Winter Olympics Questions
When you are watching the winter Olympics, which questions are going through your head?
It’s funny, a lot of the questions I have had – “Why are the snowboarders so chill?” “How old are those curlers?” “How many calories are ice skaters burning?” “Why does Johnny Weir look so fabulous?!?!?” – have been showing up in my newsfeed a day or so after I think of them! I am loving watching the Olympics (even though I don’t understand scoring and am just hoping to see epic crashes) and know some of you are too, so here are a few of those interesting articles (yes, I read them all)!
How many calories do Olympic athletes burn? (pdf here)
Why are the snowboarders so chill? (pdf here)
How many dual Olympians (summer and winter) have there been, and in which two sports? (pdf here) – I thought the cycling/speed skating combo was interesting!
How old are those curlers? (pdf here)
Why does Johnny Weir look so fab?! (pdf here)
What’s up with the speedskating suits? (pdf here)
Previously shared – How do you train for the bobsled? (pdf here)
Why is Kim so fascinated with watching people crash? Um… because their resilience is so inspiring? Yeah, that’s it.
Here is one question Steven and I cannot find any answer to… why are the announcers (edited: I think I meant commentators) so annoying?!
Xaarlin shared this fun flow chart with me – which winter Olympic sport should you try?
Andrew and Rachel shared this Star Wars Olympic mashup with me:
And some more questions:
Why does Data insist on sitting in front of my computer in the morning?!?!?!?!?
Will Kim share anything other than links this week?!
How did this get so off track?!
Themocracy
The announcers are SO annoying! My least favorite is the host(?) of the curling events (not the commentators during the games). I feel like his comments are sometimes mean-spirited and his questions and follow-up questions are ridiculous!
Ahh, thanks – that is what I mean, commentators, not announcers. Couldn’t think of the right word.
I have not heard the curling dude, but we have heard some other silly things “You can tell he is not sure if he should be here by the way he is waving his hands.” Huh?
I will never forgive that wench for making Bode Miller cry. That was just ridiculous. I fancy myself a contender in many of the Olympic sports (hello skeleton, bobsled, biathlon) but not the sport that I actually competed in (figure skating. Ha! What baffles me is why are Tara L and Jonny W there when they don’t in fact commentate for skating? For color I guess??
I saw everyone talking about that on FB but had no idea what was going on until I saw the Buzzfeed or something on it the next day. How completely tactless!
LOL! Steven and I want to try biathlon 🙂 We have some ideas to modify it though (just completely ridiculous ones).
That MUST be why they are there?! They do make me laugh 🙂
ha ha… I enjoyed this post. My question is- at what age do mogul skiers blow their knees out? I cringed watching them…
Oh gosh! We were saying that last night! We predicted by their 30s 😉
Oh man I love the Olympics. I watch it all day long at work since the people I nanny for actually have cable. Then I watch it again at night. Good times. My husband loves seeing people crash and fall. You are both mean. Haha. That is assuming you laugh hysterically like he does and I am getting the impression that is more what you mean. 🙂
It’s fun when you can watch it during the day, too!
ha ha ha! I am not always laughing at them falling… a lot of times I am just shocked! They must be made of rubber!
I’m with you, Data, why does Kim keep posting pictures of her pet? Who does that?
I’m actually really fascinated by watching people wipe out in the Olympics – how do they get up so fast?! Why aren’t they crying, like I totally would be if someone threw me and I fell on the ice? How many bruises are these people covered in?
But yeah, the commentating is pretty annoying. Did you see this post about the terrible interviews?
http://www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.com/2014/02/what-happened-to-olympics.html
Data secretly likes it… I think 😉
That is what I wonder too! How do they bounce up and man, those must be some serious bruises!!!!
Ha ha ha. That is REALLY funny. Maybe I should follow that blog! If she medals in snarking, I could definitely read it. But yeah, the dumb questions they ask? GAH!!!! Are you happy? Are you surprised? WTF.
And how do their tights not rip when they hit the ice??? Where do I buy these super tights?
Bob and I were talking about the Bode Miller thing before I had read that post, and had the same thoughts. Like, just let it go, maybe he doesn’t want to talk about his dead brother! Can we focus more on cute young Olmpians adopting multiple puppies instead? 🙂
I’ve been LOVING the Olympics – and, yes, disliking the announcers. Not all of them – the commentators for skiing and snowboarding are excellent and it’s great to have them critique form and whatnot (I wouldn’t know how someone “messed up” a run).
I’ve also had my own ‘reality moments’ – I felt really bad for Shaun White for getting 4th, and then I thought “This guy already has 2 gold medals and a life that he loves – why am I feeling so bad for him?!?!”.
But it’s SOOOOO funny when they get in to the nitty gritty of their form, too! Then bash them on it. LOL. We’re at home, like “Oh, that looked good to me… it wasn’t?!” 😛
LOL. I read this one article about why all the other snowboarders don’t like him. I should have linked to that, here.
I have to read that article – but why ARE they so chill?
BTW – I showed Michael the video (he is a sci-fi fan) and he thought it was hysterical. Thanks for sharing!
Ha ha ha, just their attitude about it all! They are out there to have fun! You could tell by watching them and seeing their reaction to the scores!
Aww, yay! I am happy he enjoyed it!
I was in the gym one night last week and someone had curling on the tv. The people in the gym were trying to figure out the scoring or, at least, how it’s played. I was like, Oh! I kind of know that! My brother has actually gone curling before. He says it’s a lot of fun.
