Headlines that signal that the story will be misleading and/or stupid

[stanky]

boxing has big money and fame to entice young, punchy kids.
it has Olympic cred, too.
imagine, champion of the world!

yet, who knows anything about the best greco-roman wrestlers on the planet, and what kind of fortune can they aspire to?
what makes something 'legitimate'?
here, the supreme court has the say about that, but they're illegitimate.

i bet everyone is the best in the world at something.
however obscure.

[Meadmaker]

Wonder how long it will be before the stupid fucking Olympics brings back dueling to the death with swords and handguns. Now that I'd pay to watch. At least you know going in some idiot will be leaving the planet at the end of the match, and that's always a good thing IMHO.

If they jump on the MMA bandwagon they'll be most of the way there - it's street-fighting masquearding as sport.

I've always been a fan of boxing, but I agree that it should be thrown out. Too corrupt, too dangerous, and ultimately pointless.

Bah! Next you'll want to get rid of bullfighting! Where does it stop?

(But seriously, my libertarian streak makes me reluctant to ban anything, but if boxing went away completely, I would shed no tears. Deliberate infliction of concussions just seems like a bad idea to me.)

[sparks]

Bullfighting is damned pointless as well. And should be illegal as is cock fighting, dog fighting.

[stanky]

girl's gymnastics is cruel as hell. maybe it's gotten slightly better, but the pressure to excel before puberty is intense. the window of that opportunity is brief and the wee girls must do increasingly dangerous stuff. Same with males, but less hormone issue. They're adults with adult muscle; the females are kids, not done growing.
and the 'grooming' crap; perv coaches and such. ugh. iirc, gymnastics has the highest injury rate of big sports.

football (american) is tough to endorse, from a health perspective,if it's your kid, etc.
huge guys running fast and colliding, head first, is for mt. goats and bighorn sheep. and bison.

can't figure how the gun shooting stuff ever got in the big show. the shooters are athletes? sure.
at least make them shoot while running and diving over a wall, dodging traffic...

and shouldn't a shot-putter have to do something else with it? a dance? otherwise, their whole world is a 3 second heave. over and over. with the same size ball. at least make them do it right and left arm.

[Meadmaker]

girl's gymnastics is cruel as hell.

I've been watching Olympics all my life, and I am a big Olympic fan, and I do love watching gymnastics.

But I would love to hear an interview with a 20 year old US woman who was the 8th place finisher at trials, i.e. the highest ranking gymnast who didn't make the cut to go to the Olympics. Would she look fondly on her experience growing up, or would she bitterly regret the sacrifices, for her and her parents, that were pushed upon her chasing that dream?

[arthwollipot]

My understanding is that the average age of champion gymnasts has been increasing since 1980.

[President Bush]

girl's gymnastics is cruel as hell. maybe it's gotten slightly better, but the pressure to excel before puberty is intense. the window of that opportunity is brief and the wee girls must do increasingly dangerous stuff. Same with males, but less hormone issue. They're adults with adult muscle; the females are kids, not done growing.
and the 'grooming' crap; perv coaches and such. ugh. iirc, gymnastics has the highest injury rate of big sports.

football (american) is tough to endorse, from a health perspective,if it's your kid, etc.
huge guys running fast and colliding, head first, is for mt. goats and bighorn sheep. and bison.

can't figure how the gun shooting stuff ever got in the big show. the shooters are athletes? sure.
at least make them shoot while running and diving over a wall, dodging traffic...

and shouldn't a shot-putter have to do something else with it? a dance? otherwise, their whole world is a 3 second heave. over and over. with the same size ball. at least make them do it right and left arm.

What should be an Olympic event is successfully making it to the US all the way from Venezuela, crossing the Daren Gap, mostly on foot across all of Central America, then the gauntlet of Mexico, cartels and cops, and escape into the US.

Gold medal when you have your own place selling donuts to the Border Patrol.

[sparks]

Well said Prez!

[stanky]

2nd that one!

and oh look at the story i saw just now; not looking for it:https://www.yahoo.com/sports/olympian-r ... 00983.html

he's destroyed his bilateral symmetry!

[Admin]

My understanding is that the average age of champion gymnasts has been increasing since 1980.

And in a completely unsurprising coincidence, Jack Nicholson's time in the front row has gone down...