Quaker2001

12 hours ago, bestmen said:

and did they test the US team ?

All medalists are tested.  So by default.. yes, they did

3 hours ago, JoshMartini007 said:

Not too surprising. Prize money at the Olympics was eventually going to happen. Hopefully, it will be the IOC that takes the initiative eventually.

 

 

This might help encourage some tennis players to take part, though 50k isn't a lot. That's around what the winner gets for a 250 event. Still better than nothing (including no ranking points).

I know this is a very heavily Americanized point of view, but they're probably looking at what's going on with the NCAA and how the athletes are starting to get their share of the money that is being made and figure that needs to start happening with the Olympics.  The days of amateurism are long gone and the prestige of winning an Olympic medal shouldn't be the only reward coming from the IOC (as opposed to payouts from the respective NOCs)

On 4/4/2024 at 12:27 PM, Dkats said:

I  wouldn’t be surprised if the opening ceremony ends up moving into a stadium. Bit of a prediction 

I would.  3+ months out from the games, they're not going to put it in a stadium and if they do, that stadium is probably going to not have fans in it.  If something happens that they have to scrap the current plan, the backup will be something that will likely be a primarily TV only event and not something the public can be a part of

1 hour ago, Topicmaster1010 said:

That's been the story of the Angels ever since Trout entered the league  (besides 2014). At least he had Ohtani to keep him company for a few years.

Going to be another long season for the Angels.  It's mind-boggling that Mike Trout has never won a playoff game because he's been stuck in Anaheim all these years and they don't know how to build a team

2 hours ago, Monzanator said:

Opening Day is underway. To nobody's surprise Angels are getting pantsed by the Orioles

Started out so well for them.  Trout homered in the 1st, seemed like the Angels might have something.  Then they have nothing from there.  Will likely be the story for them all season

A Paris 2024 Facebook group I'm in said the water polo schedules have been released.  Don't have a link yet and the images are too large to share here

On 3/12/2024 at 8:56 PM, Benolympique said:

still no news of the schedule for Paris 2024? that's weird

A Paris 2024 Facebook group I'm in just posted the schedule.  Not sure if it's up on the Paris site yet

On 3/20/2024 at 10:07 PM, Quaker2001 said:

There's still all the semis at swimming, so NBC might want to stick with that the whole way through.  That's why I think it might slot better for NBC is the USA-SRB game is at 11:15am ET.  But that would be an interesting idea to go straight from swimming to basketball and then have the additional final at halftime.

Called it 

20 minutes ago, mpjmcevoy said:

I fear this boil will not be lanced until either 1) he dies or 2) he wins. 

 

Hear me out.

 

The man is, in a very real, practical, mentally unbalanced sense shameless. He literally cannot feel shame like other people, He resents mockery, sure, but he's never of the belief its deserved. And without shame, he can't stop running to win. He's lost the popular vote twice - that would normally be enough alone to send a politician back to the farm - and yet, with completely graceless shamelessness, here he is again. And If alive, he will be again in 2028. Only death and term limits can stop him - and he'd certainly challenge term limits.

I don't want to hijack this thread with Trump news, so I'll sum it up this way.

His entire career in politics feels like a practical joke he took too far.  And once he got too deep into the joke, he couldn't bring himself to admit that his has all been a ruse and that he's less interested in making America great again and much more interested in make Trump great.  He ran again because he is outwardly convinced that the 2020 loss was in fact a win, even though behind closed doors he seems like he knows that his defense is all a pile of lies.  Of course, he won't tell his supporter base that because that would be admitting "the big lie" was a sham and then they would stop giving him money.

If he loses again, that means the next time he is eligible to run, he'll be 82 years old and likely up against someone much younger and much more dynamic than him and Joe Biden.  And by that point, who knows what his finances are.. assuming he hasn't been convicted of a crime and thrown in jail.  We can only hope.  Right now as an American, I'm just concentrated on 2024 and hoping and praying enough people have the good sense to realize how dangerous a re-elected Trump would be.

8 hours ago, Orangehair43 said:

What is the IOC’s view on what happens if a Trump led government Bans China and Cuba from competing? 

Speaking as an American, I'm not concerned what the IOC's opinion is on that one.  I just pray this nation would be strong enough to survive until 2028 at that point.  G-d help us all if Trump wins the election.  I mean like actually wins the election, not that he and his supporters whine like toddlers that they think he did.

3 hours ago, Monzanator said:

@Quaker2001Because sport gambling was illegal in USA for so long I guess people there still have a hard time accepting the fact gambling is a popular addiction in general and Pete Rose wasn't the great outlier after all. On the contrary, sports gambling is massively popular across the world though from a cultural standpoint I don't know how popular it actually is in Japan. It wanders the other ways too, horse race betting is probably more popular in USA than any other country but of course that comes as a spin-off to the original sports gambling ban. Plus we still don't know what sports this case revolves around unless someone leaks the details.

Here's the thing though since you mentioned Pete Rose.  For years and years dating back to the Black Sox scandal, gambling was the number one sin throughout baseball.  And it was posted in every clubhouse that you're not allowed to bet on baseball.  So even if Rose wasn't an outlier, he still broke the cardinal rule of being a baseball player.

If Ohtani is betting on sports, I wonder what else it might be if not baseball?  Sumo wrestling?  There's obviously a lot of unknowns here.  If we find out at some point that Ohtani was betting on baseball, that's going to be a major problem.  So it's all hope that's not it.

