Are you proud of the Olympic contenders of "your" country?

[OneMoreFarang]

4 minutes ago, Bangkokhatter said:

fair reply, however you still haven't really explained why you think an Olympics based purely on individuals competing would be better than the current status quo.. nor how it would work in respect of team competitions.

 

Not that you have to mind...

When Liverpool plays against Manchester, how many of the players are from those cities? Very few (I guess).

The same could happen on a world level. Just call them team A or B or whatever.

 

[Bangkokhatter]

30 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I admit I know nothing about the sporting world.

But I think I know this part: There are the people who do the running, jumping, playing, whatever.

And there are the people who watch, mostly on TV.

I understand the people who i.e. run. My sister does a lot of that and she likes it. That's why she does it.

But if people sit at home with a beer and some chips and shout "run faster" and complain that a fast runner was "only" very fast but not the fastest in the world, now I have difficulties understanding that concept.

i get your point, but i think for the vast majority of us arm chair, beer sipping viewers we just enjoy the spectacle. 

 

I really enjoyed watching the  ladies Table Tennis Gold medal match, between 1 and 2 seeds in the world, both Chinese, so i had no skin in the game, but what a game.

 

That's just one example of many events i enjoyed watching the Olympics.

[OneMoreFarang]

3 minutes ago, Bangkokhatter said:

i get your point, but i think for the vast majority of us arm chair, beer sipping viewers we just enjoy the spectacle. 

 

I really enjoyed watching the  ladies Table Tennis Gold medal match, between 1 and 2 seeds in the world, both Chinese, so i had no skin in the game, but what a game.

 

That's just one example of many events i enjoyed watching the Olympics.

Great, sometimes I also watch sports, i.e. motor sports, and it's amazing to see the skill of most of them.

And that brings us again to the topic of this thread: Is it about the country or the individuals? And why are people who watch proud of what individuals from "their" countries achieve?

[Bangkokhatter]

2 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

When Liverpool plays against Manchester, how many of the players are from those cities? Very few (I guess).

The same could happen on a world level. Just call them team A or B or whatever.

 

You mentioned not knowing much about the sporting world and the above example kind of proves it.

 

The current premiership product serves for the majority of football fans the worst example of what sport should be about.

 

Getting back a bit on the topic i still don't understand the issue of countries competing against each other, adds some competition (something the premiership doesn't have anymore).

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, Bangkokhatter said:

You mentioned not knowing much about the sporting world and the above example kind of proves it.

 

The current premiership product serves for the majority of football fans the worst example of what sport should be about.

 

Getting back a bit on the topic i still don't understand the issue of countries competing against each other, adds some competition (something the premiership doesn't have anymore).

That's interesting. For me it seems lots of people love all those football matches. It seems a huge part of Thai people bet on those games in the UK regularly. And I bet many of them don't even know there are cities with those names. 

[Bangkokhatter]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Great, sometimes I also watch sports, i.e. motor sports, and it's amazing to see the skill of most of them.

And that brings us again to the topic of this thread: Is it about the country or the individuals? And why are people who watch proud of what individuals from "their" countries achieve?

Why shouldn't we be proud of what our fellow countrymen and women achieve, its what sport is all about.

 

There are the talented ones who achieve through  skill, dedication and hard work and then there are us mere mortals who for a short while bathe in their achievements before going back to our 9-5 lives.

 

Don't forget these sportsmen and women also like the adulation and all of them will tell you it's far better competing with a full crowd than without.

 

On that note, i will respectively bow out...have commented more on this topic than any other since joining ????

[Bangkok Barry]

8 hours ago, Bangkokhatter said:

fair reply, however you still haven't really explained why you think an Olympics based purely on individuals competing would be better than the current status quo.. nor how it would work in respect of team competitions.

 

Not that you have to mind...

I didn't say it would be better. I said that was the original concept of the Olympics, and that I personally was against the idea of nationalism in the Games. You can have teams comprised of different nationalities, as the The Hundreds in cricket is currently demonstrating. The fact that it doesn't happen at the Olympics doesn't mean it can't be done.

 

But the preferred concept, corrupting the original if you like, is for people to compete under a flag. My impression is that almost all, if not all, the athletes prefer that. As I also wrote, at least the nationalism in the Olympics is benign, as opposed to football for example, when it can be destructive.

[GammaGlobulin]

Why would one wish to rain on someone else's parade?

 

Personally, I detest the Olympics.

 

I almost fell off a ski lift in Nagano during a blizzard.

 

Still, live and let live.

The resources being spent on Olympic games are good for some people.

 

The Olympics are the same as the Nobel Prize awards, in that I do not appreciate either, and both are stupid, if only from my own biased thinking.

 

I don't like medals, maybe.

