Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics thread

#453
#453
Vercingetorix said:
What? There's no more luck in either hockey or soccer than there is in American football.
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Is in my mind. Soccer not as much as hockey, but the whole tipped puck, traffic in front of the goalie thing drives me nuts.

There would be no prayer, under any circumstances, for a team of decent 22 year old players to go out a beat a NFL football team. Our hockey team did that in 1980.
 
#454
#454
#456
#456
BigPapaVol said:
Is in my mind. Soccer not as much as hockey, but the whole tipped puck, traffic in front of the goalie thing drives me nuts.
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Tipped pucks, traffic in front of the goalie, and the scramble in the crease is not luck. All that stuff happens on purpose. It's no more luck than somebody driving the lane in basketball and dishing it out to someone for an open shot.

There would be no prayer, under any circumstances, for a team of decent 22 year old players to go out a beat a NFL football team. Our hockey team did that in 1980.
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Only because of the extreme physical nature of American football. 22 year olds aren't physically strong enough to handle NFL players. It's the only major team sport in the world in which that's the case. Football's the outlier, not hockey or soccer.

(And even thoroughly physically overmatched football teams can still get lucky on occasion -- cf. Appy State over Michigan.)
 
#459
#459
BearCat204 said:
I really dont want to play Canada again
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Hank will have something to say about that
lundqvist_sweden_flag_tall.jpg
 
#460
#460
BigPapaVol said:
Is in my mind. Soccer not as much as hockey, but the whole tipped puck, traffic in front of the goalie thing drives me nuts.

There would be no prayer, under any circumstances, for a team of decent 22 year old players to go out a beat a NFL football team. Our hockey team did that in 1980.
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The nature of Football and Hockey make them incomperable on almost every level.
 
#462
#462
Vercingetorix said:
Tipped pucks, traffic in front of the goalie, and the scramble in the crease is not luck. All that stuff happens on purpose. It's no more luck than somebody driving the lane in basketball and dishing it out to someone for an open shot.



Only because of the extreme physical nature of American football. 22 year olds aren't physically strong enough to handle NFL players. It's the only major team sport in the world in which that's the case. Football's the outlier, not hockey or soccer.

(And even thoroughly physically overmatched football teams can still get lucky on occasion -- cf. Appy State over Michigan.)
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It's absolutely true of basketball as well.

I understad forechecking and traffic in front of the net, but the lucky bounce dictates play and makes heros of goalies. The never score nature of both games results in more fluke outcomes than any other sport.
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#463
#463
Vonn just crashed again, visibility is poor on the mountain today for sure but I don't think it caused her crash, she just lost it.
 
#465
#465
BigPapaVol said:
It's absolutely true of basketball as well.
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No way. You could put together a roster of 22-and-under American players who could beat a few NBA teams. Kevin Durant is 21. Derrick Rose is 21. Michael Beasley is 21. Tyreke Evans is 20. Etc. No, they wouldn't beat any NBA team with a commanding inside-presence guy, but it wouldn't be unthinkable that they could win a game against everybody else.

I understad forechecking and traffic in front of the net, but the lucky bounce dictates play and makes heros of goalies. The never score nature of both games results in more fluke outcomes than any other sport.
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You call it a lucky bounce; I call it putting the puck in scoring position. It doesn't just bounce in the goal if the players haven't done a ton of work to put it in front of the net while there's somebody else down there to whack at it.

I can see why you might not like the low-scoring sports in an aesthetic sense. But it ain't just luck.
 
#466
#466
Vercingetorix said:
No way. You could put together a roster of 22-and-under American players who could beat a few NBA teams. Kevin Durant is 21. Derrick Rose is 21. Michael Beasley is 21. Tyreke Evans is 20. Etc. No, they wouldn't beat any NBA team with a commanding inside-presence guy, but it wouldn't be unthinkable that they could win a game against everybody else.



You call it a lucky bounce; I call it putting the puck in scoring position. It doesn't just bounce in the goal if the players haven't done a ton of work to put it in front of the net while there's somebody else down there to whack at it.

I can see why you might not like the low-scoring sports in an aesthetic sense. But it ain't just luck.
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No on basketball. You're comparig apples and oranges. The best young hockey players were already professionals and not on the Oly team. The guys you mentioned would all be on the pro squad. It would be like taking current collegiate all stars and playing NBA all stars. Obliteration. The 80 olympics fluke wouldn't happen.
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#467
#467
BigPapaVol said:
No on basketball. You're comparig apples and oranges. The best young hockey players were already professionals and not on the Oly team. The guys you mentioned would all be on the pro squad. It would be like taking current collegiate all stars and playing NBA all stars. Obliteration. The 80 olympics fluke wouldn't happen.
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I can agree with this, the 1980 Hockey team really was a miracle, in the comparison of talent, experience, and potential ( In that at most 3-4 of those guys, being generous, would ever sniff a spot on the Red Army teams)

The planets were aligned right, and things worked out perfectly, and it makes my eyes wet every time i see it.

In that sense you are right, BPV, it was lucky, but somewhat designed.

Talent wise, that matchup was only slightly better than, say, Angola vs the Dream Team in 1992. Those Soviets were plain nasty.
 
#469
#469
That win is ludicrous to me just like us competing with Brazil, ever, in Soccer. The skill disparity is so immense that I struggle with those style wins.

The ultra low scoring is part of it. Teams can do everything right on a given night and still never score, so they can't separate from the lesser squad. It reminds me of the guys that 4 cornered back in the day to keep hoops games close enough to retain a fighting chance.

I understand teams having a puncher's chance, but flukey outcomes suck. I know the NHL has tried to find a way to facilitate scoring for excitement and so that skill would matter more to outcomes, but that's a very tough fundamental change.
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#474
#474
BigPapaVol said:
There are also about 4,238 sliding events, of which Germany has double medaled in half.
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exactly the same thing goes for cross country allowing the norwegians and the frenchies to stay in the medal count.
 
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