Question about the Winter Olympics

[NeilC]

I enjoy the curling, but then I like watching darts, snooker, bowls and poker too. Like all of those I consider it a game more than a sport but who really cares?

The more sports in the olympics the better as far as I'm concerned. They all have their own skills to learn and appeal to the viewer.

 

[luchog]

Not answering for Luchog here, but I'll say it's a little more glorified only because it's a little more difficult. Synchronized swimming is difficult. Just because something is difficult doesn't mean it should be an Olympic event.

I am baffled by the popularity of Curling, as I am with watching poker on ESPN. But I'm obviously in the minority in this thread. I don't think ping pong should be an Olympic event either. I guess I'm more for traditional sports...tests of human strength and endurance, running, decathlon type events.

But that's so boring! Who wants to watch that?!

I'm also not, in general, a big fan of team sports in the Olympics. I prefer to see it as a contest of individual skill, strength, and endurance. I'm also not sure I really care for events that require highly specialized equipment, especially where the reliability and maintenance of the equipment is at least as important as the athlete's own skill and so on. Particularly since it's generally a team of specialists, rather than the competitor, who maintains the equipment. Once you get beyond "track and field", skiing, and swimming events, it all just loses something. Not to say that I don't enjoy watching some of the other sports, they just make no sense in an Olympics context. Particularly any event that's judged by anything other than hard numbers, "first across the line", or "last man standing".

I guess in the world of international sporting competitions, the Olympics just seems to be losing relevance.

 

[Meadmaker]

I'm also not, in general, a big fan of team sports in the Olympics.

I do like the team sports, but I've decided that I'm against NHL players in the Olympics. I don't like them because they aren't really a "team". Watching the women's hockey games, I know I'm seeing a group of women who have worked hard for a long time to get into this tournament and accomplish something. They have been together trying to get there for a good, long, time.

On the men's side, I see a bunch of guys thrown together while they take a break from their real jobs. It just isn't very inspirational.