Richard_Sideways that guy in red at 00:15 is good! The rest is just bizarre....
As for events I like them all! although I agree aerials is a bit wierdly throwback. I didn't like the slopestyle judging though - I thought they were far too hard on very minor failures, if you can't stick the landing at all, fair enough, but a hand down or a wide/back landing shouldn't be resulting in the entire run being a writeoff for me - we want them to experiment, try new things and show some variety - punishing the least deviation from perfect won't encourage that...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Quote:
The other day we came up with a way to make ski jumping more interesting.
Also with ski jumping why make it so complicated. Just give the gold to the bloke who jumps the furthest. Rather than all this bobbins style points and wind compensation. Just run it like a long jump in the summer. Much simpler and more fun and no issues if you cock up one of your goes.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
chocksaway, now you're just inventing your own sports. This is what happens when you don't have the FIS running things.
I should mention my other invention - clay seagull shooting. Not so much clay, more real seagulls. You shout pull, and someone lobs a slice of Warburtons Super Toastie as far as they humanly can, and as the seagul comes in for it you have to protect the bread. If the bread hits the ground without being pecked you score one point, if you manage to hit the seagul as well you get two points. Not so much for winter olympics, but it is a good way to pass the time on a boat, especially if you can get one with the special chairs on the back for fishing, the rocking of the boat makes it much more difficult than it appears.
I don't doubt the skills and don't mind watching the spectacle... but I just don't like the concept of judging. I'd much prefer it to be measurable. Stick to "faster, higher, further" principles.
Can you imagine the 110m hurdles, where they ran the race, then judged them on style over the hurdles after to decide the winner? Fastest down the moguls slope would be better IMHO.
The thing with the aerials is, they do some incredible stuff in the air, but it seems that the difficulty of the trick takes precedent over the landing - they always seem to case the landing but get high marks. In slopestyle etc. it's about the smoothness/stylishness of the whole thing and they get penalised for rough landings.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
adithorp, speed is a significant element in moguls.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Moguls ace, aerials as Balding pointed out last night they barely need to be able to ski the bunny slope. Kill it. Quite liked the Chinese ladies' full ninja look though.
adithorp, There's plenty of flexible kids who can straightline (not zipperline) moguls - speed only woyuld just end up being a test of biggest cojones. Big wrecks though so maybe there'd be something in it.
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I didn't realise the landing didn't matter, now I think it's an even bigger waste of space
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fatbob, referring to my comment above about skiing an Olympic/WC bumps line ... "Big wrecks"?? ... straightlining would be tantamount to suicide...
Mind you, I refer our learned audience to the origins of freestyle and the hot dogging (snigger) comps of the 60s and 70s...
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I quite like moguls and they at least bear more relevance to the skiing we all do.
If you think about downhill or slalom, it's just taking what we do on a flat piste to the extremes, either turns of going flat out.
Moguls do the same with the bumps we encounter, it just takes it to the extreme. Aerials, I don't see the relevance to everyday skiing, but you could easily say the same about ski jumping.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
feef wrote:
Moguls do the same with the bumps we encounter, it just takes it to the extreme. Aerials, I don't see the relevance to everyday skiing, but you could easily say the same about ski jumping.
Don't think many Olympic sports are strictly about participation - ski jumping has at least a long and proud tradition in alpine culture. Aerials are some kind of semi-modern filler that never had mass participation (unlike say park skiing or boarding).
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I'm soooooo proud. A post I started reaching 2 pages!
Back to the Aerials - I still find it boring. Moguls do agree is a bit more interesting.
And as for the slopestyle / halfpipe / x-cross stuff, maybe it's because I'm a skier myself, but I seem to find the skiing versions more exciting. I think it's the extra items of equipment (and thus limbs) flying in all directions - in one way it looks more scruffy but I think I like it for that.
I think my favourite of the lot is probably the skier x, as that does look like something (all be it much much slower which less / no jumps), I could see myself doing a version of with friends / children.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:
ski jumping has at least a long and proud tradition in alpine culture
Well, you say that, but the modern style of ski jumping has only been around since the early 80s, so while its still there, it does change. IIRC when the 'flying-v' style of jumping started, participants were heavily marked down for poor form or sometimes disqualified, despite often exceeding the traditional jumpers by 10% in distance.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Richard_Sideways, yebbut any sport should adapt to changing techniques and equipment. Where would high jump be if Dick Fosbury had been DQ'd? Moguls was itself stuck in the dark ages until post 2002, when Moseley was marked downed for throwing an off-axis trick, principally as a protest AFAIK.
