Faster
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Posts posted by Faster
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Just because of where rugby is strongest in the US, New York should host the final. Semis should be in San Francisco and Boston for the same reasons.
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I am not sure I'd call Vancouver the frontrunner.
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On 5/1/2022 at 12:32 PM, baron-pierreIV said:
But with, what? - 5 games each in T and V, the Canadian matches would then have to start earlier since the turf will be roughed up more times than the US and Mexican venues -- giving the field more time to recuperate?
American venues are going to average 5 matches each. 60/11. 5 of the 11 will have 6 matches.
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18 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:
Well, now it's back to 3 -- so there is a certain balance in the bid. What will Alberta do now?
It is still gonna be 2. Its just like the current US situation where FIFA has yet to winnow the list down to 11 cities. The decision will come in May like with the US. I anticipate Vancouver and Toronto being selected. They have better more modern stadiums, they are larger cities. Have better international connections and are closer to other American hosts.
Only way Canada will us all 3 is if FIFA changes the match distribution.
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Canada's plan was only ever 2 venues. Especially after Montreal and Vancouver dropped out.
It was suppose to be 2 in Canada, 11 in the USA and 3 in Mexico for 16 total.
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Its a condition of Edmonton getting provincial funding. Has to host the knock-out stage matches and 5 matches total. Not a chance in hell Canada will go with 3 cities and have only 2 matches in either our 1st or 3rd city and 3 matches in the other and let the second city of Alberta take all the major matches.
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Montreal was never a candidate. It was Toronto and Edmonton. Now it will be Toronto and Vancouver.
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Had it in January. Super fun. Experience of a lifetime. Got to live history.
1920's all over again.
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On 3/3/2022 at 3:19 PM, stryker said:
Big difference though between Qatar and Brazil. Brazil doesn't have culturally conservative Muslim sheikhs watching over all aspects of society. Brazil's decision to not have alcohol initially was over safety concerns. Qatar's issues relate to conservative Islam. I've lived in the Gulf and many will tell you that Qatar is far more conservative than the likes of the UAE, Bahrain, or Oman. So no, I don't think FIFA will be able to make Qatar change their laws. The clerics have too much influence.
Yea, I've seen that mentioned before. Saudi Arabia being the only Arab country more conservative then Qatar. I'd never travel there.
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My first complete watch through was Sydney. Still special, but it has a cheesy pre-bubble 90's vibe.
Athens was beautiful and Greek. Also you cannot really compare the Russians going over their Soviet history to the Greeks not being comfortable with their Ottoman oppression. It would be weird, like it would be weird for any of the Baltic states to proudly display their Soviet occupation or Imperial Russian possession. Russians on the whole have a rather distorted view of their Soviet past, one of pride and admiration.
The musical opening of London is probably the single greatest sequence I have seen to date.
I don't remember Sochi well. I was well versed in my distain for Russia even then. The Georgian incursions, the Ukraine meddling. Baltic provocations, democratic backslide and more were already on full display. Oh and the anti-Gay ****.
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I find this very troubling for Canada as a whole. The idea that because it is 'indigenous-lead' should not preclude it from public accountability. The cities of Vancouver and Whistler will still be the primary hosts of these Games. Metro Vancouver is only 1.9% indigenous. How is it in a democratic society those 11,000 people carry more weight then the 500k other Vancouverites?
If this is the kind of optics this bid will have and have it push an agenda of minority rule. I hope the IOC picks SLC or Sapporo.
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1) This de-russification of the sporting world now is going to have long term consequences for the power and influence of Russia within the world of sport. Russia and Italy have always had oversized influence in the sporting world. This will damage that.
2) Because of Covid, this is a major world championship year. Russia will not be at either of the marquee Worlds
3) The friendliest IFs have turned rather quickly on Russia (ISU, IIHF)
4) I guarantee broadcast and sponsorship partners have had a lot to do with this. Majority of the sponsorships come out of the West and with sanctions sponsoring events in Russia is going to be a hard pass.
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Her entourage has already killed her career. How long has any of the others from her lasted?
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It was made because the other contenders at the time made veiled threats to after after corruption in the Yeltsin family.
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26 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:
That’s the way I read it too. The Ukraine is not going to be pacified - if anything Putin’s ensured it’s going to be a festering quagmire for a long time. Meanwhile he’s ensured Russia is isolated, a pariah and it’s economy is going to be in decline. Any further adventures are going to put it straight into conflict with a reinvigorated and determined NATO and the real risk of MAD. The best he can hope for long term is to become a client state of Xi’s, a new Kim.
