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2008 Summer Olympics


jetsniper

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ugh Brent Hayden.

We really need a medal in the 4x200 free or we will go another olympics sans swimming medal.

Brent went from 6th to 2nd during his own 200m, but the 3 others sucked...

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You have to wonder why the coach of the US soccer team didn't throw in Charlie Davis earlier in the game. I didn't see the whole game, but the last 15 minutes was drama worthy of jolly ol' Shakespeare. And if Davis had gotten more time, he might very well have scored a goal what would have taken the US thro to the quarter finals. Instead Nigeria and Holland will advance from USA's group.

Another unknown Swedish cyclist won a silver medal today. This time it was Gustav Larsson. Nice. Congrats Gustav! a086.gif

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Nestor can only do so much. People forget that Sebastian Lareau was also a great doubles player in his day, it wasn't simply Nestor carrying the team.

And I think the consensus was that it would be difficult for Shewfelt to medal after his injury. More was certainly expected though.

SI Had us winning 16 medals and to the best of my knowledge none of those events have been staged as of yet.

Yeah but when you're part of the top ranked team in the world, I think it's easy to expect more then a first round loss though. I'm not saying we're going to have our worst Olympics ever though, just that there has been dissapointment from Canada so far. Brent Hayden in the semi's yesterday is another example. And if one other guy swam his butt off in the relay like Hayden did, we'd have the bronze there too.

I think the Women have a good shot at beating the US on Friday and once the rowing gets into the finals, we'll start to see some results there. So it's not a total loss yet.

I watched the interview after the relay last night and Hayden said he didn't try all that hard in the 100 so he decided to make up for that in the relay. I just turned the TV off there, didn't need to hear that.

Edited by jetsniper
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People on my shit list:

Michael Orozco: He wasn't that great in the first two games and then took an idiotic red card 3 minutes into a crucial game.

Michael Bradley: I've never cared for him to begin with, but he took an idiotic 2nd yellow card in the last game which kept him out of today's game.

Stuart Holden: He pretty much cost the US the last game - twice. In stoppage time all he had to do was pass and his teammate had an open net, but he shot and missed. Minutes later he took a dumb penalty that set up the game tying goal, keeping them from clinching a spot in the next round.

So disappointed that the US failed to make it out of the group stage.

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People on my shit list:

Michael Orozco: He wasn't that great in the first two games and then took an idiotic red card 3 minutes into a crucial game.

Michael Bradley: I've never cared for him to begin with, but he took an idiotic 2nd yellow card in the last game which kept him out of today's game.

Stuart Holden: He pretty much cost the US the last game - twice. In stoppage time all he had to do was pass and his teammate had an open net, but he shot and missed. Minutes later he took a dumb penalty that set up the game tying goal, keeping them from clinching a spot in the next round.

So disappointed that the US failed to make it out of the group stage.

Have you seen any other work of Michael Bradley??

The US coach is a fool to use him as a controlling/defending midfielder. He's an attacker, attacking midfield. He played a great season with Heerenveen and is a very talented player..he's just used wrongly..he wouldnt misstand in the dutch team! Great player

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I guess it is up to Mike Brown to get us our first medal tonight? I dont see one coming from anywhere else...

too bad but gotta applaud his effort coming oh, so close .......... I can't believe we aren't going to win a swimming medal by the look of things :(

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Have you seen any other work of Michael Bradley??

The US coach is a fool to use him as a controlling/defending midfielder. He's an attacker, attacking midfield. He played a great season with Heerenveen and is a very talented player..he's just used wrongly..he wouldnt misstand in the dutch team! Great player

I've only seen him on this U-23 team in qualifying and his appearances on the main US squad. It just bugs me how he's given so many more chances than Freddy Adu on the big squad. Freddy and Jozy are the future of USA soccer and neither seem to get a lot of respect.

I thought Jozy was horribly underused in the Olympics. Once again a US coaching staff sticks with an old McBride for the entire game when down a man. Jozy was the better choice to stay in with the running you have to do with 10 men. You'd have thought the US would have learned a lesson in the WC against Italy where he canceled out the winning goal because he was too tired to get back onside, when they should have brought in the far fastest and more rested Eddie Johnson.

Freddy is clearly the most talented player the US has, but guys like Michael Bradley get so many more chances with the big team. In this tournament, they didn't even have Freddy take all the free kicks and corners, which he's amazing at. He's only 5'8", why bother having him in the box on a corner when he is so good at crossing?

