On 2/22/2014 5:01 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 2/22/14, 4:51 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 4:42 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 2/22/14, 4:31 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 3:28 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller,
population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?


Man, are you an instigator. Most of us are proud of the performance
the
American team has done.




I think it absurd to take national pride in a profe$$ional $port$ team,
just as I think it is absurd when a city takes pride in its NFL, NHL,
NBA or baseball teams. I am impressed, though, that very small countries
without the professional sports budgets we or the Soviet Union have, are
cleaning up at the winter olympics. It just proves that money can't buy
everything.

We go to a few pro baseball games in season, but we don't care who
wins...we go to watch the game and hope it is closely contested.

I was delighted to see Norway's Marit Bjoergen win the womens'
cross-country skiing event, followed by two of her countrymen. It again
is a very small country, population-wise (about five million), and like
Finland, it uses its resources on its people.


They are all people ... humans ... regardless of where they are from.
The smaller countries may not have the structured professional teams
that we have but that doesn't mean they don't spend months or even years
playing together and practicing.

You are entitled to your views on professional sports of course. Only
thing to remember though is that your views are in the extreme minority.
Me? I like baseball because it's old and has a lot of tradition.
Many find it boring, but unless the game is a total blowout by the sixth
inning, there is a lot of strategy that goes on. The most interesting
games are extended innings when both teams run out of pitchers in the
bullpen. It's a hoot when they move a center fielder to the pitcher's
mound.





I love baseball for the same reasons you do, and because it is a
slow-paced game for the most part and for a team sport, there is much to
see in individual and team abilities and finesse. The drug/steroids
scandals in baseball really distressed me.

I got to see Sandy Koufax play in the late 1950s, and I got to see
Mickey Mantle play, too. My dad and I would go to at least a dozen games
of the Dodgers or Yankees each season, starting earlier when I was about
eight years old. I don't know how they met, but when my dad exhibited at
the New England boat show in Boston, I got to meet his "friend," Ted
Williams, who had a contract with Sears in those days to promote its
sporting gear. Sears had a huge tank set up in the show place and
Williams would demonstrate casting techniques with various gear.



My dad was a huge baseball fan and admirer of Ted Williams. He took me
to Fenway Park to see one of the last games that Williams played in. He
was brought in as a pinch hitter late in the game and flied out to
center but my dad was going nuts, commenting to me about his swing. I
was 11 years old, I think.

I played a lot of baseball in the various town leagues and school teams
but I was just an average player overall. Due to my father's influence
though, I could hit, mainly because of him making me practice over and
over how Williams snapped his wrists over perfectly time as he made
contact with the ball. Another example of E= mass x velocity squared.

On 2/22/2014 3:28 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller, population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?

Where are you going with this?

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 17:14:21 -0500, Poco Loco wrote:

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:28:20 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 2/22/14, 3:51 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:28:03 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller, population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?

They probably care more about these sports.



Yeah, that must be it. A country with a population of under six million
fielded a hockey team that beat the highly paid U.S. National Hockey
League team because the Americans don't care enough about hockey. Oh,
and the Fins only came in third.

And...if you'll check, you'll find that almost all of the Finnish players are professional hockey
players. Only two or three are players in their own country.

Of course, you knew that too, eh?

~~crickets~~

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 19:03:40 -0500, HanK wrote:

On 2/22/2014 3:28 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller, population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?

Where are you going with this?

No where. He found out his assumptions were wrong. So he shut up.

On 2/22/14, 8:41 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:28:20 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 2/22/14, 3:51 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:28:03 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller, population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?

They probably care more about these sports.



Yeah, that must be it. A country with a population of under six million
fielded a hockey team that beat the highly paid U.S. National Hockey
League team because the Americans don't care enough about hockey. Oh,
and the Fins only came in third.

Maybe the NHL should fire the losers they sent and hire the Fins. I
bet they would appreciate the pay raise.

I doubt most Americans would even notice tho.

When the Clippers went to LA they asked how come 15 million Angelenos
can't fill a hockey stadium and the answer was there must be 15
million people in LA who don't like hockey.


Oh, I dunno. People watch televised golf matches, and golf is somewhat
less exciting than watching beige ceiling paint dry.

