Olympics

[bystander]

Funny about how people deal with these things. My youngest is going to be a senior. She's never had a semester grade less than an A and that one time was in about 4th grade. She has taken some college classes instead of honors/AP. Due to the scoring, she's currently 65th in her class of about 180. Her momma is going to talk to the Principal after her senior year to encourage them to re-think how they score things. If she did it now it would seem petty, or, aggy, as it were.

First of all congratulations for raising such a smart and dedicated daughter.

Yeah, don't be Aggy. It's not good form.

I think they should rethink these things. Getting into the University of Texas (from what I understand) is heavily weighted towards class rank as some sort of affirmative action way of spreading the wealth amongst all schools. There's been some lawsuits filed by aggrieved white kids with high marks but it sounds as if they've all been swatted away.

 

[Seattle Husker]

I also thought about the millennial angle. To me, there's two layers here: how this generation reacts to stress and the enablers. I'm speaking of the enablers.

As for the routines, I also discussed this with my wife and we likened it to high school students who take honors courses instead of regular courses. There is a supposed weight factor between the two but I'm not sure it weighs it correctly. If Simone did the same routine as the #2 in the world then I'd say we wouldn't be having this conversation. Clearly, she is to be respected for going places nobody has ever been. Maybe the coaches should have intervened and slowed her down. At the same time, she's Simone and what everyone saw was a super human being; not a person who had limitations, albeit much less than the rest of us.

Maybe I'm "liberal" or simply getting wiser as I age but I've given up hope in using the same lens to view younger generations to measure success that was applied to me. Biles has already achieved more than any previous American gymnast. It's with those expectations that were carried into these Olympics and we all expected more. The only fault at this point is that her coaches should have anticipated this breaking point, protected her. If this was too much for her she should have made the decision sooner. Of course, carrying the expectations of 350M people is a pressure all of us can only imagine.

 

[Seattle Husker]

Funny about how people deal with these things. My youngest is going to be a senior. She's never had a semester grade less than an A and that one time was in about 4th grade. She has taken some college classes instead of honors/AP. Due to the scoring, she's currently 65th in her class of about 180. Her momma is going to talk to the Principal after her senior year to encourage them to re-think how they score things. If she did it now it would seem petty, or, aggy, as it were.

Our local greater Seattle HS did away with class ranking a few years ago. In a school where the District goal is for every student to pass at least 1 AP class before they graduate, 69% of the most recent graduating class had a 3.5 or better cum GPA, and 14 kids achieved National Merit scholar status (of ~500 graduating Sr.) the ranking wasn't useful for colleges or students.

 

[bystander]

Maybe I'm "liberal" or simply getting wiser as I age but I've given up hope in using the same lens to view younger generations to measure success that was applied to me. Biles has already achieved more than any previous American gymnast. It's with those expectations that were carried into these Olympics and we all expected more. The only fault at this point is that her coaches should have anticipated this breaking point, protected her. If this was too much for her she should have made the decision sooner. Of course, carrying the expectations of 350M people is a pressure all of us can only imagine.

I hope I've evolved to the point where I'm not the one putting pressure on the athletes. At least not to the degree that it becomes so personal as we see with the rabid fan bases in college football and other major sports. I WANT my team to win but the players are not under any strain as far as my opinion of them.

It is true though that we have always taken enormous pride in our national team concerning the Olympics. It was always an ideology battle between us and the Soviet Bloc. But that's over and I just enjoy seeing the best compete at the highest level. Yes, I want the US to win. And yes I want our athletes to respect our union and knock off the kneeling crap. I think they're trying to have their cake and eat it too.

Maybe the Olympics should just be about individuals and scratch the association with each country. But I don't know how practical that would be given the probable need for associations to support our athletes.

 

[Seattle Husker]

Maybe the Olympics should just be about individuals and scratch the association with each country. But I don't know how practical that would be given the probable need for associations to support our athletes.

Yeah, Olympic athletes need financial and coaching support to succeed. Sadly, Biles took a spot from another athlete that might have made the team. She was on the fence whether she'd compete this year. Maybe that was a sign of her relative commitment to these games. I'm certain she trained hard for these Olympics but rather that initial hesitancy may be a clue into her mental preparation.

 

[Clean]

She just quit. Period. No excuses please. Stress is something every athlete deals with. If she'd have nailed that vault, she'd have kept going, but she didn't, so she quit. Maybe she saw millions of dollars in endorsements potentially slipping away. Luckily the MSM has got her back. I'm sure she'll still wind up on a Wheaties box, which says a lot.

 

[bystander]

Here's Yahoo's in-house racist:

If Simone Biles criticism doesn't convince you Black women shoulder too heavy a burden, what will?

Her entire being is about being black and attacking everyone else.

 

[2003TexasGrad]

Gymnasts know it's dangerous. We all know it's dangerous. Biles isn't a rookie. She's been a champion for like a decade. If she suddenly got rapid onset vertigo over the last week then ok, fine. But outside something like that, she literally freaked out over some bad landings and cracked under pressure and then lacked the fortitude to finish. Could she not have reduced the difficulty a bit in order to finish? Had she not practiced and rehearsed these programs enough?

