“they have that Biathlon, that combines cross-country skiing with shooting a gun. How many Alpine snipers are into this? To me it’s like combining swimming and strangling a guy. That makes just as much sense to me.”

Seinfeld is normally pretty smart, but doesn’t appear so with that joke. Virtually all sports are pretty pointless at the end of the day. But Biathlon is really one of the more obvious with regard to where it came from. Perhaps if they use bows and arrows and shot at bears Seinfeld would get.

Phil’s right on the ice skating. Amazing athleticism and even balls – to do those jumps above something as hard as ice – with music and costumes that make the Bee Gees not appear camp. What’s d’point?

Seinfeld is normally pretty smart, but doesn’t appear so with that joke.

It’s stand-up comedy. All jokes are based on little lies, especially Seinfeld’s stuff.

But you gotta point, if ANY sport is based on reality, it’s the biathlon!

And Navy Seals could actually have use for swim+strangle. And luge is probably getting popular in US because it requires the same skills as flying a modern military aircraft.

Figure skating is the only sport in the Winter Olympics that interests me. It combines dancing, artistic value, and athletics in an entertaining way. It certainly beats hockey by all stretches of the imagination.

Oh, I can confess i haven’t paid any attention to the Olympics, except for the Ice Hockey. I actually like to watch the women’s hockey, as some of the skating is quite elaborate, compared to the “ramming” in the men’s.

BTW And I am not Anzi even this bloody thing claims so!

I’m bitter. The BBC is not showing much ice hockey. Mostly just curling (Britain’s female team won in the last olympics I think) and figure skating (they have a chap commenting who won in the olympics in like, I don’t know, 1969? anyway, they think he’s so wonderful). I could go see an ice hockey game though. Sheffield Steelers vs Newcastle Vipers next week. Yay.

curling is the ultimate sport, i forget about it for 4 years and then the winter olympics comes along. i dont fully understand the rules and i would like to think i have no interset in watching it, but when surfin channels if it happens to come up thats it im sucked in its like a game of chess that i dont understand but soooooooooooooo adictive viewing.
i have asked people at work and everyone seems to watch it. what is it about this sport that everyone gets so hooked

Well, I’ve been watching like a hawk. Every event. I’m actually watching right now. Well listening actually but I don’t think I’ve turned off my tv since the Olympics started. As usual.

And I think Finland will win gold in curling. Hopefully Ahonen will get a personal gold aswell. And Ice-hockey? Maybe this year..and I’ve been saying that since 1995…but it looks good so far..

Hmmm, I wouldn’t feel one bit guilty for not being a couch potato during the games. Quite opposite. It’s a shame to watch some well-paid doping artists, instead of exploiting the excellent weather (at least here in the north) and going skiing by yourself.

Biathlon is traditionally dominated by military and semi-military people. The only Finnish contestant in these games, for example, is a professional border guard.

I’ve been wondering why they don’t explain the Curling rules when they broadcast it. I found Wikipedia’s article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling) illuminating.

“If Curling is considered a “sport”, I think No Limit Texas Hold’em should be allowed during the Summer Games.”

Absolutely. Some years ago the old gentlemen at IOC actually planned to introduce the card game bridge as an event in winter games!
The problem was that winter events should be performed on snow or ice so they would have to play in an ice rink.

http://www.worldbridge.org/IOC/IOC.htm

Right on, Phil. I’ve never been able to get my head around the zillion sequins, the forced teeth & smiles, and the God-awful schmaltzy bad-classical-music of figure skating, even if the people who do it ARE very athletic (and presumably black & blue after practice, since ice is HARD). Basically I don’t see why ballroom dancing hasn’t been included by the IOC long ago – nobody seems to bat an eyelid at ice dancing.

Basically, ALL the “jury” sports are a bit suspect. The purist in me says a sport should be about chucking something furthest, getting from A to B fastest, or smacking an object into a goal more often than the opposition, and should not be decided on how “nicely” someone does something: gold medals for artistic interpretation in the hammer-throw, anyone?

But leave biathlon alone: it’s a fine sport. Great combination of stamina and eye-hand coordination. And if you think it’s somehow weird, try explaining the high jump: WHY in the modern era do people need to jump over an obstacle 2.40 metres high? Escaping a lion by leaping into a tree, perhaps? If so, then bring on the lions, I say. It was good enough for the Romans.

Late score: Lions 4 Christians 0

P.S. If you want daft “sports”, Finland’s Aale Tyyni won the gold medal for lyric poetry (?!!?) at the London Olympics in 1948. Maybe Pikku G can win a rap gold in 2012?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_medallists_in_art_competitions

Figure skating sucks, I hope YLE would show more bobsled and skeleton on those death-treatening circuits.

Curling seems to be the best hope for a Finnish gold medal!

Seinfeld doesn’t know about Winter War!

You left out snowboard cross-country, Sale. Magic stuff! A mix of downhill, big air, rollerball, and motocross. I foresee a great future for it, unless some twat decides it’s too dangerous (which would be a joke – considering how mad the luge and skeleton are).

The big problem with all the tobogganing events is that they are an awful waste of money for the organisers: who the hell USES the track once the Olympics are done and dusted?

hey. i think the funniest thig ive seen this olympics was a think that happened in the practice for (dunno its name, but there is a huge jump and skiiers go off it and do flips and stuff). anyway, one guy went off the jump but he had forgotten to clip his skis on properly and as soon as he went off the jump they both fell off. might be a bit mean to laugh at but you would think an olympian would know how to put skis on by now lol. (“,)

curling is like petanque, but on ice. really easy to understand…

Growing up we used to play a sled game where we had teams going down on toboggans then at a certain point down the hill we were allowed to jump on each other’s toboggans and throw each other off and try to take it over. Points were awarded for making it down the hill first, throwing people off, taking complete control of the toboggan. Fun shit!!

