London 2012 Olympics

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To answer the earlier question: CTV in Canada showed all the events live. I watched most of them very live. It was a good time. I am looking forward to Rio.
 
Belatedly watched the closing ceremonies, recorded from the midnight replay because the satellite provider had technical problems with the prime-time tape delay. Saw everything except The Who, which NBC inexplicably omitted. Nice work, fellas. Anyhoo, a few observations:

1. Russell Brand must be killed. Now.
2. Liam Gallagher has perhaps the worst voice I have ever heard.
3. Jessie J was the unexpected focal point of the show. Whom did she blow to get that much airtime? Whatever the reason, to my surprise I enjoyed her.
4. The Wish You Were Here rendition was embarrassing. Nick Mason should be ashamed.
5. The John Lennon/Imagine bit was cool. Funny how mainstream that song has become. People just think it's pretty. It's pretty damn subversive. Unless you support atheist, socialist anarchy, of course, in which case it's right up your alley.
6. It's time: Brian May needs a haircut.
7. Eric Idle is an international treasure.
 
I'm going to go further than that Foro and just say it's a case of any sport that gets obscene amounts of money and all year round attention ;) The more in the spotlight they are the more they try to milk things.

Part of the olympics is the national pride/camaraderie. That also shows in the 'local' leagues of sports like football where it's village teams of people who have regular jobs (people who do it entirely for fun/local pride because they aren't paid for it).. the higher up you go the less it seems to be about the game itself.

Olympics related injuries however: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/19202411
 
Right now the Paralympics are going on and even though I know it doesn't get much attention here, I'd like to introduce a phenomenon to you all:

Esther Vergeer, (born 18 July 1981) is a Dutch wheelchair tennis player. Combining singles and doubles, she has won 42 Grand Slams, 22 year-end championships and 6 Paralympics titles (she won the singles in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 & the doubles in 2000, 2004 and she'll be playing the final this year as well).

Vergeer has been the world number one wheelchair tennis player since 1999. In singles, she has not been beaten since January 2003 and is on a winning streak of 470 matches. She is often mentioned as the most dominant player in professional sports.

Holy f**k. Unbeaten since 2003!!
Here a film, recorded a few months before the Paralympics started:
 
It is too bad they do not get more press, this is an impressive and inspirational group of people who participate in these games.
 
In the UK they get lots of attention I heard. Full athletics stadium etc. Here they have a bit on TV as well, but not that much indeed.
 
We have two athletes from the local area competing, so there has been a few things in the local paper.
But very little from the national media.
 
Thr primary stories I have been here have been local as well, some US Soldiers with war woulds participating.
 
Channel 4 have promoted their coverage of the Paralympics very well. The adverts feature a Public Enemy track called 'Harder Than You Think' which is pretty awesome.

I haven't actually watched any of the Paralympics though as I find it very uncomfortable to watch because I have always felt quite awkward and distressed around disabled people. It's great that these athletes have the chance to perform in front of the world and show everyone what they can do despite their disabilities but I don't want to watch it. At times I get the feeling that the Paralympics are being forced down out throat and that we have to watch it because it's PC or whatever.

However, I was happy to hear that Alessandro Zanardi won a gold medal yesterday at Brands Hatch, a racetrack where he holds the lap record in a Formula 300 car. He is actually a better hand-cyclist than he was a Formula 1 driver.
 
Why are you uncomfortable and why do you feel awkward and distressed around disabled people? To be honest, this antipathy towards disabled people doesn't suit you well, I think.
 
I'm not really sure what it is. I do find it quite upsetting to see people struggling around with a disability and if I ever have kids I think I'd be terrified of how I'd cope if I was the father of a disabled child. I don't think that disabled people are by any means subhuman or anything similar, so please don't think that's what my view is, I am well aware that they are just as human as any other person.
 
Black Wizard said:
I'm not really sure what it is. I do find it quite upsetting to see people struggling around with a disability and if I ever have kids I think I'd be terrified of how I'd cope if I was the father of a disabled child. I don't think that disabled people are by any means subhuman or anything similar, so please don't think that's what my view is, I am well aware that they are just as human as any other person.
Click to expand...

It's all about love, really. My aunt is mentally disabled and my grandmother carries her around with her for years. She's 72 now (in fact today is her birthday) and only is afraid of dying because of the fact that my aunt would be alone and crushed without her. My aunt has improved drastically over the years and that's only because of the love she gets. She even can write correctly and is happy. Her name means joy in Turkish, anyway. :bigsmile:

I'm sure you'd cope just fine if you were the father of a disabled child. You'd love him anyway and you'd give your best to him.
 
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