2020 Summer Olympics / Tokyo

#102
#102
golfballs said:
Quit prematurely, like in the 4th quarter of the nba finals, because his “headspace” wasn’t right? Lmao
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Jordan never quit mid-competition, but he actually isn't the greatest example of "never give up." If he pulled those retirements today, or if a guy like LeBron retired twice, the criticism would be immense.
 
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#103
#103
stolitonic said:
And therein lies the issue.

How many commercials/interviews/etc have you seen for years with Biles being compared to Jordan, etc as the goat of her sport?

To follow your Brady analogy, can you ever see Michael Jordan pulling himself from game 7 of the NBA finals for a "mental health day". Naw. Just naw. If at halftime, somebody cut off Jordans legs-he would be out there in the 3q in a wheelchair.

Going back to the commercials/fame-she ate it up. Got a bad feeling a great deal of those commercials will be gone now.
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Good lord, could you be more ignorant.
 
#106
#106
05_never_again said:
Biles, like other Olympians and people like Ronda Rousey and Lance Armstrong, are a very peculiar kind of sports celebrity in that they have to strike when the iron is hot. They play sports that, quite frankly, nobody gives a s**t about except once a year or once every 4 years.
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Cycling isn't a thing in America, but it's quite popular in Europe. I don't see an Armstrong comparison at all.
 
#110
#110
Lawrence Wright said:
Come on man, this is the Twitter/Barstool era of sports commentary.

There is no one too elite that we can’t tear them down.
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Speaking of Barstool...they are sponsoring a bowl and its gonna be streaming exclusively on Dave Portnoy's large egotistical head
 
#111
#111
golfballs said:
There’s more to life than gymnastics. I mean we’re all human. We all die, and heck, what’s even the point of all this…

lolnothingmatters.gif
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There certainly is. Coming to that conclusion is something that I’m sure was difficult. Coming to that conclusion when you’re in Tokyo representing your country in the Olympics might not be the time to come to that conclusion and probably not the best time to act on it.

She can do whatever the hell she wants, it has zero effect on my life and is something I’m sure I won’t care about by Friday. It’s just commentary, and her decision is unusual given the circumstances.
 
#112
#112
Velo Vol said:
Completely different cultures. A football QB has a stadium of 70,000 people cheering when he gets slammed to the turf. A gymnast never faces anything of the sort.
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That’s like golf and tennis. You have to be completely silent for those sports but a QB has to make reads and deliver a good pass all while being chased by a 300 lb lineman that’s faster than he is all while there are 60-70k fans screaming.
 
#113
#113
gobravesvols16 said:
That’s like golf and tennis. You have to be completely silent for those sports but a QB has to make reads and deliver a good pass all while being chased by a 300 lb lineman that’s faster than he is all while there are 60-70k fans screaming.
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To me, the mental side of individual sports where you have time with your thoughts is way tougher. Tom Brady doesn't really have time for his brain to psych him out. He's reacting to everything around him and making snap judgements and he also has teammates and a defense to rely on, and a coach to call plays. If you're a golfer or a gymnast, it's all you out there.

I was good at sports that were all about action and reaction and not so great at sports and components of sports that are all about form, precision, and concentration.
 
#114
#114
Velo Vol said:
Cycling isn't a thing in America, but it's quite popular in Europe. I don't see an Armstrong comparison at all.
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I meant like Armstrong in terms of the "strike while the iron is hot" nature of them cashing in on their fame. Armstrong was a superstar primarily in the United States, where hardly anybody cared about cycling or the TdF before he came around, cared about it immensely for a couple weeks a year while he was winning, and now hardly anybody cares about it anymore. I always got the impression that Europeans were skeptical of him, especially the French (probably just because they hated that an American was dominating their race).

Olympians, Lance Armstrong, etc. get really really famous for a brief period of time once a year (although Armstrong was able to parlay that into an empire) and probably feel like they need to say "yes" to every interview, advertisement, etc. that comes their way. That's all I meant. It's possible Biles, like Ronda Rousey, said yes to too many things and overwhelmed herself.
 
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#115
#115
n_huffhines said:
To me, the mental side of individual sports where you have time with your thoughts is way tougher. Tom Brady doesn't really have time for his brain to psych him out. He's reacting to everything around him and making snap judgements and he also has teammates and a defense to rely on, and a coach to call plays. If you're a golfer or a gymnast, it's all you out there.

I was good at sports that were all about action and reaction and not so great at sports and components of sports that are all about form, precision, and concentration.
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You also have to think about how in sports like football, each team has 60-70 snaps per game. If you make a mistake, you can bounce back. You have several more opportunities to make up for it. In gymnastics, you only get to do your event once or twice. Make one mistake, and you’re probably done. Add to the fact that the Olympics is just a once in a lifetime opportunity for most people, that is just so much pressure.
 
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#116
#116
n_huffhines said:
Jordan quit prematurely 2x, once in part because pre-social media pressure was too much for him, so....

