2014-02-22, 22:51
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Link #163 | |
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Banned
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Age: 40
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Quote:
Sometimes, coaches make strange decisions and send out players who may not be the right ones to make a difference. |
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2014-02-23, 08:34
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Link #165 |
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ゴリゴリ!
 Graphic Designer
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Age: 32
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I'm like the oddball Canadian who doesn't sporadically worship hockey, but it makes me proud seeing just how strong our team is every year in hockey. Very few things kick more national ass than watching the team play even stronger at the most tense game.
[EDIT] 3-0 with some AMAZING plays. Much deserved props, Canada.
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Last edited by Hiroi Sekai; 2014-02-23 at 09:19. |
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2014-02-23, 09:35
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Link #166 |
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Banned
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
Age: 40
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I'm in Seventh Heaven, right now.
 I expected another nerve-breaking game to be fully honest, but never expected this game to be controlled so well by Canada. It felt so different from the Salt Lake City and Vancouver finals. Congratulations to Team Canada for winning a first gold medal in men's Olympic ice hockey outside of North America since 1952 (Oslo). Let's make way for the closing ceremony now. Last edited by KiraYamatoFan; 2014-02-23 at 10:22. |
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2014-02-23, 10:08
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Link #167 |
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Senior Member
Author
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Age: 42
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To be fair, Sweden was missing some of their best players (Backstrom, Henrik Sedin, Zetterberg).
Still, that was one of the most dominating 3-0 games I've ever watched. A well-deserved Gold Medal for Canada in both men's and women's hockey!
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2014-02-23, 14:49
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Link #170 |
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WE ARE.... PENN STATE....
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Nazareth, PA
Age: 36
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Well... at least we closed out with a medal in 4-man bob. Two Olympics in a row with a medal in the event when we hadn't medaled at all in the event in 52 years. Held on by the thinest of margins. I see Sweden let me down, though.
I love the Winter Olympics. It's my favorite time of every 4 years. But this go around felt so... weird. Despite the fact that we ended the medal count 2nd, this felt like a letdown Games for Team USA. Speedskating (long and short-track) was almost a 100% disaster if not for the Silver in the very last event of either type. So many other missed opportunities. It's not even that our press tried to build up some of these athletes bigger and better than they were; most were literally ranked the best in their fields. Hannah Kearny, for example who earned Bronze in Women's Moguls, was pretty much the best skiier in her sport since Vancouver when she won Gold. She dominated the World Cup circuit. Shaun White landed his iPod-defeating move in practice, but couldn't do it in the final (though I still respect the hell out of him for how classy he is, even if I find most people in his sport strange). Bode Miller.... was Bode Miller. Something about the Olympics causes him to just lose it, despite his enormous success outside of them. The outlook for Team USA Alpine skiing looks... bleak... without him, as he probably will retire. The guy has loads of talent, but the pressure of the Olympics got to him frequently in final runs, it seems. When he was in the zone, he was phenomenal, and Team USA will miss him. I don't know if the other guys can develop to be all-around contenders like Miller has been. And hockey.... ugh. Some people may be upset with this reaction, but I am embarrassed about that women's gold medal game. How do you blow a 2 goal lead like that with 2:29 left? The men rolling over against Finland... I'm sorry, I'm of the mind that even after a tough defeat you don't just throw in the towel. This would've been Team USA's best Winter Olympics ever if so many of the foregoing things hadn't happened... But, it is what it is. And there were actually plenty of unexpectedly good outcomes. We medaled for the first time in some events in which we haven't medaled in decades, like 2-man bob. We weren't expected, actually, to medal in Men's Slopestyle and we ended up taking gold. Took first individual luge medals in forever, first Skeleton medals in 12 years... There were a lot of good outcomes. But so many bad ones have left a bad taste in my mouth as a completely unapologetic nationalistic rah-rah fan of Team USA. I like seeing the best compete, but I love even more to see my country do very well, better than others (especially those countries I view as rivals of the USA in the mostly the same sports, which is why I don't really mind when Norway performs better because we just don't really contend for the same medals). There were a lot of moments during these games where felt Team USA really lost itself. I hope we'll see a big rebound in Pyeongchang in 4 years.... though some may say, "rebound from what? 28 medals is great..." We'll see. The clock starts now. Let's get ready, Team USA.
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2014-02-24, 10:11
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Link #174 | |
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books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
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Quote:
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2014-02-24, 11:37
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Link #175 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: East Cupcake
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Quote:
As always, the closing had some absolutely beautiful numbers marred almost completely by NBC's official disdain for the preceding and the American audience. NBC/Comcast has little to no respect for any involved in the Olympics. The athletes are routinely shortchanged as their award ceremonies are either completely forgotten are shunted off to the side only for the briefest of moments to be witnessed. The games themselves are often either completely miss-shot or willfully and misguidedly edited (the complete misunderstanding of Curling left many games needlessly edited for reasons completely nonsensical), and while the commentary on the television broadcast were often good to great (Johnny Weir, Tara Lipinski and Terry Gannon were phenomenal on the Live broadcast of Skating), the online Live feeds were often woefully miscast. Worst of all, NBC seems to have a complete disdain for their audience's intelligence, effectively eliminating any of the mystique and beauty of the events. I can stomach the editing of the removal of one set piece and the set-up of another, but entire sections of the Closing were removed, and what was seen was either shot wrong or needlessly talked over (by three old men who seemed to have no respect for what they were seeing). It was all so needlessly frustrating. Congratulations to all the winners, and much respect for all the participants. I still believe in the Olympics (yes, I'm a romantic at heart  ), and I still have the same child-like enjoyment watching the events. I just wish NBC had even half the enthusiasm I have for the pageantry, pomp and circumstance of the presentation as well as the camaraderie of the events.
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2014-02-24, 21:14
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Link #176 |
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WE ARE.... PENN STATE....
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Nazareth, PA
Age: 36
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I learned that the online live feeds are not NBC's decision. It's actually the Olympic Broadcast Service, which provides feeds to each nation's TV service. The commentators are either OBS employees (for the major languages) or the TV service's employees (for lesser-spoken languages). So, the English-language online feeds were definitely OBS, not NBC. I actually thought the online feed guys were phenomenal for the sports I most watched (any sledding, biathlon, cross-country, ski jumping, etc.).
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2014-02-28, 18:01
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Link #180 | |
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User of the "Fast Draw"
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Canada
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Quote:
 . I kind of take Canada's approach to the Olympics. The Winter is where all the fun is and just survive the Summer. I still prefer the country to focus on one and be a top 5 country in the Winter Olympics than trying to go for both and not being able to manage it. Just not the same resources available, gotta specialize.
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| olympics |
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