Extreme anger has invaded my otherwise peaceful soul

Those stupid medal ceremonies drive me up the wall. They should show nothing but medal ceremonies on Bravo or something, and leave the actual sports to the other channels. What a waste of my frickin' time. (Unless I'm using beautiful Tivo. I love the Tivo.)

Nancy Kerrigan hates medal ceremonies.

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Well, Phelps is a) American and b) a more diverse swimmer than the other two. That's why NBC is going nuts for him. Thorpe and van den Hoogenband are very distinguished, but only in the freestyle stroke. Phelps is extremely accomplished in the butterfly, backstroke, and freestyle. Not to mention the individual medley, which combines all these with the breast stroke.

The best swimmers today- guys like van den Hoogenband and Thorpe- are specialists. Phelps is a bit of a stunner because he does so well in so many strokes.

Updated On: 8/19/04 at 10:51 PM

Wait DGrant, Youre basically saying that the world doesn't necessarily cater to my every need? And i shoulnd't expect it too?

*opens eyes really wide*

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Every country covers its own athletes the most. It's the patriotic thing to do.

*waves around random flags*

But anyway, I know what you're saying. But you have to admit Thorpe got tons of publicity in the last Olympics.

Phelps is just the golden boy this time around. Before that it was Apollo Ono, and Thorpe before that. NBC feels the overwhelming need to put a face on every Olympics. And corporations are always looking for new celebrity endorsers. So you get needless hype.

I think Phelps is actually worth a lot of the hype- he's really excellent. But I understand how being unable to fast forward past most of the BS can make one churlish.

Bobo, sometimes I wonder if you post these caustic comments just to get a reaction. Or are you so obtuse to the concept of national pride that you prefer to advocate violence towards a network? Seriously? Give them their moment to shine and let the traditions continue.

You do realize one course of action is to simply change the channel, or even better still, pop in the DVD of CASABLANCA to see how the summoning of a national anthem stirringly becomes a bonding force affecting change. In fact when Victor Laszlo leads the band in "La Marseillaise" and shouts down the German drinking song, I find that to be the turning point in a movie that many consider the best film ever produced. The pride and devotion in Ilsa's eyes towards Victor are sealed in that one moment. And the rest...is movie history.

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y'know, i'm pretty sick of this whole focussing on american athletes that seems to be going on by all of the american broadcasting companies. i mean it's like they think that their audiences are composed primarily of americans or something. geez, why don't they wake up and realize that nobody wants to watch the americans? i mean don't they realize from all the rioting and the attacks on athletes and the heated protesting and the signs and the booing that everyone hates all americans so they should just focus on the swiss? i mean they're neutral, right? i mean if you have enough cash, they are.

wait, could it be that they realize that the majority (be it 51% or 97.23671%) of americans are tuning in to watch how americans do. sure they'd like to see the other folks too, but there's only so much time in the broadcast, and the network is demonstrating the concept of "dance with the girl ya brung."

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I think Spanking should be a sport.

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the way you do it, boobs, is an art...or so i heard.

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CKeaton and DGrant, well said.

fine, its just me and Plum then.

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