Olympics have started!

[EagleAye]

true-beach volleyball should not be in the games because it is a "duplication of skills" ...

Nuh uh! I love beach volleyball. It's much different from indoor. I like both actually and have played both, but I love beach volleyball the most. It's super challenging and exciting.

 

[reedak]

....Not true at all. Here are a list of 10 major sports that do not appear at the Olympics:

Cricket
Rugby Union
Rugby League
Lacrosse
Netball
Karate
Squash/Fives/Pelota/Raquetball
Gridiron football
Kabaddi
Sepak Takraw

I'd suggest that all of those sports are all far more widely played than Graeco-Roman Wrestling, Synchronised Swimming, Slalom Canoeing or Rhythmic Gymnastics.

The following should be included in future Olympic Games when they become universal sports as they are spectacular and exciting to watch.

1. Parkour

Parkour Tutorial (Basics) - YouTube

Parkour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2. Ninjutsu

How To - Warped Wall - Ninja Warrior Tutorial - YouTube

What are Ninjutsu and Ninja??Ninja Iga-ryu - Iga-ryu Ninja Museum

Ninja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3. Kendo

Nihon Kendo Kata - YouTube

Kendo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What is Kendo

 

[TurtleDude]

The Olympics does have the 10k meters as a track event, and they do have the marathon.

I wouldn't object if the Olympics added racquetball or squash. I could watch those racquet sports, I can't watch rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming.

the marathon and the 10K are very different races. You could argue that the 200 and the 400 is duplication of the 100 since those are now all out sprints. Soon the 800 will be a sprint.

beach volleyball is for has been real volleyball players.

btw I played varsity volleyball in College

 

[Infinite Chaos]

Basketball isn't exactly a "real" sport (well on the NBA level anyway). It's full of cheating and dive taking. It's the professional wrestling of the sports world, hell even the refs are in on it. It's sports entertainment more than a straight up sport these days.

You're making value judgements from an American perspective, I'm not a basketball fan but Basketball won't be taken out of the Olympics because there might be wholesale cheating in the US NBA scene. As for your comments about diving in football - you will find individual examples in football but it's not a repeat example in games. It may happen once or twice in a match. Play acting - that is common, a player is tackled and then writhes around as if he's been stabbed with a sword but it doesn't stop the game and even then a referee can decide to call stretcher bearers on to remove said dying player who quickly decides he can't afford to have his team a man down.

Further- if a referee performs badly in an international competition, he / she tends to find him/herself removed from further matches. In the last European Championships referees became tougher and tougher as the tournament went on.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

-- Chris Hoy such a legend!--

He and the other cyclists have done us proud. Would have been great to see Victoria Pendleton get a gold in her last ever race but one gold and one silver is still brilliant. The best thing is that we now have a legacy - Hoy was replaced by Kenny just as Beijing's team sprint Gold medal team was filled by new young talent this year.

-- that stupid new rule which stops us having more than one athlete per event --

Interesting that rule only applied in the Velodrome wasn't it?

 

[Infinite Chaos]

The following should be included in future Olympic Games when they become universal sports as they are spectacular and exciting to watch.

1. Parkour --

First line from your link - "Parkour (French pronunciation: [paʁˈkuʁ]) (abbreviated PK) is a physical discipline and non-competitive activity."
I think it fails at the first attempt. There are plenty of other sports which already have the element of competition and international popularity that could be considered.

 

[Higgins86]

He and the other cyclists have done us proud. Would have been great to see Victoria Pendleton get a gold in her last ever race but one gold and one silver is still brilliant. The best thing is that we now have a legacy - Hoy was replaced by Kenny just as Beijing's team sprint Gold medal team was filled by new young talent this year.



Interesting that rule only applied in the Velodrome wasn't it?

yeh it was! Can you imagine that in the swimming? Countires like the US would see there medal count cut in half!

 

[Ikari]

they get yellow cards for diving....chirps.....

Hahahah, yes they get a "yellow" card. Right then governor, that was poor sport. Try not to do it again, mate.

Let me know when you start fining players for doing it. Like illegal hits in the NFL.

 

[Higgins86]

Hahahah, yes they get a "yellow" card. Right then governor, that was poor sport. Try not to do it again, mate.

Let me know when you start fining players for doing it. Like illegal hits in the NFL.

They already fine players for cheating in soccer and can also hand out match bans using a review panel. During the game 2 yellow cards will get you sent off ( 5 in a season will also get a ban) and will result in a players missing the next game. If ur going to get into this with people at least know something about the sport. Ignorance is bliss is guess.

