Canada declares war on Switzerland

[rah]

Yes, trying to out manipulate each other was always entertaining if not sometimes frustrating.

[a.kitman]

No flame war for you.
Yankees did a bad favour for this competition. Now it's about who will quit the tournament without any medals. In 1/4 two of the best hockey nations will clash with each other to just survive and go forward.
I think it' bullsh!t.
It's toooooooooo early.
We had the exactly same kind of show four years ago in Tourino in 1/4. And that was a great fight.
But after that we had a boring finals of Finland vs. Sweden. And that was bad.
I mean, basically two best hockey teams have killed each other in 1/4 to let the other guys grab the medals.

you win games in the rink not on paper. also to be fair finland deserved to win in torino. they where outstanding up till the final game.

[rah]

There's a reason why you play the games. Reputation means squat once you start the contest.
Maybe the team isn't as great as people think they are.

[Kontiki]

I'm surprised Serb hasn't just started to quote Pravda yet. Journalism at its finest - check out the conclusion that Plushenko didn't win gold because Canada is a weak country with barberic soldiers:

http://english.pravda.ru/sports/games/19-02-2010/112308-vancouver_mutton-0

Vancouver: Mutton Dressed as Lamb

We all knew it weeks before the game started, with accusations about doping being levelled at Russian athletes, and we all saw it on day one of the games, with the death of a Georgian athlete on a corner which miraculously was elevated the following day. Vancouver is not fit to hold the Winter Olympics.

Far from being a question of sour grapes, Russian commentators were already expressing their reservations as to the integrity of the Vancouver Lobby being able to host the Olympic Games weeks before the start. After all the IOC was starting to fire off in all directions before the first aircraft arrived.

We already have the case of a Russian skier being hounded to produce a urine sample after qualifying for a race, and if she had given the sample, she would not have had the possibility of entering the following round. Natalya Korosteleva was asked to provide a urine sample during a half-hour pause between the quarter-finals and semi-finals of a skiing event. “This seems against all the rules,” she stated, as she refused to have the sample taken, alleging that if she did, she would not have had time to continue in the next phase. Why her?

We all know Canada has problems with the future lines drawn on Arctic maps and we all know Canada lives in the shadow of its larger neighbour to the south. The abject cruelty shown by Canadian soldiers in international conflicts is scantily referred to, as indeed is the utter incapacity of this county to host a major international event, due to its inferiority complex, born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps.

Maybe it is this which makes the Canadians so…retentive, or cowardly. So it is not exactly a huge surprise to have international skating experts from the four corners of the Earth criticising the decision to award the Men’s figure skating Gold medal to the US athlete Evan Lysacekv over the reigning Olympic Champion Evgeny Plushenko, whose superior performance was inexplicably ignored.

As Plushenko explains, “I did a great short program but did not get the marks I deserved. When I asked why, they told me I was skating early and they had to retain top marks for the last group…Then in the free program, I was the last to skate, did everything clean and still didn’t get the marks”.

Everybody who knows anything about Olympic skating, Winter Olympic sports and international politics will infer from the pitiful and dangerous conditions provided by the Canadian authorities, which already caused one death, that Vancouver is mutton dressed as lamb. Take off the outer veneer and the stench is horrific.

It is a surprise that any Russian athlete would wish to remain in that sort of environment for a second longer.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

[rah]

How many of the judges for skating were Canadian, and how many were Russians?

[Serb]

I just think it's funny to listen to you rant about the judging when the rest of world complained about the pro-russian bias over all the previous decades.

In all previous decades the Russians pwned anyone in the sport. Despite how much the IOC wanted the medals there were distributed among other nation we were just one head higher than anyone. And the the same was in 2006 we took three golds out four (and bronze in the fourth discipline).
If you know a thing about the sport then you must know that the top figure skaters were/are trained by the Russian caoches (at least to some degree like jumps and chorepgraphy). And this is a plain plain fact you can't deny. So, your accusation how it's funny that Russians pwned ebryone in the previous decades are just laughtable.
We pwned everyone, ' cause we were better than anyone. And that is a simple fact.

Now that they have done everything they can to eliminate what was a black eye for the entire sport, the Russians now complain. Justice in my book.

What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean by the "black eye for the entire sport"? To kick out the real masters of the sport out of the competition? To give other nations a chance and thus to push the popularity of the sport forward (to the land of rednecks who actully who don't give a sh!t about it)?

