it will be 2am here and I intend to be drunk and dancing in a dingy nightclub somewhere, probably with an extremely ugly girl.

[Bizzle 0]

Or are you pissed that Hansen only qualified 10th fastest?

More annoyed than anything else.But yes, the event was pretty fast, semis tonight will be pretty sick.

[king_tanner 84]

I'm waiting for Tanner's "I told you so" post.

HAHA... I haven't seen the race yet but I assume Hansen ate shit. I'm trying not to look at results because everything happens way before I see it on TV.(edit) Wow 100.3? That is pretty bad. Did you hear his stupid poker comments after the race? Anyways I think he will go a lot faster, your not out of it just yet Bizzle. But him saying he hasn't shown his best poker hand yet is a load of crap. He must be a motivational speaker or something because I can't see how he could be voted unanimously as team captain. I wrote down a comment he made in his short backstory. "The best thing about rivalries is that it brings out the best in both athletes." He is going to have to do a lot better to prove that quote true. Also who knew they had pools in Norway, that Oen guy looked good. I wouldn't be suprised if he trains in another country (just like Kristy Coventry saying she swims for Zimbabwe lol). So far great races in pre-lims in all the events... (except 100 Fly).Also China looked suprisingly good in the relay... please not steroids again.Other Olympic observations.... those 2 beach volleyball guys obviously didn't come prepared. The scenery was amazing in the cycling event. I thought USA was better at rowing. Logan Tom is a great volleyball player. USA owns girls fencing. Handball (I think thats what I saw) was very entertaining.

[Vick12 0]

*Volleyball Report*Women's Indoor- Had their moments in their 3-1 win over Japan. When they could pass, Bown and Scott-Arruda were absolutely untouchable to the smaller Japanese block. That was the problem though...they had a TON of trouble passing the ball all day long. Japan was eating them up w/ their variety of floaters. Thought subbing out Kim Willoughby (who tallied 11 points in the victory, including nine kills on 16 attempts with just two errors) was curious in game 3 especially since Logan Tom only tallied 12 points playing all 4 games and was passing HORRIBLE the entire match. They also didn't expose their huge blocking edge in the match either. Good to get a win, but if they pass like that all Olympics they will lose in the Quarters...if they get that far.Women's Beach- Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branaugh did what they had to do to win today but rarely looked good doing it. They made a ton of unforced errors and never got their jump serves going. In game 2 they missed 3 in a row I think at a time when they NEEDED to get every serve in considering it was a deuce game at that point. (Games are to 21 pts., but you must win by 2...so these serves were all coming at a time when their opponent would either tie the match or take a 1 point lead in "overtime") Overall they played sluggish but at least got the win. About to watch May-Walsh here in a moment.Men's Beach- Talking about schiting the bed. #1 team on the AVP and in the world Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser looked absolutely putrid in their opening match getting stuned by the Latvian team. Dalhausser was especially atrocious by missing several easy swings, never establishing his HUGE block at the net, and worst of all wearing sunglasses WITHOUT THE LENSES!! Rarely if ever has someone played that bad AND looked even stupider than Dalhausser today. Rogers wasn't much better, missing several easy digs that he normally eats up. They still can come out of that pool and make the medal round, but today was a rough start!Men's Indoor Preview- Tonight the Men take on Venezuela in their opener. (12:30 et) Look for the Men to have an easy match and take this 3-0. I think the starters will play in game 1, w/ the subs getting time in games 2 and 3. Also...my condolensces go out to Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon and his family as they go through this unbelievably horrible time. As many of you have heard his Father in Law was stabbed and killed yesterday and his Mother in Law is in criticle condidtion due to a random act of horrible violence at the Olympics. Coach McCutcheons wife Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman was a 2004 Olympian and she was unharmed in the attack. My best go out to them in this terrible time for them.That's all I got for now!!!Editor's note-Vick12 is a former Volleyball coach who spent 5 years as a Men's Assistant at Loyola University of Chicago and spent parts of 10 seasons w/ Sports Performance Volleyball Club where he lead his teams to a top 5 finish at Junior Olympics 8 times. He will be returning to coaching this fall w/ SPVB.

[TwstdWrstr 10]

Having all the non-mainstream events broadcast live online is the basically the nuts, I am totally watching women's field hockey right now, China v Spain. The Chinese fans are going crazy any time anything remotely exciting happens. I don't really know the rules but it's pretty fun to watch! I'm all for any sport where you get to hit something with a stick.And oh wow China just scored a sweet-ass backhand goal.

[Tactical Bear 3]

Is anybody besides me trying to lose thousands of dollars betting on the Olympics?(crickets chirping)(sigh)Didn't think so. I'll just take my degeneracy elsewhere. Lean Lithuania +2 and Greece +6.5 tonight.