 

And, I do not like biased judges, biased according to political persuasions.

 

Let the world have the Nobel and the Olympic ceremonies, and carrying of torches. It would be undemocratic to deny children of their fun.

 

For us adults in the room, these trappings are, hopefully, not necessary in order to lead a self-actualized existence, hurting no one, and as true individualists, and, need I mention, introversion is the true power driving our tired world forward.

[Neeranam]

On 8/9/2021 at 11:11 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Why are people proud about the athletes of their country?

My country wasn't there. 

 

Why do they let England cheat by adding Scotland?

 

Why do Scotland put up with it?

[WhiteBuffaloATM]

there four olympic table tennis events not 157 ……..

event dominance by countries changes over time, although no sign of that in long distance track……

white men won the athletics 100m, 100m relay, 400m hurdles & 1500m for first time in each since maybe 1980……

national pride because of national team funding across hundreds of events every four years

UK team broadly representative of all social groups so again this diversity further supports national pride.

the top athletes have private funding. all the athletes are the very best so are dedicated professionals

important that overall USA beat China and UK beat Russia, democratic nations beating dictatorships

[GammaGlobulin]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

My country wasn't there. 

 

Why do they let England cheat by adding Scotland?

 

Why do Scotland put up with it?

England should not add Scotland?

[GammaGlobulin]

The Olympics is a detestable carryover from many years gone by, when Greeks greased themselves with olive oil and wrestled to the death.

 

If all Olympiads would remove their clothes, and compete, then the Olympic games would be worth watching.

 

Until then....Ho Hummmm....

 

Exercise...  Good

Olympics... Bad

[Neeranam]

8 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

England should not add Scotland?

Should the US add Canada or China add Taiwan?

[ChrisKC]

On 8/11/2021 at 10:39 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

When Liverpool plays against Manchester, how many of the players are from those cities? Very few (I guess).

The same could happen on a world level. Just call them team A or B or whatever.

 

Not just the same cities, not even from the same country!

 

There isn't much English football anymore - more Like International football played in England

[Andrew Dwyer]

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

My country wasn't there. 

 

Why do they let England cheat by adding Scotland?

 

Why do Scotland put up with it?

Was England there ??

I only saw Team GB ( which is GB + Northern Ireland in this case ).

 

I agree that England and Scotland should not join together and should compete as separate countries but this goes back to the original Olympic Games in Greece. Despite many attempts to correct this the Olympic Committee always vote for it to remain this way.

 

Strange you should see England cheating by adding Scotland whereas I see it as Scotland cheating by tagging on to England , why don’t they seek independence ?

[ikke1959]

Very proud of my country The Netherlands with 36 medals, They have done a great job to promote sport for the youth. But for the Olympics I am proud of every country, every athlete, every competitor  as the Olympic thought is participation is more important than winning, and we have seen beautiful games with sometimes unexpected winners, who were very very happy  or sometimes they lost and yes , even than I have pink a tear away, because I know what they have been through to compete. 

[ikke1959]

On 8/11/2021 at 5:13 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

No actually it never happend to me.

 

I.e. I like playing pool, and I am not too bad at it. But obviously there are lots of other people who are a lot better than I am.

Sometime when I try a difficult shot in a game and miss it one or the other guy tells me something like: You have to train that shot again and again and then you will be able to make it.

And my response is something like: No, I don't have to do that and I don't want to do that. I play pool for fun. And if I would have to train for hours to get better what would be the point of that? Yes, I would be better, but it wouldn't be fun anymore. So why should I do it? To be a miserable champion who is a perfect player but who doesn't have fun doing that? No, that is certainly not my intention.

 

And basically that is the same with work or whatever. I am good at a some things and I like to do those things. And I know it would be a lot of work to get better. Maybe if I have a good motivation I will do that. But in many cases I won't because it would be a lot of work for something I don't really care about.

 

Or maybe to say it in another way: If I play pool in a pub I am happy to be in the group of the better players. But I don't care if I am the best of them. "One of the good" is good enough for me.

It sounds normal, but it is not.. I don't believe that you only play for fun. I would know how you would react as you lose  time after time every time you play even if they are not so trained as you, because play al long time already.. I think in every man/woman there is a drive to be better. Even if you are jogging alone in a park I know that you will try  to run a bit faster after several weeks. So nobody is challenging you, but you will do it to test yourself if your health or so is improved or so.. Indeed for fun you don't need to practice a shot but i am sure you never like it when you lose all time.

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Was England there ??

I only saw Team GB ( which is GB + Northern Ireland in this case ).

 

I agree that England and Scotland should not join together and should compete as separate countries but this goes back to the original Olympic Games in Greece. Despite many attempts to correct this the Olympic Committee always vote for it to remain this way.