P.S. If you want daft “sports”, Finland’s Aale Tyyni won the gold medal for lyric poetry (?!!?) at the London Olympics in 1948. Maybe Pikku G can win a rap gold in 2012?

Hey, hey, hey…a relative of mine won that at the Berlin Olympics… (And just to be a pedant I believe it’s actually Aale Tynni…)

Beg pardon, Anna. Slip of the keys…

Though I did find this on Google that suggests I’m not the ONLY one to make the mistake…

16. Kuka on sanoittanut partiomarssin?
A. Jalmari Finne
B. Aale Tyyni
C. V.A. Koskenniemi
D. Eino Leino

And if you mean Karhumäki, to be absolutely pedantic he won the gold for an epic. Probably one of those endurance events… I expect the artists used performance-enhancing subtances, too. Like kossu.

Finland is playing Czech right now in hockey and it’s not on any of my TV stations!? The damn U.S.-Slovakia game is on.

What a match between Finland and the Czeck Republic! I was too frightened to watch it in a pub, so I came home, and from 2-2 situation Finland suddenly scored 2 more goals in the last term of the match ( 3.erä). Ice hockey is still something, even though many other games are just so uninteresting…more hockey tomorrow, too exciting, but still, try to keep myself in front of the TV

Huh? The FIN-CZE game was on YLE2. Either you spend too much time on subTV and can’t find TV2 or else they were simply doing a re-cap on the USA-SVK or SWE-LAT games in the breaks between periods.

Team USA will have to buck their ideas up a bit: there’s even a slim chance they could miss the boat and get left in fifth spot if the Latvians beat the Kazakhstan lot (likely) and Sweden and Russia stiff the USA (not impossible). Then it would go down to goal difference. Right now that’s no big problem, but they really don’t want to be on the end of a big defeat to either Sweden or Russia, just in case the Latvians, who aren’t bad, give KAZ a mauling in their last game. All hell would break loose if the NHL pros did another Nagano “Debacle on Ice”.

CNN (from 1998):
“If American troops had fought World War II the way Team USA is competing for a medal in these Olympic games, we’d all be eating sushi and sauerkraut today.”

finnpundit:… “the usa sucks at everything”…, that can’t be you, can it??

The scariest of them all, although not a winter sport, is hands down, synchronized swimming. When those painted broads shoot up to the surface with the hideous grins on their faces, it scares the living daylight out of me every time.

No USA hockey loss can compare with the abjectly pathetic teams that the US has fielded for the last few Olympics in basketball. If one thing speaks volumes for my generation of Americans, it is those losers half-assing and moping around the floor.

On the bright side of 2006, the Finnish men’s hockey look great, although I can’t ever catch a match on TV. Not that I’m condoning real violence, but it was sweet that Jarkko Ruutu took Jagr out today. What’s the Finnish word for gold, again?

Have you actually tried curling? I bet you haven’t. It’s a lot harder than it looks, and can be quite dangerous if you fall and hit your head on the ice like I did (while sweeping). Just because a sport isn’t cardiovascular disqualifies it from being included in the Olympics, in your opinion? (I’m assuming this) Even most amateurs have a hard time getting the rock where they want it, and then there are no guarantees. You should try playing it before judging it so quickly.

But you gotta point, if ANY sport is based on reality, it’s the biathlon!

Certainly biathlon makes sense to us living in Finland but no wonder Seinfeld doesn’t get it. Running, skiing and swimming etc. are the sports that are most based on reality IMO.

Oh man, I was at the local pub for the game, the whole place just mad when Koivu got out from the penalty booth and passed to Jokinen. Or then Selänne 30 seconds into the round…

I think I need to go see the Canada game today. Its going to be interesting.

The FIN-CZE game was on YLE2. Either you spend too much time on subTV and can’t find TV2 or else they were simply doing a re-cap on the USA-SVK or SWE-LAT games in the breaks between periods.

Wha?? I watched the Sweden-Latvia game on TV2 at like 11:30 last night for quite a while. Weird!

And BTW – impersonating another reader and linking to porn sites gets your comments removed (you know who you are).

Well, unf, the USA-SVK match was in 3rd session after the FIN-CZE match ended, I saw bits of the SWE-LTV between the 2nd and 3rd. I think they start the game at 22 though?

“Wha?? I watched the Sweden-Latvia game on TV2 at like 11:30 last night for quite a while. Weird!”

Not really so very weird. If you’d paid any attention to the little clock in the top left hand corner of your screen you’d have seen the time elapsed change without warning, suggesting to you that you were watching HIGHLIGHTS, and the chances are that all they showed were the goals anyway.

Another win for the invincible curling heroes under King Markku!

“I don’t understand their connection to any reality, like in the Winter Olympics they have that Biathlon, that combines cross-country skiing with shooting a gun.”

Haha!

So Phil, how did you like the USA -Sweden?

“So many events in the Olympics don’t make sense, I don’t understand their connection to any reality, like in the Winter Olympics they have that Biathlon, that combines cross-country skiing with shooting a gun. How many Alpine snipers are into this? To me it’s like combining swimming and strangling a guy. That makes just as much sense to me.”

Biathlon is basically Norwegian drive-by shooting (Robin Williams in a stand up set of his)