Brainfade Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 This may belong in the "Other Sports" forum, but I am posting it here as the topic goes beyond just sports. How important are the Olympic games to you? To me, the games themselves are not that important - I have no interest in any of the Olympic sports. I will rejoice when India wins some medals, but otherwise don't care much about the games. The only thing that'll make me take notice are if we win a hockey medal or if T-20 cricket is introduced into the games! However, I am a bit miffed that China gets to host them. And they're talking about Brazil hosting them 8 or 12 years from now. India has hosted the Asiad, and are fixing to host the C'wealth games in 2010 (?), so it is not beyond our ability to pull off the Olympics. But, we don't even get a sniff at being selected. Am not sure why it bothers me, but somehow national pride figures into this equation in my mind. So, I ask: (a) On a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you care about the Olympic games in general? (1 = WTH are the Olympics and 10 = I'll be glued to the games on TV) ( Does it bother you that India does not get any serious consideration to host the Olympics. © Would you list some reasons why India does not get considered?
SachDan Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 I'll be glued to see Michael Phelp's performance for sure..
Lurker Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 (a) On a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you care about the Olympic games in general? (1 = WTH are the Olympics and 10 = I'll be glued to the games on TV) *** I give Olympics a 10. There is nothing bigger, or better, in the World of Sports. I do have certain reservations, specially when it comes to use of Performance Enhancing drugs, or obsolete games like Equestrian but broadly speaking Olympics are the thing in the world of sports. (b) Does it bother you that India does not get any serious consideration to host the Olympics. **** Not really. It bothers me that we are totally cr@p in Olympics. Unless you show some worth as a sporting power hosting the event becomes meaningless, just as meaningless it would be Senegal was to host World Cup cricket. Truth be told in the recent weeks I have been watching USA olympic trials and at the end of every show I feel a depression. It is hard to overcome the feeling of being absolutely worthless in the world of sports. © Would you list some reasons why India does not get considered? *** a) We dont have any Sporting pedigree. b) We would be in competition with countries who have better sporting history. c) Our facilties are not exactly world class and specially to host an event of this size you need everything from Top of the line Tracks to Fencing rings. xxxx
The Outsider Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 Find a few sports really worth watching and following specially the track and field events but will be doing my own mini boycott of the Olympics this year.
punjabi_khota Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 a). 3 b). No because no one gives a flying **** in India about Olympic sports. If you have IPL going along with Olympics, guess where I will be going ? Also, because we have negligible number of Olympic level athletes. Also because I don't think those sports mean much to me anyway, except maybe Badminton. c). Because we have got no reason to host it.
ludhianvi Posted July 8, 2008 Posted July 8, 2008 (a) On a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you care about the Olympic games in general? (1 = WTH are the Olympics and 10 = I'll be glued to the games on TV) I used to be glued to the games in the 1996 Olympics and the 2000 Olympics. But the last one, I did not watch anything but did watch the all-important 100 m dash. This year, I probably wont have the time so will miss most of the action but will surely watch the track events especially the 100m dash. (b) Does it bother you that India does not get any serious consideration to host the Olympics. © Would you list some reasons why India does not get considered? Well, it doesnt help India's cause when they win only about 1 or 2 medals every 4 years at the Olympics. No matter, how much of a superpower country you are, when you win a measly 2 medals at each outing, its not going to cut it. India needs a proper structure and employ it at the school level. The Chinese were not traditionally good at the Olympics, but their Olympic program was well planned. Its fruition can be seen, now that they are usually in the top 5 in the total medals ranking. I would not be surprised if the Chinese produce a good cricket team in the next 10 or 15 years. They've begun teaching it at the school level.
Predator_05 Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 1. I'd rate my interest in the Olympic Games as a 5. I follow a bit of track of field, swimming heats, weight-lifting, gymnastics, basketball and of course, football. 2. No. Indian cities are in terrible shape, even when compared to their Chinese counterparts. If i was on the panel, i wouldn't even think about awarding India the games. 3. India isn't a sporting country - never has been and never will be. Sports isn't a viable career option, finding sponsorship is damn near impossible, so it makes sense to spend 20 hours a day memorizing meaningless crap for some stupid exams in the hope that you will be able to get into a good college (either in India or abroad) once you graduate. China on the other hand, has a vibrant sporting culture and produces world class athletes. Another big reason is that India just doesn't have the facilities. Even if they manage to build state of the art stadiums, arenas, what are the chances that these facilities will be utilized over the next 20 years ? It will be a wasted investment.
theguyinallblue Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 i was lucky to watch Rathod's medal winning performace last olympics...live i have no interest in Olympics..other than 100mts and 200 mts and swimming.
THX_1138 Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 depends on the company i have... if i was with my father and grandfather, the olympics constitute some of the most intense weeks of every four years... both my father and grandfather are track and field buffs, whereas my father has a unique interest in pole vault and discus throw... alone, i do catch the opening ceremony and follow the tennis medal (team, single and doubles); the archery and occassionally the decathalon. the rest i am not quite aware of. however, the winter olympics is different... i am absolutely glued to the television then... especially during curling.
Lurker Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 depends on the company i have... if i was with my father and grandfather' date=' the olympics constitute some of the most intense weeks of every four years... [b']both my father and grandfather are track and field buffs, whereas my father has a unique interest in pole vault and discus throw... alone, i do catch the opening ceremony and follow the tennis medal (team, single and doubles); the archery and occassionally the decathalon. the rest i am not quite aware of. however, the winter olympics is different... i am absolutely glued to the television then... especially during curling. Thats very true. Olympics probably are closer to elderly than people of our generation, or younger. I remember how ticked off my Dad got when India would be booted out of Olympics hockey(he is a big hockey fan). He would be far far far more depressed than I would be if India were booted out of cricket world cup.