 

[Ikari]

They already fine players for cheating in soccer and can also hand out match bans using a review panel. During the game 2 yellow cards will get you sent off ( 5 in a season will also get a ban) and will result in a players missing the next game. If ur going to get into this with people at least know something about the sport. Ignorance is bliss is guess.

I know about soccer, enough to see that it is a boring ass game based on cheating and diving. In fact the yellow card warning was exactly as I said it was. "Please don't do that again mate". Whatever, it's a joke. How many times are yellow cards even given out for the flopping and rolling around that people on the soccer pitch engage in? Maybe for the most egregious of cases, but there is obviously not enough pressure within the sport to stop it from being such the prevalent mechanism for the game that it is today.

Ignorance is bliss indeed, and your ignorance on it is that you cannot accept the criticism of your sport. Soccer has been around for quite some time, as has the diving, and they only thing you can tell me is that there are yellow cards and oh they'll miss the next game and soccer takes this diving thing seriously and intends to crack down. But if you were cracking down, we wouldn't see it at the level which we see it today and that's just a measured fact. Sorry to destroy your ignorance, hopefully it shan't cause a great loss in bliss.

 

[Middleground]

You know it's not really a sport when a 52 year old with a hip replacement wins a gold medal. (Nick Skelton)

I completely disagree. I guarantee you'd poop your pants going over the smallest of jumps.

 

[Higgins86]

I know about soccer, enough to see that it is a boring ass game based on cheating and diving. In fact the yellow card warning was exactly as I said it was. "Please don't do that again mate". Whatever, it's a joke. How many times are yellow cards even given out for the flopping and rolling around that people on the soccer pitch engage in? Maybe for the most egregious of cases, but there is obviously not enough pressure within the sport to stop it from being such the prevalent mechanism for the game that it is today.

Ignorance is bliss indeed, and your ignorance on it is that you cannot accept the criticism of your sport. Soccer has been around for quite some time, as has the diving, and they only thing you can tell me is that there are yellow cards and oh they'll miss the next game and soccer takes this diving thing seriously and intends to crack down. But if you were cracking down, we wouldn't see it at the level which we see it today and that's just a measured fact. Sorry to destroy your ignorance, hopefully it shan't cause a great loss in bliss.

1. No its not "please dont do that again" its means one more time and you are out of this game and out of the next game.
2. Yellow cards are given out on a regular basis for simulation.
3. Yellow cards and match bans were not the only punishment as I pointed out there are review panels who can fine them and hand out futher bans ( you chose to ignore that)
4. You know nothing about the game if you think its based on cheating. That would mean the worlds population enjoy cheating rather than sport?
5. Your just another American who seems to think Football is a threat to your sports which of course it is not.

 

[Ikari]

All this would of, could of, should of crap; yet we see that dives in soccer are well common. So obviously whatever you have as a mechanism against it isn't working all that well.

Plea to populism is a logical fallacy. Lots of people do play this sport the world over, but that doesn't mean that on many of the professional levels cheating isn't rampant. Basketball can and in many places where people play for fun/sport does follow its own rules, but on the NBA level it doesn't.

5 is right out and is just emotional outburst to critique of the sport. I don't consider soccer a threat to anything, less you're talking about a good time. hahahah.

 

[Higgins86]

All this would of, could of, should of crap; yet we see that dives in soccer are well common. So obviously whatever you have as a mechanism against it isn't working all that well.

Plea to populism is a logical fallacy. Lots of people do play this sport the world over, but that doesn't mean that on many of the professional levels cheating isn't rampant. Basketball can and in many places where people play for fun/sport does follow its own rules, but on the NBA level it doesn't.

5 is right out and is just emotional outburst to critique of the sport. I don't consider soccer a threat to anything, less you're talking about a good time. hahahah.

its ok my American counter-part I know you tend to fear things you dont fully understand like effective public transport systems and healthcare. Its ok I wont hold it against you. Just enjoy your Baseball which of course is cheat free right?

 

[Ikari]

its ok my American counter-part I know you tend to fear things you dont fully understand like effective public transport systems and healthcare. Its ok I wont hold it against you. Just enjoy your Baseball which of course is cheat free right?

