starsailor9774 Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 That cycling one where they go slow around the track for an eternity before going like the clappers for the last 200yds............. why not just have a 200yd sprint race? without they fannying around. I'd also like to see razor wire along the top of the hurdles............. make it a bit more interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 22, 2008 VT Supporter Share Posted August 22, 2008 Olympic please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pupkin Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Went to vote for dressage... but noticed it wasn't there! Surely thats the most ridiculous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I really want to mention a "sport" I really hate....Air Pistol....what is that??? Like shooting birds with your Nintendo 64! All the sports you mention in the poll above actually requires sweat and tears...but shooting???? It's lame! Not to mention water polo...very funny though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianrobo1 Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 basketball. Does it serve any other purpose than to satisfy an American tv audience? Basketball is huge in Asia and may be the 2nd most popular team sport in the world- In large part because China is so huge but it's also played all over the world- Europe, South America, Africa, even Australia had a pretty good team this year. The NBA is the dominant league but the Euroleague isn't too far behind and the NBA is filled with players from all over the world. The UK is one of the few places it hasn't gained much of a foothold. The US has had strong teams finish 6th, 3rd and 3rd at the 2002 Worlds, 2004 Olympics and 2006 Olympics, respectively. Our last championship was a close win against France in 2000. If we can beat the world champions Spain tomorrow then we win gold! 8) on this basis explain to me why Golf is not in, immensely popular and the American TVcomapnies love especially if Tiger is still around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starsailor9774 Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 I really want to mention a "sport" I really hate....Air Pistol....what is that??? Like shooting birds with your Nintendo 64! All the sports you mention in the poll above actually requires sweat and tears...but shooting???? It's lame! Not to mention water polo...very funny though. Also with the air-pistols they use it would be harder to miss the target.......... they need a contestant like Del-Boy when he pulls the sawn off out of his van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted August 23, 2008 VT Supporter Share Posted August 23, 2008 on this basis explain to me why Golf is not in, immensely popular and the American TVcomapnies love especially if Tiger is still around Probably because the Olympics aren't interested in a competition that wouldn't feature the best players (and I doubt that many of the PGA pros would have more than a passing interest in playing Olympic golf). That's basically why baseball is going away after this Olympics: MLB refused to release players for the tournament and/or suspend its season (MLB has since created its own international tournament as a preseason event). There's some talk that the IOC may axe football if clubs start holding players back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted August 23, 2008 VT Supporter Share Posted August 23, 2008 Its difficult, if not impossible to break a new sport in an established market these days. Expensive more than anything else. The NFL has probably spent a billion dollars (especially adjusting for inflation) over the past 20-25 years building gridiron in Europe (the NFL Europe League is estimated to have burned through nearly half a billion dollars by itself, although a portion of those costs were borne by Rupert Murdoch). At this point, based on the TV ratings that I've seen posted for last season, it may have passed rugby league for a distant fourth place among team sports. If you add MLS' cumulative losses to inflation-adjusted losses of the NASL, similar sums have probably been spent on establishing football in the USA. After decades of trying, and arguably with a demographic tailwind, it's probably getting close to challenging ice hockey for 4th place among team sports (ice hockey probably being closer to #1 in the USA than rugby league is to #1 in the UK). Even Michael Jordan couldn't take basketball past gridiron for #1 in the USA: at best basketball moved past baseball for second place (and it should be noted that in that rough timeframe, baseball (perhaps like football in the '80s) very nearly drove itself off a cliff). That said, a multitude of sports channels from different operators means that there is no shortage of broadcasters searching for something to fill a hole in the schedule. A subscriber to basic cable TV in the Boston area will have five general-interest sports channels from three different operators (Disney's ESPN and ESPN2; Comcast's Versus and Comcast Sports Net New England (which gets a lot of its programming from Fox Sports Net); and the Boston Red Sox/Boston Bruins/New York Times Company's NESN). That's 840 hours of TV time a week to fill. If you're willing to foot the bill to produce the broadcasts, you can get TV. OTOH, the paradox of all that choice is that people are more apt to coccoon in the sports they know (especially since if they opt for digital cable, they may well end up with 24-hour channels from the big 4 leagues that only cover the relevant league). The event that did more to establish interest in football in the USA was the 1966 World Cup. ABC's Wide World of Sports ran a tape delayed broadcast of the final and since there was nothing worth watching on NBC and CBS, it won the time slot. The sports industry in the USA decided that there was a market for football and within a year two rival leagues started up (one with a TV contract but playing outside of FIFA sanction) that would merge after one season to form the NASL. Now, with more TV channels, most viewers with no interest in football would stay away and watch something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted August 23, 2008 VT Supporter Share Posted August 23, 2008 Its just a case of timing and money - if they took a Rugby World Cup out there I think it would be a big step forward. If ESPN finally pulls its thumb out and buys Setanta (their interest has been rumored for a couple of years), then there's a chance. Then again, they'll more likely repurpose Setanta's US channel to all-football all-the-time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenz Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Walking for me..... If they're having that, then why not have a spot of Fishing too? I'd like to see fattie gymnastics though.... Like that telly advert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villab0y Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Being married to an ex GB race walker I have to say she was not amused reading this!!! I went for Softball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 23, 2008 Moderator Share Posted August 23, 2008 I would have thought the Chinese Communist Dressage or the Peoples Army Protestor Hunting would have been up there? What about the Super Smog Blowing? Or the Foreign Journalist Hide & Seek? Oh well maybe it must be the Communist - Boris Torch Throwing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubav Posted August 23, 2008 Share Posted August 23, 2008 Has to be the Bmx thing i remember years ago if you had a bmx and living in a certain part of manxchester you were a drug pedler so whats the crack there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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