Rio Olympics 2016

[Inqui]

2 hours ago, Pats said:

Well in theory that sounds good but I think the 7's players they nurture are much more impactful than just using rugby 15's players. In any case i'm sad japan ended the tournament without a medal.

Yeah, I get that the transition isn't always easy (hence Quade and Hayne washing out and SBW looking godawful for the first few months on the circuit), but Smith and Savea both cut their teeth on the sevens side. Even in January this year we won both the tournaments Ardie played in, so he's really only been out of the swing of things for six or seven months. It looks like the sevens is here to stay (and rightly so), so it'd be nice to see the NZRU doing more to maximise the All Blacks brand worldwide.

With all of that said, Japan getting a medal would have been a perfect example of how unpredictable the game can be. A gold would have been even more epic.

[ALPHA]

Are Fijians of west african origin?

[Steve0x]

Micheal Philips won again!!! He may be 30 but he still strong as a ox!  

[JO_75]

9 minutes ago, Steve0x said:

Micheal Philips won again!!! He may be 30 but he still strong as a ox!  

I don't know who he is but I'm happy for Michael Phelps! 22 Gold Medals and a Maryland Triple as the Ravens & Orioles won as well. Is Phelps done with the Olympics or does he still have more events?

[ALPHA]

12 minutes ago, Steve0x said:

Micheal Philips won again!!! He may be 30 but he still strong as a ox!  

31

[Steve0x]

He should go to one more olympics 

[Pats]

I don't like how easily the media and commentators put down athletes for not medalling or getting gold at the olympics. It's not easy to beat th ebest in the world, it's much easier to stick a microphone in said persons face and being rude to them.

[Steve0x]

Michael Phelps is the greatest Olympian of all time. He's compared to Babe Ruth in baseball, Johnny Unitas in football, Michael Jordan in basketball, Wayne Gretzky in Hockey and Pele in soccer,Jack Nicklaus in golf and Mohammed Ali in Boxing.  

[Steve0x]

WOW! Serbia gave US a game almost lost it. 

[allblackraven]

@BmoreBird22 - you saw these last two games USA played vs Ausies and Serbia? It's pretty clear that they are worthy opposition to the best, main difference being the depth. Now, there could have been much better squad assembled by US (Lebron, Curry, Westbrook,,,) and the games wouldn't be as close as they have been but if Serbia had Marjanovic and Bjelica today, I'm not sure USA wins. Just confirms that the team made up of college players/ NBA rookies would have very hard time competing against the best teams from the rest of the world.

[Pats]

I think we'd have a decent shot at the usa if we had simmons and exum for depth too, also aaron bynes sucks.

[BmoreBird22]

29 minutes ago, allblackraven said:

@BmoreBird22 - you saw these last two games USA played vs Ausies and Serbia? It's pretty clear that they are worthy opposition to the best, main difference being the depth. Now, there could have been much better squad assembled by US (Lebron, Curry, Westbrook,,,) and the games wouldn't be as close as they have been but if Serbia had Marjanovic and Bjelica today, I'm not sure USA wins. Just confirms that the team made up of college players/ NBA rookies would have very hard time competing against the best teams from the rest of the world.

I didn't get to see it because I don't have cable at the moment, but I'm just a big advocate of taking the pros out of basketball.

What were the scores?

[allblackraven]

2 minutes ago, Pats said:

I think we'd have a decent shot at the usa if we had simmons and exum for depth too, also aaron bynes sucks.

Yep, definitely. It makes a lot of difference if you can keep playing physical, aggressive defense vs these guys while not being afraid that there's going to be a big drop off if you foul out.

[allblackraven]

1 minute ago, BmoreBird22 said:

I didn't get to see it because I don't have cable at the moment, but I'm just a big advocate of taking the pros out of basketball.

What were the scores?

US by 3 vs Serbia, and Serbia missed a 3 pointer to go extra time. It was very close game vs Australia the other day, too and ended up USA by 10, which didn't really reflect how tight it has been.

[Inqui]

6 minutes ago, Pats said:

I think we'd have a decent shot at the usa if we had simmons and exum for depth too, also aaron bynes sucks.

In four years' time I'd expect you guys to make a fair bit of noise, when guys like Maker (assuming he declares for Australia), Simmons, Exum and all the other young guys have had a few years in the NBA to improve and bulk up.

[Inqui]

34 minutes ago, allblackraven said:

@BmoreBird22 - you saw these last two games USA played vs Ausies and Serbia? It's pretty clear that they are worthy opposition to the best, main difference being the depth. Now, there could have been much better squad assembled by US (Lebron, Curry, Westbrook,,,) and the games wouldn't be as close as they have been but if Serbia had Marjanovic and Bjelica today, I'm not sure USA wins. Just confirms that the team made up of college players/ NBA rookies would have very hard time competing against the best teams from the rest of the world.

If the US sent a college side I think they'd be lucky to get out of pool play (assuming every other side stayed the same).

[Steve0x]

Thats why im against taking the pros out of the olympics. If the IOC goes back to Amateurs then Russia would dominate every sport again. We don't want to go back to those bad old days in the 20th century do we?

[Steve0x]

Michael Phelps loses! 