Dhondy Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 I'll be following every track and field event with the same interest that I always have- which is close to feverishness. You miss out on track & field in Olympics and you miss out on some of the greatest human performances ever. I can still recall so many of them- the Backley- Zelezny showdown, Michael Johnson's blinder in the 200 & 400 at Atlanta, Jonathon Edwards' delayed triple gold, Kelly Holmes' unexpected but fantastic double, Bubka's mesmeric vaulting, Mike Powell's crazy jump, Ed Moses on the high hurdles...I could just go on and on. There's no greater or better viewing than Olympic athletics for me. It's sheeeer magic. Can't wait!
coffee_rules Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 I view it only to see america losing. Last time,watching the basketball games and seeing USA lose was the clincher. I don;t want them to get #1 tally once again. I am pretty sure China will feature in the top 3 of the gold medals. My fav part of following olympics has been the medals tally. Gymnastics is a viewable sport especially womens'. I follow soccer and tennis too. This time it is special as Paes and Bhupathi are pairing probably for the last time in their careers.
Lurker Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 I view it only to see america losing. Last time,watching the basketball games and seeing USA lose was Hahaha. True True.. I suppose this is probably a Cold War hangover thingy when Indians rooted for Russians(and East Germany or GDR as it was called). Till about 1992 when erstwhile USSR competed as 1 country it would be the leading country in terms of medals tally. The situation changed circa 1996(Atlanta) and has continued ever since. There could also be a case of opposing the favorites, no different than watching cricket and wishing Australia lose. I suppose the dislike of US still continues but has now been overtaken by dislike for China. Personally I would much rather see USA win a gold than China. That said Chinese were the second country in previous Olympics much ahead of Russia, Germany and Australia so I would not be surprised if they end up on number one roster this time. They have been increasingly making dents, even in events where it was almost assumed that they would never win anything - 110 m hurdles for example. xxx
punjabi_khota Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 I'll be following every track and field event with the same interest that I always have- which is close to feverishness. You miss out on track & field in Olympics and you miss out on some of the greatest human performances ever. I can still recall so many of them- the Backley- Zelezny showdown, Michael Johnson's blinder in the 200 & 400 at Atlanta, Jonathon Edwards' delayed triple gold, Kelly Holmes' unexpected but fantastic double, Bubka's mesmeric vaulting, Mike Powell's crazy jump, Ed Moses on the high hurdles...I could just go on and on. There's no greater or better viewing than Olympic athletics for me. It's sheeeer magic. Can't wait! I don't believe in athletics anymore. I mean these things are SO close anyways, and rely SO much on strength/endurance that when you later find out half the winners cheated(drugs), it takes away the meaning. Marion Jones is one big example. I ****ing hate all this **** now.
Desi Cartman Posted July 9, 2008 Posted July 9, 2008 a) 3.733 b)Yes it bothers me but I cant blame the Indian govt for that. We need schools, water , food etc before boxing rings and gymnasts c)Infrastructure is poor and IMO its not going be easy to host Comm Games in Delhi either !
THX_1138 Posted July 10, 2008 Posted July 10, 2008 Thats very true. Olympics probably are closer to elderly than people of our generation, or younger. I remember how ticked off my Dad got when India would be booted out of Olympics hockey(he is a big hockey fan). He would be far far far more depressed than I would be if India were booted out of cricket world cup. yeah... hockey is lately center stage since my brother played at the national level in his last year of highschool. they wont telecast the hockey matches here, but i used to follow them when i was in india, not just in the olympics but in the asian games as well. i think it was the 1998 asian games in seoul where in the round robin league matches we beat south korea and i was absolutely over the moon... only to be heartbroken when less than a week later, we lost the final! Lurker if you follow hockey, can you list some sites where i can follow this sport? its one of those sports that has become so regional in india, i fear it might expire soon!
Lurker Posted July 10, 2008 Posted July 10, 2008 yeah... hockey is lately center stage since my brother played at the national level in his last year of highschool. they wont telecast the hockey matches here, but i used to follow them when i was in india, not just in the olympics but in the asian games as well. i think it was the 1998 asian games in seoul where in the round robin league matches we beat south korea and i was absolutely over the moon... only to be heartbroken when less than a week later, we lost the final! Lurker if you follow hockey, can you list some sites where i can follow this sport? its one of those sports that has become so regional in india, i fear it might expire soon! I follow hockey on regular sites THX, rediff, cnn-ibn etc. No particular websites really. My main source of information has always been my Dad and Zafar Iqbal/Mohammed Shahid etc mean more to him than Kapil/Sunny/Sachin put together. In fact one of the worse memory of my childhood is seeing him follow '82 Asian Games on radio and have India walloped 8-1 or so in finals, that too in the hands of Pakistan. I suppose that was the final nail of Indian hockey. Even today if there is a major game he will cut the schedule from newspaper and hangs on the fridge, then calls me to let me know its on. You are quite correct that it has been relegated as a Regional sports. Most of the players today come from Punjab, Orissa/Jharkhand, Mumbai/Goa and Southern States and thats that really. Probably the only place in India where hockey is bigger than any other sports is areas of Chotanagpur(Jharkhand/Orissa border) but I dare say even thats taking a hit thanks to Dhoni phenomenon. xxx
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