 

Strange you should see England cheating by adding Scotland whereas I see it as Scotland cheating by tagging on to England , why don’t they seek independence ?

Really? I thought GB was only 3 countries, they should be called the UK.

 

I believe only Scotland want independence, never heard of England wanting to break the Union(I wonder why)

[Andrew Dwyer]

Just now, Neeranam said:

Really? I thought GB was only 3 countries, they should be called the UK.

 

I believe only Scotland want independence, never heard of England wanting to break the Union(I wonder why)

GB is 3 countries, Team GB includes NI . Try to keep informed.

 

Maybe England doesn’t really care ?

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

GB is 3 countries, Team GB includes NI . Try to keep informed.

 

Maybe England doesn’t really care ?

My point was why should I feel proud of a team that is made up of other countries?

[chalawaan]

Personally, IDGA rats.

It's a global elite rent-seeking rort like FIFA and belongs to Greece in perpetuity.

The end.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Just now, Neeranam said:

My point was why should I feel proud of a team that is made up of other countries?

On that point I agree.

The decision to keep GB + NI as a team removes any pride we should have in our home country, the decision not to accept the U.K. title instead of Team GB is another mistake, imho, the people of Northern Ireland must be well peeved.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

It sounds normal, but it is not.. I don't believe that you only play for fun. I would know how you would react as you lose  time after time every time you play even if they are not so trained as you, because play al long time already.. I think in every man/woman there is a drive to be better. Even if you are jogging alone in a park I know that you will try  to run a bit faster after several weeks. So nobody is challenging you, but you will do it to test yourself if your health or so is improved or so.. Indeed for fun you don't need to practice a shot but i am sure you never like it when you lose all time.

Even if you do something for fun often enough you will get better. And sure I played better over time. And sure I tried to win against others.

Lets say there were 30 regular pool players in a pub where I used to play. After a while I was maybe better than 20 of them. And maybe after some more time again a little better. But with some guys I knew that the chances that I win against them were low. Those guys were a lot better than me. If it would have been important for me to win against some of them I guess it would have been necessary to train (and not just play) at least a couple of hours every week for at least a couple of months. I didn't do that because simply I didn't think it was important enough to spend i.e. 5 hours every week for half a year to be able to say: Now I play better than X. It wasn't important.

I know some for people it is important to be better than X or Y or better than 90% of the people or whatever. If they want that, fine. But that is not my desire.

[ikke1959]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Even if you do something for fun often enough you will get better. And sure I played better over time. And sure I tried to win against others.

Lets say there were 30 regular pool players in a pub where I used to play. After a while I was maybe better than 20 of them. And maybe after some more time again a little better. But with some guys I knew that the chances that I win against them were low. Those guys were a lot better than me. If it would have been important for me to win against some of them I guess it would have been necessary to train (and not just play) at least a couple of hours every week for at least a couple of months. I didn't do that because simply I didn't think it was important enough to spend i.e. 5 hours every week for half a year to be able to say: Now I play better than X. It wasn't important.

I know some for people it is important to be better than X or Y or better than 90% of the people or whatever. If they want that, fine. But that is not my desire.

OK.. I agree with you completely... and I understand you Thanks for your reply 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/17/2021 at 6:30 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

England should not add Scotland?

Only if they march under an England banner. If under a British or UK banner it's acceptable, IMO.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Even if you do something for fun often enough you will get better.

LOL. Not always. I got worse the more I 10 pin bowled. Can't explain it though.

[OneMoreFarang]

39 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. Not always. I got worse the more I 10 pin bowled. Can't explain it though.

Ask the Thai girls. They will probably tell you: you kit to mut.

[canthai55]

Why would anyone be proud of an athlete who is doing a sport to gain notoriety, obtain sponsorship deals, and make rich people that much richer ?

All the while under the 'Flag' of a country they may not have even been born in, have no ties to, serve in no other way than as a backdrop to their achievements ?

Please !

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, canthai55 said:

Why would anyone be proud of an athlete who is doing a sport to gain notoriety, obtain sponsorship deals, and make rich people that much richer ?

All the while under the 'Flag' of a country they may not have even been born in, have no ties to, serve in no other way than as a backdrop to their achievements ?

Please !

It seems some athletes actually like running all day or things like that.

When my sister was young she trained at least 5days a week at least 2h. I never understood it but she liked it. And now, many years later she trains again - definitely not for any money or to gain notoriety. 

[canthai55]

27 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It seems some athletes actually like running all day or things like that.

When my sister was young she trained at least 5days a week at least 2h. I never understood it but she liked it. And now, many years later she trains again - definitely not for any money or to gain notoriety. 

XXX

Edited August 18, 2021 by canthai55