Baseball saw problems from not cracking down on cheating, in fact it was systematic and owners/management turned a blind eye. That's why you now see so much outrage at the steroid scandals, but that too is being cracked down on. Though not through yellow cards. "Right then governor, please don't be using those roids, mate, it's not sporting". hahahahah

 

[Infinite Chaos]

-- Interesting that rule only applied in the Velodrome wasn't it?

Awesome track, I can imagine our sprinters training to this. V E L O D R O M E !

 

[Andalublue]

5 is right out and is just emotional outburst to critique of the sport. I don't consider soccer a threat to anything, less you're talking about a good time. hahahah.

Then you must stick to whatever American sport you like and leave everyone else to choose the sports that float their boat. What's the point of the argument? Are you trying to persuade us not to follow football? Are you trying to convince everyone that all those hundreds of millions of people who follow football worldwide are stupid or tasteless or.... what exactly?

 

[Infinite Chaos]

-- yet we see that dives in soccer are well common --

Well, you should easily be able to link to a recent match where diving was common and the cheating divcer got away with it and the other team was punished.

 

[Higgins86]

Baseball saw problems from not cracking down on cheating, in fact it was systematic and owners/management turned a blind eye. That's why you now see so much outrage at the steroid scandals, but that too is being cracked down on. Though not through yellow cards. "Right then governor, please don't be using those roids, mate, it's not sporting". hahahahah

yep no yellow cards in Baseball. Instead they put little stars next to cheaters names in Baseball but allow themto keep the records they broke whilst cheating. That will show them....

 

[Ikari]

yep no yellow cards in Baseball. Instead they put little stars next to cheaters names in Baseball but allow themto keep the records they broke whilst cheating. That will show them....

They haven't yet been allowed into the Hall of Fame. It was an embarrassment for sure to have allowed this to occur. They really turned a blind eye after the strike in order to encourage more viewership. But it hasn't carried on and is being seriously combated as well. We'll see what happens in soccer next time two guys go for the ball and fall down.

 

[jambalaya]

Well, this is why football isn't all start-stop, start-stop as is gridiron. Of course preference comes from what you are used to, but there are so many styles of football that your blanket statement is incredibly inaccurate. English football has, for quite a few years now, neglected the importance of defence. It's fast and all geared toward getting the ball forward and into the box. That's why English sides, when faced with Italian sides for example, haven't succeeded too well in international competition. Italian football has concentrated on defence. A lot. That's why the Serie A finds itself the least watched, least successful of the major European leagues. No one wants to watch that style of football and they can't score on the international stage.

I find it ridiculous to try to compare gridiron football with soccer football. They are two entirely different sports and fulfil an entirely different kind of sporting niche.

I was watching the Brazil-Japan match yesterday I think. Being up 3-0 the Brazilians were of course working the clock passing the ball around back in their end. Feign attack then passing back. Do you have to advance the ball past midfield after a certain time or number of passes?

And yes, silly to compare American and English football.

 

[Ikari]

Then you must stick to whatever American sport you like and leave everyone else to choose the sports that float their boat. What's the point of the argument? Are you trying to persuade us not to follow football? Are you trying to convince everyone that all those hundreds of millions of people who follow football worldwide are stupid or tasteless or.... what exactly?

I mustn't do anything of the sort. I'm free to run my mouth and disparage any "sport" I feel like, be it soccer, basketball, NASCAR, etc. People are free to choose the sports they like, I haven't launched any crusade to ban soccer. You may watch what you want. I just listed a couple of reasons why soccer is not big in America.

 

[jambalaya]

Also one huge difference... American football has a lot of pausing and switching out players for specific plays. That does not happen in football.. 3 subs max and 1 major pause. No time outs, no holding up play significantly (unless there is an injury).

As for 8 player per side.. not much difference since the pitch is the same and so is the ball. Players would just get tired much faster.

I am figuring more room would give teams better opportunity for breakaways, good dribblers could create more space to get off shots, more open passes, etc., Yeah, players would get tired much faster. Just substitute more.

 

[jambalaya]

they get yellow cards for diving....chirps.....

I don't watch much soccer and can't remember if I ever saw someone getting a yellow for a dive. There should be more of it though or at least ignore the idiot on the ground writhing in pain like he just got shot.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

I don't watch much soccer and can't remember if I ever saw someone getting a yellow for a dive. There should be more of it though or at least ignore the idiot on the ground writhing in pain like he just got shot.

Google "George Karagounis"- 2012 European Championships, when he received his 2nd yellow card of the tournament in the match against Russia causing his disqualification from playing any further in his teams quarter-final matches where they lost. The diving charge is disputed by some however.