[king_tanner 84]

The times in all swimming events are absolutely ridiculous. Michael Phelps is a sicko. 4:03 wtf??? Stephanie Rice (AUS) is crazy... she has taken off like 10-12 seconds in 1 year in the 400 IM (or something like that). Little disappointed with Katie Hoff even though her time wasn't bad. Hopefully that Korean guy is from the north side because Kim Jong Il is going to give him a lifetime supply of whores after his gold in the 400 Free. I finally remembered why I hate the Olympics.... mens gymnastics. I just don't like it.

[Bizzle 0]

Decently accurate. Cseh and his 4:07 in the 400 is a threat, as is Luca Marin-it'll probably take in the 4:06/4:07 range to medal, which is ridiculous to think about when that would have been easily under the WR about 16 months ago.I wouldn't be surprised if Hackett wins this race, but I also wouldn't be surprised if any of another host of contenders win this race. Park, PVK, Jensen, and a few others all have a good shot. Thorpe could probably come down from the stands and win this race-in terms of history, this is the weakest event at the Olympics.

In the 400, Rice and Hoff should do battle-Rice's backstroke seems like it might be a little too much for Katie to handle in that event. The fact that it is the first event of the meet probably gives Hoff an advantage though-she won't be as tired as if it was later and Rice was fully rested. This should be an entertaining race, and it will be decided by how well Hoff can stay in contact in the front half.As for relays, Australia and Netherlands should fight for the 400 free relay, US will probably hang in there for a while but have neither the guns nor the depth to win.

Just reviewing earlier predictions. 4im prediction was about dead on except for Lochte dying at the end, Park was obviously my number 2 pick behind Hackett. Hoff didn't stay in contact, so Rice became the winner. And finally, Australia had a crappy swim from Campbell which cost them the silver-along with the fact that Trickett couldn't run down Torres-ridiculous splits.

[king_tanner 84]

Just reviewing earlier predictions. 4im prediction was about dead on except for Lochte dying at the end, Park was obviously my number 2 pick behind Hackett. Hoff didn't stay in contact, so Rice became the winner. And finally, Australia had a crappy swim from Campbell which cost them the silver-along with the fact that Trickett couldn't run down Torres-ridiculous splits.

Obviously!?!?!? You threw out 3 names for contenders how was he obviously your #2 pick?WTF is wrong with Brendan Hansen.... actually I know whats wrong. HES FREAKIN CROSS-EYED. He can't look at Kitajima with a straight face? (see what I did there).You analyzed the girls 4 IM pretty well. Excepting that girl from Auburn.... oops I mean Zimbabwe got second.

[Bizzle 0]

Obviously!?!?!? You threw out 3 names for contenders how was he obviously your #2 pick?WTF is wrong with Brendan Hansen.... actually I know whats wrong. HES FREAKIN CROSS-EYED. He can't look at Kitajima with a straight face? (see what I did there).You analyzed the girls 4 IM pretty well. Excepting that girl from Auburn.... oops I mean Zimbabwe got second.

Sorry about that, forgot I don't have finish orders on here. All of my contest picks have Park in the 2hole behind Hackett.Cross eyed is better than squinty eyed.And yes, the Auburn Longhorn had a heck of a race there-her breaststroke last night was absolutely dreadful (as was her freestyle)-I checked the splits and she dropped a full 6 seconds off the back half-pretty sick.I feel bad for Lizzie, 4:34 used to be a world class time. She's going to struggle to beat the other 3 in the 2back but I really hope she gets there.Why wasn't Manaudou on the French 400 free relay?For tonight, based on how her freestyle looked, I don't like Hoff's chances. Pelligrini probably is the biggest beneficiary. Trickett pulled it together in the fly, I'd be pretty surprised if she gets beat. Dale Oen seems to have a gear right now that no one else has so he's obviously a big favorite to save me 20 bucks. And finally, here's one of my biggest predictions: after tonight, Phelps will have the 100 free world record, along with a surprise runaway gold medal for the US team.This morning will be a fun relay-US is talking about getting the world record in prelims with no Lezak-Weber Gale-Phelps on the relay, and yet only one of the new world record holders would get a shot at finals. Totally sick.

[SlapStick 0]

Having all the non-mainstream events broadcast live online is the basically the nuts, I am totally watching women's field hockey right now, China v Spain. The Chinese fans are going crazy any time anything remotely exciting happens. I don't really know the rules but it's pretty fun to watch! I'm all for any sport where you get to hit something with a stick.And oh wow China just scored a sweet-ass backhand goal.

The Kings of hitting something with a stick.

They are all amateurs, that work normal jobs on mondays, but in Sundays they play for a stadium of 80,000 people who paid over 40 euro to watch it and the players dont get paid a cent.It makes the derbys brilliant, because everyones playing for their local team and purely for pride

[LJB723 0]

YAY! First British gold. Gotta love cyclists. They're such a reliable medal source for us.I'm in awe of Phelps. I was as drunk as I planned to be so I watched it this morning online. Is he going to kill himself going for 8 golds and any WRs that come with that?Good result for British/Irish boxing. Two guys came through as underdogs and looked pretty convicing doing it.Also,<---- Field hockey goalie. Any questions about our queer little game let me know. The British girls are due to have their asses handed to them by the Germans at 1600 (GMT).

