Winter Olympics 2018

[Brian Peacock]

They're all cleaning up in the curling.

[Hermit]

...if staring contests put more asses in the seats than ski-jumping, that would be a good reason for staring contests to be in there.

You must be fucking kidding. More donkeys on seats are only good for broadcasters' and advertisers' bottom lines... and the continued cretinisation of the plebs. Staring contests ought to be included in the Olympic games because no other game - not a cricket match that will be played out, nor even the noble sport of farnarkling - has more potential to stimulate and improve a viewer's intellectual prowess.

To show you what I mean, here are some highlights from the 43rd World Stare Out Championship Finals:

[Scot Dutchy]

They're all cleaning up in the curling.

Well we are doing our best in proper speed skating. Another gold yesterday. The men's pursuit went badly due to a loss of a spring.

[Hermit]

They're all cleaning up in the curling.

Considering the frantic use of brooms in that sport it should surprise nobody.

[Forty Two]

...if staring contests put more asses in the seats than ski-jumping, that would be a good reason for staring contests to be in there.

You must be fucking kidding. More donkeys on seats are only good for broadcasters' and advertisers' bottom lines... and the continued cretinisation of the plebs. Staring contests ought to be included in the Olympic games because no other game - not a cricket match that will be played out, nor even the noble sport of farnarkling - has more potential to stimulate and improve a viewer's intellectual prowess.

Look, there were games in the original Olympics which we'd never have now. There are games now that you don't prefer, and which I don't prefer. I think Curling is a silly game (shuffleboard on ice). I have no idea why that's an Olympic sport. But when you're talking about the "reason" to put the sport on TV, it all depends one's perspective. The organizers have to be concerned with asses in the seats, and they can't be dedicated to what high-brows consider an elevated enough contest to make it in the mix, at least not exclusively. There has to be a balance.

Most of the sports in the winter olympics are painfully boring to watch, in my view. The purpose of the games, however, is to have a competition among nations in a good-natured, peaceful way, in an attempt to help foster the brotherhood of man. Oh, sorry, the siblinghood of peoplekind.

There is no overarching objective reason why one game should be included over another. We don't go by the original Olympics. After all, most of the sports in the winter games were not in the original Olympics. It's pretty much what people like and are interested in. That's the determining factor.

[pErvinalia]

Except figure skating, which objectively sucks.

[Forty Two]

It's all a matter of perspective....

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[Hermit]

The organizers have to be concerned with asses in the seats

The purpose of the games, however, is to have a competition among nations in a good-natured, peaceful way, in an attempt to help foster the brotherhood of man.

That used to be the purpose. Over the decades the Olympic games have become a vehicle for making money. Big money. Sponsors are not charitable institutions. The dozen or so biggest ones do not chip in more than $100 million each unless they see a net-positive result in the offing, and have a look at the sponsors themselves. What exactly is the connection between sugary drinks and fatty fast foods and sporting competitions generally and Olympic competitions in particular? I mean, apart from the fact that the manufacturers are sponsors. Doesn't the irony strike you at all?

Nobody involved in the running of the Olympic games gives a fuck about competition among nations in a good-natured, peaceful way, in an attempt to help foster the brotherhood of man. They are in it for the money and national prestige. The more bums on seats, the greater the number of idiot box watchers, the bigger the potential profits. And that in turn, as I mentioned earlier, necessitates lowering the niveau to the lowest common denominator. Therefore no chess, no theatre, no poetry.

[Scot Dutchy]

South Korea now has to clean up the white elephants or add them to the list of world wide olympic ruins.

[Forty Two]

The organizers have to be concerned with asses in the seats

The purpose of the games, however, is to have a competition among nations in a good-natured, peaceful way, in an attempt to help foster the brotherhood of man.

That used to be the purpose. Over the decades the Olympic games have become a vehicle for making money. Big money. Sponsors are not charitable institutions. The dozen or so biggest ones do not chip in more than $100 million each unless they see a net-positive result in the offing, and have a look at the sponsors themselves. What exactly is the connection between sugary drinks and fatty fast foods and sporting competitions generally and Olympic competitions in particular? I mean, apart from the fact that the manufacturers are sponsors. Doesn't the irony strike you at all?

Nobody involved in the running of the Olympic games gives a fuck about competition among nations in a good-natured, peaceful way, in an attempt to help foster the brotherhood of man. They are in it for the money and national prestige. The more bums on seats, the greater the number of idiot box watchers, the bigger the potential profits. And that in turn, as I mentioned earlier, necessitates lowering the niveau to the lowest common denominator. Therefore no chess, no theatre, no poetry.

Well, you refer to it "used to" having the noble purpose. And, you say now it doesn't, "therefore," no chess, no theater, no poetry. However, it never had chess, theater or poetry in the last 100 years or so since the Olympics were recreated in the modern age. So, even when it did have that noble purpose, you did not see the activities you think should be in there.

Moreover, if the commercial nature of the events gets more people to watch, isn't that good? I'm not sure what what of the events currently in the mix are lowest common denominator. I mean, traditionally, skiing, figure skating, hockey, etc. were in the mix. Is it a reduction to the baser levels to add snowboarding?