OT: Favorite Winter Olympic Sport
Happy Friday! With the Olympics starting soon, I wanted to ask what your favorite Winter Olympic sport is?
I love Olympic Hockey, it has to be number 1 for me, but I also love Curling, there is just something about it...
January 24th, 2014 at 7:32 AM ^
Curling
I dont know why.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:23 AM ^
I just heard that it is literally in the rules for curling that the winner MUST take out the loser for drinks.
I cannot confirm it is 100% true. But man, that is awesome.
And my favorite olympic sport? The men's 4x relays in speed skating (short track). That shit is a mess!
January 24th, 2014 at 8:56 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 9:01 AM ^
This guy? Looks like the Netherlands unis if I'm not mistaken.
January 24th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^
We normally go by the most sober after playing drives home.
January 24th, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
I find the individual races usually more entertaining than the relays though. 4 or 5 skaters going head to head and jockeying for position for a short time, and frequently something bizarre happens like a dude from Australia winning the gold because the 4 guys in front of him all wiped out. I also love snobocross for much the same reason.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:42 AM ^
I would say either freestyle skiing or hockey. Both are awesome sports. Four years ago the bars in Ann Arbor were pretty fun watching the USA/Canada gold medal game.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:20 AM ^
Same here. I love hockey and freestyle skiing. I like a lot of the winter olympic sports now that I actually think about it. I enjoy far more than the summer olympics.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:49 AM ^
Figure skating is my favorite, but I like to watch bobsledding and snowboarding, too.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:47 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 7:51 AM ^
snowboarding. Slopestyle and superpipe
January 24th, 2014 at 7:53 AM ^
Ski jump!
January 24th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^
But I think you realy need to visit a ski jump to appreciate how insane it is. Just walk up to the base, look up to see where they start and think look down to see where they land and it's like, "holy shit, you've got to be kidding me".
Must have been some seriously drunk nutcases taht invented that sport.
January 24th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
(Visited a ski jump, not actually jumped.)
There is a ski jump in Iron Mountain. I saw it when I was there on business this fall. To stand at the bottom of it and imagine that people actually ciimb to the top and voluntarily ski down it and jump off it gives a whole new meaning the phrase "totally f'ing nuts!"
January 24th, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
I was in Innsbruck (last hosted Olympics in 1976) back in 2007 and the thing I most wanted to see was their Olympic Ski jump. I didn't get terribly close to it, but it could be seen pretty well from where I stood. Impressive for sure.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:53 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 7:54 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 7:57 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 9:33 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 7:58 AM ^
It combines Ski Jumping and Cross Country Skiing. Each person (or team) jumps from the ski jump and the higher your score and distance, the further you get to start from #2, #3, etc. Combines two completely random winter sports into an exciting event.
January 24th, 2014 at 7:59 AM ^
Bobsledding and luge
Downhill
And Ski Jump
January 24th, 2014 at 8:01 AM ^
I'm not sure I can pick a favorite. It's definately not figurestaking. That is mostly because I have no idea how it is scored and if someone is doing well.
I really kind like them all.
Without going and counting, I feel like there are far fewer team sports in the winter olympics than the summer. Does anyone else get this feeling?
January 24th, 2014 at 8:03 AM ^
Like others, I actually do enjoy curling as well, but I will also watch speed skating and the bobsled throughout the Olympics too. For some reason, I have really gotten into watching snowboarding on the last couple cycles - that's is pretty entertaining viewing. I'll catch a lot of other events sporadically.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:16 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:04 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:51 AM ^
aside from the biathlon, you just described every Bond flick.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:06 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:07 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:08 AM ^
speed skating is so much more strategic than you'd think
figure skating is so graceful, yet with elements of power (not unlike gymnastics in that respect)
bobsled, luge, skeleton, downhill skiing - just pure unadulterated speed!
ski jumping - that's just scary
snowboarding in all its facets - i snowboard, so i love it
curling - slow, but strategic, and surprisingly tense as you have to wait to see where the stones end up. also, potential stone shortage.
ice hockey - USA! USA! USA! I was working with a canadian client during the vancouver olympics. they were pretty damn psyched about the hockey outcome.
biatholon - XC skiing and rifles - yeah, baby!
January 24th, 2014 at 8:11 AM ^
Just in case some of you have not seen the opening ceremony uniforms for Team USA. I am leaving this here...
January 24th, 2014 at 8:12 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
...wouldn't mind if Michigan tried Ralph Lauren. He tends to be quite respectful of tradition and I bet would produce some very stylish fan wear for the wine-and-cheese tailgate crowd.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:37 AM ^
Those outfits make my eyes hurt.
January 24th, 2014 at 9:24 AM ^
I like the boots though.
January 24th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
Just in case there were any foreigners who didn't think the average American is some combination of an asshole and a douche, we wanted to set the record straight.
January 24th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
You forgot rich asshole and douche.
Actually, based on their advertisements, that is a perfect description of "The World of Ralph Lauren."
January 24th, 2014 at 9:28 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
Yes. They also looked a lot better. These look like a cross between a yacht club blazer and a terribly ugly Christmas sweater.
It looked ugly in the drawing, but it translated even worse to reality.
C'mon Ralph, would a tasteful navy peacoat have been so damn hard? You could even keep the cap and the boots for flair.
January 24th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
Needs more stuff going on.
/s - Maryland's football helmet
January 24th, 2014 at 8:16 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:23 AM ^
the downhill skiing events, Downhill and Super G. Also like the sliding events, particularly 4 man bob and skeleton.
Unfortunately this year the Winter Olympic Games will include a new event in which all participants will be able to compete, the Sochi Combined. Winners are those that are able to complete their events and make it out of country alive.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:39 AM ^
I guess ski jumping really isn't the most exciting thing ever for me. It's amazing to see them jump that far, but the actual competition itself doesn't thrill me that much.
I like everything that is timed. Bobsled, luge, skeleton, downhill skiiing, cross country skiiing, speed skating (long and short track). The judged sports like figure skating are maybe one notch below, but I'll still watch them. And I would never watch curling on CBC outside the Olympics, but something about the Olympics really raises the bar on that sport.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:29 AM ^
January 24th, 2014 at 8:32 AM ^
Honestly it's ice hockey and then everything else way behind that. Hockey is the only part of the winter olympics I make any effort to watch. I might catch a couple minutes of other stuff here and there, but that's it.
The summer olympics, on the other hand, is just littered with great sports. I get frustrated just because I don't have enough time to follow all of it that I'd like to.
January 24th, 2014 at 8:32 AM ^
Has to be Apollo Ohno and his $5 Footlongs.