The main caveat, though, is that the world maintains its diligence. We’re already seeing the west start to adjust its structures to a “new norm” of managing without Russian trade. The risk is if we start to backslide after the immediate heat dies down. It’s vital that we keep it isolated long term. And sport plays as much a part in that as economic sanctions - a la the anti-Apartheid playbook.
Maybe Xi can be the savior here. Because I don't think China wants to lose their economic markets to the destruction of Western Europe and North America because Putin launches nuclear weapons.
How the **** has Ukraine wanting a European liberal democratic future devolved into threats of nuclear weapons use? Like WTAF.
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20 years is a long time, and is there really a viable pragmatic alternative in Russia right now. The entire country seems to be controlled by a select few within the Kremlin.
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This is starting to get scary. I fear for the Baltic States, Finland and Sweden now.
@StefanMUCI fear Germany, Poland and Romania are going to be the first ones in if this escalates and that has what has changed Germany's position. Germany has already picked a side. They are going to be responsible for that choice regardless of how much or how little support they give Ukraine.
Turkey has fallen into line (probably fearing what Russia having more control of the Black Sea could mean to them). A decade of cozying up to Putin undone in a matter of hours.
I am just totally amazed by the speed at which Europe has closed ranks. Austria, Finland, Sweden and Ireland have all but in name abandoned neutrality.
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17 minutes ago, Rob. said:
And all the players came out draped in Ukraine flags
Worth pointing out that Man City's owners voted not to condemn Russia's invasion at the UN Security Council, and Everton's training ground sponsor and the man with first refusal on their new stadium naming rights is Alisher Usmanov, an Oligarch on Navalny's list of those who should be sanctioned.
Not criticising the players for their gestures at all, just a tangled old web.I mean its a complicated thing for the UK as a whole because many of the oligarchs have used their money for influence and power in London. Its not called Londongrad for any reason.
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Problem is, when the countries and people strongly opposing Russia are already within the existing American defensive alliances (NATO, Japan-USA, Korea-USA, Five Eyes) what more can be done. The UN security council vote on the issue was 11 for, 3 abstentions and 1 veto. The 3 abstentions being China, India and UAE. India having historically strong ties with the Soviet Union. China being like, we support Russia, but maybe not on this. The UAE is weird. They are certainly apart of the alliance against Iran/Syria and those are supported by Russia.
So how much can the 40+ countries do? Especially if regional allies like the ones in the Gulf aren't lining up behind and if India (who has been courting stronger US ties because of China) takes a seat? Russia has their meddling hands all over Africa so that is a problem too. And then you have the tinpot dictators in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua that will stop a unified position from OAS.
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@StefanMUCI have German lines that originate in and around Breslau. So yea, can feel the lose of a place because of that idiot.
It is scary how closely mirrored Putin's nonsense is with Hitler's. I am surprised he isn't spotting off about the Soviet Union getting stabbed in the back by Jews while he was defending it in East Germany being a spy.
I think he misread the inaction on Crimea. A free and fair referendum in Crimea in like 2008 would have probably returned a favourable result to join Russia. Crimea was only apart of Ukraine for about 60 years at that point, and the majority of the ethnic populations of Crimea were displaced by Stalin. I think that is why most world capitals kinda shrugged at it.
Now. Russia and Belarus will merge. And that is going to create a lot of pressure on Poland, Lithuania and Sweden because of the nonsense that is Kaliningrad. That was a major Churchill/FDR mistake there. This is only the beginning unless someone within Russia stops him, or the Ukrainians are able to take the body count into the 10's of thousands.
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Sounds like the IIHF is going to be moving the 2023 world and world juniors from Russia. I wonder how much TSN and Hockey Canada have played in that.
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On 1/6/2022 at 9:13 PM, stryker said:
I highly doubt Sapporo would move forward with a bid if the March survey showed a majority of residents did not want the city to pursue the bid. That would be political suicide for Sapporo's ruling politicians. We've seen countless examples (Obamacare comes to mind) where politicians go forward with something the public doesn't want then they get punished at the polls for it. Remember some thought Calgary's bid which had a non-binding referendum could still go forward even if the referendum turned out negative. The city quickly ended the bid. I fully expect Sapporo to do the same.