She's 24 and older than everybody she competes against...but she's still just badically a kid and you can you look at her like someone who has accomplished more than anybody in her sport while fighting these mental battles.
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Huh? When did Jordan quit prematurely? I do recall Jordan retiring 2 times and coming back.

Time 1-Right after his father died. I am old enough now that I have been through that myself-and it changes you no ifs ands or buts. And my father died of natural causes and was not murdered by a couple of punks. Personally, I think the whole situation was a wink wink nod nod suspension anyway. No way David Silver was going to sink the NBA cash cow by suspending him and putting a black mark beside his name.

Time 2-I think Jordan himself thought he was done. 3-4 years go by and he is a GM and his choices are not doing so well. I genuinely believe that he thought if he came back and showed "his guys" how it was done, they would be stars. Obviously he was dead wrong.

Third time he retired as far as I know it was permanent.
 
#117
#117
stolitonic said:
Huh? When did Jordan quit prematurely? I do recall Jordan retiring 2 times and coming back.

Time 1-Right after his father died. I am old enough now that I have been through that myself-and it changes you no ifs ands or buts. And my father died of natural causes and was not murdered by a couple of punks. Personally, I think the whole situation was a wink wink nod nod suspension anyway. No way David Silver was going to sink the NBA cash cow by suspending him and putting a black mark beside his name.

Time 2-I think Jordan himself thought he was done. 3-4 years go by and he is a GM and his choices are not doing so well. I genuinely believe that he thought if he came back and showed "his guys" how it was done, they would be stars. Obviously he was dead wrong.

Third time he retired as far as I know it was permanent.
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Retiring at age 30 is premature. So is retiring at 34. 2x. He told people before his Dad died that he was strongly considering it because he was tired. The 2nd time because he no longer had a super team.
 
#118
#118
vollygirl said:
Good lord, could you be more ignorant.
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Perhaps.

Doesn't mean I am wrong.

To follow onto the point somebody else made, yes gymnastics are only popular every 4 years and she HAD to strike while the iron was hot. Except she did not. She could have refused the money and fame and focused on herself.

Face it, she bought into being the goat and had transcended gymnastics. Easy to call yourself the goat when nobody is around to challenge you. When you are challenged and wilt like a week old daisy? Tough business
 
#119
#119
05_never_again said:
Ok - say LeBron James did it, or (to pick a sport that is totally non-physical) Tiger Woods did it in the middle of a team competition like the Ryder Cup. They'd undoubtedly get ripped, no?

I very, very seriously doubt they'd get unanimous support from the media and praised for focusing on their mental health. The reaction would initially be one of shock, but then you'd immediately get into questions about whether or not they "choked" or "quit" and what it does to their legacy. In this case with Biles, merely wondering about those kinds of things is totally off limits.
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Wonder why that is?
 
#120
#120
n_huffhines said:
She's still the GOAT. Why do you dislike her?
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Didn't say I hated her. Honestly until today, I kind of liked her. I am just disappointed in her-same as I am sure the companies who paid her millions for endorsements are now

In the words of the noted philosopher Mr Michael Tyson Esq, "everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"

Well, as an analogy Ms Biles for the first time in her gymnastics career got punched in the mouth Sunday.
 
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#121
#121
Unimane said:
It'll have to change it's format. The white elephant days have to be over, as does the greasy executives with their hands out. We live in a highly cynical age, where people are wont to disparage events like the Olympics, but it's still a great event, possibly the greatest sporting event in the world (Only the World Cup could compare). So, I have little doubt it will adapt as has been necessary over the time of its existence. At least we don't have the charade of "amateur athletes" paraded as some virtue anymore.

As far as Biles bowing out, I have no problem with her doing this. In fact, it's probably more selfless for her to sacrifice her ambition for the benefit of her team. Her score was by far the lowest in the first event. She was hurting her team because she got the yips or whatever it was, while knowing no one was going to sit her for the next few events, including coaches. Even the concern of getting hurt would be enough. If you are disoriented while doing flips and somersaults, then this can be exceedingly dangerous. Hopefully, she's overcome the issues and can be herself in the next session.
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Her teammates wanted her to keep going. Likely the most important competition they have left in their careers.
 
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#124
#124
Look, we don't exactly know what problem she was experiencing. If she was feeling something like dizzy, she shouldn't be out there.

The part that's mysterious to me is why she waited to withdrawal until after the event started.
 
#125
#125
n_huffhines said:
Retiring at age 30 is premature. So is retiring at 34. 2x. He told people before his Dad died that he was strongly considering it because he was tired. The 2nd time because he no longer had a super team.
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Actually, if memory serves by the second time he hated the GM. Jordan was told by the GM that there was no way Phil Jackson was being brought back as he and the GM hated each other. Add in that basically the Bulls didn't want to pay him and Pippen more money. I think Kukoc and all the other key players were back-and sucked royally on their own . Dennis Rodman was a rebounding luxury. With no Jordan and Pippen, no need for the Bulls to pay him.

If the Bulls had wanted to put the band back together and go for 4, they could have done so. They said no, so Jordan retired. The Bulls have for the most part sucked for what, like 23 years solid now since that happened?
 
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