45 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Well, it didn't take long for off the field stuff to take over. Ohtani's interpreter was fired due to 4.5 million gambling funds being transferred from Ohtani's account.

 

What are the odds Ohtani himself was the gambler and the interpreter simply took the fall or else we'd have another Pete Rose case here? That's more plausible than Mizuhara actually stealing 4.5 milion and nobody actually taking notice of that (no matter how big Ohtani's account number really is and I guess he has several anyway).

 

I assume there won't be any serious investigation after the guilty party was found out already?

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68622772

Seems crazy to me that he would be in that deep into gambling.  And 100% his interpreter may be the fall guy for an investigation that's never going to happen because no one wants to find out the truth.

4 hours ago, phelps said:

given the swimming schedule (only 1 final colliding...and perfectly set at a time that should be in the interval of the basketball game), USA vs SRB (July 28th) might well be at 9 p.m. Paris time (3 p.m. ET in the USA)

There's still all the semis at swimming, so NBC might want to stick with that the whole way through.  That's why I think it might slot better for NBC is the USA-SRB game is at 11:15am ET.  But that would be an interesting idea to go straight from swimming to basketball and then have the additional final at halftime.

3 hours ago, thepharoah said:

They can enter parade of nations under white flag of whatever they will call them and u won't be forced to see Russian and Belarus flags . 

 

Nothing in Olympics ban athletes from entering opening ceremony and parade of nations , this happens only in a politicial Olympic Games 

No, I don't think that's how this works.  It's not like they can just show up on 1 of the barges carrying athletes as if no one will say anything.

It's unfortunate that Russia has politicized sport.  They started in 2014 at an Olympics they hosted.  This is on them much more than on the IOC.

4 hours ago, phelps said:

they will be decided later, when all the teams will be known

 

daily start times are: 11 a.m. 1.30 p.m. 5.15 p.m. and 9 p.m. local

I'm betting a lot of 5:15pm for the USA games to fit in with their TV schedules.  I hope they don't wait until July to set the whole schedule because I can all but assure you that American TV preferences have already determined which games they want the US teams to play in and I'm sure FIBA will do so on their behalf.

15 minutes ago, NearPup said:

It does seem like the Brisbane games aren't in any real risk of being cancelled, but the big project (rebuilding the Gabba) seems less and less likely to happen.

Yea, at this point mostly a lot of political bluster.  I don't think the IOC needs to be searching for an alternative just yet.

38 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

I didn't mean in this case , but other things like he or she won't take part in opening ceremony and staff like that .

 

And yes raising flag of your country is a dream for any athlete so I guess it would matter for them too 

Agreed that hearing your anthem is a big deal and if any AIN athletes win gold, they'll be deprived of that.  Wouldn't necessarily call that humiliating though.  Russia's flag and colors and anthem deserve no place in Paris.  So I'm fine what that aspect of this

2 hours ago, thepharoah said:

If a Russian / Belarus wins gold , the 2nd will win silver , but his or her medal won't be shown on Medals Table, another bullshit and humiliation to these athletes . 

Not a humiliation to the athlete.  They get to keep the medal and their name goes into the record books.  It just doesn't get credited to Russia/Belarus.  At the end of the day, is that going to be important to them?  I doubt it.

34 minutes ago, phelps said:

https://www.fiba.basketball/olympics/men/2024/games

Would love for some start times as well, but I'll take it.  Serbia-USA that first Sunday will be a good watch

Tough to tell what the group of death is with 24 teams in contention for 4 spots.

Do we know the schedule of games yet?  Some in the YouTube comments seemed to indicate that won't be coming for awhile

1 hour ago, NearPup said:

The way Agenda 2020(+5) awards the games is a big mistake. The complete lack of transparancy and awarding the games this far (11 years!) in advance seems bound to create issues.

It could have been a positive, but it has become a big negative.  2030 was (and possibly still is) a disaster.  2032 isn't looking so good as well.  Thank goodness for the United States to save the day.  Bach's legacy may not be looking so hot these days

15 minutes ago, phelps said:

when you can make money out of something, our politicians are always ready 

Pretty hard to make money off the Olympics these days.  Certain people - yes, including politicians - would benefit.  Others, including most tax-paying citizens, likely would not.

I am cautiously optimistic that Milano-Cortina goes off well.  That seems like far from a guarantee though.

28 minutes ago, phelps said:

by the way, I hope the IOC takes its time if "that" happens...if 2026 Games are successful, a Milan/Rome 2032 combo might become reality (and in any case, I see this kind of government we have right now trying to get the Summer Games sooner rather than later...the power of dirty affairs is just unstoppable to them )

So the next 6 Olympics would be France, Italy, United States, France, Italy, United States?

I obviously can't speak for Italy, but I don't think there will be an appetite for another Olympics so soon.  And obviously that's a big "if" regarding their success

1 hour ago, intoronto said:

What a mistake going to Australia so soon after 2000

The mistake was awarding the games 11 years out, in the middle of the pandemic, with no other bids to compare them to.  Not to mention that Australia was adamant about pushing for Brisbane because of the calendar as opposed to Melbourne since they would be a harder sell in the usual July-August window.

On 3/15/2024 at 2:28 PM, Mr. Cam said:

Due to broadcast considerations, Team USA will be placed in Group C.

If the schedule is the same as it was for Tokyo, that men's the US men will play their first game on July 28th and then the women, who are designated for either group B or C will play their first game on the 29th.  That sets it up so both the men and the women are playing on the middle weekend.  Very much a broadcast consideration.