The Daily Ping

FROM: Ryan [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 9:37:33 am

I don't know... I hear Vatican City could be a contender...

FROM: Chris [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 9:51:27 am

I quit caring back when the athletes ceased to be amatuers.

FROM: Greg
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 10:28:59 am

Too many events, too many steroids. The Olympics come at a bad time. You've got the Olympics, the presidential elecation AND it's a leap year. Just too much happening in one year.

FROM: Rafael
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 11:46:10 am

Just too many sports for one and you don’t really get a chance to watch an event from beginning to end, so no I’m not all enthused about the games. However when they start doing them in the nude again, like in olden times, then for sure I would not be the only one enthused about the Olympics.

FROM: Mario500 [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 5:15:46 pm

Hmmmmm, let me look back......

Scandals, the National Broadcasting Company's way of covering the Games, and summer/winter Games in separate years (Oh well, at least the Games are back in Greece).


I'll be viewing highlights on the local news.

FROM: Dave Walls [E-Mail]
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 6:11:58 pm

I used to be a really big fan of the Olympics..I still get into the winter Olympics, but the summer games have definitely lost their appeal to me. The steroid debates, not seeing an actual full event, way too many athlete biographies ("When shot put champion Lars was growing up in Munich...").

For the summer games, highlights suffice me just fine.

FROM: jk
DATE: Monday July 12, 2004 -- 9:44:41 pm

I love to watch platform diving. I was a gymnast growing up, but I don't really enjoy watching it anymore. They don't look happy, at least the ones from the former Soviet block don't.

Helpful reminder: don't take a decongestant or you're outta the game!

FROM: towinlovinit
DATE: Tuesday July 13, 2004 -- 4:40:05 pm

The olympics? Bah Hum Bug! I got better things to do like see that parked car and away it goes and more money for me. (gleeful smile)

FROM: Hyperion
DATE: Monday August 23, 2004 -- 6:50:29 am

As for me, the Olympics truly have no place in the modern culture. They have lost all possible marketing appeal, and they sure as heck don't represent anything beyond that. Ancient Greek Olympics were primarily dedicated to light and heavy athletics, with the occasional gymnastics or archery contest. I doubt such sports as pistol marksmanship or bobsleigh have something to do with tradition. Platform diving is a circus stunt (I hope we won't see any '30-meter 5-man-team handstand-running synchronized tornado sommersault pike bomb dive' in N*4 years), and synchronized swimming is, well, a cabaret dancing show. Gymnastics are overly sexualized (Compare male and female uniforms and see the difference), soccer has really no place in the Olympics, as it's popular enough anyway, and as for all other honest legacy-preserving sports, they are hopelessly ruined by paparazzi who feast on bribed judges, doped athletes and evercomplaining Russians. Olympic games in their ancient and modern form alike were designed to promote unity and co-operation between different communities. It is sad to see them turning into a political theatre reality show with zero comic relief.

FROM: Hyperion
DATE: Monday August 23, 2004 -- 6:52:03 am

Forgot to mention, I'm Russian myself, so I didn't mean to insult anyone.

FROM: Comic Ruin
DATE: Sunday June 26, 2005 -- 9:00:36 am

Comic relief? Don't you mean comic ruin?