Are you going to try it? I bet Steven would be good at it (after practice) since he is good at pool and bowling. Looks like similar concepts and strategy is used.
He’s never invited me but if he did I wouldn’t turn him down!
I actually really like watching curling 🙂 We had the Canadian CBC network when I was growing up (less than an hour from Windsor, Ontario) so I used to watch it a lot when I was a kid!
I think there’s a place you can go curling in Deerfield, like right near 94/41 and Lake Cook Road.
That flow chart was hilarious!
Do you watch GIRLS? Have you seen http://shoshigames.tumblr.com/
I don’t watch it, but I have heard of it! 🙂 What is the story with this character?
I love all the questions. Reminds me of the cliffhangers in old cartoons: “Will Rocky and Bullwinkle save Frostbite Falls from President Putin’s evil stray dogs?”
Oh and Johnny Weir looks fab because he is Johnny Wier. (Oh, and 10 lbs of jewelry)
“Why does Johnny Weir look so fabulous?”
Why, indeed. I need to get some of that fabulousness. Think I could hire him as my stylist? Although he’d probably frown upon the fact that I wear yoga pants every day…
In certain sports, I hate the commentators. I remember watching the Men’s hockey finals back in 2010 and all they would talk about was how awesome Sidney Crosby was. Soooo annoying.
Hilarious!!! I’ve really only been paying close attention to the ice dancing and to the hockey (of course). The other sports I just kind of have on in the background while I am doing other stuff. But I am constantly amazed at the very, very detailed commentary that is provided on some of the more obscure sports. Where do they find those commentators!?!?!? Who knew that there would be curling experts out there?
That impresses us, too! Even though the detail is sometimes very, very silly 🙂
Troy and I are addicted and I swear the only announcers I can stand are the hockey ones and that’s only because they are the same ones that announce for the NHL. ALL of the others drive me absolutely crazy! They are hyper-critical and often, just plain mean! Maybe their critical-ness is on purpose to try to get the audience to understand what the judges are deducting points for, but nevertheless, they just sound pompous and rude! I have enjoyed the puff pieces by Mary Carillo and Ryan Seacrest (#unashamed).
My biggest question about most of these sports is how does a young person even get into these things? What makes a teenager start training for bobsled, curling, speed-skating? These are not normal extra-curricular activities. I admire anyone that is an expert at just about anything because of the time and dedication it took to get there. I just don’t get where it starts for some of these young people.
I don’t know how we will survive another two years until the Olympics makes its appearance again 🙂
And, Troy’s ex-wife’s old boss and friends all belonged to the curling club in Deerfield. I think it would be fun!
Jen2! Helloooooooooooo!
Hockey is the only thing I haven’t been watching! So I should check that out. I like the personal pieces too. I know they just replay them all the time, but it’s fun to hear about someone’s background, because it does give you an idea of how long they have been training for all this… although I have no idea WHY. I saw that one skier had a grandpa who skied in the Olympics and he had been skiing since he was 18 mos old. Maybe for others, their parents thought they should try it, or they did… at a very young age?! 🙂
According to the flow chart, it appears I should ski. That’s funny, because the last time I skiied, I went right into the parking lot because I don’t know how to stop!
Ha ha ha! Time for a redo on the flowchart. Isn’t that thing funny?!
Data is always relevant… Duh. 🙂
I need to go back and read all of those links above next time I turn on my laptop…
The commentators are so negative. And I especially hate the woman commentator for figure skating. Everything she says sounds like something awkward from an SNL skit. Or like she’s trying too hard to say something memorable and epic that she just misses the mark completely.
I watched “raising Olympians” or something like that on NBC before the Olympics and it profiled 5 people that made it to the Olympics this year- the figure skating duo, a young skier, speed skater (JR Celski?) and found it so interesting. All the kids just had a genuine interest in their sports and displayed a talent at a young age and the parents (most of which had no ties to those sports) figured out ways to let them continue and compete to see if there really was something special about their abilities.
I’m now completely fascinated with the brasilians at Sochi. There’s only 3-5 of them competing. The figure skater (Isadora Williams) was born in Atlanta Georgia and lives and trains in the USA and has brazilian citizenship through her Brasilian mother. She had to get a certain placing at some competitions to qualify for the Olympics but I think it’s just so cool she is there competing for Brasil (and completely gaming the system to be there because she never would have qualifyied as an American skater) I’ll have to look up the other Brasilians now for their background- which are most likely similar to Isadora since they cannot train in Brasil due to no snow.
Ha ha ha! All I can think of is the male figure skating commentator (Mark whatever) and how he predicts that they are going to crash. “So and so is really bad at this move…” I don’t get how they are there if they are not good at it?
I love watching stuff like that! I wonder if that is on their streaming site, hmm.
I have been wondering where everyone trains! I was reading an opinion article yesterday that was kind of bashing the winter Olympics because it excludes the southern hemisphere (or a lot of it) since they are unable to train.
LOL I love this! I’m curious on how each county determines who to send- are these standards the same worldwide? And do countries get quotas on how many athletes they can send? And why does it seem like ALL of them train, live, or go to school in the US?! I mean I get that we are awesome and all, but I thought the Olympics was country vs. country, using the resources you have? I dunno- I am getting wayyy to into it!
I have wondered about that, too! I think it’s really interesting to hear about our qualifying standards in the US as well.
Ha ha! Maybe they come here because we have snow a lot of the year? I would think they would be training in the Alps! 🙂