World Urban Games 2019

[heywoodu 13,547]

Just now, Olympian1010 said:

@heywoodu your favorites are back . Yep, b-boys and b-girls. There are some downright ridiculous names.

How wonderful. I hope we get as inspired of a commentator as in the video below, with interesting remarks and analysis such as 'yooooo' and 'oooooh'.

 

[heywoodu 13,547]

14 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Entries known for every sport except BMX. Poland appears to be the most urban. They have a representative in every sport so far. Netherlands, France, Colombia are very urban too. Happy to see at least 3 African nations represented (Uganda, Egypt, Algeria). Overall there’s a good variance of countries participating. I’ll watch a bit of the competitions maybe. 

Just looked out of my window and nope, not very urban at all  

[Olympian1010 7,474]

Just now, heywoodu said:

Just looked out of my window and nope, not very urban at all  

You must live in a retirement community or something. To be fair Rotterdam and Amsterdam are very urban places, so such cities do exist in the Netherlands.

[heywoodu 13,547]

Just now, Olympian1010 said:

You must live in a retirement community or something. To be fair Rotterdam and Amsterdam are very urban places, so such cities do exist in the Netherlands.

Like every country with cities, we also have towns and villages and so on  

 

These exact green fields are my view at the moment, pretty much exactly on the edge of town...I don't call it very urban  

 

[dcro 10,179]

@heywoodu pretty much resides in the Dutch Kentucky.

[hckošice 13,243]

Just now, dcro said:

@heywoodu pretty much resides in the Dutch Kentucky.

 

inside the Dutch Fort Knox ?

[Jinzha 529]

I moved from the Dutch Kentucky to the Randstad recently and I have to admit... I do actually see people play those urban sports in the city centers in the Randstad. They even made a skate park right in front of the Utrecht central station!

[Olympian1010 7,474]

Ugh, what a bland park for such a “big” event. If your going to call it the urban games and celebrate urban culture, then at least make a park with really unique features, not this:

 

I would have liked to see the WUG as it appears in the logo as jumps along the back side, a cool box jump in the direct center, a box jump with a rail somewhere in the middle, a Hungarian flag stair type feature (3 levels, each colored as part of the flag) next to where the rail is, a rail on the opposite side, a quarter wall to quarter wall transfer with a gap on one of the side borders, and just some insane rideable (barely) sculpture by a local artist. 

 

That would’ve been the proper way to celebrate urban sports and culture. I really hope that I get a crack at planning a multi-sports games one day. It would be a fucking masterpiece of design, with great marketing, and have a lasting impact on the community. 

[Olympian1010 7,474]

@NearPup I know you and me seem to be the ones most interested in the more “X-Games” or “extreme” or “freestyle” type sports, so I was wondering what your opinions about this event are? I really don’t see a huge need for it, but I think it’s great for the athletes involved because most them in these events tend to get overlooked by most international sports fans. I like the if the games were X Games were more family fixedly and mini-Olympics feeling, but I’m seriously questioning if the sports calendar needs an event like this.

[NearPup 2,156]

2 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

@NearPup I know you and me seem to be the ones most interested in the more “X-Games” or “extreme” or “freestyle” type sports, so I was wondering what your opinions about this event are? I really don’t see a huge need for it, but I think it’s great for the athletes involved because most them in these events tend to get overlooked by most international sports fans. I like the if the games were X Games were more family fixedly and mini-Olympics feeling, but I’m seriously questioning if the sports calendar needs an event like this.

This event is nonsense. There is just no through-line in the events selected, and there are some glaring omissions.

 

On a personal level the only events included that I enjoy are BMX freestyle and Roller Freestyle. I guess Parkour, Breakdancing and 3x3 are “urban”, but what the heck is frisbee, watered down summer biathlon and *indoor rowing* doing here? How are those urban sports? Where is skateboarding or climbing?

 

I’m just really skeptical of the concept. The X Games work because there is a clear throughline in the events that are selected. Nobody in the world is a fan of “urban” sports. It’s not that I dislike any of the events, I just don’t understand what they have in common.

 

Edit: oh, and ya, the X Games are great and I think stealing a bunch of their events is the only good “fellow kids” thing the IOC has ever done.

Edited September 9, 2019 by NearPup