BuckyBadger

The Olympics have always been among my favorite athletic events. For the most part, it’s still up there, but every Olympic cycle it becomes a bit more frustrating. Why? Because there are a number of Olympic competitions that cheapen what it has traditionally meant to win an Olympic gold medal. I would consider them to fall into one of the two following categories: 1. non-sports - example would be shooting or equestrian. There are competitors in these competitions that are literally in their 40s or 50s and well past their athletic peak. 2. Could technically be considered a sport but not a real test of athleticism or widely participated in the same way that more classic Olympic events like Track, swimming or wrestling are. Some examples would be skateboarding or BMX racing. The 2024 Summer Olympics will have 32 “sports”. By my count a third to a half fit the two conditions above. Off the top of my head break dancing, BMX racing, equestrian, sailing and skateboarding are competitions that don’t belong in the Olympics. A gold medal winner in these is in no way comparable to a gold medal winning runner or swimmer. It’s a shame what the Olympics are turning into. They lose the prestige it means to win a gold a little more every cycle. Ok, rant over. Let the games begin.

Where can we bet these lines?

I remember watching ESPN’s The Season, and his Dad came off as both scary but also pretty funny and down to earth.

Mocco had a lot of hype, not just because of his wrestling accomplishments, but also because he looked a 28 year old scary man.

Huh?

I struggle on this one. In theory it should be legal between two consenting adults. while I have no numbers to back this up I have a strong suspicion that in practice the vast majority of females in that line of work are taken advantage, mistreated and many outright forced into it. I think the number of women doing this on their own free will with no violence or safety repercussions is probably very low.

Someone claimed in another thread that Coleman Scott interviewed

“This is such a straw man. Nobody is singling out AIPAC as a boogeyman.” Complete nonesense. Did you not read the title of this thread? Contrary to your claim, AIPAC represents American voters who are pro-Israel. They are not an agent of the Israeli government. Pro-Israel Americans have a right to stump for their cause without accusations of dual loyalty, nefarious Jewish control etc.

Bowman was clearly in trouble months and months ago, same with Cori Bush. Ilhan Omar squeaked by her primary opponent in 2022 and he had basically no institutional support. She is in a battle right now against the same guy. You seem unopen to the possibility that voters in these districts want real solutions when it comes to improving their lives, and the squad members are focused on culture war nonesense. As an example, Omar got real pushback from her constituents around defunding the police. She had to backtrack because it became a liability to her. Voters in districts like hers are sick of that nonesense. You can criticize the outsized influence of PAC money, which I would agree on. AIPAC plays by the rules of the same dirty game every other PAC does, they are just effective. To single out AIPAC as the boogey man, and say you are not aloud to criticize Israel or else smells of Jewish conspiracy to control. Pathetic.

I think this is wrong. Kolat built up Campbell a few levels and as far as I know didn’t leave because of the issues you describe, but probably because he wanted to focus more on the wrestlers and not admin stuff. Navy is a unique DI program where that might be more possible than non-academy schools. Henson was not able to do much at WVU, and jumped ship every year or two before he was a head coach. Navy has been fairly competitive since Kolat took over. i don’t think the comparison you made is accurate here, other than Kolat moved around a lot for a period of time.

Clearly he took Utah Valley off too soon. They are a couple notches above Sacred Heart, Hofstra and some others.

Who were the unlucky 7?

Agreed, I could see Yianni doing well with Taylor guiding him.

Does the traditional OSU style even apply when the new staff is brought in from the outside, wrestled their careers at other schools, and presumably have the PSU “approach” given their recent coaching experience?

Obviously that part we don’t agree on.

Well, we actually agree on something.

I’m not complaining about the protestors. As you said they were forced to leave. I’m pointing out that you are pretending that this is a free speech issue. If they remained outside and a certain distance away you might have a point, but you know that’s not the case and continue to twist the situation.

Not true, there is a reason that people are arrested and questioned all the time for taking photographs of the White House etc. When it comes to embassies etc, letting a large crowd gather that could potentially be hostile is incredibly foolish. An enormous amount of money/resources is required for security. You are either being dishonest or willfully ignorant.

Yes, we all know that you never take precautionary measures when it comes to security. Just wait until an attack happens to do something. Thanks for the reminder.

Not like embassies/consulates ever get attacked. No security concerns there….sure.

What a mockery. An Olympic medal loses its luster when the make this a sport.

Biden’s general approach to difficult issues has been to be cryptic and commit only so far out of fear of alienating some voting block. He gives mixed messaging, confusing those that are either for/against and leaving them unsure of where he really stands. If he committed one way or the other he would certainly alienate some voters, but there would be clarity. People want to see our leaders lead with strength and a clear message. I think he is trying to “manage” this conflict through the election and ironically it’s pissing everyone off. He’s probably going to lose and one of the reasons is his inability to pick a horse and stick with it. I’m no fan of Trump, but intuitively, he understands that about politics. After 40 plus years in DC politics, Biden doesn’t seem to get it.

This should have been Biden’s approach.

I don’t see Shapiro’s name anywhere, is he not competing for a spot this year?

Actually, the more I think about it, I do think there is precedent for not allowing state employees/agencies etc to display certain messages, but I’m not sure I like the idea of saying a certain type of message should be displayed. That could lead to a pretty bad place eventually.