Look, if she completely lost her mind then ok fine... but I don't think that's the case. Whatever. It's done but it ain't "mental health" here. That's a cop out.

 

[horninchicago]

The test, naturally, and we won't know, would be if a white Trump voting woman quit. The media would excoriate her. Anyone on here saying otherwise is full of it.

 

[bystander]

I'm not saying her maturity. I'm saying ours. Maybe, in scenarios like this the best thing for the team was for her to not be out there. Osaka is a good example. The media storm that they have to deal with is not for everyone and she wasn't going to deal with it. I have three daughters. The oldest was tough as nails and an all state goalie. She didn't have much skill but she would have played with a limb missing. She missed the state championship game due to a torn ACL. She tried to convince the coach she could play. She couldn't have. The middle one had all of the skill and hand/eye in the world. She couldn't handle the heat/pressure of competition. People are different. This is not combat. This is a team sport and sometimes the second string player is better for the team than someone not at their peak. Why is that so hard to understand?

I understand mental toughness. That is part of being great. Look at Reggie Jackson; Mr. October. He didn't shrink from the moment.

Simone, like Roberto Duran against Sugar Ray Leonard, quit. Then all the Liberal enablers rushed in to protect her. It's all political. It's about propping up a woman of color. They are throwing the word mental illness around like they throw the word holocaust or nazi around because they are over the top with their obsessions.

I don't like it.

 

[Vino Bevo]

I played sports and participated in other non-athletic activities but nothing remotely near Olympic level, not even D-1 level, so I can't speak to the pressure she and others feel in that moment and place. That said, if the pressure was too much she should have backed out well in advance of these games, thus allowing a teammate to step in. The fact she did this during competition is the biggest practical issue I have.

Beyond that, it's the mental aspect and how you deal with the belief by both the rest of us and yourself, that you're that great. I compare it to Ledecky who came into these games with similar expectations. She didn't perform well in her first race, but sucked it up and fought to win the next. Biles appeared to me to come in believing what everyone said - that she was the GOAT (and she was) - and when she faltered in the prelims she did not suck it up and instead allowed doubt to creep in. I'm not going to judge her for the doubt, but she certainly played the part of GOAT intentionally, even wearing a goat head on her trials outfit, and the fact she gave in to it and quit during competition is crap. I feel sorry for the rest of the squad who remarkably still took silver, and now has to endure the bullshite media who skips right past them to their faces and only asks about Biles in every interview. Regardless of the circumstances, the focus should be on them and not her, but we clearly would rather look at the car crash than keep our eyes on the road ahead.

 

[Seattle Husker]

Then all the Liberal enablers rushed in to protect her. It's all political. It's about propping up a woman of color. They are throwing the word mental illness around like they throw the word holocaust or nazi around because they are over the top with their obsessions.

I'm certain that is a valid angle just as there are most assuredly people attacking her because she is AA. Focusing on them only gives them more credibility. They are simply a perspective. Here's another perspective absent of "race" but rather focusing on toughness.

Most gymnasts epitomize toughness whether it be recovering from falls or skin tears on their hands.

As far as I can glean Biles has said she developed a case of the "twisties", a gymnast term for losing the awareness for where they were in the midst of their twist in flight. Clearly this is a honed skill to ensure you know where your body is, how many twists in relation to the ground. Based on her performance in the Olympic qualifiers for the US I'd say this isn't a "new" problem as she was struggling then but still her underwhelming scores were tops for all Americans.

 

[bystander]

I'm certain that is a valid angle just as there are most assuredly people attacking her because she is AA. Focusing on them only gives them more credibility. They are simply a perspective. Here's another perspective absent of "race" but rather focusing on toughness.

Most gymnasts epitomize toughness whether it be recovering from falls or skin tears on their hands.

As far as I can glean Biles has said she developed a case of the "twisties", a gymnast term for losing the awareness for where they were in the midst of their twist in flight. Clearly this is a honed skill to ensure you know where your body is, how many twists in relation to the ground. Based on her performance in the Olympic qualifiers for the US I'd say this isn't a "new" problem as she was struggling then but still her underwhelming scores were tops for all Americans.

It's the usual. How many men have gutted out injuries? It's Liberalism and these enablers are gone as far as I'm concerned. I don't want them in charge.

The shrill feminist vile hatred is alive and well.

We don't hate Simone. We admire her. But we don't take prisoners when men cheat or quit. No we don't. We destroyed Lance Armstrong. We destroyed Roberto Duran.

But Liberals believe they are inerrant.

 

[n64ra]

For whatever reason Biles isn't getting any protection from the USA coaches. I know she's been critical of them in the past which may be why they are letting her step out to the end of the branch by herself. Any other time she would have had some sort of protection from the coaches. At this point the only ones stepping up to defend her are her teammates, for now.

That could be it, but aren't the current coaches all new since the scandal? That is, it's not their fault USA gymnastics had the problems nor would her criticisms of USA gymnastics include them.

 

[Seattle Husker]

It's the usual. How many men have gutted out injuries? It's Liberalism and these enablers are gone as far as I'm concerned. I don't want them in charge.