[LJB723 0]

I finally remembered why I hate the Olympics.... mens gymnastics. I just don't like it.

No? I enjoy the men's gymnastics. Maybe its because I'm a puny little man and I enjoy these obscene muscle bound freaks killing themselves. The rings must be the single hardest piece of apparatus around, it's friggin' mental!

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

My mam popped over for a week and loved it, if it wasnt for the "troubles" it would have to be one of the best tourist destinations, even now there a lot of tourists. The locals appreciate you because they know most people are put off, I've never felt in danger once. Cliff Notes: I love living in Israel

Yeah but, isn't it full of Jews? As someone who has worked in Boca Raton for 6 years, that's not necessarily a great thing.

*Volleyball Report*Editor's note-Vick12 is a former Volleyball coach who spent 5 years as a Men's Assistant at Loyola University of Chicago and spent parts of 10 seasons w/ Sports Performance Volleyball Club where he lead his teams to a top 5 finish at Junior Olympics 8 times. He will be returning to coaching this fall w/ SPVB.

man oh man, I love watching girls indoor volleyball. Tall chicks with good, athletic bodies in very tight shorts. Excellent. I like it better than the beach volleyball, although that Misty May-Treanor has a nice thick rump.Be honest, how may of your players did you either bang, or want to bang? If you say zero, either your gay or a liar.

[Vick12 0]

man oh man, I love watching girls indoor volleyball. Tall chicks with good, athletic bodies in very tight shorts. Excellent. I like it better than the beach volleyball, although that Misty May-Treanor has a nice thick rump.Be honest, how may of your players did you either bang, or want to bang? If you say zero, either your gay or a liar.

Well...since I coached Men's volleyball almost exclusively...I am gonna say zero and that would make me both not gay and not a liar!I have banged a few volleyball chicks when I was younger though for sure, but none were my former players. I did work for a club that had some of the most insanely hot, atlhletic girls u have ever seen, but they were 18 and under. So...I would be a liar if I said I didn't "notice" how insanely hot and athletic they were, but I never ever came close to "crossing the line" so to speak. I also don't think it makes me a pedophile to notice that these 18 year old girls had ridiculous bodies etc. when you compared these girls and their bodies/looks to the women who would play in the Adult Leagues and most of them who wear spandex look like trying to stuff 10 lbs. of Bologna into a 2 lb. package!!! But alas...I hate to dissapoint u but I have not ever slept w/ any of my former players. (Almost as dissapointing as your Victoria Paris encounter!!!)

[king_tanner 84]

They just did a drug testing story... and they grouped swimmer Jessica Hardy along with the Hungarian weight lifting team and those who use EPO. Its really disappointing especially since all she took was an asthma medicine that she had no idea was on the banned list. They have really been tarnishing her name, and she should not be grouped with steroid users.I've never met her, but I have a friend who trained with her and aparrently she is a really nice girl, it sucks that this is happening to her.

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

Well...since I coached Men's volleyball almost exclusively...I am gonna say zero and that would make me both not gay and not a liar!I have banged a few volleyball chicks when I was younger though for sure, but none were my former players. I did work for a club that had some of the most insanely hot, atlhletic girls u have ever seen, but they were 18 and under. So...I would be a liar if I said I didn't "notice" how insanely hot and athletic they were, but I never ever came close to "crossing the line" so to speak. I also don't think it makes me a pedophile to notice that these 18 year old girls had ridiculous bodies etc. when you compared these girls and their bodies/looks to the women who would play in the Adult Leagues and most of them who wear spandex look like trying to stuff 10 lbs. of Bologna into a 2 lb. package!!! But alas...I hate to dissapoint u but I have not ever slept w/ any of my former players. (Almost as dissapointing as your Victoria Paris encounter!!!)

Liar. You banger your start player, Rick. I KNOW IT TO BE TRUE.But yeah, not to be a creep, but sometimes, you can see a 16 year old girl and her body is just ridic and she dresses the part, and can tell that she is just going to be the bees knees when 18, so it's ok to rationalize staring and make comments by saying "she's gonna be a looker someday"it's gods little cruel trick. Making them that hot and that young. oh yeah, olymics. Team USA basketball looked strong.

[showstopper24 0]

oh yeah, olymics. Team USA basketball looked strong.

Except for Kobe and Michael Redd. Kobe was awful in the first half. I don't know his actual stats but from what I saw, he made 1 three and missed about 5 and didn't do much else. And Michael Redd didn't look too good. I think I heard that he shot better at the end of the game, but considering the fact that he is only on team USA to make 3's, I wasn't impressed. Lebron, Chris Paul, and Chris Bosh looked amazing.