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Summer Olympics

jeffbear said:
Technology man ... it ruins everything :0)

Speaking of which ... did you hear that Nigeria had 9 of their 23 players who participated in the African Cup of Nations Under 17 tournament declared ineligible for being over age? Turns out there's a simple MRI they run on the wrist that pins down age in that specific age range based on the growth plates in the wrist. Looks like you can't just fake a birth certificate anymore, at least not with 16-18 year olds. That test apparently doesn't work once the growth plates close up at or about 17 or 18.
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Age cheating has been a "thing" for decades. And most sports won't pay the expense of MRI testing. Was watching the Little League world series many years ago, and this kid was throwing crazy heat fastballs by everybody. He had a mustache that would make Tom Selleck jealous. We had a "kid" play against us in ONE game in JV football. Typical player back then was 7-8th grade in our district. The other teams' running back was built like a tank, had a really deep voice, and more facial hair than a caveman. Pretty sure he was WELL beyond 14 years old. We couldn't stop him! I recall one play where we actually tackled him, and I was lying directly on top of him, facemask to facemask, where he looked up and said to me in he best James Earl Jones voice, "get the Polar'sWord off me"! I suspect he was the coach or something! LOL.
 
jeffbear said:
Gymanstics pixies are ... just not my thing. Go 'Merca.
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I can appreciate the athleticism required for a 5 foot tall woman to get 9 feet off the ground and flip twice. And watching the balance beam is sort of like watching a NASCAR race and waiting for a wreck. The rest? Meh.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
Age cheating has been a "thing" for decades. And most sports won't pay the expense of MRI testing. Was watching the Little League world series many years ago, and this kid was throwing crazy heat fastballs by everybody. He had a mustache that would make Tom Selleck jealous. We had a "kid" play against us in ONE game in JV football. Typical player back then was 7-8th grade in our district. The other teams' running back was built like a tank, had a really deep voice, and more facial hair than a caveman. Pretty sure he was WELL beyond 14 years old. We couldn't stop him! I recall one play where we actually tackled him, and I was lying directly on top of him, facemask to facemask, where he looked up and said to me in he best James Earl Jones voice, "get the Polar'sWord off me"! I suspect he was the coach or something! LOL.
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We played a football game against Southern Granville when I was a soph in high school and I tackled a guy who seriously looked like he was 30 years old .... most of which he had spent locked in a gym. His knee got me in the forehead and I saw tweety birds for about 5 minutes. Flash forward a few years and my freshman roommate and I learn that we're getting a temporary third for a couple of weeks to start fall semester. Pretty normal stuff. Who walks in the door? Yup. THAT guy. Turns out he's actually almost a whole year YOUNGER than me and has never lifted a weight in his life. 6'6", about 230. Dude has a beard that grows in an hour, has a size 20 ring finger, size 18 feet and hasn't really grown since he was 16. Looks are sometimes deceiving.
 
jeffbear said:
We played a football game against Southern Granville when I was a soph in high school and I tackled a guy who seriously looked like he was 30 years old .... most of which he had spent locked in a gym. His knee got me in the forehead and I saw tweety birds for about 5 minutes. Flash forward a few years and my freshman roommate and I learn that we're getting a temporary third for a couple of weeks to start fall semester. Pretty normal stuff. Who walks in the door? Yup. THAT guy. Turns out he's actually almost a whole year YOUNGER than me and has never lifted a weight in his life. 6'6", about 230. Dude has a beard that grows in an hour, has a size 20 ring finger, size 18 feet and hasn't really grown since he was 16. Looks are sometimes deceiving.
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Three in a dorm room .... must have been NCSU in the 70's. Been there done that. Both of my room mates were African American. I did not know anyone African American at age 17. Come to find out they were both really nice guys. One was so home sick that after a few weeks he dropped out of school and went back home. The other graduated in Computer science.
 
We had some "kids" in 7th and 8th grade who were 15 and 16 years old. That happens when you fail a few grades. Most of those never graduated though. And I'm pretty sure even back in the 80s, there was an age limit on JV sports. The "mature" running back most definitely did not look 14 or younger. He also didn't play gain that season as far as we know. I think he was a Varsity player brought in to ensure they beat us. He looked every bit of 25+ years old.

I've seen "men among boys" in JV and Varsity sports. We had a kid in our district who went on to become an ACC basketball star with Wake Forest. And all through high school he single handidly dominated every game his small high school played. They would simply get him the ball, and he'd usually dunk or make a close range jumper over all the other kids.
 