You may have quoted one expert that shared your opinion, but a handful of experts agreed with everyone else. (they're called judges)

CALL ME THESE "EXPERTS" NOW!!!

This whole mess is about how wrong and unfair the decision of five anonymous judges was. These judges are not qualifed as experts, 'cause they are accused of unfair judging (doing their job wrong).

You may think the rules are unfair, but you can't fault the judges for enforcing those rules, under which Lysacek was victorious. Feel free to argue the rules, but don't argue the results.

The problem is that I argue both the results and the rules.
My point (and its backed by nuclear weapons (Stojko) is that:
a) Plushenko has been robbed. In accordance with the current rules he should have been the winner.
b) The current scoring system is one huge step backward, 'cause it doesn't encourage progress. That system encourages exactly the opposite - be an American, skate slow, shake your ass well, wave your hands well, do your steps wells, jump triples they have done twenty years ago - and if you manage to do that without falling during this student program - here we go - you are the winner!

[Serb]

How many of the judges for skating were Canadian, and how many were Russians?

LOL.

In accordance with the ISU and IOC rules all judges are anonymous.

I have no doubt there was no single Russian among them.

[Serb]

I'm surprised Serb hasn't just started to quote Pravda yet.

First of all, because I don't read the sh!t.
Secondly, because this "Pravda" is nowhere near the paper I read in 80's.

Journalism at its finest

NO sh!t

The abject cruelty shown by Canadian soldiers in international conflicts is scantily referred to, as indeed is the utter incapacity of this county to host a major international event, due to its inferiority complex, born of a trauma being the skinny and weakling bro to a beefy United States and a colonial outpost to the United Kingdom, whose Queen smiles happily from Canadian postage stamps.

That was brilliant indeed.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY

Who the **** is this guy? It's not a nowhere near a Russian name if you ask me.

[Ben Kenobi]

Actually with the exception of Ben, I've had more conflict with Asher than anybody else at this site. Fortunately most of it had to do with my responsibilities as a previous owner/mod of this site and a majority of that conflict played out in private.

Really? Wow.

I don't think I've ever said anything particularly harsh about you, other than the odd gibe about you being the 'reasonable' one, despite the fact you and not Ming banned me.

I'm sorry then rah. Was never my intent.

[rah]

Jesus, what a homer.
The winners never complain. Just the losers.
If there was rigging by the judges, logically the slant of the rig would favor those doing the rigging. Looking over the the last 40 or so years, which country has dominated the sport. If the judging was rigged, one would assume it was by that country. To whine the one time you lose by claiming the judging was rigged is hilarious.

I will admit that the Russians have rightfully dominated over the years, but there has always been suspicions on if was always based on merit. That you have never heard any of this just shows how much of a homer you are. Do a google search and see the wealth of material out there. (no I will not offer any judgement of it's validity) But there should be enough to even make you give it some thought.

[Kuciwalker]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/In-Plushenko-s-mind-and-website-he-s-the-plat?urn=oly,221408

[rah]

Really? Wow.

I don't think I've ever said anything particularly harsh about you, other than the odd gibe about you being the 'reasonable' one, despite the fact you and not Ming banned me.

I'm sorry then rah. Was never my intent.

With asher it was always actions.

With you it was always your bigoted opinions.
You usually acted decently which i never had a problem with.
I just don't agree with you often which is annoying since I am a moderate repuglican and people might think we're on the same side.

[Serb]

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/van...urn=oly,221408

The backward western media at its best.

Instead of "Silver of Salt Lake, Gold of Torino, Platinum of Vancouver" the site says:
"Silver of Salt Lake, Gold of Torino, Platinum of Vancouver. What is next?"
Feel the difference.

[Serb]

With asher it was always actions.

With you it was always your bigoted opinions.
You usually acted decently which i never had a problem with.
I just don't agree with you often which is annoying since I am a moderate repuglican and people might think we're on the same side.

Excuse me, but I still don't get it: are you gay or not? looks like you are, but I'm not sure now.


p.s. (I thought you are, honestly)

[Asher]

The backward western media at its best.

Instead of "Silver of Salt Lake, Gold of Torino, Platinum of Vancouver" the site says:
"Silver of Salt Lake, Gold of Torino, Platinum of Vancouver. What is next?"
Feel the difference.

Hint: There is no Platinum