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I cant talk about Adu, i've seen him play once on a youth WC in holland. I was in the stands, but he went unnoticed. Didnt play so well. I understand the feeling about the old guys, i have that also all the time. McBride shouldnt be there, well maybe as pinchhitter, and for the young people to be a good infuence. But Trust me, Bradley is a very good player

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Better funding for our athletes has been one of my top priorities for years now. We went through the same thing after the '04 games the discussion only lasted a few weeks after the games and kind of fizzled. Maybe if theres that fall election everyone is expecting this will be fresh in everyones minds and the candidates can make it a big part of their platform. They've got a stupid stance though where the athletes have to perform better to get more funding. It's hard for some of these people to do well when they have to leave their jobs and pay their own way to the Games.

Anyway, dissapointing to see Canada lost to the US in Women's soccer., I really thought we could pull off the upset. They gave it their all though and only lost in extra time so we definitely have one of the more competetive teams in the World.

The medal comes to an end soon though guys, all of the rowing finals are tonight and tomorrow (including the Men's 8)

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Better funding for our athletes has been one of my top priorities for years now. We went through the same thing after the '04 games the discussion only lasted a few weeks after the games and kind of fizzled. Maybe if theres that fall election everyone is expecting this will be fresh in everyones minds and the candidates can make it a big part of their platform. They've got a stupid stance though where the athletes have to perform better to get more funding. It's hard for some of these people to do well when they have to leave their jobs and pay their own way to the Games.

Better funding from the government also means cutting in other social programs (or raising taxes, which would be quite impopular), and personally I feel the governement can make better investments.

Instead, I would rather see Canada use the US model, where financing comes mainly from the private sector, sponsorships, direct marketing of various Canada Olympics's products, and also from local community initiatives where athletes come from (fund raisers). We need a group that will work harder and more efficiently towards that kind of system, working to find financing and to help athletes find sponsors before they win a Gold medal, instead of relying so much on public funds.

People always wait for the governement to do something even though they can do something themselves... and then they complain if the government doesn't do it exactly like they would have...

Fortunately, it seems that there is a group (including the Canadian Olympic Committee, Sports Canada, and the Vancouver Olympics committee) that is working on this. Hoepefully they will succeed (their goal is for Canada to finish first in the medal count), and it will be the fondation of something durable... and not just for Vancouver.

Edited by CerebusClone
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This year has been the most I've seen of this kind of stuff, through their own promotion mind you but still nice to see that some are getting $$$ over and above what the government provides it seems.

http://www.visa.ca/olympic/teamvisa/

http://athlete.rona.ca/client/page1.asp?pa...=0&Clef2=28

http://www.rbc.com/sponsorship/olympics/2008_olympians.html

Those are the two big players in Canada I believe, there just needs to be A LOT more of it from the private sector.

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http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/sc/prog/PAA_AAP_01-08-08_e.pdf

looks to me like the breakdown of funds listed could be spread out a little different

with 18k, they still have to pay for their Gym time, their coach, etc...

at the end of the day, they either have to work at McDonalds or do ads for them saying how healthy and good the BigMac is (Alexandre Despatie)

here is an article about our Neighbors' funding:

http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english...f0.9387018.html

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This year has been the most I've seen of this kind of stuff, through their own promotion mind you but still nice to see that some are getting $$$ over and above what the government provides it seems.

http://www.visa.ca/olympic/teamvisa/

http://athlete.rona.ca/client/page1.asp?pa...=0&Clef2=28

http://www.rbc.com/sponsorship/olympics/2008_olympians.html

Those are the two big players in Canada I believe, there just needs to be A LOT more of it from the private sector.

Whatever happened to Home Depot? They used to take every opportunity to trumpet the fact they support our athletes and how many work at Home Depot (Danielle Goyette worked at the one a couple minutes from me) but now I never see anything. Did they drop their support in Canada or are they owned by Rona or something now? It's weird because they're still considered one of the bigger contributors in the US.

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Instead, I would rather see Canada use the US model, where financing comes mainly from the private sector, sponsorships, direct marketing of various Canada Olympics's products, and also from local community initiatives where athletes come from (fund raisers).

I could be way off here, but isn't part of the U.S. model handing out lucrative scholarships and charging a fortune for university tuition in the name of athletics? If so, I'd prefer to pass on that one.

It's actually heartbreaking watching some of these athletes, such as our shot putter today miss out by a freakin centimetre.

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I could be way off here, but isn't part of the U.S. model handing out lucrative scholarships and charging a fortune for university tuition in the name of athletics? If so, I'd prefer to pass on that one.

Indeed. Tuition is high enough, I'd hate for them to jack up the price even more... just divert. (Won't happen, but I dare to dream.)

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It's actually heartbreaking watching some of these athletes, such as our shot putter today miss out by a freakin centimetre.

Our media isn't helping either. There was a small article in the paper today that read "We can't say for sure yet but by the time you read this, you've probably already heard about our first medalist who will finally end Canada's drought"

It was written by Steve Simmons and he was talking about Jeane Lassen who finished 10th. I felt it was incredibly unecessary, I bet most of the athletes are already under a huge amount of pressure considering the drought.

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