The shrill feminist vile hatred is alive and well.

We don't hate Simone. We admire her. But we don't take prisoners when men cheat or quit. No we don't. We destroyed Lance Armstrong. We destroyed Roberto Duran.

But Liberals believe they are inerrant.

Ummm...Lance Armstrong was destroyed because he was a cheater. Most people hate cheaters (see: Barry Bonds before v after steroids).

 

[OUBubba]

It's the usual. How many men have gutted out injuries? It's Liberalism and these enablers are gone as far as I'm concerned. I don't want them in charge.

The shrill feminist vile hatred is alive and well.

We don't hate Simone. We admire her. But we don't take prisoners when men cheat or quit. No we don't. We destroyed Lance Armstrong. We destroyed Roberto Duran.

But Liberals believe they are inerrant.

How many men should have been benched in lieu of "gutting it out"? All for the betterment of the team.

 

[bystander]

Djokovic says 'pressure is a privilege' that he can handle


“Pressure is a privilege, my friend,” Djokovic said in answer to a reporter's question after winning both of his matches at the Ariake Tennis Park on Wednesday, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain to reach the quarterfinals in singles then teaming with partner Nina Stojanovic for another victory in the opening round of mixed doubles.

“Without pressure there is no professional sport,” Djokovic added. “If you are aiming to be at the top of the game you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments — on the court but also off the court."

 

[bystander]

How many men should have been benched in lieu of "gutting it out"? All for the betterment of the team.

Ask the Chicago Bulls when Jordan had the flu during the playoffs.

She quit on her team. It's very clear to me what she did.

 

[OUBubba]

Ask the Chicago Bulls when Jordan had the flu during the playoffs.

She quit on her team. It's very clear to me what she did.

by, you’ve got a stiffie on this issue.

 

[OUBubba]

She should have just smoked a blunt.

 

[bystander]

by, you’ve got a stiffie on this issue.

Is that supposed to mean something to me? Because it doesn't. I'm here to point out how Liberalism is destroying people's minds. Making fun of what I say doesn't matter to me and in fact tells me I'm scoring points.

 

[Duck Dodgers]

She quit on her team and stole the position from someone who would have actually competed and been proud of it for the rest of her life. End of story.

 

[OUBubba]

She quit on her team and stole the position from someone who would have actually competed and been proud of it for the rest of her life. End of story.

Whatever. If she were a white skier and foxnews was complimenting her it would be a non issue.

 

[mchammer]

She just quit. Period. No excuses please. Stress is something every athlete deals with. If she'd have nailed that vault, she'd have kept going, but she didn't, so she quit. Maybe she saw millions of dollars in endorsements potentially slipping away. Luckily the MSM has got her back. I'm sure she'll still wind up on a Wheaties box, which says a lot.

I watched the all the gymnastics. Biles was off from the get go. Bad body language and just shrugged with a smirking laugh after doing bad routines. Very odd behavior in my opinion. Complete mental breakdown. I don’t fault her - can’t be GOAT forever. I don’t think she was mentally ready for the end game.

 

[Duck Dodgers]

Barry blames Racialism! Just wait till he finds out the Russians won the gold - he’ll blame them too. He already thinks they Stole His Election!!

She stole a spot from someone else and then quit. Can’t argue with the facts, no matter how much you don’t like it.

 

[mchammer]

Barry blames Racialism! Just wait till he finds out the Russians won the gold - he’ll blame them too. He already thinks they Stole His Election!!

She stole a spot from someone else and then quit. Can’t argue with the facts, no matter how much you don’t like it.

Wait! Are Russians white or people of color? I can’t keep up.

 

[Duck Dodgers]

Either way they’s be evils according to the left, who spent 3/4 of the 20th century covering up or excusing their genocides.

 

[nashhorn]

Maybe, in scenarios like this the best thing for the team was for her to not be out there.

There ya go.

 

[horninchicago]

Whatever. If she were a white skier and foxnews was complimenting her it would be a non issue.

Sounds like you don't haven't watched Fox News. They wouldn't do that.

 

[OUBubba]

From a friend who was a state champion wrestler who turned down a D1 full ride.
——
Soft? Really? Says you lying on the couch with one hand on your crotch and the other holding a Natural Light. When have you ever for even 10 minutes worked as hard, been so singularly focused, sacrificed so much, endured such criticism bordering on abuse, not to mention actual abuse, to develop world class perfection? Soft? Piss off.

What she is describing is the Yips - apparently they call it the twisties in gymnastics - a psychologically based performance disorder. We know this well from golf or those old enough to remember what happened to Dodger Steve Sax when he suddenly could not complete a simple toss from his second base position to first. The consequence to a PGA golfer is that he misses easy putts and loses his tour card. The consequence to Steve Sax was he threw errantly and lost his place in the lineup. The potential consequence to Simone Biles’ misunderstanding her proprioceptive position in space as she hurls and flips and twists through the air is severe injury, paralysis, or even death. Seems prudent to recognize that and apply the brakes.

And, can we just be decent and practice empathy rather than derision? Now would be a great time to get that going.