"No sports mistake is supposed to be fatal"

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.

In article ,
Michael Press wrote:

In article ,
Howard Kveck wrote:

In article ,
Michael Press wrote:

The point I am drifting toward is this.
Yes, elite competitors are risk takers.
They don't walk the edge, they sprint.
_However_, there are some risks they
do not take.

Michael, I don't think he intentionally "took [that] risk" - it was an
accident. He made a mistake.

I am trying to make sense of it, so thinking of it as an accident
does not shine any light. As far as I know, no other sledders went
off course. The reason he went off course is because he took a
line that _guarantees_ going off course; not a risk, a guarantee.

I should have been more expansive - sorry about that. What I'm trying to point out
is that he took that line because he may have misjudged where he was on the course,
nudged a wall (which made him turn) or some other reason. Going by what I've read,
those luges are pretty sensitive to steering input. Since they were going 15 to 20
mph faster than they normally do at that point on a course, he couldn't correct and
get back on the more proper line.

--
tanx,
Howard

Caught playing safe
It's a bored game

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

"Robert Chung" wrote in message
...
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.



Dumbass -

Man.

That is very bad sportsmanship. They should've quit shooting.

thanks,

Kurgan. presented by Gringioni.

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

Robert Chung wrote:
I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.

Presumably the cycling equivalent is getting lapped on a 100Km circuit.

Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
"Robert Chung" wrote in message
...
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.



Dumbass -

Man.

That is very bad sportsmanship. They should've quit shooting.

1. Maybe they did.
2. Canada or Slovakia?

In article
,
" wrote:

On Feb 18, 2:50Â*pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Â*William Asher wrote:
Â*wrote:

The Womens downhill yesterday was borderline ridiculous. I've watched
the sport for years (know nothing about it from experience) and I
can't recall a course that seem to cause so much obvious problems for
so many of the elite of the elite competitors. To this casual
observor, I had to wonder if it was time to stop calling it a
challenging course and start calling it a failure. Half of the final
six crashing out is not supposed to be how it is IMO. Real skiiers can
feel free to say how I'm wrong on this.

I'm like you, I only watch the women's skiing because I like watching
womenn who can crack unhusked coconuts betweenn their thighs, but I
interpreted what happened to be that Vonn was so fast the womenn who wanted
to winn recognized they had to push their ownn limits. Â*Whenn you are
running flat out mistakes happenn, like Dave Zabriskie crashing at the end
of the TTT. Â*

Inn fact, Vonn was so fast I assume she is a doper, using the Lemond
criterionn.

Possibly true. I assumed we were seeing that the depth in women's
downhill is quite low. See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I am not a real skier, but agree with Asher. Actually I also
think that, apart from Vonn, Mancuso's run was so impressive
that all the other skiers were compelled to ski the ragged
edge of control. Vonn was the only one who appeared
strong enough (physically, mentally) to do that and keep it together.

When you have someone like Anja Paersson crashing out,
that isn't a limited-depth problem. In general, as Curtis
alluded to, the final few skiers are most likely to be top flight
so crashing suggests pushing too hard rather than
limited skills.

One of my cow orkers said that in addition to the course
difficulty, the women hadn't practiced on the lower part
at full speed. They had to divide the practice runs in half
and only got one run due to bad weather.

In Paersson's flameout, you could see that she was in
the backseat (weight too far back) when she hit the takeoff
of that last jump, which gave her basically no chance
of landing it successfully. I don't know that one could
blame that on problems with the course or snow surface,
other than that it was an indication of overall difficulty
and fatigue. The section immediately before didn't
look like the hardest part of the course.

Possibly the last jump was bigger than it needed to be,
intending to make a good show for the spectators -
Paersson went 190 feet before landing. Yikes.

Also, did you see the skiier who got about 5 metres from the start
house, and then toppled over sideways? Not the best.

Yes. That to me is an indication of the intensity of nerves rather
than either course or physical-skill problems.

Could Lindsay Vonn's injury beenn played up to befuddle the competitionn?

(Lindsay Vonn what? They never say.)

--
Michael Press

In article ,
"Robert Chung" wrote:

Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
"Robert Chung" wrote in message
...
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.



Dumbass -

Man.

That is very bad sportsmanship. They should've quit shooting.

1. Maybe they did.
2. Canada or Slovakia?

Can't speak to Slovakia v. Bulgaria, but as I explained elsewhere, goal
differential matters in Olympic tournament seedings. So Canada and the
US were in a competition to see who could out-brutalize their
overmatched competitors.

It's an honor just to be blown out,

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In article ,
"Robert Chung" wrote:

Kurgan Gringioni wrote:
"Robert Chung" wrote in message
...
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
See also: Canada 18, Slovakia 0.

I hadn't realized Slovakia beat Bulgaria 82-0.



Dumbass -

Man.

That is very bad sportsmanship. They should've quit shooting.

1. Maybe they did.
2. Canada or Slovakia?

Can't speak to Slovakia v. Bulgaria, but as I explained elsewhere, goal
differential matters in Olympic tournament seedings. So Canada and the
US were in a competition to see who could out-brutalize their
overmatched competitors.

It's an honor just to be blown out,


Shouldn't it be "scissored out" for women's hockey?

--
Bill Asher

In article ,
Michael Press wrote:

Could Lindsay Vonn's injury beenn played up to befuddle the competitionn?

(Lindsay Vonn what? They never say.)

Lindsay Vonn's injury could have been played up to befuddle the
competition. Lindsay Vonn's injury could have been played up to give Bob
Costas something to say while they pulled skiiers out of the crash
fencing. Lindsay Vonn's injury could have been played up because it was
the only news most people knew about Lindsay Vonn*.

Among other things, I gather several of the top competitors are friends
as well, and I would think that downhill, with its pure
against-the-clock nature, would lend itself poorly to head games
involving the health of your competition, and to savage rivalries.

It's not boxing.

*I like to imagine that it's going to turn out Lindsay has a cat named
Mittens, and Bob Costas was not informed, and so the interns will be
beaten soundly.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
It's an honor just to be blown out,

William Asher wrote:
Shouldn't it be "scissored out" for women's hockey?

Well if you prefer being scissored to being blown.