DeputyDan said:
Three in a dorm room .... must have been NCSU in the 70's. Been there done that. Both of my room mates were African American. I did not know anyone African American at age 17. Come to find out they were both really nice guys. One was so home sick that after a few weeks he dropped out of school and went back home. The other graduated in Computer science.
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'Twas the 80s in fact, and our third guy (Donald) was only with us for about 10 days. Turns out he enrolled super late and we won the lottery to take him on until somebody else in Bragaw got homesick and bailed. He moved all of three suits down the walkway. Nice guy too ... played in my regular Tuesday night pickup basketball game for the next 4 years.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
We had some "kids" in 7th and 8th grade who were 15 and 16 years old. That happens when you fail a few grades. Most of those never graduated though. And I'm pretty sure even back in the 80s, there was an age limit on JV sports.
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Not in private school, baby. It was the wild west back in the late 70s and early 80s. I spent my 9th and 10th grade basketball seasons subbing off the bench for the Varsity AND playing the whole JV game an hour or so beforehand. On nights when the moron starting center got in foul trouble (fairly routine, because ... moron) I'd end up playing so much that I was an abject zombie on the ride home. Some nights, I barely played with the older guys ... which was why coach wanted me on double duty in the first place. A lot of times, the second time we played a JV opponent we'd end up with a couple of their Varsity players joining the JV team in response. Shoot, half the time we played Laurinburg Institute, we didn't even recognize the guys on their team. They would add a player for a single game sometimes and routinely pulled guys in from their "graduate" team which played against Community Colleges and JCs. It was ... fun?
 
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We had a guy try out for football in 9th grade, but he only stayed around a few days before they found out he was too old. The coach found out that he would drive himself to & from school.

Jim
 
jeffbear said:
We played a football game against Southern Granville when I was a soph in high school and I tackled a guy who seriously looked like he was 30 years old .... most of which he had spent locked in a gym. His knee got me in the forehead and I saw tweety birds for about 5 minutes. Flash forward a few years and my freshman roommate and I learn that we're getting a temporary third for a couple of weeks to start fall semester. Pretty normal stuff. Who walks in the door? Yup. THAT guy. Turns out he's actually almost a whole year YOUNGER than me and has never lifted a weight in his life. 6'6", about 230. Dude has a beard that grows in an hour, has a size 20 ring finger, size 18 feet and hasn't really grown since he was 16. Looks are sometimes deceiving.
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Sheeeeeiii-it big mofo. Does he have Norman, Anglo-Saxon ancestry or something along those lines?
 
Or african american? I have often marveled at the physic of some fellow... without effort too. Either way, there are 'big samples' in most cultures, whether pure or watered down. Some cultures tend to be bigger on average of course (it is in the food and drink I tell ya)... but also not a rule.
 
Don was a black fella from the country who spent his youth priming tobacco and pulling corn in the fields. Now he runs one of the State Motor Vehicles offices out near Elizabeth City.
 
Thursday night ... Lochte versus Phelps in the 200 IM Part ... 13, I think. Seriously. These two guys have ruled this one race for so long it's not even funny.
 
Simone Manuel becomes the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in swimming when she tied for the win in the 100m Free. In fact she was the first black woman from any country to win individual gold. She also popped a reaction for the ages, and thus will live on in memes as well. Hopefully her win along with the previous achievements of Anthony Ervin, Cullen Jones (NC State's own), Maritza Correia and Lia Neal will encourage African American kids to swim competitively ... heck, to learn to swim full stop. As a country that used to routinely ban blacks from public pools, we've got a lot of catching up to do. USA Swimming currently estimates that 70% of African American children cannot swim and are unlikely to learn.
 
US Women crash out of the Women's Football in the Quarters, losing to Sweden in PKs.

A. I hate PKs ... still
B. I watched all four games ... the USWNT just didn't play well enough to have finished better. Blame whomever you want, but that team had more than enough talent to have earned a medal. They just didn't.
C. Root for Canada, now ... willya? That team deserves something good to happen for them.
 
I've said before that penalty kicks are a moronic way to end a game. The soccer purists claim there is no other way. Of course there is, just look at every other sport.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
Kim Rhodes medals in her 6th straight Olympics. Quite a feat.
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As long as she doesn't get the yips, there really is no reason why that can't continue.

How about Anthony Ervin? Gold medal in the 50 free at 19 and another at 35 last night. The oldest male swimmer to win an individual race and the only one to win a gold 16 years after winning his first. His time last night was more than a half second faster than his time in Sydney.


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So ... the weekend.

Bolt wins his 3rd 100. That So African guy blew up a 17 year old world record in the 400. Phelps closes out his career with another gold in the 100IM relay. Simone Manuel collects more hardware, and Simone Biles collects more as well. Gotta be honest here ... after the women's sprints and middle distances are done I'm pretty much done with the Olympics this year. So pretty much tonight or tomorrow.
 
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