Summer Olympics

[revoked]

Anyone else watch the final baseball game? Ump was so utterly and blatantly biased- calling all of korea's checked swings vs. cuba's... and korea's strike zone was tiny and it shrank to literally nothing in that one pitch in the 9th. (not the one that lead to the catcher being thrown out, but a few throws beforehand)

catcher had the right to be pissed the fuck off.

[Tisswat]

[HermitEdge]

controversy?

[maxlin]

USA men's basketball gets the gold.

[Tisswat]

What a surprise. I'd much rather see them beat Hungary in water polo.

[kobezzz]

The KING OF Olympics

[timmytee]

Whats the story here?

[Seething Tortoise]

The guy lostby dq and kicked a referee I think.

Also, every british person here should be embarrassed of that little London 2012 skit. I know I am.

[exhausted]

omg beckham kicked a ball!

[fattybfat]

USA men's basketball gets the gold.

i m surprise they only won by 11

[ericdw]

wow. china had one of the best opening ceremonies in recent memory, and the UK is gonna bring a doubledecker bus, hipper-douche dancers, a saggy jimmy page, and beckham flicking a soccerball? they better pick up their game. i'm guessing Zhang Yimou didn't have anything to do with that section. fuckin horrible.

edit: uhh... maybe i spoke to soon... "bejing bejing"

[sushijerk]

^^ I was rolling my eyes as soon as that last part came up. I really thought they were going to keep the ceremonies clear of classic corny chinese shit but I guess someone overruled Zhang Yimou on that part. Although I loled when Jackie Chan and Lady Lau(?) showed up to sing.

Also the CCTV coverage of the ceremonies suck. Every other minute they have the camera pan to reaction shots of dear leader and his cadre of China's political elite, which is basically 2 rows of ugly old men who looked bored as fuck the entire time.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

man the london bit was very shoddy, amateurish to say the least

beck's punt was funny though, thought he was gonna do a classic curler..

[readytoignite]

wow. china had one of the best opening ceremonies in recent memory, and the UK is gonna bring a doubledecker bus, hipper-douche dancers, a saggy jimmy page, and beckham flicking a soccerball? they better pick up their game. i'm guessing Zhang Yimou didn't have anything to do with that section. fuckin horrible.

spice girls reunion... tournament of big brother winners... st crispin's day speech... england peno exhibition ft becks and john terry... the possibilities are endless. i say bring in mike leigh to direct

[Tisswat]

The London Olympics will feature tennis at Wimbledon, football at Wembley, rowing at Eton, marathon at Hyde Park, volleyball at Earls Court, cycling at Regent's Park, horses at Greenwich Park, etc etc etc. Imagine so many events taking place at such institutions. It'll be magic! And then there's some next-level architecture for newly built venues. Whether they can top the opening ceremony remains to be seen, but they sure as hell will have the ingredients to top the overall atmosphere.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

regarding architecture, the olympic stadium has to be amongst the most boring stadia created in the last 10 years - you look at The Bird's Nest and then you think, wtf?

some expert said something like the architecture will be a cunning indicator of the prevalence of the east and the decline of the west or something like that, thought it was interesting..

[Appleseed]

Hadid's 2012 Aquatic Center should be pretty decent, even if the costs have spiraled outta control-

[Tisswat]

regarding architecture, the olympic stadium has to be amongst the most boring stadia created in the last 10 years - you look at The Bird's Nest and then you think, wtf?

some expert said something like the architecture will be a cunning indicator of the prevalence of the east and the decline of the west or something like that, thought it was interesting..

It was Tom Dyckhoff, an architecture critic, who wrote that. Although he has a point, he is missing the bigger picture. True, the Bird's Nest is spectacular. London can never win the race by trying to impress with extravagant landmark buildings, because of several obvious reasons. But the important point here is that this is not an architecture challenge. London chose subtlety because this is not about showing off the glory of the nation - this is about sports, about the accomplishments of athletes, not governments.

I think it's understandable for China to use this event to prove their status. Everything is big, everything is spectacular and the world shall be in awe. China is obviously desperate to show everyone, that they're here. I'm not complaining, because I enjoyed the show. But sometimes I can't help but feel as if they have hijacked the Olympics to show off.

London doesn't respond. It is simply creating a podium for athletes of all nations to shine and show the world what the Olympics is all about. In my view, this is what is really impressive. I think even Confucius would be proud of this humility.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

That's all well and good, but imo the new Wembley is a good example of extravagence whilst also remaining elegant, most of London's new buildings are quite forward thinking - like the skyscrapers being built/planned. Would have been nice to keep the theme running particularly as the oly stadium is being built in an area they are about to rejuvenate.

[Tisswat]

If it is forward thinking architecture you're looking for, I think the Olympic Stadium should be right up your alley. According to what I've read about it, the whole thing is designed with environmental sustainability in mind (hello China!). There is a base stadium with 25000 seats which will be enlarged with a temporary semi-construction that adds another 50000 just for the Olympics. I don't think this has ever been done before in this capacity.

The roof is designed so that it will shelter the spectators from rain, but it will allow the wind to play its part in helping to set new records while sticking to IOC regulations. It all sounds pretty revolutionary if you ask me.

The new Wembley stadium was built with a very different functionality in mind. It's one of the main venues for football/concerts, but I'm not sure if London is in need of an 80000 seater athletics stadium.

I just hope they can keep the damn terrorists from disturbing the party.

[Magsåvningsreserven]

oh that does sound good, don't get me wrong

I think i'm just a shallow bastard, the bird's nest/water cube was soooo next level, i didn't think it wouldn't realistic to top that..

still, looking forward to the festive vibe, I think of the 08 games as 'cold' if you get what I mean.

[readytoignite]

Hadid's 2012 Aquatic Center should be pretty decent, even if the costs have spiraled outta control-

are they using an australian construction crew? london 2016 anyone? hahaha