and im proud to be an american
cuz at least i know im free
and i wont forget the men who died
and gave that right to me
and ill gladly stand up next to you
and defend her still today
cuz there aint no doubt i love this land
God bless the USA

http://www.indianranch.com/photos/wof/web_Lee_Greenwood.jpg

BOO to Lee Greenwood!!!!!!!!!!

shawn johnson ftw

ya id hit it
Yeah, she's cute.

For a sixteen year old.

Did anyone else think it was strange how China just happened to step up and win an insane number of gold medals this games? NBC has them winning 51 overall golds and 100 medals total or so. In 2004 (according to wikipedia, China only had 32 golds and 63 medals total. I don't think the number of sports in the games jumped that much either ... Maybe it's just the conspiracy theorist inside coming out, but what a differnce home field advantage and four years can make!.

Did anyone else think it was strange how China just happened to step up and win an insane number of gold medals this games? NBC has them winning 51 overall golds and 100 medals total or so. In 2004 (according to wikipedia, China only had 32 golds and 63 medals total. I don't think the number of sports in the games jumped that much either ... Maybe it's just the conspiracy theorist inside coming out, but what a differnce home field advantage and four years can make!.

http://thebeardown.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympics-home-field-advantage.html

Assuming his numbers are right, it's not that surprising. It makes sense when you think about it, especially for less rich countries that might not otherwise field teams at that level when they aren't hosting. And China has been doing the old east bloc style training with a vengeance.

China is a douchbag, but their female divers are pretty damn hot. They must be doing something right.

They aren't doing it with me. Ergo, doing it right, they are not.


And yeah, China is a douchebag, with or without the olympics. Its government and system, the chronic corruption, the rampant lack of anything resembling morals and a sense of shame which drives it to do just about anything reprehensible to prove it does not have a small panda wiener to the rest of the world (which in its eyes its barbarian, sinophobe and envious.)

I heard somewhere that the top NBA basketball players are better than the people they sent to the olympics. Is there any truth to that? It seems to me you would want to send your best people to win the gold.

Who are "they"?

Who are "they"?

The people that decide which players can be a part of the olympic team. Does it really matter?

Which Olympic team?

"The Olympic basketball team."

Which Olympic basketball team?

Which Olympic team?

"The Olympic basketball team."

Which Olympic basketball team?

Men's, United States. You sure love specifics don't you. If there were other countries better or worst than the NBA I would have wanted to hear it.

I heard somewhere that the top NBA basketball players are better than the people they sent to the olympics. Is there any truth to that? It seems to me you would want to send your best people to win the gold.

Do you know anything about basketball?
If so, you already know the answer to your question.
If not, why do you care?

Men's, United States. You sure love specifics don't you.

Well, given that this thread is about China, your post was fairly confusing.

Anyways, compare and contrast the following:
2008 Olympics US Men's Basketball Team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_men%27s_national_basketball_team#200 8_Olympics_U.S._Men.27s_Basketball_Team_-_The_Redeem_Team)
2008 NBA All-Star Game rosters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NBA_All-Star_Game#Eastern_Conference_roster)

Do you know anything about basketball?
If so, you already know the answer to your question.
If not, why do you care?

Why do I care? Someone asked me a question and it made me curious. I don't need to justify my reasons to you. If you don't feel like answering my question, or just want to post unrelated bullshit, then refrain from posting all together.

Well, given that this thread is about China, your post was fairly confusing.

Anyways, compare and contrast the following:
2008 Olympics US Men's Basketball Team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_men%27s_national_basketball_team#200 8_Olympics_U.S._Men.27s_Basketball_Team_-_The_Redeem_Team)
2008 NBA All-Star Game rosters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NBA_All-Star_Game#Eastern_Conference_roster)

Seemed to make sense at the time but looking back it is a bit confusing. I'll try to word it better next time.

Thanks for the links.

The simple answer is that the Olympic games are restricted to amateur athletes. The moment you go pro you are supposed to be ineligible.

But many (most?) of the players on the US basketball team are NBA members. I'm not really sure how that works.:eusa_thin

You guys sure hate China. There's nothing inherently wrong with having athletes younger than 16 compete in the olympics. Its been happening for years, theres was a British diver younger than 16 in Beijing. The USA should actually make better efforts to keep their athletes like Marion Jones from roiding. And we all know their coaches actively promote this practise.

Taking steroids is actually worse, its not some technicality, its actual cheating.