[Pats]

44 minutes ago, allblackraven said:

Yep, definitely. It makes a lot of difference if you can keep playing physical, aggressive defense vs these guys while not being afraid that there's going to be a big drop off if you foul out.

 

32 minutes ago, Inqui said:

In four years' time I'd expect you guys to make a fair bit of noise, when guys like Maker (assuming he declares for Australia), Simmons, Exum and all the other young guys have had a few years in the NBA to improve and bulk up.

Agreed, I think bogut shows the importance of good defensive big players. And GSW fans didn't realize that losing him for the second half of the finals ruined any chances they had to close it out. Btw I have so much respect for ledecky, just beat her own WR by 6 seconds to win another gold.

[rmw10]

As we lose one great swimmer, we get another to watch for a few olympics in Katie Ledecky.  The announcers said it best.  She's pretty much racing herself and her own world records out there.

[Moderator 3]

She just freakin' lapped the field.  Couldn't believe how long we had to wait to see who came in second.

[darklight1216]

Amazing does not even begin to describe Katie Ledeckey.

 

I don't really keep up with basketball so maybe someone here can answer my question. Do NBA players consider the Olympics to be unimportant or something? It seems strange that several of America's best players decided to sit this out.

In the winter I don't see any really good hockey players dissing the Olympics.

How in the world can US basketball players struggle to beat lowly Serbia?

[allblackraven]

10 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

How in the world can US basketball players struggle to beat lowly Serbia?

Lowly Serbia has twice been world champion (when NBA players made up USA squad) - one of those two was a win in Indianapolis. 

[BmoreBird22]

28 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

Amazing does not even begin to describe Katie Ledeckey.

 

I don't really keep up with basketball so maybe someone here can answer my question. Do NBA players consider the Olympics to be unimportant or something? It seems strange that several of America's best players decided to sit this out.

In the winter I don't see any really good hockey players dissing the Olympics.

How in the world can US basketball players struggle to beat lowly Serbia?

With hockey, it's far more spread out with the elite players. Ovechkin from Russia, Crosby from Canada, Kane from America, etc.

With hockey, USA, Canada, and Russia are power houses, but teams like Swedan, Finland, etc could all compete well.

[Inqui]

10 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

Amazing does not even begin to describe Katie Ledeckey.

 

I don't really keep up with basketball so maybe someone here can answer my question. Do NBA players consider the Olympics to be unimportant or something? It seems strange that several of America's best players decided to sit this out.

In the winter I don't see any really good hockey players dissing the Olympics.

How in the world can US basketball players struggle to beat lowly Serbia?

I feel like it comes in cycles - the very best of the NBA coming together and going full throttle is almost impossible to beat, but three or four tournaments in a row of getting a gold for turning up becomes more of a formality and more and more players decide it's better to spend the offseason rehabbing instead. Until something big happens (like the US losing in 2004) and then all the NBA's best players want to win gold again.

But also don't sleep on the other countries improving. Basketball's more global now than it's ever been and top to bottom the Olympics is better than it was in, say, 1992.

34 minutes ago, Pats said:

Agreed, I think bogut shows the importance of good defensive big players. And GSW fans didn't realize that losing him for the second half of the finals ruined any chances they had to close it out. Btw I have so much respect for ledecky, just beat her own WR by 6 seconds to win another gold.

Yeah, it's not just depth the Warriors lost. Who do you guys have waiting in the wings for Tokyo 2020? Mind you, under FIBA rules those gritty big guys who get by on physicality and hustle tend to thrive more than they do in the NBA - and the NBL's full of them. Even a guy like Mika Vukona tends to look pretty good for us.

 

Also, I'm pretty bummed about Valerie Adams getting pipped on the second-last throw in the women's shotput, but Michelle Carter did well to earn it. It's kind of a shame that an effort like that becomes just another gold in a long list of them for the US.

[Steve0x]

Phelps is the king and Ledecky is the queen

[Pats]

3 hours ago, Inqui said:

I feel like it comes in cycles - the very best of the NBA coming together and going full throttle is almost impossible to beat, but three or four tournaments in a row of getting a gold for turning up becomes more of a formality and more and more players decide it's better to spend the offseason rehabbing instead. Until something big happens (like the US losing in 2004) and then all the NBA's best players want to win gold again.

But also don't sleep on the other countries improving. Basketball's more global now than it's ever been and top to bottom the Olympics is better than it was in, say, 1992.

Yeah, it's not just depth the Warriors lost. Who do you guys have waiting in the wings for Tokyo 2020? Mind you, under FIBA rules those gritty big guys who get by on physicality and hustle tend to thrive more than they do in the NBA - and the NBL's full of them. Even a guy like Mika Vukona tends to look pretty good for us.

 

Also, I'm pretty bummed about Valerie Adams getting pipped on the second-last throw in the women's shotput, but Michelle Carter did well to earn it. It's kind of a shame that an effort like that becomes just another gold in a long list of them for the US.

I'm not sure yet, we have this weird wave of 1st round draft talent seemingly coming in every year now. Also brazils goalkeeper literally just cheated our aussie women out of a soccer semi final berth. Gross referring.

[ludy51]

I can barely run a 200m.

Those guys just ran a 10,000m

[Steve0x]

Michael Phelps is retiring after tonights race. WHY? 

[Steve0x]

Michael Phelps WINS AGAIN!