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Poster: A snowHead
fatbob, I agree absolutely, sports have to evolve and take into account new techniques and technologies. Personally, i'd like to see Aerials transform into the Big-Air contest format - single trick on a quarter pipe, graded for difficulty/style/execution, multiplied by the amplitude of the jump.
Following on, side question (and not intending to hijack reded78s thread)- If you were to add a sport to the Winter Olympic calendar what would it be?
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Hijack away - I can only dream of 3 pages !
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Richard_Sideways wrote:
Following on, side question (and not intending to hijack reded78s thread)- If you were to add a sport to the Winter Olympic calendar what would it be?
Richard_Sideways, the old school (literally) sport of seeing how far you can slide in school shoes, across a frozen puddle.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
clarky999, IIRC didn't Crushed Ice once feature a final where none of the competitors were able to finish as they all got injured.
reded78, YES! Another event UK can excel at, plus we have a ready made youth programme!
I thought some kind of winter sports pentathlon. Ski Slalom, snowboard slopestyle, ski jump, short track skating and either XC ski or luge.
How about a sport which appeals to our proud British heritage :
Bin bagging - organisers spray a tiny bit of snow and dog excrement on a grassy slope and everyone has at it. Winner is the one who survives longest with most descents before crying off with an injury. Once a certain time is exceeded competitors are allowed to pile on anyone on the ground and shovel "snow" into their faces until they submit.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
reded78, along the same lines is the well known winter event of racing down a course not dissimilar to a golf course, with suitable bunker style obstacles, on a red or blue plastic sledge. If sledge modifications are allowed, a mate of mine constructed one out of an old pair of snow blades and a wooden pallet, and that shifts like the proverbial
Quite like the idea of a winter pentathlon, though I'm not sure how exciting it would be to watch.
After all it is free
After all it is free
feef wrote:
Aerials, I don't see the relevance to everyday skiing, but you could easily say the same about ski jumping.
Speak for yourself! I frequently ski up 20 foot high inclines, it is just that I normally stop before I get to the top because I am not going fast enough
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Mistress Panda,
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Richard_Sideways, I'd like to see a competition with 4 people given random guff out of a scrapyard, and have to build a craft capable of carrying all of them down a moguls course, big jumps included. It would make a good end to the closing ceremony. First ones to build and survive the course win the race.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Richard_Sideways wrote:
Quote:
ski jumping has at least a long and proud tradition in alpine culture
Well, you say that, but the modern style of ski jumping has only been around since the early 80s, so while its still there, it does change. IIRC when the 'flying-v' style of jumping started, participants were heavily marked down for poor form or sometimes disqualified, despite often exceeding the traditional jumpers by 10% in distance.
Yep the style of ski jumping has certainly changed over the years! This film clip from 1929 shows that back then the favoured approach was to have the arms forward and then rotate them like a bird in flight!
Certainly by the time of the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics the style had changed to have the arms in a more streamlined position in line with the skier's body:
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
fatbob, "Moguls was itself stuck in the dark ages until post 2002, when Moseley was marked downed for throwing an off-axis trick" personally, mogul air is to me the least interesting part of it.
Anyway, what about skeleton? Is there anyone doing that who isn't in Sochi? Certainly don't see the schoolkids doing it in any French/Italian resorts I've noticed ... how relevant?
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
under a new name wrote:
Anyway, what about skeleton? Is there anyone doing that who isn't in Sochi? Certainly don't see the schoolkids doing it in any French/Italian resorts I've noticed ... how relevant?
I think you'll find there's a few people doing skeleton at the Cresta Run in St Moritz, and they've been doing it for quite a few years....
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Alastair Pink, wow, how times change
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Makes that plucky lass's gold all the more impressive given that she only gets to practise one day a year then, doesn't it?
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Poster: A snowHead
clarky999 wrote:
Richard_Sideways wrote:
Following on, side question (and not intending to hijack reded78s thread)- If you were to add a sport to the Winter Olympic calendar what would it be?
Following on, side question (and not intending to hijack reded78s thread)- If you were to add a sport to the Winter Olympic calendar what would it be?
A mixed boarder/skier relay race on a blue run in rental skis and boards, including a sprint to the lift, flapping around on the flat bits, and 1 in each team will have a lift pass that isn't reading so they'll have to wait for a lifty to amble over and figure out what the problem is
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
fatbob, we used to get inside silage bags. Right inside so you can't see where you are going, then head off with a useful push from mates. The skill was in making sure you were nice and floppy so that when you hit something you broke less bones. Svindal would have been spectacular in a silage bag and it would have helped limit the impact of his allergic reaction to Russia.
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