F*O*A*D wrote:
On 2/22/14, 4:51 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 4:42 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
On 2/22/14, 4:31 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 2/22/2014 3:28 PM, F*O*A*D wrote:
...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the
USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller,
population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?


Man, are you an instigator. Most of us are proud of the
performance the
American team has done.




I think it absurd to take national pride in a profe$$ional $port$ team,
just as I think it is absurd when a city takes pride in its NFL, NHL,
NBA or baseball teams. I am impressed, though, that very small
countries
without the professional sports budgets we or the Soviet Union have,
are
cleaning up at the winter olympics. It just proves that money can't buy
everything.

We go to a few pro baseball games in season, but we don't care who
wins...we go to watch the game and hope it is closely contested.

I was delighted to see Norway's Marit Bjoergen win the womens'
cross-country skiing event, followed by two of her countrymen. It again
is a very small country, population-wise (about five million), and like
Finland, it uses its resources on its people.


They are all people ... humans ... regardless of where they are from.
The smaller countries may not have the structured professional teams
that we have but that doesn't mean they don't spend months or even years
playing together and practicing.

You are entitled to your views on professional sports of course. Only
thing to remember though is that your views are in the extreme minority.
Me? I like baseball because it's old and has a lot of tradition.
Many find it boring, but unless the game is a total blowout by the sixth
inning, there is a lot of strategy that goes on. The most interesting
games are extended innings when both teams run out of pitchers in the
bullpen. It's a hoot when they move a center fielder to the pitcher's
mound.





I love baseball for the same reasons you do, and because it is a
slow-paced game for the most part and for a team sport, there is much
to see in individual and team abilities and finesse. The
drug/steroids scandals in baseball really distressed me.

I got to see Sandy Koufax play in the late 1950s, and I got to see
Mickey Mantle play, too. My dad and I would go to at least a dozen
games of the Dodgers or Yankees each season, starting earlier when I
was about eight years old. I don't know how they met, but when my dad
exhibited at the New England boat show in Boston, I got to meet his
"friend," Ted Williams, who had a contract with Sears in those days to
promote its sporting gear. Sears had a huge tank set up in the show
place and Williams would demonstrate casting techniques with various
gear.


Sure.

See how they do in track events in the summer...

No fighting in Olympic hockey.
That and the bigger ice surface is what makes it so special.
Of course, having the best players on the ice helps too.

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:44:41 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 2/22/14, 8:41 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 16:28:20 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 2/22/14, 3:51 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 15:28:03 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

...a sparsely populated somewhat socialistic state defeated the USA in
Olympic hockey and is taking home the bronze medal. Apparently our
highly paid professional hockey players weren't up to the test.

Norway, another socialistic state, at the moment has more gold medals
than the USA, which has nine, the same as much smaller, population-wise,
as Canada.

Must be the fault of global warming, eh?

They probably care more about these sports.



Yeah, that must be it. A country with a population of under six million
fielded a hockey team that beat the highly paid U.S. National Hockey
League team because the Americans don't care enough about hockey. Oh,
and the Fins only came in third.

Maybe the NHL should fire the losers they sent and hire the Fins. I
bet they would appreciate the pay raise.

I doubt most Americans would even notice tho.

When the Clippers went to LA they asked how come 15 million Angelenos
can't fill a hockey stadium and the answer was there must be 15
million people in LA who don't like hockey.


Oh, I dunno. People watch televised golf matches, and golf is somewhat
less exciting than watching beige ceiling paint dry.

That's your impression because you don't play (probably couldn't make it around a golf course, could
you?), and you know nothing of the game.

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 20:49:02 -0500, wrote:

On Sat, 22 Feb 2014 17:11:56 -0500, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 2/22/14, 5:10 PM, Poco Loco wrote:

The 'highly paid' team was not a US National Hockey League team. It is a team comprised of players
from many (if not all) of the National Hockey League teams. They get together as a US Olympic Team
once every four years.

Of course, you knew that, eh?


And therefore it is the highly paid U.S. - National Hockey League team,
a team comprised of highly paid players in the National Hockey League.

He is pointing out that they are not a team and teamwork may be worth
more than individual performance in hockey.


He gets it. He's just embarrassed after his praise of the socialist 'amateurs'.