Much of Western Europe is still out right hostile with the IOC but I could see France in perhaps the best position to go forward with a WOGs bid if Paris 2024 goes well and comes in within budget (and if covid is no longer an issue by then). Milan is a bit iffier. Milan has the potential to have a budget spiral out of control with the sliding track, new ice hockey arena, and speed skating oval needing to be built with no clear legacies involved. If Turin was still part of this I'd say no doubt but Milan has to prove they can control the budget for 2026 and I'm not sure they can. If Milan ends up going over budget then I suspect it will be even tougher sledding for the IOC to attract WOGs bids from Western Europe.
The new indoor arena was being built regardless of the Olympics and its not a completely new oval. It is a redevelopment of an existing oval. Italy has a long history with speed skating, so not likely to go to any less use then the current configuration is. Italy does also have a very long history in the sliding sports. Not having a sliding track in the whole country is an usual occurrence. Not the norm. The Torino track was decommissioned for the same reasons Calgary was. Costs to repair and upgrade. That being said, the IOC is strongly encouraging Italy to use St. Moritz or Ingles instead of rebuilding Cortina.
For Italy I would say the worst expenditure of money is going to be the temporary venues for all the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events.
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6 hours ago, Sir Rols said:
Yeah, dressage is tedious, but it’s only a few events - team and individual as far as I know. Oh, it’s also part of the three-day event that you don’t watch. You don’t have men’s and womens, or different events on different surfaces. Fencing I’ve never really watched much, so I have no clue how many events and variations there are.
But at least they’re just individual sports. The various winter jump, show off and land events are all separate disciplines, across separate venues, across men’s and womens (and sometimes teams). Yet they’re all so similar - hence you get some athletes competing across a range of them.
maybe it’s the time slots they were in, and the fact they also tended to have Aussie contenders in them, but we were getting a flood of these in our coverage and they all began to blur into one before too long.
You have an identical program between freeski and snowboarding
Slopestyle
Big Air
Halfpipe
There are technical differences between the events ski vs board. For big air, you must have compete in slopestyle. It is not a different set of athletes. It is unusual that we are seeing slopestyle bleed into halfpipe currently though.
And it is one of those things, the venue was already there for snowboarding (1998 and 2018 for halfpipe, 2014 for both slopestyle and 2018 and 2022 for big air)
I don't have a major problem with it, especially since the cultures and judging of each set are a bit different. Lot less controversy over freeski judging then snowboarding.
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1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:
Is it just me, or is the program getting too packed with all these big air, freestyle, slopestyle type events? I mean, they’re all just slight variations on a theme - bowl down a hill to a jump, try as many 180 double twist somersaults with a grip as you can, then try to land on your feet. It’s part of the reason I started getting glazed eyes by week two, all the sameness.
Personally, I’m hungering for a Scandinavian games.
And dressage and the intricacies of the various forms of fencing aren't? Or how about the multiple how far can you throw this object ones in athletics?
I am not sure how much further the program can go. If you look at the various World Championships:
Sliding:
mixed team skeleton
Luge sprints
Skiing:
Women's nordic combined (this will be added)
men's nordic combined sprint
women's large hill ski jumping
dual moguls
parallel slalom snowboarding (was included in 2014, removed for big air)
Biathlon
duo relay
Curling
mixed team
Figure Skating
synchro
So the programme is really at the extent of the World Championships
ski mountaineering is adding 5 events. I would be shocked if one individual women's nordic combined race and a mixed nordic combined relay isn't added.
Synchro skating is a maybe, but the IOC has resisted it for 20+ years now. Now sure if it will ever come in. No room for another curling event.
Would not happen for 2026, but would be interesting if the IIHF did something like a 3x3 basketball type game. But again, schedule is already pretty stuffed. How would teams do it? Especially on the women's side. Sacrifice any chance at a women's medal to pick you best 7 players to go for a medal in 3x3 ladies. Would likely destroy the full programs in Switzerland/Czechia/Japan/China/Denmark that are just getting going. Unless you limit the possible qualification to exclude the big 6, but then again that would weaken the competitiveness of the full tournament.
Vancouver 2030
in 2030 Olympic Winter Games Bids
Posted · Edited by Faster
6 hour plus drive to get there when there are other non-Cypress venues closer is a bit ridiculous. Especially for popular ticket favourite events.