Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
My Keyboards: Estonia L-190, Roland RD88, Yamaha P-80, Bilhorn Telescope Organ c 1880, Antique Pump Organ, 1850 concertina, 3 other digital pianos ------------------------- My original piece on BandCamp: https://frankbaxtermrpianoworld.bandcamp.com/releases
Me banging out some tunes in the Estonia piano booth at the NAMM show...
OK, belly's full, caffine has kicked in, so what do you want to start with? How about Olympics. While these may be one of the most successful games for the US teams to date, these games will unfortunately be remembered as the 2002 "Whiner" Games.
No sooner do we get over the Canadian pairs skating affair when I see that Lithuania's dance pair has jumped on the judge bashing bandwagen, as have the Russians in women's aerial ski jumping. Never has the integrity of judging, which has been a problem seething on the backburners for so long, been more in the limelight. It does not bode well, in my view, for the future of any sport where the competition is subject to subjective judgement. Kinda makes me wonder if it's a sport at all really.
While many here in Canada and the US support the IOC's intervention on behalf of the Canadians, I for one would hate to be one of those competitors when it comes to a future competition - especially in Europe. I found a forum on Eurosport (Europe's ESPN or TSN) the other day, and was totally taken aback by the outright hatred of the Canadian pair. The atmosphere seemed to be that this controversy was all the Canadian's doing, that Sale intentionally hit the Russian skater in the warm up, and compared her to Tanya Harding. Oh boy! Major damage control will be necessary here, but some pretty big wounds appear to have been opened up
Big debate here in Canada right now as to whether the Prime Minister (Chretien) is going to support Bush if the US attacks Iraq in its War on Terrorism, and send Canadian Troops in. And what's up with the North Koreans these days. Seems that situation (North vs. South) is getting tense again. So unfortunate when you recall the Koreans entering the 2000 Olympics as one team. Was that just for show I wonder, or is it a case of idealogy lost, missed opportunity, or just a case of not ever really being there. Considwering the world cup of Soccer - the worlds biggest sporting event, is being hosted in the south this summer, the timing for increased hostilities - if that is in fact what is happening - could not possibly be worse.
Anyway, that's my hat thrown into the ring. Any takers?
Jamie
"A cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" Oscar Wilde.
I know what you mean, questioning whether skating is a "sport." I do enjoy watching, and absolutely respect the athletic abilities of the skaters. But the integrity of the...well, "sport"--along with gymnastics--is now so questionable that I don't know if it can be repaired.
Maybe they (the Olympics) should stick to sports that are much more objectively judged.
Ahhh, the coffee God has but one name, and it is Community.
Jesting aside, the number 1 coffee in Louisiana is Community coffee. They ship all over the U.S., in order for native born who have moved away to get their early morning "fix". Try it if given the chance.
True coffee is Community dark roast, brewed in a sock-o-later, handed down from your grandmother. It's too thick to pour and too thin to slice. Perfect!
In other parts of the country, people fight over money, stocks or real estate. Here, we fight over who gets grandma's iron cookware and her coffee pot!
TNCR. Over 20 years. Over 2,000,000 posts. And a new site...
Hee hee, no T2, I mean like track and field events.
(Boxing, I don't understand.)
But I do recognize that all sports have some degree of subjectivity in the judging or officiating.
Figure skating is obviously very subjective. It could be described as an art form requiring great physical abilities, rather than as a sport. I don't know. I just threw that out there for the sake of discussion. I might argue either way...
Originally posted by Fritz: I know what you mean, questioning whether skating is a "sport." I do enjoy watching, and absolutely respect the athletic abilities of the skaters. But the integrity of the...well, "sport"--along with gymnastics--is now so questionable that I don't know if it can be repaired.
Maybe they (the Olympics) should stick to sports that are much more objectively judged.
It's not the integrity of the sport. It's the integrity of the judging. Two entirely different things. Anyone who doesn't think skating is a sport, needs to strap on some blades and try to stand up on a sheet of ice for a few minutes. Now think about the stamina and altheticism required to pull off the physical feats they accomplish for four and a half minutes. It's absolutely a sport. Much more so than curling, which in my opinion, is a game. Might as well add shuffleboard to the summer olympics. But I digress.
If you eliminated sports that are only objectively judged, you'd be left with very few, if any sports and certainly your money making sports would be gone, gone, gone. In the summer games, you'd have to eliminate gymnastics, diving, and any team sport officiated by refs or umps (basketball, soccer, baseball, etc.)
The winter olympics would have to say goodbye to skating, hockey, freestyle skiing, ski jumping, etc. Even the timed sports are overseen by offials who check equipment, screen the athletes for drugs, etc. I don't see how you could pare down the Olympics to only sports that wouldn't leave room for whining.
I, for one, think the Russians are just irked because they don't have the medal producing sports machine they enjoyed under previous management. Gone are the days that a Soviet soldier could receive great pay, a cool apartment and every waking moment free to practice a triple lutz.
I'm all for leaving the Olympics as are. They've weathered scandals and petulant countries in the past. They'll do it again.
Believe they could change the way the skating is judged. If you watch the mogul competition - there are groups of judges. 2 judges judge the 2 aerials, another group judge the way the competitor skid the moguls, then the completion time is added in as well. Skating could do something similar - one group of judges could judge artistic content, one group the technical stuff, plus maybe split out another aspect of the program for another group.
OR, drop one lowest and one highest score from everyone's marks to reduce the likelyhood of favouritism.
Originally posted by PianoWorld: This forum was created at the suggestion of some of our regular members as a place to discuss topics that aren't related to music.
Please remember the rules! Our web site is family oriented. No foul language, no bad-mouthing other members.
So. It's been 3 years. Have we followed the rules?
Originally posted by PianoWorld: [b] This forum was created at the suggestion of some of our regular members as a place to discuss topics that aren't related to music.
Please remember the rules! Our web site is family oriented. No foul language, no bad-mouthing other members.
So. It's been 3 years. Have we followed the rules? [/b]
Have you?
TNCR. Over 20 years. Over 2,000,000 posts. And a new site...
